The
Hippodrome in Ottoman times, 16th century
miniature by Matrakçi Nasuh
After taking the advice of the Oracle
in Delphi that recommended to settle
"opposite the city of the blinds",
in the 7th century BC, a sailor called
Byzas founded a small Greek city
called Byzantion. This colony
from Megara settled on a promontory
at the entrance of the natural harbour
formed by the Golden
Horn, in a beautiful and strategic
site, opposite an earlier settlement
on the Asian side (today Kadýköy), whose
people had not realized the interest
(the blinds).
Byzantion was coveted by many foreign
sovereigns, and fell into the hands
of Persian
king Darius. It was delivered
by Spartian king Pausanias after the
Battle of Plateae (479 BC). Involved
into the wars between Sparta and Athens,
the descendants of Byzas learnt how
to take advantage of reversing the alliances.
The city was besieged by Philip
of Macedonia (340), and another
time by the Galatians
(279 BC) to whom it had to pay a heavy
tribute to lift the siege.
It became a prosperous trade center
that controlled the sea and caravan
routes. As Byzantion levied a right
of way from all the ships that crossed
the Bosphorus,
the Anatolian kingdoms and cities started
to launch attacks against it. The city
resisted, but very weakened by the situation,
between 2C BC and 1C BC, it rallied
Rome, in return of protection and privileges.
Byzantion became part of the Roman
Province of Bithynia-Pontus under
Vespasian (69-79 AD).
As Byzantium took the side of Pescennius
Niger and his Parthian allies against
Septimus Severus, the latter,
emerging as the winner, plundered the
city after a siege that lasted between
193 and 196. Septime Severus rebuilt
the city which was surrounded by new
walls. He adorned it with a hippodrome,
palaces, and named it Augustina Antonina
in honor of his son Antoninus (Caracalla).
Following the defeat of Andrinople,
Licinius, persued by his rival Constantine
I, took refuge in Byzantium where he
was vanquished in 324. Constantine
I the Great (306-337), now sole
ruler of the Roman Empire, made
Byzantium the new capital under the
name Nova Roma (New Rome). Named
Constantinople in 330, the city
became the capital of the Byzantine
Empire (a Greek instead of a Roman
empire) and the symbol of Christianity.
Constantine embellished the city which
developed considerably and had to be
surrounded by new walls. The
Milion,
the Milestone from which the distances
between Constantinople and the most
distant provinces of the Empire were
measured, was erected on the Augusteum
Square. Just
as all roads had once led to Rome, they
now led to Constantinople.
In
391, Theodosius I (379-395) started
to purge the city from its pagan remains.
Upon his death, the Empire was shared
between his two sons, Honorius
who received the Western Roman Empire,
and Arcadius (395-408) who received
the Eastern Empire.
In 476, Rome fell into the hands of
the Barbarians and Constantinople remained
the sole capital of the Empire. Theodosius II (408-450) enlarged
the city, delimiting it by new walls
(the ramparts which can be seen today).
A period of palace revolutions, moral
standards depravity and civil wars followed
until the reign of Justinian
(527-565). Helped by general Belisarius
and Theodora's firmness (she
was a courtesan who became an impress),
Justinian crushed the sedition
which would have led the Empire to a
disaster. He established an authoritary
but enlightened order and gave the Empire
administrative laws. He bought numerous
civil and religious edifices such as
Haghia
Sophia. This period was the First
Golden Age of Constantinople.
In the 7th, 8th and 9th centuries, Constantinople
was besieged by the Avars (in 626),
the Bulgarians (in 813 and 913), the
Arabs (or Saracens in 673-677 and again
in 718) and each time repelled the besiegers.
Leo III (717-740), followed by other
Iconoclastic
emperors, entered into a conflict of
influence with the Church, prohibiting
the whorship of holy images. Under the
Macedonian dynasty founded by
Basil I (867-886), Constantinople
regained its fame and became the center
of a great religious and political empire.
Under Constantine Porphyrogenetus
(912-959), it was the Second Golden
Age Period of the city which became
the undisputed capital of wealth and
arts.
At the end of the 11th century, the
religious schism that definitively
separated the Roman Catholic Church
from the Orthodox Church, and the arrival
of the Seljuk Turks
in Anatolia, weakened the Byzantine
greatness. This period is also marked
by the beginning of the Crusades
and the direct intervention of the Westerners
in the affairs of Orient: the Venitians,
who under Justinian had already settled
in Galata, had been allowed inside the
city, and the Genoeses who in
turn settled in Galata.
A fundamental antagonism deepened by
the schism, separated the Greeks from
the Latins. Constantinople suffered
neither from the two first Crusades
in 1096-97 and 1147, nor from the third
one which did not pass through the city.
