When and by whom was Constantinople founded? Founding of Constantinople - briefly

Νέα Ῥώμη , lat. Nova Roma) (part of the title of the patriarch), Constantinople, Constantinople (among the Slavs; translation of the Greek name “Royal City” - Βασιλεύουσα Πόλις - Vasilevosa Polis, city of Vasilevsa) and Istanbul. The name "Constantinople" is preserved in modern Greek, "Constantinople" - in South Slavic. In the 9th-12th centuries, the pompous name “Byzantium” (Greek. Βυζαντίς ) . The city was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930 as part of Atatürk's reforms.

Story

Constantine the Great (306-337)

Divided Empire (395-527)

After the brutal suppression of the rebellion, Justinian rebuilt the capital, attracting the best architects of his time. New buildings, temples and palaces are being built, the central streets of the new city are decorated with colonnades. A special place is occupied by the construction of Hagia Sophia, which became the largest temple in the Christian world and remained so for more than a thousand years - until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The “Golden Age” was not cloudless: in 544, the Justinian Plague claimed the lives of 40% of the city’s population.

The city grows quickly and becomes first the business center of the then world, and soon the largest city in the world. They even started calling him simply City [ ] . At its height, the city's area was 30 thousand hectares and its population hundreds of thousands, about ten times the typical size of Europe's largest cities.

The first mentions of a Turkish place name Istanbul ( - Istanbul, local pronunciation ɯsˈtambul- İstanbul) appear in Arabic and then Turkic sources of the 10th century and come from (Greek. εἰς τὴν Πόλιν ), “is tin polin” - “to the city” or “to the city” - is an indirect Greek name for Constantinople.

Sieges and decline

As a result of disagreements between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Christian Church was divided in the city, and Constantinople became an Orthodox center.

Since the empire was no longer nearly as large as it had been in the time of Justinian or Heraclius, there were no other cities comparable to Constantinople. At this time, Constantinople played a fundamental role in all areas of Byzantine life. Since 1071, when the invasion of the Seljuk Turks began, the empire, and with it the City, again plunged into darkness.

During the reign of the Komnenos dynasty (-), Constantinople experienced its last heyday - although not the same as under Justinian and the Macedonian dynasty. The city center moves west towards the city walls, into the current districts of Fatih and Zeyrek. New churches and a new imperial palace (Blachernae Palace) are being built.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Genoese and Venetians took over commercial hegemony and settled in Galata.

A fall

Constantinople became the capital of a new strong state - the Ottoman Empire.

Constantinople

Cards

Architecture

The urban space of Constantinople (“Queen of Cities”) was conceived as a reflection of the Heavenly Jerusalem on Earth. This sacred space is studied by hierotopy - a science at the intersection of history, theology, art history and other disciplines. The outlines of the urban planning program of New Rome can still be seen in the city, for example, marble columns (and their fragments) with decoration reminiscent of the "peacock's eye" in the former Forum of Theodosius (now Bayezid Square); on the side of Mesa (lat. Via Triumphalis, now Divanyolu); in the courtyard of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum (from the Taurus Forum); in an underground cistern of the 6th century. "Yeri Erebatan barn" as vault supports. The greyish marble was quarried and processed in the quarries of the island of Marmara in Propontis. The snow-marble columns of the cistern come from the remains of the temple of “Hera of Acre” and are not similar to any classical order: their design imitates the feather of the bird Hera and strongly taper towards the top.

The three main forums of the city: Constantine, Augustion And Feodosia(a replica of the Forum of Trojan in Rome) in ancient times were marked with the symbols of Hera, the heavenly queen of antiquity. In the first forum there was a huge bronze statue of Hera, possibly the work of the famous sculptor Lysippos (before 1204); in the forum of Theodosia the “star gate” was built - a triumphal arch of three spans and 16 pillars, decorated with the “eyes of Argus”.

In the Constantinople monastery of Chora (Kakhiriye-Jami), mosaic works of the Theotokos cycle, completed in 1316-1321, have been preserved.

