What city was called Tsargrad. Byzantine lessons. A Brief History of Constantinople

Constantinople I

(Greek Κωνσταντινουπολις, ancient Βυζαντιον, Latin Byzantium, old Russian folk Tsaregrad, Serbian Tsarigrad, Czech Cařihrad, Polish Carogród, Turkish Stanbol [pron. Istanbul or Istanbul], and Arabic Konstantinie. colloquial and among the Levantines Kospoli) - the capital of the Turkish Empire. Natural conditions and the nature of the inner life is divided into three parts, which can be considered as separate cities: 1) the Old City, 2) the New (European) city and 3) the Asian city of Scutari (on the coast of Asia Minor).

1) Old city or Constantinople in a narrow sense, Turkish Istanbul, lies under 31 about 0 "16" sowing. sh., on the European coast of the Bosphorus, near the southwest. its exit to the Sea of ​​Marmara, an amphitheater, on a triangular peninsula, taking place ancient settlement Byzantium. The square of the city has the form of a trapezoid, with one very short and three almost equal length sides. The short side, the eastern one, lies against the Asia Minor coast, from which it is separated by the southern extension of the Bosphorus and the exit from it to the Sea of ​​Marmara; to the right of it lies, along the bank of the Marble m., the southern side, almost 4 times longer than the first, and to the left is the northern side, almost 3.5 times longer than the first. This side is a part of a 3 km long bend of the sea, which in ancient times was called the "Golden Horn" (Χρυςόκερας). Finally, the fourth side, the western one - the only one through which the city is connected to the land - goes from the Golden Horn to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bMarmara and is somewhat longer than the south. The valley cutting through the hilly area of ​​the city divides it into 2 unequal halves - a large, northeastern, and a smaller, southwestern one. Since K. was supposed to represent the second, "new" Rome (Νέά "Ρώμη"), he should have been seven hills; therefore, even in Byzantine times, they tried to form these seven hills in it, using the hills of the coast from the side of the harbor. The first of these hills was the acropolis that served in ancient Byzantium, and on the seventh in the Middle Ages stood the imperial castle of Blachernae.

Istanbul is divided into many quarters, which received their name either from the name of the mosques located in them, or from the names of the gates of the city wall adjacent to them. Several suburbs adjoin the wall of Istanbul from 3, of which the largest is Eyub, named after Eyub, the standard-bearer of Mohammed, who allegedly died here during the first siege of K. by the Arabs (668). At the supposed place of Eyub's death, a mosque was erected, where Osman's sword is kept, with which each sultan, upon accession to the throne, girds himself right there. This rite corresponds to our coronation rite. This suburb is very revered by the Turks, considered by them as if sacred and serves as one of the favorite places for burial. Istanbul and Eyub are almost exclusively the Turkish part of the city; only one of the quarters, Phanar (or Fener), is almost entirely inhabited by Greeks.

2. New the city occupies the south. the tip of another (rectangular) protrusion of the European coast into the Bosporus, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn. It lies like an amphitheater on the slopes of the heights, going down to the shore; is divided into several quarters, formed from the former separate suburbs. The southernmost and at the same time the coastal quarter - Galata, connected to the old city by two bridges across the Golden Horn. In this quarter there is a customs office, offices of agencies of foreign (including Russian) ships, hotels and hospices, including three Russian Metochions on Athos: St. Andrew's Skete, Ilinskoe and Panteleimonovskoe. North of Galata and above it lies Pen. Both of these quarters are almost completely European in terms of population, and in terms of the nature of buildings and social life. Even during the Byzantine Empire, European merchants, mainly Genoese, settled here. The winter quarters of European embassies and consulates are currently located here. Behind these two quarters there are a number of quarters and suburbs of a semi-European, semi-Turkish character, in which, after the capture of K. by the Turks, many Greeks and Armenians settled, and in recent times the Turks also began to settle, following the example of the sultans themselves, who had been living in their palaces near the Bosphorus for many decades (Ildiz-Kiosk, Dolma-Bakhche, etc.).

3. Asian part of K. consists of a city Scutari and settlements Kadikioy with neighboring villages, and lies on the Asia Minor coast of the Bosphorus, at its turn into the Sea of ​​Marmara. Scutari (in Turkish Iskudar) located like an amphitheater at the foot and foothills of two peaks, Jam-Lidzhe and Bulgurlu, on the site of ancient Chrysopolis (Χρυσοπολίς), near which Constantine the Great defeated Licinius. Kadikioy lies on the site of ancient Chalcedon, in which the fourth ecumenical council (Chalcedon) took place in 451. For Scutari and Kadikioe, see Scutari. The grove of age-old cypresses located near Scutari serves as a favorite place for wealthy and pious Turks, who expressed the desire that their body rest in their native land of Asia, and not in a foreign one - Europe.

