Which city used to be called Constantinople?
"The modern Turkish name for the city, ""İstanbul"", derives from the Greek phrase ""eis tin polin"" (), meaning ""(in)to the city"". This name was used in Turkish alongside ""Kostantiniyye"", the more formal adaptation of the original ""Constantinople"", during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as part of the 1920s Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities, instead of other transliterations to"
"Tsargrad Tsargrad is a Slavic name for the city or land of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, and present-day Istanbul in Turkey. It is rendered in several ways depending on the language, for instance Old Church Slavonic: Цѣсарьградъ; Church Slavonic; Царьгра̀дъ, ; South Slavic languages: Carigrad or Цариград, depending on their alphabets (or ""Tsarigrad"" as an alternative Latin transliteration of Cyrillic); ; ; ; ; also Czargrad and Tzargrad; see ""Tsar"". ""Tsargrad"" is an Old Church Slavonic translation of the Greek Βασιλὶς Πόλις. Combining the Slavonic words ""tsar"" for ""Caesar / Emperor"" and ""grad"" for ""city"","
"as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself. (See Nova Roma.) After his death the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, ""Konstantinoupolis"", ""city of Constantine""). This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state,"
"New Rome New Rome (Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη, ""Nea Romē""; Latin: ""Nova Roma"") was a name sometimes used to describe the new city that the Roman Emperor Constantine created as his new imperial capital on the European coast of the Bosphorus strait. The city was known as Byzantium prior to his rededication, and as Constantinople thereafter, until the 20th century, when it was renamed Istanbul. 'New Rome' was never an official title, but was sometimes used as a laudatory description of the city, which was often compared with Rome in many ways (see the paragraph that follows). Constantine essentially rebuilt the"
"Walls of Constantinople The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey) since its founding as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate systems ever built. Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous"
"Byzantium Byzantium or Byzantion (; Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον, ""Byzántion"") was an ancient Greek colony in early antiquity that later became Constantinople, and then Istanbul. Byzantium was colonized by the Greeks from Megara in 657 BC. Ancient Greek legend refers to King Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. The form ""Byzantium"" is a latinisation of the original name. Much later, the name ""Byzantium"" became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire. Its capital Constantinople stood on the site of ancient Byzantium. The name ""Byzantine Empire"" was introduced by the historian Hieronymus"
"the ""City of Constantine"". He also attempted to promote the name ""Nova Roma"" and its Greek version """" ""Nea Romē"" (New Rome), but this did not enter widespread usage. ""Constantinople"" remained the most common name for the city in the West until the establishment of the Turkish Republic, and ""Kostantiniyye"" () and ""Be Makam-e Qonstantiniyyah al-Mahmiyyah"" (meaning ""the Protected Location of Constantinople"") and ""İstanbul"" were the names used alternatively by the Ottomans during their rule. The use of ""Constantinople"" to refer to the city during the Ottoman period (from the mid-15th century) is now considered politically incorrect, even if not"
"purported clepsydra mounted with a golden statue of a man. The Chinese histories even related how the city had been besieged in the 7th century by Muawiyah I and how he exacted tribute in a peace settlement. Constantinople Constantinople (; ) was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire (330–1204 and 1261–1453), and also of the brief Crusader state known as the Latin Empire (1204–1261), until finally falling to the Ottoman (1453–1923) empire. It was reinaugurated in 324 from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and"
"and the Sassanid Dynasty rose. Constantinople, situated on the Bosporus Straits at the mouth of the Black Sea, became a capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD after Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, refounded the city of Byzantium. Although the city was called Constantinople until its fall, the Eastern Roman Empire became known by the classical name of Byzantium, and often the city was called by its old name as well. The city's status as residence of the Eastern Roman Emperor made it into the premier city in all of the Eastern Roman colonies in the Balkans,"
"of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture () is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is the period after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Constantinople became known as the Roman capital in 330 AD. Constantinople is what is now present day Istanbul. Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. It began with Constantine the Great when he rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it Constantinople and continued with his building of churches and the forum of Constantine, as also"
"Great Palace of Constantinople The Great Palace of Constantinople (, ""Méga Palátion""; Latin: ""Palatium Magnum"", Turkish: ""Büyük Saray""), also known as the Sacred Palace (, ""Hieròn Palátion""; Latin: ""Sacrum Palatium""), was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as ""Old Istanbul"" (formerly Constantinople), in modern Turkey. It served as the main royal residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081 and was the center of imperial administration for over 690 years. Only a few remnants and fragments of its foundations have survived into the present day. When"
"also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during the preceding century, by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed ""Constantinopolis"" (""Constantine's City"" or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo"