Here are the ancient monuments of the City of Constantinople, many of which now lie in ruins, as can be seen in this Picture: let us note those buildings that still remain, especially the Central Temple of Hagia Sophia, the Palace of the Emperor Constantine and, in addition, another round Palace; Thus, this Emperor [Constantine] also erected another [palace] near the Temple of Hagia Sophia, which was of large size, but is now destroyed. Some landmarks of the Capital City of Constantinople. A Here in the convolutions is a Column, the stones of which are skillfully connected to each other, and its height is 24 fathoms B There is also a Column there, which is called the “Historical Column”: and it is called that because historical chronicles were created inside the column C Here is the area where the residence of the Patriarch of Constantinople is located, from where you can proceed to the nearby Balat region; and all this can be seen [on this plane] D Church of St. Luke the Evangelist E St. Peter's Church FEATHER. In Constantinople, as already mentioned, there is (the district of) Pera, or (as the Turks say) “Galata”, there is also a Wide Gulf there, which flows into the Sea, there are Turkish and also Jewish cemeteries, and outside the city there are everywhere other cemeteries, and all this can be seen from the depicted (gravestones) stones (on the plan) F Here is the region in the right corner, where the Sea connects with the Gulf, where the Turks allocated the Weissenburg (area) to the Greeks, and there is also a foundry (of guns) there currently.

Coins

Painting and mosaic

Notes

1. Georgacas, Demetrius John (1947). “The Names of Constantinople”. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 78 : 347-67. DOI:10.2307/283503.
2. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
3. The most ancient states of Eastern Europe. - M.: Nauka, 2003. - P. 136.
4. , With. 53.
5. , With. 477.
6. Sophrony Vrachanski. Life and suffering for sins Sophrony. Sofia 1987. Pp. 55 (Explanatory footnote to the autobiography of Sophrony Vrachansky)
7. Gerov was found. 1895-1904. Riverman in Bulgarian language. (record on tsar in the Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language by Naiden Gerova)
8. Simeonova, Margarita. Riverman on ezika na Vasil Levski. Sofia, IC "BAN", 2004 (recorded at tsar V Dictionary of the language of Margarita Simeonova Vasil Levsky)
9. Seznam tujih imen v slovenskem jeziku. Geodetska uprava Republike Slovenije. Ljubljana 2001. p. 18.
10. , With. thirty.
11. , With. 32.

Constantinople it is the capital of the ancient state of Byzantium, but it was also the center of Christianity and Orthodoxy.

And now this territory is occupied by Türkiye.

The capital of Turkey, Constantinople, was renamed the city Istanbul in 1930.

But since December 29, 1923 the city Istanbul (Constantinople) ceased to be the capital of Turkey, is now the capital of Turkey Ankara.

This city was the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire; in 1453, Constantinople was captured by the Ottomans (Turks) and renamed Istanbul, which subsequently became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The city was founded by the Greeks and they made up the bulk of its population before the capture by the Turks.

If it were not for the help of the Bolshevik government with weapons and money to Kemal, the Greeks would have liberated it after the First World War, when the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 took place, they were no longer so far from it and now the city would have its old name. If it were not for the Bolsheviks, the tsarist government would never have supported the Turks in the war against the Orthodox Greeks and Constantinople would have remained with the Greeks.

Constantinople is now called Istanbul. The city of Constantinople was founded in 324 BC by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. The city itself went by many names. Constantinople, New Rome, Constantinople, Instanbul. Christianity and Orthodoxy are intertwined in this city. There are mosques and churches and almost everything is ancient history. East and Europe. It is a pity, of course, that along with the Byzantine Empire the name of the city of Constantinople disappeared. The city is better known to the Slavs as Constantinople.





Constantinople is the largest and richest city in the Middle Ages.

In 1930, the city of Constantinople was renamed Istanbul.

Istanbul today is one of the largest cities in Turkey.

It is the main port, cultural, and commercial and industrial center of the country.

Now this city is called Istanbul.

This city was named Constantinople in 324 or 330 during the reign of Constantine the Great (306337).

It was also called New Rome - the capital of the Roman Empire (330395), later the Byzantine (East Roman), then the Latin Empire (12041261) and in 14531922 - the Ottoman Empire.





