Constantinople

Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized: Kōnstantinoúpolis; Latin: Constantinopolis) was the capital city of the Roman Empire from 330 AD and later what historians called the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople was located in the Bosporus, the strait between the Balkans and Asia Minor.

Map of Constantinople. Detailed map Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine.

History

For centuries the city was not very large, and was called Byzantium. In the 4th century, Roman emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire and renamed it to Constantinople.

In the 13th century, Constantinople was looted and captured by crusaders during the Fourth Crusade. The crusaders created the Latin Empire (1204–1261), with Constantinople as the capital city. In 1261, the Empire of Nicaea successfully restored the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of the Palaiologos dynasty.

In 1453 the Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror captured Constantinople. The city was renamed Istanbul and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922).

Over time, the city's short name in Greek: Πόλις Pólis 'city' became the name Istanbul. This name became the city's official name in 1930, during the government of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Related pages

• Istanbul

Other websites

• Monuments of Byzantium Archived 2006-02-18 at the Wayback Machine - Pantokrator Monastery of Constantinople
• Mosaics of Hagia Sophia - The Deesis Mosaic from Hagia Sophia
• Constantinoupolis on the web Select internet resources on the history and culture of Constantinople
• Info on the name change from the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
• Welcome to Constantinople Archived 2005-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, documenting the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, compiled by Robert Ousterhout, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Constantinople, from History of the Later Roman Empire, by J.B. Bury

Media related to Constantinople at Wikimedia Commons