Climate- warm and humid. The average temperature for the year is 16.3°C, in January 5.8°C, and in July 23.5°C. Winter in K. begins no earlier than December and does not differ in severity; snow, although it falls from time to time, but lasts only a few days. Summer is not too hot due to the winds blowing from the Black Sea. Autumn drags on for a long time; this is the best time of the year, thanks to the extreme mildness of the weather. All of K. is dotted with cypress groves and a whole mass of gardens. Fruit ripens here very early and is even exported abroad: in Odessa, for example, the earliest fruits are from Constantinople. These gardens, on the bright greenery of which high minarets, mosques and towers beautifully whiten, in combination with painted in different, mainly bright colors Turkish (most often - wooden) houses, give the city, at least from a distance, an extremely beautiful view, but do not save it from a number of diseases caused by the uncleanliness of the inhabitants. In narrow and cramped streets, in cramped courtyards, dirt and sewage, accumulating for almost generations, poison the air. Winds, often and sharply changing directions, produce significant temperature fluctuations and thus contribute to various diseases. The most common diseases here are fevers and typhoids, then diarrhea and other stomach diseases, as well as lung diseases; intermittent fevers and various epidemic diseases are especially rampant in autumn and spring.

Population the city of Istanbul (in the narrow sense) - no more than 600,000 people, and the total of K., with suburbs and suburbs - 1,033,000 people. For K.'s own census, the 1885 census gave the following figures: 384,910 Muslim Turks, 152,741 Greeks, 149,590 Armenians of the Gregorian confession and 6,442 Catholics, 44,377 Bulgarians, 44,361 Jews, 819 Protestants, 1,082 Catholic Turks, and, in addition, 129,243 foreign subjects, including some Greeks 50,000 people. K. serves as the seat of the "High Porte", that is, the Ottoman government, all the highest secular and spiritual Muslim authorities, Sheikh-ul-Islam and the ruler of the faithful, why in the official Turkish language it is called Der-i-Seadet and Asitone- i-Seadet (i.e. the gate and threshold of well-being). The Greek or ecumenical patriarch and the Bulgarian exarch (metropolitan of Lovchen) live here, as well as the Armenian patriarch and the Roman Catholic archbishop (Scutari) and the Jewish haham-bashi (great rabbi), with their council (bet-din). Main streets K. can be considered all those that are available for carriages, horses and cattle; they are almost all paved, and usually have, at least on one side, a kind of sidewalk for pedestrians. Usually, the part of the road designated for the movement of livestock runs along the very middle of the street, forming a recess in it, which also serves to drain rainwater. The width of these streets is such that two carriages or pack animals loaded with building material can hardly disperse. If this fails, then one has to turn into a parallel street. The side streets are narrow and usually unpaved; they are passed almost exclusively by locals. The streets of K. are narrow, crooked, irregular; houses in them are located without observing the front line. Next to the rich konak huddles the poor man's shack, accessible to all winds; farther on, one can see the burial ground of the dervish monastery, fenced off from the street with an iron grate, and side by side with it, a low shop selling greenery, livestock, meat and fish; in the middle of all this, tombstones, mausoleums, fountains are scattered. Taking care of the inaccessibility of his harem, the Turk builds himself a small, one-story house, in which he settles alone with his family; for the same purpose, the windows of the houses facing the street are protected by strong thick wooden bars. All this gives the house a dull, cold look. The absence of tribal nobility in K. is due to the absence of hereditary private palaces and chambers. A nobleman who has risen by chance hastily builds for himself a house of light material and without external luxury, spending money only on the interior decoration of the house, as a result of which the wretched exterior of a Turkish house is often a striking contrast to its luxury and well-being inside. The few large and good Turkish houses found in the old city house almost exclusively public or state institutions. good houses more in the European part of the city, and in Pera there are even chambers of 5 and 7 floors. However, in Istanbul itself, lately, little by little, they began to build in a European way, obeying more or less the rules of architectural art; this was greatly facilitated by the terrible fires of 1865 and 1866, which devastated a significant part of the city. The total number of buildings in K. exceeds 200,000, including 34,200 shops and shops, 175 baths, about 320 palaces and stalls, 280 government buildings, 198 barracks and watch houses, 673 mosques, and 560 various Turkish educational institutions, 146 madrasas (theological seminaries, mostly under the jurisdiction of one or another mosque), 65 libraries, 230 dervish monasteries, 16 hospitals, 169 Christian churches and Jewish prayer houses. Number Orthodox churches reaches 60, Armenian - 40; Catholics own 10 churches and 6 monasteries.