There are not many cities in the world that had as many names as present-day Istanbul. The city received its modern name on March 28, 1930, when Ataturk’s reforms were in full swing.

The city was captured by the Ottomans back in 1453; apparently, its old name remained for quite a long time. However, Constantinople (from the Greek - city) is just one of the unofficial names, here are some more: Byzantium, Byzantida, Constantinople (i.e. the royal city, as the Slavs called it). The official name of the city, which managed to be the capital of a whole string of empires - Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman - is New Rome.

Istanbul. As far as I know, maybe they’ve already changed it again... The devil knows :)

Istanbul was called Constantinople until 1930, and until 330 it was the city of Byzantium (founded in the seventh century BC).

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, population over thirteen million people, the first city in Europe.

Currently, Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey. The capital of Turkey since 1923 is Ankara.

Residents of the city of Istanbul are called: Istanbulite, Istanbulite, Istanbulites.

We can only add that it has not lost its name, only it sounds in the Turkish way: Istambu-City of Constantine. And regarding the help of the Bolsheviks, we can continue further: without their help, the Azerbaijan SSR would not have arisen, where essentially the same Turks live

Constantinople, a major cultural and economic center, has had this name since 330. At that time, the city was the capital of the Roman Empire.

The modern location of Constantinople is Istanbul, one of the largest and most developed cities in Turkey.

Constantinople is now called Istanbul, the capital of Turkey. Moreover this is the name of Constantinople received relatively recently, in 1930, during Ataturk’s reforms.

Constantinople bore its name for 1600 years, from its founding in 330.

For many centuries, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the beauty and pride of the East. The Slavs called it Constantinople Constantinople.

Now this is Istanbul, and the Hagia Sophia, built by Emperor Constantine in 324, was first a mosque and now a museum.

