Like Istanbul was Constantinople. What is the name of Constantinople now? Capital of the Ottoman Empire

"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it"s Istanbul, not Constantinople, why did Constantinople get the works?.."

Every educated person knows two things about the history of Istanbul:

1. Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire here and gave the city his name, calling it Constantinople. (IV century AD)
2. After more than a thousand years, the Ottoman armies captured it and turned it into the capital of the Islamic world. At the same time, the name was changed, and it turned into Istanbul. (XVI century AD)

But, as it turns out, I was wrong. Neither Constantine nor the conquering Sultan renamed the city as I thought. They renamed it completely differently.

Here is a brief history of the many names of long-suffering Istanbul:

In 667 BC the city was founded under the name Byzantium(Greek Βυζάντιον) - there are suggestions that it was named so in honor of the Greek king Byzantine.

In 74 AD, the city of Byzantium became part of the Roman Empire. His name has not changed.

In 193, Emperor Septimius Severus decides to rename the city in honor of his son Anthony. For 19 years Byzantium became Augusta Antonina, then the name was changed back.

In 330, Constantine proclaimed Byzantium the capital of the empire, and issued a decree renaming the city to New Rome(not what you thought). True, no one liked this name, and residents continued to call the city Byzantium. At this point, the city was already almost 1,000 years old.

During his reign, Constantine intensively rebuilt the city, increased its size several times, and generally changed its appearance beyond recognition. For this, people began to call Byzantium the city of Constantine (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις).

Only during the reign of Theodosius II, about a hundred years later, the city was first called Constantinople in official documents - no one liked the name “New Rome” so much. As a result, this name was assigned to the Byzantine capital for centuries.

In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople after a long siege. This marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, and gave rise to the Ottoman Empire. The new owners began to call the city in a new way: Constantine. However, when translated, this means absolutely the same as in Greek - “city of Constantine.” At the same time, foreigners called it Constantinople and continued to do so.

To my surprise, it turned out that the city was called Constantinople throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire. Only after the emergence of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s, it was considered necessary to rename it. The Ataturk government urged all foreigners to call the city by a new name: Istanbul. (In Russian the city began to be called Istanbul.)

Where did this name come from? Another surprise: this is not a Turkish word at all, as I thought. For centuries, local residents referred to the central part of the city in Greek as "εις την Πόλιν" (in the Middle Ages it was pronounced "istembolis"). What simply means “City”, or, in the modern sense, “downtown”. That's exactly what New Yorkers call Manhattan "city" today.

1905 postcard: Constantinople, view of Galata and Istanbul

It turns out that the young government of Turkish nationalists used the Greek name for their capital at a time when they were actively fighting with their Greek neighbors for territory.

To summarize: Emperor Constantine Not named Constantinople after himself. Ottoman conquerors Not changed his name to Istanbul. And in general, Istanbul is a Greek, not a Turkish name, meaning “City”.

"Istanbul was Constantinople, now it"s Istanbul, not Constantinople, why did Constantinople get the works?.."

Every educated person knows two things about the history of Istanbul:

1. Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire here and gave the city his name, calling it Constantinople. (IV century AD)
2. After more than a thousand years, the Ottoman armies captured it and turned it into the capital of the Islamic world. At the same time, the name was changed, and it turned into Istanbul. (XVI century AD)

But, as it turns out, I was wrong. Neither Constantine nor the conquering Sultan renamed the city as I thought. They renamed it completely differently.

Here is a brief history of the many names of long-suffering Istanbul:

In 667 BC the city was founded under the name Byzantium(Greek Βυζάντιον) - there are suggestions that it was named so in honor of the Greek king Byzantine.

In 74 AD, the city of Byzantium became part of the Roman Empire. His name has not changed.

In 193, Emperor Septimius Severus decides to rename the city in honor of his son Anthony. For 19 years Byzantium became Augusta Antonina, then the name was changed back.

In 330, Constantine proclaimed Byzantium the capital of the empire, and issued a decree renaming the city to New Rome(not what you thought). True, no one liked this name, and residents continued to call the city Byzantium. At this point, the city was already almost 1,000 years old.

During his reign, Constantine intensively rebuilt the city, increased its size several times, and generally changed its appearance beyond recognition. For this, people began to call Byzantium the city of Constantine (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις).

Only during the reign of Theodosius II, about a hundred years later, the city was first called Constantinople in official documents - no one liked the name “New Rome” so much. As a result, this name was assigned to the Byzantine capital for centuries.