"Constantinople (now called Istanbul, Turkey), and Sarajevo (in what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina), all of which were located in the Ottoman-ruled parts of Europe. Some migrated farther east to territories of the Ottoman Empire, settling among the long-established Arabic-speaking Jewish communities in Baghdad in Iraq, Damascus in Syria and Alexandria in Egypt. A few of the Eastern Sephardim followed the spice trade routes as far as the Malabar coast of southern India, where they settled among the established Cochin Jewish community, again imparting their culture and customs to the local Jews. The presence of Sephardim and New Christians along"
"may be a special case. When the city was first settled by Englishmen, in the early 17th century, both names were in use. Possibly they referred to different villages which were fused into the new settlement. In any case, Madras became the exonym, while more recently, Chennai became the endonym. Likewise, Istanbul (İstanbul in Turkish) is still called Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολη) in Greek, although the name was changed in Turkish to disassociate the city from its Greek past between 1923 and 1930 (the name Istanbul itself derives from a Medieval Greek phrase). Prior to Constantinople, the city was known in Greek"
"harbour of Bucoleon. Great Palace of Constantinople The Great Palace of Constantinople (, ""Méga Palátion""; Latin: ""Palatium Magnum"", Turkish: ""Büyük Saray""), also known as the Sacred Palace (, ""Hieròn Palátion""; Latin: ""Sacrum Palatium""), was the large Imperial Byzantine palace complex located in the south-eastern end of the peninsula now known as ""Old Istanbul"" (formerly Constantinople), in modern Turkey. It served as the main royal residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081 and was the center of imperial administration for over 690 years. Only a few remnants and fragments of its foundations have survived into the"
"Istanbul Istanbul (, or or ; ), historically known as Byzantium and before 1924 as Constantinople, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosporus strait (which separates Europe and Asia) between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side. The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (coterminous with Istanbul Province), both hosting a population of around 15"
"Constantine the Great to found there in AD 330 his new capital, Constantinople, which came to be known as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The expressions ""swim the Bosporus"" and ""cross the Bosporus"" were and are still used to indicate religious conversion to the Eastern Orthodox Church. On 29 May 1453, the then-emergent Ottoman Empire conquered the city of Constantinople following a lengthy campaign wherein the Ottomans constructed fortifications on each side of the strait, the Anadoluhisarı (1393) and the Rumelihisarı (1451), in preparation for not only the primary battle but to assert long-term control over the Bosporus"
"Names of Istanbul The city of Istanbul has been known by a number of different names. The most notable names besides the modern Turkish name are ""Byzantium"", ""Constantinople"", and ""Stamboul"". Different names are associated with different phases of its history and with different languages. According to Pliny the Elder the first name of Byzantium was ""Lygos"". This may have been the name of a Thracian settlement situated on the site of the later city, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu). ""Byzantion"" (Βυζάντιον), Latinized as ""Byzantium"", was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC. The name is believed"
"began to lose territories and the city began to lose population. By the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople and its environs, along with Morea in Greece, making it an enclave inside the Ottoman Empire; after a 53-day siege the city eventually fell to the Ottomans, led by Sultan Mehmed II, on 29 May 1453, whereafter it replaced Edirne (Adrianople) as the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. According to Pliny the Elder in his ""Natural History"", the first known name of a settlement on the site of Constantinople was ""Lygos"", a settlement likely of"
"Nicomedia Nicomedia (; , ""Nikomedeia""; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city in what is now Turkey. In 286 Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by Diocletian who assumed the title ""Augustus of the East""), a status which the city maintained during the Tetrarchy system (293–324). The Tetrarchy ended with the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) in 324, when Constantine defeated Licinius and became the sole emperor. In 330 Constantine chose for himself the nearby Byzantium (which was renamed Constantinople, modern Istanbul) as the new capital of the Roman Empire. It was founded"
"New, second Rome"", ""Alma Roma"" , , ""Eastern Rome"", ""Roma Constantinopolitana"". The Third Canon of the First Council of Constantinople (360) refers to the city as New Rome. The term ""New Rome"" lent itself to East–West polemics, especially in the context of the Great Schism, when it was used by Greek writers to stress the rivalry with (the original) Rome. ""New Rome"" is also still part of the official title of the Patriarch of Constantinople. ""Kōnstantinoúpolis"" (Κωνσταντινούπολις), ""Constantinopolis"" in Latin and ""Constantinople"" in English, was the name by which the city became soon more widely known, in honour of Constantine"
"Patria of Constantinople The Patria"" of Constantinople (), also regularly referred to by the Latin name Scriptores originum Constantinopolitarum"" (""writers on the origins of Constantinople""), are a Byzantine collection of historical works on the history and monuments of the Byzantine imperial capital of Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey). Although in the past attributed to the 14th-century writer George Kodinos, the collection in fact dates from earlier centuries, being probably first compiled ca. 995 in the reign of Basil II (r. 976–1025) and then revised and added to in the reign of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118). The collection contains: From an"