But during the Fourth
Crusade, Constantinople was burnt
and pillaged, the Basileus (the emperor)
was overthrown and Baldwin of Flanders
was crowned Latin Emperor of Orient
by the Papal Legate. The Byzantines
gone into exile established an Independent
Byzantine Empire in Trebizond and
another one in Nicea
from where came Michael VIIIPaleologus (1259-1282) who regained
Constantinople in 1261, helped by the
Genoeses. This was the last brilliant
period of the Empire, called the "Paleologus
Revival". Galata became a fortified
place and the independent city of the
Genoeses. They resisted the assaults
of the Venitians against whom they fought
for the monopoly of Constantinople's
external and internal trade.
From
the 14th century, the Byzantines
had to confront the Ottoman
Turks who conquired little
by little their domains in Asia
and Europe. Constantinople was
besieged a first time in 1396
by Sultan Bayezit I (1389-1402)
who built the Anadolu HisarFortress. Opposite, the
Rumeli
Hisar Fortress was built in
1452 by MehmetII
(1451-1481) who was preparing
the blockade of the city.
Having
in vain sought help from the Pope
who, in return, insisted on the
union of the Greeks to the Roman
Catholic Church, Constantine
XI (1449-1453) prepared himself
for war, having the city walls
repaired and chains stretched
accross the Golden Horn to block
the access to the ships. The siege
started on April 6 1453, but the
first attack was launched on April
18 or 19. To the surprise of the
Byzantines, the sultan had his
ships pulled on grease-coated
boards to the top of a hill from
where he had them slide into the
Golden Horn. On May 23, new surrender
proposals having been turned down,
the final attack was launched
in the night of May 28-29 1453.
While a standard-bearer drove
in one of the towers the first
Ottoman standard, Emperor Constantine
XI died fighting at the walls
where the Adnan Menderes Boulevard
begins.
The Conquest of Constantinople
painting by Zonaro, Dolmabahçe
Palace
Constantinople
met with the same fate as any
city that has refused to surrunder:
it was looted during three days.
Then Mehmet II the Conqueror
signed a Firman (decree) saying
that the defeated people would
be restored their rights. He gave
his protection to the Christians,
appointed a new patriarch called
Gennadios, he acknowledged the
privileges of the Genoeses at
Galata (however ordering the destruction
of the walls), allowed the Venitians
to trade freely. The Greeks
clustered around their patriarchate
at Fener, the Armenians
at Yedikule, the Jews
at Balat. Colonists arrived from
different parts of Anatolia and
the Empire. Then Constantinople
entered into a new era of prosperity
and quietness, sometimes troubled
by palace discords and natural
disasters. The Islamic city, adorned
with beautiful monuments, reached
its apogée under the reign of
Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566).
Since the conquest, the history
of Constantinople has been connected
to the history of the Ottoman
Empire, then to that of Modern
Turkey , as it remained the
Capital of the Empire until
1923 when it was replaced by Ankara
after the Turkish
Republic was proclaimed.
The city went through several
name changes before it finally
became Stambul, then Istanbul
in 1930.
BYZANTINE MONUMENTS
The Walls:
since its foundation, the old city had been surrounded
four times by walls. The city of Byzantium and
it fortifications were destroyed by Roman Emperor
Septimus Severus in 196 AD, and entirely rebuilt
by him. After 330, Emperor Constantine
the Great, enlarging the city, built new walls.
Having to recall Rome, Constantinople was to be
a city of seven hills and fourteen regions. The
Fourteenth Region was formed by the suburb of
Blachernae located on a hill outside the walls
of Constantine, and the Thirteenth Region was
the suburb of Sycae (Galata),
located on the opposite bank of the Golden Horn.
It was to the ramparts of Constantine that the
city owed its safety when attacked by the Goths,
after the terrible defeat of Emperor Valens at
Hadrianople (Edirne)
in 378.
The construction of the fourth city walls (that
can be seen today) was started in 413 under the
reign of Theodosius II. First, the land fortifications
extending between the Marmara Sea and the Golden
Horn were built. From 439, the coastal walls of
Constantine were extended along the Golden Horn
and the Marmara Sea to join the new line of fortification.
In the year 447, when the ramparts were damaged
by an earthquake and the city was imperiled by
Atilla the Hun, the land walls, which remained
the main defense, were reinforced with an outer
wall erected in a short period of time to ensure,
with broad ditches in front of them, a second
line of defense.
Along the centuries these walls underwent repairs
and transformations. The land walls of Constantine
fell into decay and gradually disappeared. In
627, Emperor Heraclius in order to protect the
Sanctuary of Panaghia of Blachernae located
outside the city walls,
had it surrounded with fortifications. In 813,
Leo V built the wall which stands in front of
the wall of Heraclius to reinforce that point
in view of an expected attack by the Bulgarians.