Wonderful old and new buildings. Monuments of the ancient, Byzantine. K.'s time is generally rather poor. At the ancient "hippodrome", which the Turks call at-meydan, there are three monuments - the obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column and the pyramidal masonry pillar. Obelisk transported by Theodosius Vel. from Upper Egypt, decorated with Greek and Latin inscriptions and bas-reliefs. The serpentine column, which is the most precious monument of ancient times, represents three bodies of snakes cast in bronze, twisted in a spiral into one column, thinned from below, gradually thickening and again decreasing in thickness. Only 29 revolutions survive, ca. 3 soots. in height. This column in ancient times served as a substitute for a golden tripod, set on behalf of 31 allied Greek states that took part in the battle with the Persians at Plataea (479 BC). And until now, the inscription relating to this event is visible on the column. The serpentine column was transported from Delphi to K. by Konstantin Vel. The pyramidal pillar of masonry is the remains of a column of imp. Constantine Porphyrogenous. Other monuments of pre-Turkish times: 1) Column (with an inscription) imp. Markian, almost in the middle of Istanbul, more than 2 sazhens. height, made of solid stone (syenite), with a heavily damaged marble capital and foot. 2) Corinthian column, set under the emperor. Claudius II in memory of the victory over the Goths, in one of the gardens of the Seraglio. 3) A colossal marble stone that survived from the delivered imperial. Arkady in honor of his father Theodosius Vel. columns (401). 4) Plumbing imp. Valens and Justinian; 5) cisterns - "one thousand and one columns" (dungeon with 3 floors on columns; in one upper floor there are 224 columns) and Basilica (with 336 columns; built by Emperor Justinian). 6) Burnt Column (on the map No. 11) the charred remains of the "purple column" transported to K. imp. Constantine; 9 cylinders survived; stands at the square of the old Seraglio. Some of the surviving buildings also serve as monuments of the Byzantine period, primarily a number of churches that turned into mosques. They are led by the famous Ayasofia(see St. Sophia Cathedral in K.); then Little St. Sophia (Kucuk-Ayasofia in Turkish), converted from the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus; the church of the monastery of the Lord Almighty (Pantokrator) - now the Kilisse-Jami mosque; the church and monastery of St. John the Studite - now the mosque of Emir-Ahor-Jami (or Imrakhor-Jami), near the Seven-Tower Castle; Church of the Savior in Chora - now a mosque Kahrie-Jamisi, near the Adrianople Gate, remarkable for its perfectly preserved and only recently discovered Christian mosaics. The remarkable buildings of the Turkish time include a large mosque Soliman(Suleimaniye, built in 1550-1566), the mosque of Ahmed I (1609-14), with a majestic "front yard" (Haram), the huge mosque of Mohammed II (1463-69) Mahmudiya, the Mosque of Selim I (1520-23), Bayazet II (1497-1505), bearing the name "Pigeon Mosque", Nur-i-Osmaniye Mosque (1755), Shah-Sade (1543-1548), Valide (1870) and Yeni- Jami (1616-1665), with a mausoleum. Other remarkable buildings: The Great Market or Bazaar - a huge vaulted building with many passages (like streets) and with more than 3000 commercial premises and shops; the Egyptian Bazaar, with a special trade in spices; building of the "High Port" (Babi-Ali or Pasha-Kapussi, that is, the Pasha's Gate), where the office of the Grand Vizier, the Ministries of Internal and Foreign Affairs and the State Council are located; built by Sultan Abdulmejid and intended to house the university building, which now houses various ministries. Eski (Old) Serai (go Seral) stands on the square of the same name, which in Byzantine times was called Forum Bovis or Forum Tauri. The great palace of the Byzantine emperors occupied only a part of the current gardens of the Seraglio. The Eski-Seral building was built by Sultan Mohammed II the Conqueror and served as a place of residence for his successors up to Abdul-Mejid, who moved his residence to the suburb of Dolma-Bakhche; after that, the seraglio was ceded to the supernumerary sultanas. A fire in 1865 destroyed most of the buildings of the Seraglio. In one of the courtyards there is an ancient tower or column, from the top of which - the highest point of the city - a majestic view of the whole of K. the yard of the Janissaries, on which there is a mint and a museum (Janissary) of ancient weapons and weapons, converted from the church of St. Irina, built by Constantine the Great and restored after a fire by Leo the Isaurian. Right there, in one of the gardens or courtyards, there is a Chinili kiosk, with an Ottoman museum of antiquities, a school of fine arts or an academy of arts (Académie des beaux arts) and a new museum, only formed in 1892, with famous sarcophagi from Sidon, an exhibition Turkish art, architectural models, natural history collections, etc.