Settlements of the first wave arose on the Bosphorus Cape about 8.6 thousand years ago, that is, even before the formation (according to the theory of the Black Sea flood, the Black and Mediterranean seas connected as a result of an earthquake 5-7 thousand years ago) and flooding of part of the coast. At the beginning of the expansion of Greek colonists, the indigenous population here were the Thracians. According to legend, when King Byzantine (either the son of Poseidon and Keroessa, who was born to Io from Zeus on the Golden Horn, or the son of Nysus from Megara, which sounds more realistic) asked the Delphic oracle for advice on where to found a new colony, he ordered to build “ opposite the blind." And in the convenient narrow deep bay of the Golden Horn with two natural harbors protected from the sea, Byzantium appeared - the predecessor city of Constantinople. And the “blind”, it seems, meant the founders of the neighboring Megarian colonies (Astaka, Selymbria and Chalcedon), who had not previously seen such a profitable place, despite the hostility of the Thracians and the shortage of drinking water. As for the local residents, they were subjugated and reduced to the position of agricultural slaves like the Spartan helots.
Having a strategically advantageous position between the Balkans and Anatolia and between the Black and Mediterranean seas, the city could control trade between Europe and Asia, and therefore quickly developed and grew rich. But for the same reason, Byzantium was besieged many times; Athens and Sparta fought for it. Power of Rome from 74 BC e. provided the military defense of the city for more than 200 years, although it deprived it of income from customs duties. And during the civil war of 193-197. the city was besieged, all fortifications destroyed and all political and trade privileges deprived by order of Septimius Severus, because he short-sightedly supported his enemy Pescennius Niger. After this, Byzantium could no longer recover and remained a seedy Roman province until Emperor Constantine (reigned 306-337) chose this place to create his new capital (by that time Rome had ceased to be the main residence of the emperors).
The foundation of New Rome took place in the fall of 324, and Emperor Constantine personally decided to mark its borders, which were immediately surrounded by an earthen rampart. The grandiose “construction of the century” began, requiring the involvement of financial and human resources from the entire Roman Empire. The flow of Egyptian grain, previously intended for Rome, was redirected to New Rome. By order of the emperor, famous architects, painters and sculptors, the best masons, plasterers and carpenters were brought to Byzantium (they were exempted from other state duties). To decorate Byzantium, works of art were brought from Rome and Athens, Corinth and Delphi, Ephesus and Antioch... In a certain sense, the continuity of the cultural heritage of Ancient Hellas, Ancient Rome and Byzantium was carried out through successive plunders in favor of the next main center of power and influence. This time - in favor of Constantinople.
During Constantine's lifetime, about 30 palaces and temples, more than 4,000 houses of the nobility and thousands of houses of common people, a new hippodrome, a circus and two theaters, many baths and bakeries and eight water pipelines were built, and construction of an underground reservoir began. Constantine favored Christian priests and founded the Church of Hagia Sophia and many other churches near the main Augusteon square, but did not interfere with the pagan priests who settled on the New Roman Capitol. And he paid great attention to the development of navigation and trade: equipping convenient harbors, building berths, breakwaters and trading warehouses, increasing the fleet. Very soon, Constantinople as a trading city surpassed the glory of Greek Byzantium.
As befits the successor to the Eternal City, Constantinople grew on seven hills. First, the earthen rampart of Constantine, then the Theodosian Wall, completely fenced off the cape occupied by the city on the southern shore of the Golden Horn.
The capture of the Byzantine capital by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 shocked the entire Christian world.
Less than a century after the capital of the Roman Empire was moved to Constantinople, the empire was divided in 395 into Western and Eastern. The Western Roman Empire collapsed into several barbarian kingdoms in 476, and the Eastern, Byzantine Empire lasted for almost a thousand more years. For a long time it was the largest, most prosperous and cultural city in Europe.
Under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527-565), an attempt was made to restore the empire, that is, to recapture the lands of the former Western Roman Empire, and this was even partially successful, but it still failed to retain the captured territories. Justinian's reign went down in history not only with military victories and the development of the new Justinian Code of Roman Law, but also with the largest “revolt of Nika” in the history of Constantinople and Byzantium in general in 532 and the first recorded case of a plague pandemic. The “Nick” uprising began at the hippodrome during the races as a banal brawl of fans (“blues” - venetos, “greens” - prasins), but after the execution of the instigators, both hippodrome parties of fans united against the emperor, recalling both tax oppression and oppression of pagans. As a result, about 35,000 people died, many houses burned down (including the imperial palace and the first cathedral building, which they immediately began to rebuild, larger and more magnificent than before). Eyewitnesses wrote: “The empire itself seemed to be on the brink of destruction.” The rebels put forward their candidacy for emperor, Justinian was ready to flee, and only by a miracle, thanks to the prompt intervention of one influential courtier, who quickly bribed most of the senators, the uprising was suppressed. And the “Justinian Plague” came to Constantinople along trade routes from Ethiopia or Egypt in 541, reached its apogee by 544 and destroyed about 40% of the city’s population (according to contemporaries, 5,000, sometimes up to 10,000 people died daily); The disease covered the entire territory of the civilized world and lasted, manifesting itself in separate outbreaks, until 750.
The next critical moment in the history of Constantinople was its terrible sack during the IV Crusade, when a lot of cultural property, including Christian shrines, was lost. Although at that time the Byzantine Empire fell not from the hands of the Saracens, but from Christian knights sponsored by the Doge of Venice. It was partly a punitive expedition in revenge for the destruction of the Venetian quarter and the thousands of Venetian merchants imprisoned in Constantinople in 1171.
For the period from 1204 to 1261, Constantinople became the capital of the Latin Empire, and the Orthodox high priest was replaced by a Catholic one. After the restoration of the Palaiologan dynasty and the Byzantine Empire, the Venetian merchants in Constantinople were supplanted by the Genoese. They settled on the northern bank of the Golden Horn, in the Gapat area, built a high tower and fenced themselves off with a wall. In the Middle Ages, most of the income from Constantinople trade passed into the hands of the Genoese. Moreover, even after the fall of Constantinople and the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, enterprising Italian merchants were able to negotiate non-aggression and free trade with the Ottoman Empire.
Under the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922), Constantinople began to be called Istanbul, but it was officially renamed only in 1930 during the reforms of Atatürk.

general information

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman (Byzantine), Latin and Ottoman Empires. Officially renamed to .