In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople after a long siege. This marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, and gave rise to the Ottoman Empire. The new owners began to call the city in a new way: Constantine. However, when translated, this means absolutely the same as in Greek - “city of Constantine.” At the same time, foreigners called it Constantinople and continued to do so.

To my surprise, it turned out that the city was called Constantinople throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire. Only after the emergence of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s, it was considered necessary to rename it. The Ataturk government urged all foreigners to call the city by a new name: Istanbul. (In Russian the city began to be called Istanbul.)

Where did this name come from? Another surprise: this is not a Turkish word at all, as I thought. For centuries, local residents referred to the central part of the city in Greek as "εις την Πόλιν" (in the Middle Ages it was pronounced "istembolis"). What simply means “City”, or, in the modern sense, “downtown”. That's exactly what New Yorkers call Manhattan "city" today.

1905 postcard: Constantinople, view of Galata and Istanbul

It turns out that the young government of Turkish nationalists used the Greek name for their capital at a time when they were actively fighting with their Greek neighbors for territory.

To summarize: Emperor Constantine Not named Constantinople after himself. Ottoman conquerors Not changed his name to Istanbul. And in general, Istanbul is a Greek, not a Turkish name, meaning “City”.

Constantinople is a unique city in many respects. This is the only city in the world located simultaneously in Europe and Asia and one of the few modern megacities whose age is approaching three millennia. Finally, this is a city that has undergone four civilizations and as many names in its history.

First settlement and provincial period

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.

Located at the crossroads of trade routes, Byzantium was a tasty prey for conquerors. Over the course of several centuries, the city changed many owners - Persians, Athenians, Spartans, Macedonians. In 74 BC. Rome laid its iron fist on Byzantium. A long period of peace and prosperity began for the city on the Bosphorus. But in 193, during the next battle for the imperial throne, the inhabitants of Byzantium made a fatal mistake. They swore allegiance to one candidate, and the strongest was another - Septimius Severus. Moreover, Byzantium also persisted in its non-recognition of the new emperor. For three years, the army of Septimius Severus stood under the walls of Byzantium, until hunger forced the besieged to surrender. The enraged emperor ordered the city to be razed to the ground. However, the residents soon returned to their native ruins, as if sensing that their city had a brilliant future ahead of them.

Capital of the Empire

Let's say a few words about the man who gave Constantinople his name.

Constantine the Great dedicates Constantinople to the Mother of God. Mosaic

Emperor Constantine was already called “The Great” during his lifetime, although he was not distinguished by high morality. This, however, is not surprising, because his whole life was spent in a fierce struggle for power. He participated in several civil wars, during which he executed his son from his first marriage, Crispus, and his second wife, Fausta. But some of his statesmanship are truly worthy of the title “Great”. It is no coincidence that descendants did not spare marble, erecting gigantic monuments to it. A fragment of one such statue is kept in the Museum of Rome. The height of her head is two and a half meters.

In 324, Constantine decided to move the seat of government from Rome to the East. At first, he tried on Serdika (now Sofia) and other cities, but in the end he chose Byzantium. Constantine personally drew the boundaries of his new capital on the ground with a spear. To this day, in Istanbul you can walk along the remains of the ancient fortress wall built along this line.

In just six years, a huge city grew on the site of provincial Byzantium. It was decorated with magnificent palaces and temples, aqueducts and wide streets with rich houses of the nobility. The new capital of the empire for a long time bore the proud name of “New Rome”. And only a century later, Byzantium-New Rome was renamed Constantinople, “the city of Constantine.”

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.

Reconstruction of the original view of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

In the first half of the 6th century, under Emperor Justinian I, the urban structure of Constantinople was brought into line with this idea. In the center of the Byzantine capital, the grandiose Cathedral of Sophia of the Wisdom of God was built, surpassing its Old Testament prototype - the Jerusalem Temple of the Lord. At the same time, the city wall was decorated with the ceremonial Golden Gate. It was assumed that at the end of time Christ would enter through them into God’s chosen city in order to complete the history of mankind, just as he once entered the Golden Gate of “old” Jerusalem to show people the path of salvation.

Golden Gate in Constantinople. Reconstruction.

It was the symbolism of the City of God that saved Constantinople from total ruin in 1453. The Turkish Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror ordered not to touch Christian shrines. However, he tried to destroy their previous meaning. Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque, and the Golden Gate was walled up and rebuilt (as in Jerusalem). Later, a belief arose among the Christian inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire that the Russians would liberate Christians from the yoke of infidels and enter Constantinople through the Golden Gate. The same ones to which Prince Oleg once nailed his scarlet shield. Well, wait and see.