Phanar(Greek τό Φανάριον, Turkish Fener), on the shore Golden Horn(Greek Χρυσόκερας), with a pier Fener Kapu- a purely Greek part of the city. Many wonderful Turkish statesmen, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries; some of them were the founders of the dynasties of the Moldovan rulers. This quarter, in comparison with neighboring Turkish ones, is distinguished by cleanliness and prosperity: the main street is clean and well built up, glass is inserted in the windows of the houses, there are no Turkish wooden bars. Patriarchy, i.e. the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople is also in Phanar. Before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the patriarchal church was the Cathedral of St. Sofia. When this cathedral was turned into a mosque, the patriarchs were given the largest after St. Sofia Church of St. Apostles; but already in 1455 this temple was demolished for the construction of the Mahomet Mosque, and the patriarchs had to be content with the temple of the Most Blessed Mother of God (Παμμακαρίσι?η). In 1591, this church was turned into a mosque (Fethiye-Jami), and the patriarchs moved into the building of a small convent in honor of the Most Blessed Mother of God. The building of the monastery and the cramped church were rebuilt and, if possible, expanded in 1614 by Patriarch Timothy. In 1701, during a mob rebellion against Sultan Mustafa II, the buildings burned down and were restored 14 years later by Patriarch Jeremiah III. In general, these are low and miserable buildings, in a courtyard enclosed by a wall fence. Of the gates leading there, the middle ones, now closed up, are marked by the martyrdom of Patriarch Gregory (see). There is a bas-relief on the wall of the patriarchal house: below - Christ blessing, above - the Archangel holding an icon depicting Christ. According to the drawing of the head of Christ, this monument is dated no later than the 10th century. according to R. Chr. The time of origin of another bas-relief located here ("a young man" in the style of ancient sarcophagi) is no later than the 5th century. according to R. Chr. Near the patriarchal house is a small patriarchal church in the name of St. Great Martyr George, without a dome, only with a cross above the altar; a rich wood-carved iconostasis with icons of Byzantine writing, an ancient icon of the Most Holy Theotokos transferred from the monastery of the Most Blessed; part of the stone pillar to which the Savior was tied in prison, the relics of St. Great Martyr Euphemia, Mother of the Maccabees, St. Solomia and Empress Theophania (wife of the Emperor Leo the Wise). The sights of the church include the "pulpit", that is, a pulpit of beautiful carvings attached to one of the columns, and even more artistically interesting patriarchal throne(made of ebony, richly carved and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and Ivory), with a canopy on two elegant columns, with 6 still surviving Byzantine double-headed eagles. It belonged, according to legend, to St. John Chrysostom. Not far from the patriarchy - a mosque Fethiye Jami, converted from the Greek Church of Our Lady of the Most Blessed and representing the remnant of a huge convent built in the 12th century. Byzantine dignitary Michael Duka and his wife Maria (sister of Emperor Alex Komnenos, who was buried here with his daughter Anna). Several mosaic images survived here (in one of the side domes). To the northwest of the patriarchy is the sacred Blachernae key, with a recently built chapel, on the spot where the temple in honor of Our Lady of Blachernae used to be. At a distance of about 4 in. from Blachernae is the "Life-giving spring of Baluklia", at the Silymbrian city gates. In the southwestern corner of old K. is famous Seven tower castle(έκταπύργιον of the Greeks and Iedi-Kule of the Turks), in which, during the first Russian-Turkish war under the emperor Catherine II, the Russian ambassador Obrezkov was detained.

Golden Horn(χρυσόκερας), one of the greatest and safest ship anchorages, so deep that even the heaviest warships can come almost to the very shore. It is a deep (7 verst) gulf of the Bosphorus, which has gone into the land, a curved shape, from which it got its name, and of various widths: at its junction with the Bosphorus, it has up to 300 soots. width, towards the middle of the current it reaches almost twice its width and then constantly narrows. In zap. at the end of it, two always flow into the Bosphorus full of water streams Ali-bey-su (ancient Kidaros) and Kiat-khane-su (ancient Barbizes). The beautiful valley of these streams is a favorite place for walks for the Turks. There are two bridges across the Golden Horn, connecting Old city with the new one - the old wooden Mahmud bridge and the new iron bridge of Valide Sultana, drawn in its middle part for the passage of large ships. There are three harbors inside the bay: a "steamboat parking lot" - closer to the Bosphorus, in front of the new bridge, a "trading harbor" - between the bridges, and, finally, a "military harbor" - behind the old bridge, in the wide center of the Golden Horn. At the beginning of 1893, the construction of the embankment near the harbors began. Directly opposite the tip of the Istanbul Peninsula, beyond the Golden Horn, and against the buildings of the Seraglio, at the southern end of the Bosphorus, at the entrance to the roadstead lies the suburb Top Hane(i.e. cannon yard), which got its name from the cannon and projectile foundry and arsenal located here. To the north of Top-Khan, along the Bosporus, lie the suburbs Funduklu and Cabotash. Adjacent to Top Khan on the west Galata, currently inhabited mainly by Greeks. A place of warehouses for various goods, Galata is full of shops, barns with vaults and iron doors. Here are located the stock exchange, customs, the Austrian Lloyd, the Russian shipping company, the Austrian, German, French and English post offices, the imperial Ottoman bank, many purely oriental commercial hotels, as they call it. khans and caravanserais. The area of ​​present-day Galata, called Συκαι (fig trees), is mentioned under Constantine the Great, and Justinian decorated it and gave it some city rights. Lighthouse tower Galata-Kulessi, about 20 sazhens. heights, founded in 514 imp. Anastasius, and in 1348 it was built on by the Genoese, who gave it the name "Tower of Christ". As early as 717, fortifications adjoining this tower are mentioned under the name of the castle of Galata. In 1261, Galata is mentioned among the places of permanent residence of the Genoese, who settled in K. as early as 1149 (on the site currently occupied by the station of the Rumeli railway. Dor.). In the XIV century. the Genoese fortify it with walls, towers and ditches. From that time, the remains of the palace of the "podesta", that is, the Genoese mayor, and some churches survived; one of them is now a French. monastery school, with a boarding house (in addition, there is also a Scottish missionary school in Galata). Especially rapid growth of Galata falls on the 16th and 17th centuries; at this time, the area occupied by it, increased three times. Suburb Pera[Name Pera(proper Greek adverb πέρα, on the other side) ancient, but they did not always designate this particular place: in ancient times Feather the northern coast of the Golden Horn was generally called, later this name referred to the suburb of Galata, and only after the conquest of K. by the Turks moved to the area to the N from towers of christ.] with its narrow and poorly paved streets strongly resembles an old Italian city. New look, of a French character, is only the main street of the suburb: purely European hotels, a theater, places of entertainment, a casino, a pastry shop, elegant shops, bookstores, a European post office, schools, breweries, a hospital, churches of foreign confessions, etc. And in other parts The Peres, especially after the terrible fire of June 5, 1870, began to build stone houses in a new way and pave the streets. The Turkish character held on stronger in those parts and suburbs new K., which lie at the inner bay of the Golden Horn. These are the suburbs: Kasim Pasha, San Dimitri, Has-kioy, Piri Pasha, Halydzhe-Oglu, Sukljudzhe, etc. In the suburbs Kasim Pasha, adjacent to the military harbor, there are a naval arsenal and the admiralty buildings arranged under the guidance of European engineers. Up the Golden Horn, for object. Kasim Pasha, lies the Jewish quarter Has-kioi.