In the 12th century, a new portion of ramparts
was added by Manuel I Comnenus (1143-1180) for
a better protection of the quarter of Blachernae
in which stood the Palaces where the Byzantine
emperors now resided.
The total length of the walls stretched over 21
kms/ 13 miles, of which 7 kms/ 4.5 miles (the
land walls) extended between the Marmara Sea and
the Golden Horn; about 5 kms/ 3 miles along the
Golden Horn; and about 8 kms/ 5 miles along the
Marmara Sea. These ramparts were pierced by several
gates, many of them are still beinguse d today,
and protected by bastions and towers. Map 2,
E 3 and Map
4, C 2, D2, E1
City
walls of Theodosius at Silivri Gate - Silivri
Kapisi
The
city walls of Manuel Comnenos
at Ayvansaray near the Golden Horn
The
Palace of Blachernae: in the suburb
of Blachernae, on the hills overlooking
the Golden Horn, the first Palace of Blachernae
was built in the mid 5th century as can
be told by the materials and structures
found at the site. The palace stood extra-muros
in a retired position in the neighborhood
of the great St Mary Church of Blachernae
(see below) and was most probably used
first as a place of retreat during the
visits made by the emperors to the holy
shrine (see below). In
627, after escaping the peril represented
by the Avars, Emperor Heraclius (575-641)
had the area surrounded and included within
the city fortifications. With
his accession to the throne, Alexius I
Comnenus (1081-1118) extended and embellished
the Palace of Blachernae. The imperial
court moved to the palace which became
the new and main residence of the Basilei,
the Byzantine rulers, replacing the old
Great
Palace near the
Hippodrome. Manuel I Commenus (1143-1180)
added another building to the Palace of
Blachernae which became a palatial complex.
The Palace of the Blachernae was destroyed
by a fire at the time of the Ottoman conquest
of the city. Some ruins of the palace
can be found behind the Ivaz Efendi Camii
(mosque) built by Architect Sinan
in 1585.
The Palace of Constantine VII Porphyrogenetus
(Tekfur Sarayi), adjacent to the city
walls, was part of the palatial complex
of Blachernae. The palace is known as
the Palace of Constantine VII Porphyrogenetus
probably because this emperor built a
first palace on this site. Constantine
VII Porphyrogenetus, whose name means
"born in the purple" because
he was born during the reign of his father,
ruled between 913-959. Substructures dating
from the 10th century have been brought
to light, however, the upper parts of
the palace date at least from the end
of the 12th century. The facade of this
three-storied building is a beautiful
example of external polychromy, with red
brick and white stone, which was used
in the byzantine constructions. Of the
many buildings composing the complex of
Blachernae, only this palace has partly
survived, making it a rare and outstanding
example of Byzantine palace and civil
architecture left in the city.
Under the Ottoman rule, the palace, now
called Tekfur Sarayi (the Palace of the
Emperor), served as the sultan's menagerie.
Later, Damat Ibrahim Pasha, grand vizier
(sadrazam) under Ahmet III (1703-1730),
had a ceramic and tile workshop set up
at Tekfur Sarayi, aiming at replacing
Iznik which had
reached its prime during the reign of
Suleyman the Magnificent
and up to the end of the 17th century.
However, the quality and output being
much inferior to that of Iznik, tile
manufacturing at Tekfur Sarayi was given
up after thirty years or so and the place
fell progressively into oblivion until
the 1950's when restoration works were
started.
The palace is located a few minutes walk
from Saint Saviour
in Chora Museum (Kariye), not very
far from the Edirnekapi Gate.
Very little is known about the palatial
complex of Blachernae. However, according
to the French Crusader Robert Of Clary's
chronicle of the Capture of Constantinople,
we learn of his amazement with what he
saw in the Palace of Blachernae as he
wrote that such richness and magnificence
could not be described. He also mentioned
that a great treasure, including the crowns,
jewels and imperial robes, was kept at
the Palace of Blachernae while in the
richly decorated Chapel of the Pharos
at the Palace of Bukoleon (the
harbor palace which was part of the old
Great
Palace complex) many precious relics
were kept, of which two pieces of the
True Cross, the spearhead which pierced
the side of Jesus, two of the nails driven
in His hands and feet, a little of His
blood, His tunic, the Crown of Thorns
and the skull of St John the Baptist.
Another relic he saw was a cloth bearing
an image of Jesus ("Christ Acheiropoietos"
meaning "not made by human hands")
called the Mandylion by the Byzantines
and claimed to be the Sydoine (the shroud)
in which Jesus had been wrapped. When
brought from Edessa
(Urfa) to Constantinople in 944, it had
been placed within the Chapel of Pharos
andlaterwas exhibited
every Friday in the Church of St Mary
of Blachernae. After the Crusaders
of the Fourth
Crusade sacked the city in April 1204,
the booty and relics were send to the
western countries. What happened then
to the Mandylion/Sydoine is not known,
but according to a theory, the Turin Shroud
might be the lost Mandylion.