Location: on the cape of the European coast of the Bosphorus Gulf (later areas appeared on the Asian coast).

Administrative affiliation: il Istanbul, Türkiye.
Name options: Byzantium (until 330), New Rome (until 450 officially), Constantinople / Constantinople (until 1930 officially), Istanbul / Istanbul (since 1453, since 1930 officially).

Status: ancient Greek colony of Byzantium since 667 BC. e. to 324 AD; capital of the Roman Empire New Rome from 330 to 395; capital of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire: 395-1204 and 1261-1453; capital of the Latin Empire: 1204-1261; capital of the Ottoman Empire: 1453-1922; since 1922 - a city of the Turkish Republic.
Languages: Greek was the predominant language in ancient times, as well as Latin, Genoese and Byzantine dialects (currently Turkish).

Ethnic composition: in ancient times Greek colonists from Megara and local Thracians, under Constantine a multinational Hellenistic city including large diasporas of Byzantines, Genoese and Jews (now Turks).
Religions: Ancient Greek period - paganism, Byzantine period - Orthodoxy, Ottoman period - Islam.
Currency: Byzantine coin, solidus, ducat (modern - Turkish lira).

Numbers

Population of Constantinople: in the 4th century. up to 100 thousand people; in the 6th century OK. 500 thousand people

The length of the Theodosian wall of the city: 5630 m (three rows).
Total length of city walls: OK. 16 km.

Number of towers on the walls: 400.

Center height: 100 m above sea level. m.

Number of defenders of Constantinople in 1453: OK. 5 thousand people

Number of Ottoman besiegers: from 150 to 250 thousand people. according to various sources.

Number of Ottoman ships participating in the siege: 80 military and 300 merchant ships.

Climate and weather

Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers, cool, rainy winters and moderate precipitation.
Average January temperature: +6°C.

Average temperature in July: +23.5°C.

Average annual precipitation: 850 mm.

Economy

A port city that controlled the passage of ships through the Bosphorus. Received large profits from trade duties. In the Middle Ages, Genoese merchants took over almost all trade. Excellent jewelers worked in the Jewish quarter, famous for their ability to process precious stones and metals.

Attractions

■ City walls: the first wall was marked personally by Constantine the Great in 224; The Theodosian Walls were erected under Theodosius II from 408 to 413, the Golden Gate (front gate), the Arch of Theodosius.
■ Religious buildings: Hagia Sophia (founded in 324, burned down during the “Revolt of Nika” in 532, rebuilt in 537, mosque since 1453, museum since 1935).
■ Vlaherna(suburb, fenced with a wall): Blachernae Church of the Mother of God (450, fell into decay under Latin rule) with a particularly revered miraculous icon, later taken to Moscow under Nikon (kept in the Tretyakov Gallery).
■ Churches(converted into mosques or destroyed): St. Sergius and Bacchus (the so-called “Little Hagia Sophia”) 527-529; Our Lady of Pammakarista; Christ Pan-tepopt; St. Irene; Mary of Mongol; Saint Theodosius; Peter and Mark; St. Theodora; John the Baptist in Trullo; Our Lady of Kyriotissa, St. Andrew in Chris.
■ Monasteries: Almighty, Studio, Chora, Mireleyon, Lipsa.
■ Genoese towers: Galata (1349) on a high hill in the Galata region.
■ Natural: Golden Horn Bay with natural harbors Prosphorion and Neorion (existed in antiquity), Bosphorus.
■ Cultural-historical history of the Roman-Byzantine period: The Great or Holy Palace is the main residence of the Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081. It has not been preserved; finds from the excavation site are exhibited in the Museum of Palace Mosaics. The New, or Small Blachernae, Palace is a ruined three-story palace built in Blachernae at the beginning of the reign of the Palaiologans (11th century). Hippodrome 120x450 m with a capacity of up to 100 thousand people. (started in 203 under Septimius Severus, rebuilt in 330-334), with obelisks of Theodosius (ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III 1460 BC), Serpent Column (from the Delphic sanctuary of Apollo, melted down from bronze shields Persians after the victory of 479 BC) and the obelisk of the Colossus of Constantine (10th century). Gothic column (3rd or 4th century), Roman triumphal column of Constantine (330, on the site of the destroyed Forum of Constantine), Marcian column (5th century). Basilica Cistern (330s - 532, underground reservoir for 80,000 m 3 of water with an area of ​​145x65 m, with 336 8-meter assorted columns from ancient temples). Aqueduct of Valens (368-375, length approx. 1000 m, height up to 26 m).