City government. TO, with its suburbs, it forms a special city administration in administrative terms and is under the jurisdiction of the mayor or city prefect (Schehir Emini); The entire city government is divided into 10 districts. The government, despite financial difficulties, continues to tirelessly take care of the improvement of the city, which suffered a lot, especially during the terrible fires of 1865 and 1866. Aqueducts were built to supply a European city with water from Lake Derkos, and an Asian city (including Kadikioy) with water from the "Valley of Sweet Waters of Asia". In 1870, fire fighting in K. was completely reorganized. The city is illuminated with gas. Public peace and personal security in general are no less ensured in K. than in other large cities of Europe. The police (zaptie) consists almost exclusively of Turks; guard posts are very frequent. Foreigners in the capital of Turkey enjoy fairly broad rights and are subject to trial exclusively by the consulates of their country. education and social life. Although for school education in the reign of Abdul-Hamid II quite a lot was done, nevertheless, the initial training is still in a rather sad state. There are 162 schools for young children (Subjan Mektebleri) in Constantinople for boys and 169 for girls; primary (elementary) schools (Mekiâtib-i-Ibtidâije) 18 for boys and 3 for girls; private schools 10 for boys and 5 for girls; higher city schools 19 for boys and 8 for girls; one vocational school for boys and another for girls, an art school, an orphanage, an imperial lyceum, a civil medical school, a higher school for the education of civil officials, a forestry and mining school, a language school (for translators), an engineering school, a teacher's seminary, a seminary for teacher education, law school, imperial military school, a military medical school, 10 military preparatory schools, a naval school on the island of Halki. The most common type of schools are the so-called madrasah, existing usually at mosques. Muslim youth here, especially preparing for the title ulemov, i.e., Muslim jurists, learns Turkish and Arabic literacy free of charge and receives the rudiments of a scientific education. However, in all the lower educational institutions of K. teaching the law of God, reading and writing is given free of charge; there are over 8,000 boys and over 6,000 girls. Almost all non-Turkish nationalities, whose representatives live in more or less significant numbers in K., have their own schools here, partly maintained by their governments, partly by local societies. There are also private educational institutions. The Greeks in K. itself and its suburbs (including the island of Halki) have about 60 different educational institutions, with 12,000 students, including a large national school. in the Phanar under the Patriarchate, a theological seminary and a commercial school on the island of Halki, a women's school Zappion and a men's Zografion in Pera, several lyceums and higher women's schools. The maintenance of all these schools costs 5 million piastres annually. Armenians have 40 schools connected with churches, Catholic Armenians have 6. Access to European schools is open not only to representatives of the respective nationality, but also to others: for example, many, for example, Bulgarians are brought up in the Anglo-American Robert-College . Recently, a Russian school has also been opened in K. (at the embassy and thanks to the efforts and means of Mrs. Nelidova, the wife of the Russian ambassador), but it is attended mainly by Orthodox non-Russians, for example. Greeks. There are up to fifty Turkish public libraries in K. The state printing house for printing Turkish, Arabic and Persian publications, founded in 1727, was closed in 1746; reopened in 1784 already in Scutari, for a long time it was the only printing house in the entire Muslim East. Now it is located near At-Meidan. There are more than 20 private Turkish printing houses; then come the printing houses of Armenian, Greek, Jewish and various European nationalities. With the permission of the government and under strict censorship, up to 40 newspapers are published in Turkey in Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, Spanish-Jewish, English, French, and other languages. The more significant ones are: "Tarik" and "Saedet" (in Turkish), "Levant Herald" (in French and English), "La Turquie", "Journal de la Chambre de Commerce", "Νοαλογος" and "Κωνσταντινοπολις", "Zornitsa" and "Novini" (in Bulgarian). Public life among the native population, including Greeks and Armenians, is generally not developed: there are no clubs or societies. Turks spend their free time in baths and coffee houses, listening to storytellers over a cup of black coffee. Their favorite sight is Chinese shadows (see Karagyoz). The Greeks have only one learned society: Ελληνικος φιλολογικος σύλλογος. Among the Europeans living in K. especially the Germans, there are societies and clubs. The center of the spiritual life of the Germans and Swiss - Society. Teutonia and the craft society. The German Exkursionsklub is also important. There is also a French theater in K..