It's time to blossom

The Byzantine Empire, and with it Constantinople, reached its greatest prosperity during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, who was in power from 527 to 565.

Bird's eye view of Constantinople in the Byzantine era (reconstruction)

Justinian is one of the most striking, and at the same time controversial figures on the Byzantine throne. An intelligent, powerful and energetic ruler, a tireless worker, the initiator of many reforms, he devoted his whole life to the implementation of his cherished idea of ​​reviving the former power of the Roman Empire. Under him, the population of Constantinople reached half a million people, the city was decorated with masterpieces of church and secular architecture. But under the mask of generosity, simplicity and outward accessibility hid a merciless, two-faced and deeply insidious nature. Justinian drowned popular uprisings in blood, brutally persecuted heretics, and dealt with the rebellious senatorial aristocracy. Justinian's faithful assistant was his wife, Empress Theodora. In her youth she was a circus actress and courtesan, but, thanks to her rare beauty and extraordinary charm, she became an empress.

Justinian and Theodora. Mosaic

According to church tradition, Justinian was half Slavic by origin. Before his accession to the throne, he allegedly bore the name Upravda, and his mother was called Beglyanitsa. His homeland was the village of Verdyan, near Bulgarian Sofia.

Ironically, it was during the reign of Justinian that Constantinople was first attacked by the Slavs. In 558, their troops appeared in the immediate vicinity of the Byzantine capital. At that time, the city had only foot guards under the command of the famous commander Belisarius. To hide the small number of his garrison, Belisarius ordered felled trees to be dragged behind the battle lines. Thick dust arose, which the wind carried towards the besiegers. The trick was a success. Believing that a large army was moving towards them, the Slavs retreated without a fight. However, later Constantinople had to see Slavic squads under its walls more than once.

Home of sports fans

The Byzantine capital often suffered from pogroms of sports fans, as happens with modern European cities.

In the daily life of the people of Constantinople, an unusually large role belonged to colorful public spectacles, especially horse racing. The passionate commitment of the townspeople to this entertainment gave rise to the formation of sports organizations. There were four of them in total: Levki (white), Rusii (red), Prasina (green) and Veneti (blue). They differed in the color of the clothes of the drivers of the horse-drawn quadrigas who participated in competitions at the hippodrome. Conscious of their strength, Constantinople fans demanded various concessions from the government, and from time to time they organized real revolutions in the city.

Hippodrome. Constantinople. Around 1350

The most formidable uprising, known as Nika! (i.e. “Conquer!”), broke out on January 11, 532. Spontaneously united followers of the circus parties attacked the residences of the city authorities and destroyed them. The rebels burned the tax rolls, captured the prison and released the prisoners. At the hippodrome, amid general rejoicing, the new Emperor Hypatius was solemnly crowned.

Panic began in the palace. The legitimate emperor Justinian I, in despair, intended to flee the capital. However, his wife Empress Theodora, appearing at a meeting of the imperial council, declared that she preferred death to loss of power. “The royal purple is a beautiful shroud,” she said. Justinian, ashamed of his cowardice, launched an attack on the rebels. His generals, Belisarius and Mund, standing at the head of a large detachment of barbarian mercenaries, suddenly attacked the rebels in the circus and killed everyone. After the massacre, 35 thousand corpses were removed from the arena. Hypatius was publicly executed.

In short, now you see that our fans, compared to their distant predecessors, are just meek lambs.

Capital menageries

Every self-respecting capital strives to acquire its own zoo. Constantinople was no exception here. The city had a luxurious menagerie - a source of pride and concern for the Byzantine emperors. European monarchs knew only by hearsay about the animals that lived in the East. For example, giraffes in Europe have long been considered a cross between a camel and a leopard. It was believed that the giraffe inherited its general appearance from one, and its coloring from the other.

However, the fairy tale paled in comparison with real miracles. Thus, in the Great Imperial Palace in Constantinople there was a chamber of Magnaurus. There was a whole mechanical menagerie here. The ambassadors of European sovereigns who attended the imperial reception were amazed by what they saw. Here, for example, is what Liutprand, the ambassador of the Italian king Berengar, said in 949:
“In front of the emperor’s throne stood a copper but gilded tree, the branches of which were filled with various kinds of birds, made of bronze and also gilded. The birds each uttered their own special melody, and the emperor’s seat was arranged so skillfully that at first it seemed low, almost at ground level, then somewhat higher and, finally, hanging in the air. The colossal throne was surrounded in the form of guards, copper or wooden, but, in any case, gilded lions, which madly beat their tails on the ground, opened their mouths, moved their tongues and emitted a loud roar. At my appearance, the lions roared, and the birds each sang their own melody. After I, according to custom, bowed before the emperor for the third time, I raised my head and saw the emperor in completely different clothes almost at the ceiling of the hall, while I had just seen him on a throne at a small height from the ground. I couldn’t understand how this happened: he must have been lifted up by a machine.”