Curious facts

■ By decree of Constantine, all immigrants who bought or built a house in the new capital were given free grain, oil, wine and brushwood. This “food bonus” was issued for about half a century and played a big role in the influx of new residents to Byzantium from among artisans, sailors and fishermen.
■ Wanting to speed up the construction of the capital, the emperor obliged all property owners in cities on the Black Sea to acquire another house in Byzantium (only if this condition was met, property owners could bequeath their property to their heirs). Encouraging the resettlement of residents from different Roman provinces to a new place, Constantine provided them with special conditions and benefits. Many imperial dignitaries were transferred here by force (isn’t it reminiscent of the transfer of the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg by Peter I?).
■ Roman historians more than once noted with disapproval the Hellenes’ penchant for civil strife. Thus, the historian Herodian, summing up his description of the strife that broke out in the provinces of Asia Minor after the victory of Septimius Severus over Pescennius Niger, wrote: “... and this is not due to any hostility or, on the contrary, favor towards the warring sovereigns, but out of jealousy, envy , hatred towards each other and the desire to destroy their own fellow tribesmen. This is an ancient disease of the Hellenes, who, constantly in discord and striving to exterminate those who seemed to stand out from the others, destroyed Hellas.” If so, then the “revolt of Nika” only confirmed that Constantinople was an exclusively Hellenic city...
■ During the territorial expansion of pagan Kievan Rus to the south in the second half of the 9th-10th centuries. In order to gain control of the trade route “from the Varangians to the Greeks,” the Rus made several campaigns against Byzantium. In 860, the Rus, led by the Kyiv princes Askold and Dir, made the only successful raid on the capital of the empire from the sea (Constantinograd was not captured, but the Rus took away rich booty). The campaign against Constantinople of Prince Oleg in 907 is not documented, the campaigns of Prince Igor 941-944. ended with the signing of a peace military-trade treaty, the rest ended in defeat for Rus'.
■ The icon of the Blachernae Mother of God was credited with the miraculous salvation of Constantinople during the siege by the Avars in 626 (the appearance on the walls of the city of a woman in a precious dress frightened the Avars), by the Arabs in 718, by the Rus in 864 and by the Bulgarians in 926. During the siege by the Saracens in 910, the Mother of God appeared to those praying in the temple and spread a white veil (omophorion) over Constantinople - in honor of this event, the Orthodox holiday of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos was established.

If you try to find Constantinople on a modern geographical map, you will fail. The thing is that since 1930 such a city has not existed. By decision of the new government of the Turkish Republic, founded in 1923, the city of Constantinople (the former capital of the Ottoman Empire) was renamed. Its modern name is Istanbul.

Why was Constantinople called Constantinople? The amazing history of the city dates back more than one millennium. During this period, it underwent many changes, having been the capital of three empires at once: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It is not surprising that he had to change names more than once. The very first name assigned to it in history is Byzantium. The modern name of Constantinople is Istanbul.

Constantinople was perceived by Russian people as the center of Orthodoxy. Soon after the adoption of Christianity in Russian culture, a systematic sacralization (imbuing with sacred meaning) of the image of Constantinople occurs.

It is the image of Constantinople in Russian folk tales that inspired the idea of ​​a strange overseas country with its magic and all kinds of miracles.

Vladimir's marriage to a Byzantine princess led to the establishment of cultural and spiritual ties with Constantinople. Constantinople played an extremely positive role in the development of Russian society, as business and cultural contacts led to a leap in the development of icon painting, architecture, literature, art and social science.

By order of Vladimir, magnificent cathedrals were built in Kyiv, Polotsk and Novgorod, which are exact copies of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.

