"CONSTANTINOPOLE" a Istanbul Travel Page by hadrian

"Not since the world was made was there ever seen or won so great a treasure, or so noble or so rich, nor in the time of Alexander, nor in the time of Charlemagne, nor before, nor after, nor do I think myself that in the forty richest cities of the world had there been so much wealth as was found in Constantinople. For the Greeks say that two-thirds of the wealth of this world is in Constantinople and the other third scattered throughout the world."
--Robert of Clari, a French crusader who witnessed the pillage of the city in 1204, describing Constantinople.

To not be misunderstood, I must explain the reason for the title I chose.
I went seeking for something that for sure could not exist anymore. I was somehow convinced that I will not find out too much of what for 1000 years, it was the richest city of Christianity. Everything started with a book, The Falling down of Constantinople and with the image I made in my mind about The City of the Basileos.
The disappointing was big, few proofs are left of the pompous establishment, Man and Nature, together, destroyed what was once the New Rome of Constantine the Great and later, during the VI century, the pompous capital city of the greatest empire history's ever seen, The Byzantine Empire, which under Justinian reaches its apogee, including within its borders Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, Balkans, Italy, south of Spain and territories from north of Africa, among them, Egypt.
How did the city appear as it was set on 7 hills, like Rome, and also divided in 14 sectors, including 4 main forums, luxurious palaces, aqueducts, underground cisterns, thermae, triumph arches, hippodrome, churches, libraries, green spaces? At a time when medieval cities from Europe had a sad aspect, even wretched, when Europe was "sunk" in the dark of ignorance, Constantinople was an oasis of study, art and culture, a land of law, a capital city of elegance, of rich, luxury and refinement.

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Constantine the Great

Remembering the history.

676 BC, a Greek colonist, named Byzas, leads an expedition from over populated cities of Athena and Megara towards Bosphorus and founds Byzant colony.
64 BC, Pompei includes Byzant within the Roman Empire and call it Byzantion.
195 AD, Septimius Severus destroys Byzantion because it supported his rival to the throne, Pescenius Niger, but he will reconstruct the city later.

First period of Byzantine History: 300 - 610.

306 AD, Constantine the Great ( 306-337 ) becomes the emperor of the Roman Empire and in 330 AD moves the capital city to Constantinople ( Constantine's polis )
395 AD, Theodosius the First, divides the Roman Empire between his two sons, Honorius in the West and Arcadius in the East.
412 AD, start the construction of Walls of Theodosius the Second. Constantinople becomes the most fortified city of the time.
476 AD, The Western Roman Empire is conquered by barbarians.
527 AD, on throne comes Justinian the Great ( 527-565 ) the last great roman emperor. He conquers back the territories from West, builds Saint Sophia and continues to build the Imperial Palace.

The second period of Byzantine History: 610 - 1080.

It is the classical period of this civilization.
654 AD, Arabian armies invade Anatolia and introduce the Islamism. From 674 they siege the city of Constantinople for 4 years, without any success.
726 AD, Leon the Third inaugurates the iconoclastic policy that will last for over 100 years.
1025 AD, represents the apogee of the Byzantine State under Basil the Second
1054 AD, the big Christian Rupture.

The third period of Byzantine History: 1081 - 1453.

It is a time of progressive and general decline.
1176 AD, the Byzantium loses for ever Anatolia, during the battle from Myriocephalon with Seljuk Turks from the East, which was for long time the most important province of the Empire ( Asia Minor )
1204 AD, Constantinople is conquered and terribly robed for the first time in its history by the Christians!!!! of the Fourth Crusade.

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Mehmed the Conqueror

The Ottomans

The beginning of the XIVth Century witnesses the birth of another Empire, not less grandiose than the ones that preceded it.
1301 AD, Osman the First founds the basis of a state which will play for six centuries a main role on political, economical and cultural scene of Europe, the Ottoman Empire.
1326 AD, Ottomans conquer Prusa, nowadays the town of Bursa.
1362 AD, Ottomans conquer Adrianopole, nowadays the city of Edirne, which becomes the capital city of the Ottoman Empire.
By this time, Byzantine Empire is reduced at the area of the city of Constantinople.
1402 AD, Mongols attack the Ottoman's territory, fact which will postpone the siege of Constantinople.
1422 AD, the Ottoman army attack for the very first time the extraordinary defense structure of the city of Constantinople. The fortifications of Theodosius prove their fame, the walls built in 412 AD repelled the siege of the Sultan Murad the Third.
The Ottoman threatening grows up, the Europe is insensibly to the tragedy taking place on the Bosphorus shores, its economical interests being even favorably to the falling down of the Constantinople. In 1453, the Sultan Mehmed the Second, after a siege of 53 days, with 200.000 soldiers and a fleet of 400 ships, breaks the defensive structure and conquers the city.
The Turks find nothing from the legendary riches of the city, everything was sacrificed in the attempt to save it. What was not destroyed by the Turks, mad because they did not find the promised wealth as war spoil, was destroyed in time by the Nature, through earthquakes.
What remained however from the fastuous city?
( please go to the must see activities )

Constantinople transforms itself in Istanbul, the City of the Islam, the capital city of Ottoman Empire for the next 600 years. The city is rebuilt, a lot of Byzantine churches are turn into mosques, there are new palaces built, gardens, pavilions, bazaars, Turkish baths. A lot of them witnesses nowadays the refinement of the Ottoman culture. The richness and wealth gathering in the different museums, remind all about a great Empire which, under the Suleyman the Magnificent, stretched out from Algeria to Caspian See and from Hungary to Persian Gulf, at a moment in which Western Europe hardly avoided a conquer when the Ottoman army was defeated in 1592 at Vienna.
( please go to the must see activities )

Here comes at an end the itinerary of a traveler through Istanbul, an absolutely delightful city, full of surprises, with people extremely friendly, cheerful and full of life. A modern town which stands in front of a double identity problem, half European, half Asian, a town of an apart charm, born from two different cultures which confers its unique atmosphere.