By the way, all these miracles were observed in 957 by Princess Olga, the first Russian visitor to Magnavra.

Golden Horn

In ancient times, the Golden Horn Bay of Constantinople was of paramount importance in the defense of the city from attacks from the sea. If the enemy managed to break into the bay, the city was doomed.

Old Russian princes tried several times to attack Constantinople from the sea. But only once did the Russian army manage to penetrate the coveted bay.

In 911, the prophetic Oleg led a large Russian fleet on a campaign against Constantinople. To prevent the Russians from landing on the shore, the Greeks blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn with a heavy chain. But Oleg outwitted the Greeks. The Russian boats were placed on round wooden rollers and dragged into the bay. Then the Byzantine emperor decided that it was better to have such a person as a friend than an enemy. Oleg was offered peace and the status of an ally of the empire.

Miniature of the Ralziwill Chronicle

The Straits of Constantinople were also where our ancestors were first introduced to what we now call the superiority of advanced technology.

The Byzantine fleet at this time was far from the capital, fighting with Arab pirates in the Mediterranean. The Byzantine Emperor Roman I had at hand only a dozen and a half ships, written off due to disrepair. Nevertheless, Roman decided to give battle. Siphons with “Greek fire” were installed on the half-rotten vessels. It was a flammable mixture based on natural oil.

Russian boats boldly attacked the Greek squadron, the very sight of which made them laugh. But suddenly, through the high sides of the Greek ships, fiery jets poured onto the heads of the Rus. The sea around the Russian ships seemed to suddenly burst into flames. Many rooks burst into flames at once. The Russian army was instantly seized by panic. Everyone was thinking only about how to get out of this hell as quickly as possible.

The Greeks won a complete victory. Byzantine historians report that Igor managed to escape with barely a dozen rooks.

Church schism

Ecumenical councils met more than once in Constantinople, saving the Christian Church from destructive schisms. But one day an event of a completely different kind occurred there.

On July 15, 1054, before the start of the service, Cardinal Humbert entered the Hagia Sophia, accompanied by two papal legates. Walking straight into the altar, he addressed the people with accusations against the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius. At the end of his speech, Cardinal Humbert placed the bull of excommunication on the throne and left the temple. On the threshold, he symbolically shook off the dust from his feet and said: “God sees and judges!” For a minute there was complete silence in the church. Then there was a general uproar. The deacon ran after the cardinal, begging him to take the bull back. But he took away the document handed to him, and the bulla fell onto the pavement. It was taken to the patriarch, who ordered the papal message to be published, and then excommunicated the papal legates themselves. The indignant crowd almost tore apart the envoys of Rome.

Generally speaking, Humbert came to Constantinople for a completely different matter. At the same time, Rome and Byzantium were greatly annoyed by the Normans who had settled in Sicily. Humbert was instructed to negotiate with the Byzantine emperor on joint action against them. But from the very beginning of the negotiations, the issue of confessional differences between the Roman and Constantinople churches came to the fore. The Emperor, who was extremely interested in the military-political assistance of the West, was unable to calm down the raging priests. The matter, as we have seen, ended badly - after mutual excommunication, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope no longer wanted to know each other.

Later, this event was called the “great schism”, or “division of the Churches” into Western - Catholic and Eastern - Orthodox. Of course, its roots lay much deeper than the 11th century, and the disastrous consequences did not appear immediately.

Russian pilgrims

The capital of the Orthodox world - Constantinople (Constantinople) - was well known to the Russian people. Merchants from Kyiv and other cities of Rus' came here, pilgrims going to Mount Athos and the Holy Land stopped here. One of the districts of Constantinople - Galata - was even called the “Russian city” - so many Russian travelers lived here. One of them, Novgorodian Dobrynya Yadreikovich, left the most interesting historical evidence about the Byzantine capital. Thanks to his “Tale of Constantinople” we know how the crusader pogrom of 1204 found the thousand-year-old city.

Dobrynya visited Constantinople in the spring of 1200. He examined in detail the monasteries and churches of Constantinople with their icons, relics and relics. According to scientists, the “Tale of Constantinople” describes 104 shrines of the capital of Byzantium, and so thoroughly and accurately as none of the travelers of later times described them.