Charitable Institutions To. are very numerous. The most interesting phenomenon in this respect is the so-called. "imarets" - canteens for the poor or kitchens, from which food is given free of charge to the poor; between the latter there are many poor students ("softs") and ministers at mosques. In total, up to 30,000 people eat daily in these imarets. Then there are almshouses and shelters for the sick and homeless, a refuge for the mentally ill, three hospitals - two for the ground forces and one (in the arsenal) for sailors. Of the schools (madrasas), many are also founded and maintained on private funds and donations. Often a Turk builds a khan or a caravanserai and enrolls it in this or that mosque, school or hospital, so that the proceeds from it serve to maintain and maintain this institution. There are also institutions for the reception of the poor and the sick, founded and maintained by foreigners (English, French, Austrians, Germans, Italians and Russians), including the very comfortable Nicholas Hospital, with a department for women, in Pera.

Industry and trade. Large-scale industrial activity in China is poorly developed: several steam mills operated by European machinists; fez fabrication, tobacco production, glass and pottery factories, breweries and distilleries, oil mills and sawmills, partly in the city, partly in its environs. State-owned ironworks, cannon-casting and gunpowder factories and ship workshops operate exclusively for the needs of the army and navy. Small industry, corresponding to our handicraft industry, is in a better position; some crafts have been brought to a high degree of art. Individual crafts are practiced on well-known streets or sections of the city. Permanent bazaars for the sale of products of small industry are arranged near mosques. Craftsmen - partly Turks, partly Greeks, Armenians and Jews - work only to meet local needs, and only small arts and crafts items purchased by travelers in memory of K. go abroad. In large, wholesale trade, the Greeks, Armenians and Spanish Jews play a more important role than the Turks. Due to its position at the crossroads of two great routes - "the great route from the Varangians to the Greeks", through Russia to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea, and the caravan route from Western Asia to the East. Europe - K. has long played the role of a world market. After, however, as Syria, Arabia and South. Persia got the opportunity to enter into direct relations with the south. Europe by sea, and Russia has strengthened its position in Central Asia, a decline is noticeable in China's trade; Can Asia Minor support her? Railway. The importance of K., as a warehouse for the entire Balkan Peninsula, is threatened with great danger by the ever-increasing competition of Thessaloniki, Dedeagach and Burgas. It is difficult to collect accurate information about K. trade, due to weak government control over trade and shortcomings in the organization of financial institutions. All available data point to a significant preponderance of imports of foreign goods over exports of local products. Export items from Turkey are in most cases products brought here from Asia Minor and European regions of the Turkish monarchy, for example. seeds of oily plants, resins (gum, mastic, etc.), medicinal and dyeing plants (salep root, opium, krappa, saffron, etc.), tobacco, timber and ornamental wood (especially beech tree), minerals (for example, so sea ​​foam), leather goods (for example, morocco), and other livestock products (horn, wool, lamb intestines, fat, soap), spinning plants (cotton paper and linen), raw silk (from Brussa), oriental fabrics, mohair (angara, goat wool yarn), oriental carpets, in the amount of about 160,000 pieces per year (from Asia Minor, Persia and Turkestan), filigree and gold embroidery (works of Muslim women) and various incense (like rose oil, smoking substances, perfumes, etc.), mostly locally produced. Imported goods are both raw materials from other countries and processed products of European factories and industrial establishments. The main import items are wheat and flour (mainly from southern Russia), rice, sugar (partly from Russia, but more from Austria; in 1891-92, out of 22.47 million kg of imported sugar, there were 18 million kg of Austrian sugar), coffee (partly from Brazil), kerosene, then cotton fabrics and weapons almost exclusively from England, hosiery and knitwear, woolen fabrics, jute, silk, shawls, dresses, fezzes mainly from Austria; iron, zinc, tools, kitchen utensils, glass products from Belgium and the Czech Republic, pottery, tissue paper from France and Austria, wood and coal, stearin candles, paints, silver and gold items, jewelry, medicines, dresses, fashion, perfumes, etc. Raw products are delivered mainly by Russia and partly the neighboring countries of the Balkan Peninsula with Turkey, in the supply of processed goods participate, competing with each other, mainly Austria-Hungary, England and France. Retail European goods of the highest dignity are produced in the shops of Pera and Galata (partly), while Oriental goods and cheap European goods, for the needs of the poor classes, are traded in open markets and covered bazaars. The most remarkable of them - the "Great Bazaar" (Boyuk-Charchi) in Istanbul - consists of many vaulted halls and is filled with everything that the East is rich in. The most interesting part of it is Bezestan- the bazaar of arms dealers, where weapons of all kinds, old and new, are exhibited, both for sale and for viewing. In addition to markets and bazaars, a prominent role in trade is played by the so-called. "khans" or "caravanserai" - hotels for money changers and wholesalers. means of transportation in the city and suburbs, in addition to private carriages and riding horses, there is a horse-drawn railway, of four lines, two of which are located in Istanbul itself and two on the outskirts of Galata-Pera. Underground Railway the road (along a wire rope) leads from the New Bridge, under the tower of Galata, to the monastery of the Tekke dervishes in Pere, in an area of ​​700 m. For communication with the Asian coast and in general for movement along the bay, small steamships of the light shipping company (three companies) and a mass of skiffs serve . Partly for local use, the Constantinople-Adrianople railway also serves. dor., which has several city stations.