"named Constantinople (""City of Constantine""). In 395 Theodosius I, who had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, would be the last emperor to preside over a united Roman Empire. The empire was split into two halves: the Western Roman Empire centred in Ravenna, and the Eastern Roman Empire (later to be referred to as the Byzantine Empire) centred in Constantinople. The Roman Empire was repeatedly attacked by Hunnic, Germanic, Slavic and other “barbarian” tribes (see: Migration Period), and in 476 finally the Western part fell to the Heruli chieftain Odoacer. Roman authority in the Western part of"
"prime trading position in the center of the medieval world. This privileged position continued even as the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The city was also the center of half of the Christian world as the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox church. Napoleon Bonaparte is quoted as saying, ""If the Earth were a single state, Constantinople would be its capital."" Today, the city's name is Istanbul. The capital of the British Empire was London - though the empire has since passed, London is one of the world's leading business, financial, and cultural centres, and its influence in"
"Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture () is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is the period after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Constantinople became known as the Roman capital in 330 AD. Constantinople is what is now present day Istanbul. Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. It began with Constantine the Great when he rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it Constantinople and continued with his building of churches and the forum of Constantine, as also the Church of St. George,"
"city. Cistern of Aetius The Cistern of Aetius (), known since the Ottoman period as Çukurbostan (""sunken garden"") and since 1928 as Karagümrük stadyumu (""Karagümrük stadium"") or Vefa stadyumu (""Vefa stadium""), was a Byzantine open-sky water reservoir in the city of Constantinople, important for historical reasons. Once one of the largest Byzantine cisterns, it is now a football stadium in Istanbul. The cistern is located in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih (the walled city), in the neighborhood of Karagümrük, about southeast of the Gate of Edirne (the Byzantine Gate of Charisius, later known as Gate of Adrianople) of the"
"Constantinople, the old Greek city of Byzantion. The division is historically useful, but misleading, with an unbroken chain of emperors continuing up until the thirteenth century, and all citizens identifying themselves as fully Roman (""""Rhomaioi""""). The conversion of the empire from paganism to Christianity greatly affected Athens, resulting in reduced reverence for the city. Ancient monuments such as the Parthenon, Erechtheion and the Hephaisteion (Theseion) were converted into churches. As the empire became increasingly anti-pagan, Athens became a provincial town and experienced fluctuating fortunes. Many of its works of art were taken by the emperors to Constantinople. Athens was sacked"
"History of Istanbul The city today known as Istanbul has been the site of human settlement for approximately three thousand years. The settlement was founded by Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC, whose earliest known name is Lygos. It was colonised by the Greeks in the 7th century BC. It fell to the Roman Empire in AD 196, and was known as Byzantium until 330, when it was renamed Constantinople and made the new capital of the Roman Empire. During late antiquity, the city rose to be the largest of the western world, with a population peaking"
"Treaty of Constantinople (1913) The Treaty of Constantinople was a treaty between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria signed on 29 September 1913 after the Second Balkan War at the Ottoman capital Constantinople. In the First Balkan War, the coalition of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro defeated the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans lost nearly all their European possessions, save for a small territory around the Sea of Marmara by the Treaty of London. The Ottomans however were able to recover Eastern Thrace during the Second Balkan War. Although peace talks between Bulgaria and her other neighbours were held"
"Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, which had been founded as Byzantium). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Both"
"semi-ghost town with, as Ibn Battuta noted, sown fields within the city walls. The city by 1453 held less than a tenth of its former population. The city, known alternatively in Ottoman Turkish as ""Ḳosṭanṭīnīye"" ( after the Arabic form ) or Istanbul (while its Christian minorities continued to name it Constantinople), was the capital of the Ottoman Empire from its conquest in 1453 until the empire's collapse in 1922. On 29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II ""the Conqueror"", entered Constantinople after a 53–day siege during which his cannon had torn a huge hole in the Walls of Theodosius II."
"Roma (New Rome); it was later renamed Constantinople in his honor. The last emperor to control both the eastern and western halves of the empire was Theodosius I. As the century progressed after his death it became increasingly apparent that the empire had changed in many ways since the time of Augustus. The two emperor system originally established by Diocletian in the previous century fell into regular practice, and the east continued to grow in importance as a centre of trade and imperial power, while Rome itself diminished greatly in importance due to its location far from potential trouble spots,"
"as New Rome in AD 330. (The city is more commonly called Constantinople and is today named Istanbul). Although the empire was again subdivided and a co-emperor sent to Italy at the end of the fourth century, the office became unitary again only 95 years later at the request of the Roman Senate and following the death of Julius Nepos, last Western Emperor. This change was a recognition of the reality that little remained of Imperial authority in the areas that had been the Western Empire, with even Rome and Italy itself now ruled by the essentially autonomous Odoacer. These"