A very interesting story is about the miraculous phenomenon in the St. Sophia Cathedral on May 21, which, as Dobrynya assures, he personally witnessed. This is what happened that day: on Sunday before the liturgy, in front of the worshipers, a golden altar cross with three burning lamps miraculously rose into the air by itself, and then smoothly fell into place. The Greeks received this sign with jubilation, as a sign of God's mercy. But ironically, four years later, Constantinople fell to the Crusaders. This misfortune forced the Greeks to change their view on the interpretation of the miraculous sign: they now began to think that the return of the shrines to their place foreshadowed the revival of Byzantium after the fall of the Crusader state. Later, a legend arose that on the eve of the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, and also on May 21, the miracle was repeated, but this time the cross and lamps soared into the sky forever, and this already marked the final fall of the Byzantine Empire.

First surrender

At Easter 1204, Constantinople was filled only with groans and lamentations. For the first time in nine centuries, enemies - participants in the Fourth Crusade - were at work in the capital of Byzantium.

The call for the capture of Constantinople sounded at the end of the 12th century from the lips of Pope Innocent III. Interest in the Holy Land in the West at that time had already begun to cool. But the crusade against Orthodox schismatics was fresh. Few of the Western European sovereigns resisted the temptation to plunder the richest city in the world. Venetian ships, for a good bribe, delivered a horde of crusader thugs directly to the walls of Constantinople.

Crusaders storm the walls of Constantinople in 1204. Painting by Jacopo Tintoretto, 16th century

The city was stormed on Monday, April 13, and was subjected to total plunder. The Byzantine chronicler Niketas Choniates wrote indignantly that even “Muslims are kinder and more compassionate compared to these people who wear the sign of Christ on their shoulders.” Countless amounts of relics and precious church utensils were exported to the West. According to historians, to this day, up to 90% of the most significant relics in the cathedrals of Italy, France and Germany are shrines taken from Constantinople. The greatest of them is the so-called Shroud of Turin: the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, on which His face was imprinted. Now it is kept in the cathedral of Turin, Italy.

In place of Byzantium, the knights created the Latin Empire and a number of other state entities.

Division of Byzantium after the fall of Constantinople

In 1213, the papal legate closed all the churches and monasteries of Constantinople, and imprisoned the monks and priests. The Catholic clergy hatched plans for a real genocide of the Orthodox population of Byzantium. The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral, Claude Fleury, wrote that the Greeks “must be exterminated and the country populated with Catholics.”

These plans, fortunately, were not destined to come true. In 1261, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos retook Constantinople almost without a fight, ending Latin rule on Byzantine soil.

New Troy

At the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries, Constantinople experienced the longest siege in its history, comparable only to the siege of Troy.

By that time, pitiful scraps remained of the Byzantine Empire - Constantinople itself and the southern regions of Greece. The rest was captured by the Turkish Sultan Bayazid I. But independent Constantinople stuck out like a bone in his throat, and in 1394 the Turks took the city under siege.

Emperor Manuel II turned to the strongest sovereigns of Europe for help. Some of them responded to the desperate call from Constantinople. However, only money was sent from Moscow - the Moscow princes had enough of their own worries with the Golden Horde. But the Hungarian king Sigismund boldly went on a campaign against the Turks, but on September 25, 1396 he was completely defeated in the battle of Nikopol. The French were somewhat more successful. In 1399, the commander Geoffroy Boukiko with one thousand two hundred soldiers broke into Constantinople, strengthening its garrison.

However, oddly enough, Tamerlane became the real savior of Constantinople. Of course, the great lame man least of all thought about pleasing the Byzantine emperor. He had his own scores to settle with Bayezid. In 1402, Tamerlane defeated Bayezid, captured him and put him in an iron cage.

Bayezid's son Sulim lifted the eight-year siege from Constantinople. At the negotiations that began after that, the Byzantine emperor managed to squeeze out of the situation even more than it could give at first glance. He demanded the return of a number of Byzantine possessions, and the Turks resignedly agreed to this. Moreover, Sulim took a vassal oath to the emperor. This was the last historical success of the Byzantine Empire - but what a success! Through the hands of others, Manuel II regained significant territories and ensured the Byzantine Empire another half-century of existence.

A fall

In the mid-15th century, Constantinople was still considered the capital of the Byzantine Empire, and its last emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, ironically bore the name of the founder of the thousand-year-old city. But these were only the pitiful ruins of a once great empire. And Constantinople itself has long lost its metropolitan splendor. Its fortifications were dilapidated, the population huddled in dilapidated houses, and only individual buildings - palaces, churches, a hippodrome - reminded of its former greatness.