The movement of ships in the bay. In 1892, there were 15,273 ships in the harbors of the Golden Horn, with a cargo of 8.4 million tons, while in 1891 there were 17,850 ships with 9.8 million tons of cargo; such a decrease is explained by the prohibition in Russia of the export of bread. From 4318 sailing ships, with a cargo of 674,409 tons, there were 2,867 Turkish and 1,234 Greek nationalities; out of 5142 steam ships, with a cargo of 5.9 million tons, 3502 ships were under the English. flag, 639 ships under the Greek, 130 ships under the Italian. and 125 ships below it. flag. To this must be added 1,601 ships supporting the regular voyages of shipping companies (Messageries maritimes, the Russian Shipping and Trade Society, Austro-Hungarian Lloyd, etc.) and 2,882 Turkish sailing ships and 1,330 steamships for coastal and local navigation. Recently, a plan has arisen to connect both banks with a bridge across the Bosphorus.

The history of K. until the time of Constantine Vel. there is a history of the colony and the city of Byzantium (see), but its own history begins in 326, when the first Christian emperor drew on the ground with his spear the direction of the walls of the newly chosen capital. In his struggle with Licinius, conducted near the Bosporus, Constantine personally became acquainted with the location of Byzantium and appreciated its importance. On November 20, 326, the laying of new city walls took place, and on May 11, 330, the solemn consecration of the city, which was called "New Rome", followed. The city wall built by Constantine was 7 times the size of the Byzantine wall. Taking care of the splendor of his new capital, Konstantin Vel. built many rich buildings and collected many monuments and jewels from other places. The main city square, which, like in Rome, bore the name of the Forum, was decorated with triumphal arches and porticos, from which the so-called so-called has survived to our time. "Burned Column"; the hippodrome (now At-meydan) was renewed, surrounded by luxurious buildings and decorated with ancient statues brought here from different places(see above, Serpentine Column). Constantine is also credited with the construction of a reservoir called "1001 columns", and many churches. Recognizing the renewed city as the handiwork of Constantine, contemporaries and posterity began to call it the "city of Constantine" (Κωνσταντίνου πολίς). To attract the population, Konstantin gave the inhabitants of the capital various benefits and advantages, and, among other things, elevated the members of the city council to the senatorial dignity. Whole line his successors acted in the same direction, and the city, despite various adversities, as ex. destructive earthquakes, fires, invasions of barbarians, etc., quickly expanded. Of the 14 districts (regiones), 12 lay within the city wall; behind it, the area reserved for the 7000th detachment of the Gothic bodyguards of the emperor was the 13th district, on the site of the present Galata, and the 14th district occupied the place around the Blachernae Palace. In 412 the wall of Konstantinov was destroyed by an earthquake. In 431, fearing an attack by the Huns, Theodosius II covered some parts of the city with a wall, including the Goth district. This wall was also destroyed by the earthquake. Finally, in 447, the prefect Cyrus-Konstantin built a new one, in some places still preserved to this day, the so-called. double Theodosian wall. This wall stretches from the Golden Horn (to the north) to the Sea of ​​Marmara (to the south) for about 6800 m and encircles the city in a slightly sinuous arc from the north-west. and western. sides. Later, the emperors Heraclius (in the 7th century) and Leo the Armenian (in the 9th century) added an additional defensive wall in the Blachernae region to protect the local palace and temple from barbarian raids. In the place where the now completely dried-up Λυκος stream enters the city, a large gap was left. Devices for distributing water and sluices for filling ditches with water were arranged here. The population of the city, gathered with different parties world, heterogeneous and diverse, combined all the vices of European humanity with the bad qualities of the Asian world: the desire for luxury - with bloodthirstiness, sensuality - with false piety, arrogance - with cringing. Passion for spectacles that stir the blood, and especially for disputes, passed from the arena into life and even into religion. The emperors themselves took part in religious disputes, since they were considered and considered themselves the heads of the church. Another kind of unrest was political, generated either by ambitious generals who sought, and not always without success, the imperial crown, then by various temporary workers and favorites, then, finally, by empresses, who often preferred some subject over their royal spouses. The Imperial Guard sometimes, no worse than the Praetorians of Rome, chose their supreme leader and gave him the crown. The popular uprisings, accompanied by robberies and fires, also represented a considerable disaster for the city. Especially stormy was the rebellion in the reign of Justinian Vel., in 532, caused by a dispute between the "parties of the circus" (green and blue) and suppressed only at the cost of terrible bloodshed. In order to erase the memory of this rebellion and restore the former splendor of the city, Justinian decorated K. with numerous luxurious buildings, mainly churches, among which the Cathedral of St. Sofia (see). The successors of Justinian cared most about protecting K. against the barbarians, who sometimes kept him under siege for a long time and even seized for a while into their power [during its existence, K. was subjected to 29 sieges and 8 times was at the mercy of enemies.]