Church
of St Mary of Blachernae:
the
history of the Panaghia Blachernae
(in Turkish Meryem Ana Kilisesi),
the most celebrated
sanctuary of the Holy Virgin in
Constantinople in Byzantine times,
goes back to the 5th century
when Empress Pulcheria (450- 453),
the daughter of Emperor Arcadius,
and her husband, Emperor Marcian
(450-457), had a church built on
the site of a sacred spring, a
place of pilgrimage since pre-Christian
times
near the shore of the Golden Horn
(today Ayvansaray). Emperor Leo
I (457-474) completed the church,
adding the Hagiasma, the fountain
of holy water where water flowed
out of the hands of the marble statue
of the Virgin; and the Haghion Lousma,
the sacred pool where
the emperors would frequently attend
a bathing purification ritual.
Leo I also added the paracclesion
of the Haghia Soros to house the
holy Robe of the Virgin brought
from Palestine in 458 and the Girdle
(transferred here from another church),
as well as other relics of many
saints.
The shrine also housed the miracle-working
Icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa.
In 626, when Constantinople was
besieged by the Avars while Emperor
Heraclius was campaigning against
the Persians, the saving of the
city was attributed to the intervention
of the Theotokos (Mother of God)
after the icon was carried in procession
along the city walls. In order to
shield the extra-muros sanctuary
which had been exposed to great
danger during the siege of the city,
in 627, Emperor Heraclius (575-641)
had the area surrounded by fortifications.
The icon disappeared during the
Iconoclast
period and, according to tradition,
was found hidden behind a wall during
renovation works in 1030.
In
1070, a fire damaged the church
which was rebuilt by the Emperors
Romanus IV Diogenes (1067-1078)
and Michael VII Ducas (1071-1078).
When the Palace of Blachernae was
erected further up on the slope
of the hill, it was connected by
a stairway to the church. The entire
complex of buildings was destroyed
by fire in 1434 and
nothing remained from the shrine
except for the Sacred Spring. In
1867, a chapel was built and later
additions were made to give the
old sacred spring the aspect it
has today. Four wall paintings by
Eirenarchos Covas (1964) and a marble
plaque inscribed with the celebrated
Byzantine hymn to the Theotokos
have been placed above the hagiasma
(Ayazma in Turkish).
The spring, which is reputed to
have healing powers, is still much
visited by Greek Orthodox pilgrims.
The
portion of the fortifications that descends
from the court of TekfurSarayi
to Egrikapi, was built by Manuel I Comnenus
to ensure a better protection of the Palace
of Blachernae. Of the nine towers built
at the time of the Comneni, Isaac Angelus
and the Palaeologi, two twins towers located
near the Ivaz Efendi Mosque, hold one's
attention. These two towers, the tower
of Isaac Angelus and the tower of Anemas,
served as a prison until the Ottoman conquest.
Isaac II Angelus,
dethroned by his brother Alexis
III Angelus in 1195, was imprisoned
in the tower pierced with three windows
facing the exterior of the city, and his
eyes were gouged out. The second tower
was named after Michael Anemas. This high-ranking
army officer was the leader of a conspiracy
aiming at murdering Emperor Alexius Comnenus
I. But somebody revealed the plot and
Anemas and his companions were sentenced
to death after having their eyes gouged
out. Taking pity on Anemas, Anna Comnena,
the Emperor's daughter, interviened and
he was granted pardon but was confined
in chains in the tower. Map
4, C 2
Yedikule
Fortress
(Seven Towers Fortress)
is located at the meeting
point of the Theodosian land walls and the coastal
walls facing
the Marmara Sea.
A triumphal arch called “Porta Aurea”, the Golden
Gate flanked by two pylons, was erected by Theodosius
I in 380
outside the walls of Constantine.
Like
in Rome, this arch was meant for the victorious
emperors and armies triumphantly entering the
city on return from campaigns. Later,
the
arch was incorporated into the land walls of Theodosius
II who also added four towers to the structure.
Following the conquest of
the town, three
other towers and a wall were built by sultan
Mehmet II, hence its
Turkish name Yedi Kule or Seven Towers Fortress.
This construction was first used as Ottoman Treasury
until the reign of Sultan Murat III (1574-1595).
Later, it was turned into a prison where both
natives and foreigners where detained in captivity.
To the right of the entrance stands the Tower
of the Ambassadors named after the officials from
the countries at war with the Ottoman Empire,
imprisoned here. In 1622, young Sultan Osman
II, deposed by the janissaries,
was jailed inside the left tower and executed
here at the age of seventeen.