Byzantine Empire in 1450

Such a city, or rather a historical ghost, was besieged on April 7, 1453 by the 150,000-strong army of the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II. 400 Turkish ships entered the Bosphorus Strait.

For the 29th time in its history, Constantinople was under siege. But never before has the danger been so great. Constantine Paleologus could oppose the Turkish armada with only 5,000 garrison soldiers and about 3,000 Venetians and Genoese who responded to the call for help.

Panorama "The Fall of Constantinople". Opened in Istanbul in 2009

The panorama depicts approximately 10 thousand participants in the battle. The total area of ​​the canvas is 2,350 square meters. meters with a panorama diameter of 38 meters and a 20-meter height. Its location is also symbolic: not far from the Cannon Gate. It was next to them that a hole was made in the wall, which decided the outcome of the assault.

However, the first attacks from land did not bring success to the Turks. The attempt of the Turkish fleet to break through the chain blocking the entrance to the Golden Horn Bay also ended in failure. Then Mehmet II repeated the maneuver that had once brought Prince Oleg the glory of the conqueror of Constantinople. By order of the Sultan, the Ottomans built a 12-kilometer portage and dragged 70 ships along it to the Golden Horn. The triumphant Mehmet invited the besieged to surrender. But they replied that they would fight to the death.

On May 27, Turkish guns opened hurricane fire on the city walls, punching huge gaps in them. Two days later the final, general assault began. After a fierce battle in the breaches, the Turks burst into the city. Constantine Palaiologos fell in battle, fighting like a simple warrior.

Official video of the panorama “The Fall of Constantinople”

Despite the destruction caused, the Turkish conquest breathed new life into the dying city. Constantinople turned into Istanbul - the capital of a new empire, the brilliant Ottoman Porte.

Loss of capital status

For 470 years, Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the spiritual center of the Islamic world, since the Turkish Sultan was also the caliph - the spiritual ruler of Muslims. But in the 20s of the last century, the great city lost its capital status - presumably forever.

The reason for this was the First World War, in which the dying Ottoman Empire was stupid to take the side of Germany. In 1918, the Turks suffered a crushing defeat from the Entente. In fact, the country lost its independence. The Treaty of Sèvres in 1920 left Turkey with only a fifth of its former territory. The Dardanelles and Bosporus were declared open straits and were subject to occupation along with Istanbul. The British entered the Turkish capital, while the Greek army captured the western part of Asia Minor.

However, there were forces in Turkey that did not want to come to terms with national humiliation. The national liberation movement was led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha. In 1920, he proclaimed the creation of a free Turkey in Ankara and declared the treaties signed by the Sultan invalid. At the end of August and beginning of September 1921, a major battle took place between the Kemalists and the Greeks on the Sakarya River (one hundred kilometers west of Ankara). Kemal won a convincing victory, for which he received the rank of marshal and the title "Gazi" ("Winner"). Entente troops were withdrawn from Istanbul, Türkiye received international recognition within its current borders.

Kemal's government carried out the most important reforms of the state system. Secular power was separated from religious power, the sultanate and caliphate were eliminated. The last Sultan, Mehmed VI, fled abroad. On October 29, 1923, Türkiye was officially declared a secular republic. The capital of the new state was moved from Istanbul to Ankara.

The loss of capital status did not remove Istanbul from the list of great cities in the world. Today it is the largest metropolis in Europe with a population of 13.8 million people and a booming economy.

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Byzantium - Constantinople - Istanbul

The history of the first settlement on the site of modern Istanbul is covered in legends. According to one of them, the unfortunate beloved of Zeus Io, turned by Hera into a cow, found shelter in the vicinity of the Golden Horn Bay, where she gave birth to a daughter, Keroessa, and she gave birth to a son, Byzantine, from the ruler of the seas, Poseidon, who became the legendary founder of the city, which changed many names. . The Thracian name of the strait connecting the Black and Marmara seas is also associated with Io - Bosporus, which means “Cow Fortress”. A later legend tells how a certain Byzantine from the Greek polis of Megara received instructions from the Delphic Oracle about the location of the founding of a new colony in Asia Minor. The prophecy stated that the city should be founded “opposite the blind.” Indeed, on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus stood the settlement of Chalcedon, founded by emigrants from Miletus. Its inhabitants were called blind by the Persian commander Megabazus because at one time they were unable to see the real treasure under their noses.

