History of Istanbul

Istanbul

Although it has had other names like Byzantium/Byzantion, New Rome, Kostantiniyye, there was nothing new about the name "Istanbul."  Arab and European writers had used it since at least the tenth century.  It was a version of the Greek "Stamboul" meaning "in/to the city."  Known for a long time as Constantinople, the greatest of all cities, people across the eastern Roman Empire also referred to it as simply "the City."  Foreigners heard that and gave their best approximations in their own tongues.  It was, after all, just a place name.

The Turks, too, had long referred to Constantinople by its Greek nickname.  In Turkish usage, it is common to precede a name containing hard consonants with an "i" or "is" sound.  This was true with other Greek cities, such as Smyrna (Izmir,) and Nicaea (Iznik.)  In the case of Constantinople, Stamboul became "Istanbul."  During the Ottoman Empire, the city continued to have two common names - Constantinople (formal) and Istanbul (informal.)

Byzantion was originally a trading settlement in Thrace - named after Byzas, the King of Thrace.  It was a Greek city for many centuries.  Emperor Constantine moved the capital of Roman Empire East from Rome to New Rome, later named after him Constantinople.  It was the largest and most prosperous city on earth for the longest time - even when the "ownership" changed from Greeks to Venetians/Genoas, Christians to Turks to Muslims.

We of course use the word Byzantine to mean something excessively complicated, typically involving a great deal of administrative detail.  The history of Istanbul truly is Byzantine - and worth exploring if you are so inclined.  I suggest a recent book "Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World" by Thomas F. Madden.

Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine (330–1204 and 1261–1453), and also of the brief Latin (1204–1261), and the later Ottoman (1453–1923) empires.  From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe and it was instrumental in the advancement of Christianity during Roman and Byzantine times as the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and as the guardian of Christendom's holiest relics such as the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross. 

After the final loss of its provinces in the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople, and the city eventually fell to the Ottomans after a month-long siege in 1453.when it was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II.

The city was famed for its architectural masterpieces, such as the Greek Orthodox cathedral of Hagia Sophia, which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the sacred Imperial Palace where the Emperors lived (Topkapi), Galata Tower, the Hippodrome, the Golden Gate of the Land Walls, and the opulent aristocratic palaces lining the arcaded avenues and squares. The University of Constantinople was founded in the fifth century and contained numerous artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had over 100,000 volumes of ancient texts.

Walls of Istanbul (Bizans Surlari)

What protected the city were its famous walls throughout much of its history.  The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city since its founding by Constantine the Great.  As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century.  Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, when well-manned, they were almost impregnable for any medieval besieger, saving the city, and the Byzantine Empire with it.  The advent of gunpowder siege cannons rendered the fortifications vulnerable, but cannon technology was not sufficiently advanced to capture the city on its own, and the walls could be repaired between reloading.  Ultimately the city fell from sheer numbers of the Ottoman forces on 29 May 1453 after a six-week siege - nearly 900 years later.

The walls were largely maintained intact during most of the Ottoman period, until sections began to be dismantled in the 19th century, as the city outgrew its medieval boundaries.  Despite the subsequent lack of maintenance, many parts of the walls survived and are still standing today. A large-scale restoration program has been underway since the 1980s.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was a Greek Orthodox Christian church.  It was Roman Empire's first Christian Cathedral from the date of its construction in 537 AD and until 1453.(except between 1204 and 1261 when it was converted by the Fourth Crusaders to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire.)  It remained the world's largest cathedral, and the focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years.

In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed the Conqueror, who ordered Hagia Sophia converted into a mosque.   The bells, altar, iconostasis, and other relics were destroyed and the mosaics depicting Jesus, his Mother Mary, Christian saints and angels were also destroyed or plastered over (discovered later during renovations.)

Until the construction of the nearby Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) in 1616, it was the principal mosque of Istanbul.  It remained a mosque until 1931 and then opened as a museum on 1 February 1935. 

The Byzantine architecture of the Hagia Sophia served as inspiration for many other Ottoman mosques, such as the Blue mosque, the Şehzade Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque and the Kılıç Ali Pasha Complex, as well as the Mosque of Mohamed Ali at Salah El Din Al Ayouby Citadel in Cairo, Egypt (which we visited earlier.)

Hagia Sophia's vast interior has a complex structure.  Its nave is covered by a central dome which at its maximum is 182 ft 5 in from floor level and rests on an arcade of 40 arched windows, giving the dome the appearance of hovering above. .  At the western entrance side and eastern liturgical side, there are arched openings extended by half domes of identical diameter to the central dome, carried on smaller semi-domed exedras; a hierarchy of dome-headed elements built up to create a vast oblong interior crowned by the central dome, with a clear span of 250 ft.

The dome of Hagia Sophia has spurred particular interest for many art historians, architects and engineers because of the innovative way the original architects envisioned it. The dome is carried on four spherical triangular pendentives (corners of the square base of the dome which curve upwards into the dome to support it) restraining the lateral forces of the dome and allowing its weight to flow downwards.  They were reinforced with large buttresses during Byzantine and later Ottoman times - in total, 24 buttresses were added.

The weight of the dome remained a problem for most of the building's existence. The original cupola collapsed entirely after the earthquake of 558; in 563 a new dome was built. Unlike the original, this included 40 ribs (like a scalloped shell or the inside of an umbrella,) in order to lower the lateral forces on the church walls.  A larger section of the second dome collapsed as well in two episodes, so that today only two sections of the present dome still date from the 563 reconstruction.  Of the total 40 ribs, the surviving north section contains 8 ribs, and the south section 6 ribs.

The minarets outside were of course an Ottoman addition after it was converted to a mosque, and not part of the original church's Byzantine design.  One of the minarets (at southwest) was built from red brick while the other three were built from white limestone and sandstone.

Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque, as it is popularly known, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Sultan Ahmet Mosque, is a historic mosque and continues to function as a mosque today.  It was constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I.  At night, the mosque is nicely lit to frame its five main domes, six minarets and eight secondary domes.  It sits next to the Hagia Sophia, another very popular tourist site.

Hand-painted blue tiles adorn the mosque’s interior walls, giving its name.  These more than 20,000 handmade İznik style ceramic tiles (made at Iznik or the ancient Nicaea) come in more than fifty different tulip designs. The tiles at lower levels are traditional in design, while at gallery level their design becomes flamboyant with representations of flowers, fruit and cypresses.  The upper levels of the interior are dominated by blue paint.  More than 200 stained glass windows with intricate designs admit natural light.  

Four minarets stand at the corners of the Blue Mosque. Each of these fluted, pencil-shaped minarets has three balconies (Şerefe,) while the two others at the end of the forecourt only have two balconies.  In the past, the muezzin or prayer caller had to climb a narrow spiral staircase five times a day to announce the call to prayer.  Today, a public announce system is being used, and the call can be heard across the old part of the city, echoed by other mosques in the vicinity.  Large crowds of both Turks and tourists gather at sunset in the park facing the mosque to hear the call to evening prayers (we did.), as the sun sets and the mosque is brilliantly illuminated by colored floodlights.

Mosques traditionally have 1, 2 or 4 minarets depending on their size, with only the Great Mosque of Mecca having six.  According to folklore, an architect misheard the Sultan's request for "altın minareler" (gold minarets) as "altı minare" (six minarets), and so he built six at the Blue Mosque.  When criticized for his presumption, the Sultan then ordered a seventh minaret to be built at the Mecca mosque.  Today, the Blue Mosque is one of the three mosques in Turkey that has six minarets - the other two being the modern Sabancı Mosque in Adana and the Hz. Mikdat Mosque in Mersin.

Basilica Cistern

As the city grew, the Harbor of Theodosius solved the problem of food imports, but did nothing for the increasing need for freshwater.  Half a million people require a great deal of water, both for their own personal consumption and for a sewer system.  In antiquity, civilized urban life required lavish public baths and elaborate public fountains, which dotted ancient urban landscapes.  Many fountains were massive, ornate monsters spewing water in all directions.  As a general rule of thumb, ancient Romans in elite cities required approximately 265 gallons per person per day. (By comparison, modern Americans use approximately 100 gallons per day.)  Multiply that by 500,000 people, and the amount of water required by Constantinople was truly staggering. 

As in Rome, it was necessary to seek out freshwater sources farther and farther from the city, building extensive aqueduct lines to carry it underground and over valleys. A major water project was completed in 373, named for the then current emperor Valens.  Although it is commonly thought that the Aqueduct of Valens is simply the impressive structure that today stretches across Ataturk Boulevard, it was in fact a complex of water lines that stretched more than sixty miles to the Istranca and Balkan Mountain.

So extensive a network of aqueducts could pose a strategic risk should an enemy discover their locations and cut off the supply. The Romans responded to this risk in innovative ways. Large underground cisterns were dug in Constantinople to hold water for easy retrieval from wells and for use in times of drought or danger. The most famous of these is the Basilica Cistern.  Its arched ceiling is supported by 336 columns that collectively prop up the building above. This one cistern could hold more than 100,000 tons of water, yet it was just one of many midsize underground cisterns scattered across the vast city. The columns themselves are justifiably famous for their diverse shapes and designs.  Yet virtually all of them were recycled from older buildings. 

Indeed, as beautiful as the Basilica Cistern is today, illumined by colored lights and accompanied by the sound of dripping water from above, it was never meant to be visited on foot, with but a few inches of water along the floor. All the columns that inspire such wonder among modern tourists were for centuries underwater. The purpose of the cistern, after all, was to be full.

It is still not known how many underground cisterns were built in Constantinople.  Fewer than a hundred are known, but there were undoubtedly several thousand.  Over the centuries some collapsed, others were re-purposed, and still others remain to be discovered.  But in the fourth and fifth centuries their function was simple: to store large amounts of water for the ready use of the citizens and for cases of emergency.  These underground cisterns were only part of Constantinople's water storage strategy. There were at least three massive open air cisterns as well. These deep rectangular pools not only held large amounts of surplus water, but also provided a rudimentary filtration system for water bound for the smaller underground cisterns.

Turkey(ie): 

Currently, Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion - the Turkish Constitution provides for freedom of religion and conscience.  There are no official statistics of people's religious beliefs nor is it asked in the census.  It is estimated that 99.8% of the Turkish population is Muslim.  Ottoman Turks, however, were not Muslims.  Islam spread over time through Eastern Turkey (Anatolia) from Africa and Middle East..  

Before that, Christianity had a long history in present-day Turkey.  It is the birthplace of numerous Christian Apostles and Saints, such as Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Nicholas of Myra, Polycarp of Smyrna and many others. 

Saint Peter founded one of the first churches in Antioch (Antakya), the location of which is regarded by tradition as the spot where he first preached the Gospel, and where the followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time in history. 

The house where Virgin Mary lived the final days of her life until her Assumption (according to Catholic doctrine) or Dormition (according to Orthodox belief), and the tomb of John the Apostle who accompanied her during the voyage to Anatolia after the crucifixion of Jesus, are in Ephesus. 

The cave churches in Cappadocia were among the hiding places of early Christians during the Roman persecutions against them. The Eastern Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Constantinople since the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD.  Two of the five major episcopal sees of the Pentarchy (Constantinople and Antioch) instituted by Justinian the Great in 531 AD were located in present-day Turkey during the Byzantine period.

For a broader view of Spread of world religions over time