At the main entrance to Vladimir and Kiev, golden gates were installed, created by analogy with the golden gates that opened during the solemn ceremonies of the meeting of the Byzantine emperors.

Etymological information

The etymology of the word “king” is interesting. It came from the name of the Roman Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar. The word “Caesar” became a mandatory part of the title of all rulers of the empire: both in the early and late periods of its existence. The use of the prefix “Caesar” symbolized the continuity of power that passed to the new emperor from the legendary Julius Caesar.

In Roman culture, the concepts of “king” and “Caesar” are not identical: in the early stages of the existence of the Roman state, the king was called the word “rex”, performed the duties of the high priest, justice of the peace and leader of the army. He was not endowed with unlimited power and most often represented the interests of the community that chose him as its leader.

End of the Byzantine Empire

On May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople after a 53-day siege. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, having defended a prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral, fought valiantly in the ranks of the city’s defenders and died in battle.

The capture of Constantinople meant the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman state and was initially called Constantine, and then was renamed Istanbul.

In Europe and Russia the city is called Istanbul, which is a distorted form of the Turkish name.

Now Istanbul, until 1930 Constantinople. In Rus' it was called Tsargrad. The amazing history of the city dates back more than one millennium. During this period, it underwent many changes, having been the capital of three empires at once: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman. It is not surprising that he had to change names more than once. The very first name assigned to it in history is Byzantium.

This is one of the few cities in human history that has an exact date of birth: May 11, 330 (May 24, new style) - on this day the official ceremony of the so-called “renewal” (as we now translate), or consecration, of the city took place , which was headed by Emperor Constantine himself.

Constantinople - the city of St. Constantine - was originally conceived by the emperor as the eastern capital of a huge empire that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to Mesopotamia, as the capital of a state that was founded during the Republic and with Emperor Augustus became an empire, a monarchical power that united a variety of peoples and a variety of cultures, but mainly based on two key elements: the Greek East and the Latin West.

First European settlement

Around 680 BC Greek settlers appeared on the Bosphorus. On the Asian shore of the strait they founded the colony of Chalcedon (now this is a district of Istanbul called “Kadikoy”).

Three decades later, the town of Byzantium grew up opposite it. According to legend, it was founded by a certain Byzantus from Megara, to whom the Delphic oracle gave vague advice to “settle opposite the blind.” According to Byzant, the inhabitants of Chalcedon were these blind people, since they chose the distant Asian hills for settlement, and not the cozy triangle of European land located opposite.

At first, the city was inhabited by fishermen and traders, but the favorable geographical position led to the rapid growth of Byzantium, and it soon took a prominent place among the Greek city-states.

In 196 BC. e. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus, after a three-year siege, took Byzantium and destroyed it, but soon, by his own order, the city was restored.

The city acquired its greatness when Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it New Rome, Constantinople.

How the location for the new capital was determined

Initially, the emperor's gaze was turned to the shores of the Aegean Sea - where Troy was located in ancient times. It was there that Constantine initially wanted to build a new capital. Troy plays a special, unique role in the history of Rome. But Troy had long disappeared by that time, only ruins remained, and these ruins were located in a place quite inconvenient for political maneuver.

According to legend, Emperor Constantine had a prophetic dream. Allegedly, it was in a dream that the emperor saw that the city should be founded here, opposite the ancient capital of Nicomedia, which by that time was already in ruins due to an earthquake, and precisely on the European shore of the Bosphorus.

The location for the city is very convenient in many respects. On the one hand, it is located at a strategically key point in the entire Eurasian system of trade routes, because it connects both land routes from Asia to Europe and the sea route from the Black Sea region to the Mediterranean Sea. It is very well protected, this triangle on which ancient Byzantium was located, in honor of which, in fact, we call the Byzantine Empire.

Dawn of Constantinople

At the direction of Constantine, the best sculptures, valuable manuscripts, church utensils, and relics of saints were taken from Rome, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch and other cities of the empire to Constantinople.
Constantine's work was continued by his descendants. Marble and copper columns that previously adorned Roman temples and squares were brought to Constantinople.