Most likely, Byzantium became another Greek city founded on the European shore of the Bosphorus in 660 BC. e. on the site of an older settlement. The place was successful primarily for trade, and the city quickly began to grow rich. In addition, Byzantium received considerable money for the passage of ships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and back. In 73, the city became part of the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus. In 196, Pescennius Niger, an opponent of Emperor Septimius Severus, took refuge in Byzantium. Exhausted from wounds and hunger, the townspeople surrendered to the mercy of the emperor, and he razed the city walls to the ground and even deprived the rebellious Byzantium of its city status. Aurelius Antonius Caracalla, the son of Septimius Severus, begged forgiveness from his father for the city and restored what had been destroyed. He even gave the city his name - Antonia.

The grandiose reconstruction of the city on the Bosphorus began on November 26, 326 under Emperor Constantine the Great. The city walls were moved to the west, and the city itself was divided into 14 districts. A giant forum, the Bukoleon imperial palace, a circus, a theater, many public baths and multi-story buildings with arcades were built here. The total length of the walls, erected in three rows, was 16 km, they had seven gates, including the famous Golden Gate, and 96 towers. A fortress moat 10 meters deep and 20 meters wide was dug between the walls. The city was given the same privileges as Rome, and its ruler received the title of proconsul. And the fate of the city soon changed. On May 11, 330, Constantine the Great solemnly announced the creation of a new capital of the empire. On the site of ancient Byzantium, a city began to grow rapidly, which during its long life changed many names: New Rome, the Reigning City, Constantinople.

Since 395, after the collapse of the Roman Empire into two parts, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, its inhabitants called themselves Romans, that is, Romans, the Slavs called them Greeks, and the Arabs called them Rums.

Constantinople concentrated the untold wealth of a huge empire, whose possessions extended from Palestine and Syria to the Caucasus and the Balkans. The new Church of Hagia Sophia became a symbol of the greatness of the empire. The first temple, built under Emperor Constantine, was destroyed and rebuilt several more times, until Emperor Justinian set out to erect a building that would surpass all that had existed previously in its wealth and beauty. It was supposed to eclipse not only the grandeur of the pagan shrines of Rome, but also the famous Temple of Jerusalem.

The construction of the huge domed basilica was completed by 537, and an unprecedented spectacle appeared before the eyes of eyewitnesses. Icons were mounted on silver pillars, and the interior of the temple was decorated with columns made of porphyry and green marble. There were 40 windows cut into the base of the huge dome, the flowing light from which created the impression that the dome was simply floating in the air, “lowered from the sky on a golden chain.” Over the centuries, the walls of the basilica were decorated with frescoes and precious mosaics.

The wealth of the empire attracted invaders eager for profit - Avars, Rus, Persians and Arabs - to the city walls. Constantinople, in the opinion of its inhabitants, was protected primarily by the patronage of the Most Holy Theotokos. Her imperishable robe, which was transported to Constantinople from Nazareth in the 5th century, according to legend, saved the city in 626 from the invasion of the Avars, from the Persians - in 677, in 717 - from the Arabs and in 860 - from the Rus under the leadership of Prince Askold . In 910, during the Arab siege, the monks of the Blachernae Church, where the robe was kept, had a vision of the Virgin Mary spreading her veil over the city. It was in memory of these miraculous deliverances in the 12th century in Rus' that Andrei Bogolyubsky established the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God (October 14).

The prosperity of Constantinople was put to an end by the participants of the IV Crusade in April 1204. After the city, taken by storm for the first time in its history, fell into the hands of the crusaders, it was subjected to such destruction and plunder that could only be expected from barbarian hordes. The brilliant capital of the empire was turned into ruins. The atrocities of the Crusaders were so strongly etched in the memory of the townspeople that, when they had to choose between the rule of Catholics and Muslims, many of them expressed the opinion that for them the turban was preferable to the rule of the Latins.

So, in the spring of 1453, the Turks approached the city under the leadership of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (the Conqueror). Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos appealed in vain to the Christian Sovereigns of Europe for military assistance. And the inhabitants of Constantinople were preparing to accept the Muslim invasion as punishment from the Lord. The Turkish army numbered 150 thousand people, and the doomed city barely managed to assemble a small detachment of 10 thousand soldiers. Constantine, realizing that the days of the empire were numbered, turned to his entourage with words full of sadness and nobility. According to an eyewitness, the emperor’s speech had such an effect that many of those who heard it could hardly restrain their sobs, knowing full well that this was a farewell moment both in their own lives and in the life of the state. On May 27, 1453, Mehmed II launched the assault. The attacks of the Turkish army rolled in like sea waves. The few defenders desperately resisted for two days, but the wounding of the Genoese leader Giustiniani undermined the morale of the troops, and those who fought retreated in panic. For several days the city was plundered by soldiers. Residents were killed on the streets and in churches, shrines were desecrated, and even the Hagia Sophia did not protect the unfortunate. Legend has it that the Turks broke into the temple while a service was going on there. Few managed to avoid death; only the priest miraculously found salvation, stepping along with the Holy Gifts through the wall and disappearing into its thickness. Constantine Paleologus himself, seeing the agony of his capital, took up arms and rushed into the last battle, in which he was destined to die. Later, among the Greeks who fought against Turkish rule, there was a popular legend that in that battle Constantine did not die, but fell asleep in order to wake up from his magical sleep for the decisive battle.

However, the ancient city rose from the ruins: Mehmed II moved the center of his empire here from Adrianople. And soon the city acquired a new face and a new name. When the Turks asked the local peasants the way to Constantinople, they answered them the same as a thousand years ago: is tin polin - to the city. Later this expression turned into a new, already Turkish name - Istanbul, Istanbul.

Builders were invited to Istanbul, who changed its appearance and gave it an oriental flavor. Mosques, Turkish baths, barracks for the Janissaries, cool fountains and crowded caravanserais appeared here. Large mosques with more than one minaret were called sultan's, and those that were more modest were called vizier's. Madrasah schools, hotels for pilgrims and imarets (free canteens) were built at the mosques.

In 1459, by order of Mehmed II, behind the fortress walls on the shore of the Golden Horn Bay, the architect Atik Sinan built the first mosque in Istanbul - Eyyub, named after the standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad, Eyyub Ansari, who died during the siege of Constantinople by the Arabs in 668. Here is also the türbe (tomb) of Eyyub, revered as a shrine. It was in this mosque that a symbolic ceremony took place, during which the legendary blade of the founder of the dynasty, Osman Ghazi (1258–1324), nicknamed the Black, was handed over to the new sultan. This color, according to Turkish tradition, symbolized courage and valor.

The Turks did not destroy the Hagia Sophia; they turned it into a mosque. At the same time, the beautiful golden mosaics were covered with lime. The arrows of minarets rushed upward from four sides of the facade, and huge medallions with quotations from the Koran were placed inside. The Turks gave the temple a new name - Hagia Sophia.

Under the Ottomans, the city no longer had anything to fear from sieges and destruction; it became the center of a powerful military empire, in which the Sultan himself, setting an example of courage, went into battle at the head of the army. The only scourge of Istanbul was fires. Residents, fearing earthquakes, despite the strict decrees of the sultans, preferred to build wooden dwellings rather than stone ones. As soon as just one house caught fire, the whole area burned out. Thus, a fire that occurred in 1782 turned half of the city into ashes.

Over time, Istanbul regained its multinational composition - in addition to the Turks, who made up about half of the population, Greeks, Armenians, Genoese and Jews who fled from the European Inquisition lived here. A hundred years after the conquest, the number of inhabitants of Istanbul reached half a million.

The Turkish population preferred to settle in the central part of the city, close to administrative and religious centers. In addition to Muslims, a few descendants of noble Byzantines, called Phanariots (named after the Phanar region), also lived here. The rest of the non-Muslim population settled in the Galata region, where Venetians and Genoese lived under the Byzantine emperors.

The city reached its heyday during the reign of Suleiman I Kanuni (the Lawgiver), also known under the nickname the Magnificent. This sultan was not only a brilliant commander, but also a brilliantly educated man who valued the intelligence and talent of his entourage. He also went down in history with his unusual for a ruler romantic relationship with his Slavic wife Anastasia Lisovskaya, the legendary Roksolana. To please her, he not only abandoned the harem, but even mercilessly dealt with his eldest son and heir, Mustafa. Skillfully controlling the will of the powerful ruler, Roksolana, who moved into Suleiman’s personal chambers, remained for him the most beautiful and desirable woman until her death. Having lost her, the Sultan ordered the construction of a tomb for his beloved wife in the same place where he himself was to rest - in the garden of the Suleymaniye Mosque. This mosque was one of the masterpieces created by the architect Mimar (the Builder) Sinan (1489–1588), who built many beautiful buildings in Istanbul.

The last sultan to bear the name of the legendary Conqueror, Mehmed VI, lasted on the throne for only five years - from 1918 to 1923.

After the proclamation of a new state on the territory of the Ottoman Empire - the Republic of Turkey, on October 29, 1923, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara. But, even having lost this title, the city did not lose either its nobility or greatness.