Tradition says that 60 tons of gold were spent on the construction of the city. Subsequently, the city grew and developed so rapidly that half a century later, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were erected, which have survived to this day, and included seven hills - the same as in Rome.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian in 527–565, the largest Nika uprising broke out in the city. The city was significantly destroyed, Hagia Sophia burned down.

After the brutal suppression of the rebellion, Justinian rebuilt the capital, attracting the best architects of his time. A “golden age” begins for Constantinople. New buildings, temples and palaces are being built, the central streets of the new city are decorated with colonnades. A special place is occupied by the construction of Hagia Sophia, which became the largest temple in the Christian world and remained so for more than a thousand years - until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The city grows rapidly and becomes first the business center of the then world, and soon the largest city in the world.

In Rus', the city was given its name - Tsargrad - the city where the king lives. And the word “king” itself may have come from the name of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. The word "Caesar" became part of the title of the Roman emperors.

The wealth of the city aroused the envy of the surrounding peoples. Between 666 and 950 the city was subject to repeated sieges by the Arabs.

Capital symbols

Constantinople is a city of secret meanings. Local guides will definitely show you the two main attractions of the ancient capital of Byzantium - Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate. But not everyone will explain their secret meaning. Meanwhile, these buildings did not appear in Constantinople by chance.

Hagia Sophia and the Golden Gate clearly embodied medieval ideas about the wandering City, especially popular in the Orthodox East. It was believed that after ancient Jerusalem lost its providential role in the salvation of mankind, the sacred capital of the world moved to Constantinople. Now it was no longer the “old” Jerusalem, but the first Christian capital that personified the City of God, which was destined to stand until the end of time, and after the Last Judgment to become the abode of the righteous.

The beginning of the decline of Byzantium

Until the 11th century. Byzantium was a brilliant and powerful power, a stronghold of Christianity against Islam. The Byzantines courageously and successfully fulfilled their duty until, in the middle of the century, a new threat from Islam approached them from the East, along with the invasion of the Turks. Western Europe, meanwhile, went so far that it itself, in the person of the Normans, tried to carry out aggression against Byzantium, which found itself involved in a struggle on two fronts just at a time when it itself was experiencing a dynastic crisis and internal turmoil. The Normans were repulsed, but the price of this victory was the loss of Byzantine Italy. The Byzantines also had to give the mountainous plateaus of Anatolia to the Turks forever.

Meanwhile, the deep old religious differences between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches, fanned for political purposes throughout the 11th century, steadily deepened until, towards the end of the century, a final schism occurred between Rome and Constantinople.

The crisis came when the Crusader army, carried away by the ambition of their leaders, the jealous greed of their Venetian allies and the hostility that the West now felt towards the Byzantine Church, turned on Constantinople, captured and plundered it, forming the Latin Empire on the ruins of the ancient city ( 1204-1261).

In the summer of 1261, the Emperor of Nicaea, Michael VIII Palaiologos, managed to recapture Constantinople, which entailed the restoration of the Byzantine and the destruction of the Latin empires.

After this, Byzantium was no longer the dominant power in the Christian East. She retained only a glimpse of her former mystical prestige. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Constantinople seemed so rich and magnificent, the imperial court so magnificent, and the piers and bazaars of the city so full of goods that the emperor was still treated as a powerful ruler. However, in reality he was now only a sovereign among his equals or even more powerful ones.

The entire 14th century was a period of political failures for Byzantium. The Byzantines were threatened from all sides - Serbs and Bulgarians in the Balkans, the Vatican in the West, Muslims in the East.

Death of the Byzantine Empire

At the end of May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople after a siege that lasted 53 days. The last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, having defended a prayer service in the St. Sophia Cathedral, fought valiantly in the ranks of the city’s defenders and died in battle.

The capture of Constantinople meant the end of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman state and was initially called Constantine, and then was renamed Istanbul.

In Europe and Russia the city is called Istanbul, which is a distorted form of the Turkish name.

http://www.pravoslavie.ru/93548.html

https://olganechkina.livejournal.com/133364.html

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