. At first he was disturbed by the Avars; then the Persians appeared under its walls, under the leadership of Khozroy, in 616 and 626. Later, the Arabs besieged it every summer during the entire time from 668 to 675, and K. managed to escape only thanks to his Greek fire; they also besieged it in 717-718, when they were repelled by the emperor Leo the Isaurian. In the years 865, 904 and 941, our ancestors smashed Kyiv, led by the Kievan princes Askold and Dir, Oleg and Igor, who took ransoms from the emperors and forced them to conclude trade agreements. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, K. becomes a holy city for the Russians, and along with Jerusalem attracts a lot of pilgrims who go through it to the Holy Land. Many of them leave descriptions of Tsaregrad in their travel stories, from which it is clear what a strong impression it made with its magnificence before its fall and what pity it aroused with its appearance after it was taken by the Turks. More remarkable of the pilgrims-narrators: hegumen Daniel (1113-15), archbishop. Antony of Novgorod (1200), Moscow deacon Ignatius (1389), Hierodeacon of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Zosima (c. 1421), merchant Trifon Korobeinikov (1583), Trinity Hierodeacon Jonah and Elder Andrei Sukhanov (1651), Moscow priest John Lukyanov (1711) , Hieromonks Macarius and Sylvester (1704), Priest. Andrei and Stefan Ignatiev (1707), Nizhyn monk John Vishensky (1708), hieromonk Varlaam (1712), Yaroslavl merchant Matvey Nechaev (1721), Vasily Barsky (1723), Chigirinsky monk Serapion (1749), hieromonk Meletius (1793). The Bulgarians (since 705) disturbed K. with their attacks, and only the imp. Vasily the Bulgar-Slayer, at the beginning of the 11th century, managed to liberate the city from this danger as well. In the same century, the Seljuk Turks took possession of Asia Minor, and K.'s influence on this part of the empire weakened. True, the crusaders soon defeated the sultans of Nicaea and Iconium; but the Western knights did not at all want to shed their blood for nothing for the capital of the Eastern Empire and its ruler. Having become acquainted with the riches and advantageous position of K. and realizing his inner weakness, they do not take their envious glances off him, and the matter ends with the capture of K. by the knights of the fourth crusade, 1204. At this time, many beautiful buildings, expensive statues and other monuments perished arts; all ancient Greek sculptures were destroyed, except for bronze horses, which, along with some other monuments, were taken to Venice to decorate the Cathedral of St. Brand. The booty captured in K. by the knights, according to the stories of contemporaries, was unheard of. Since then, K. has become quite open to Western Europeans; its trade began to be strongly influenced by the Italian commercial republics, Venice and Genoa, whose representatives firmly settled in Galata. In 1295, the Venetian fleet appeared before K. and, having burned the Genoese buildings in Galata, caused significant damage to the city itself. In 1396, the Turkish sultan Bayazet laid a strong and stubborn siege on the city, and only the invasion of the Turks by Tamerlane (1401) forced him to retreat from K. The attempt to capture the city was repeated by Sultan Murad II, who stormed it in 1422; but partly successful defense of the inhabitants, partly internal unrest among the Turks and this time saved K. The son of Murad Mohammed II, in 1452, began to build coastal fortifications near K. in order to smash the Bosphorus from them, and from the spring of 1453 he led the correct the siege of the capital itself. He had about 300,000 troops and up to 420 ships at his disposal. Against this force, K., already deprived of all the regions on the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor and not receiving help from the European peoples, could put up only 6,000 Greeks, with the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, at the head, and up to 3,000 Italians, brought by the brave Genoese knight Giovanni Giustiniani. The forces were too unequal, and despite the desperate resistance of the defenders, who for several months courageously fought off all the attacks of the enemies, the city was taken by the Turks. May 29, 1453 Mohammed solemnly entered the city and the church of St.. Sofia. The whole city was given over to the army for a three-day sack: the remnants of the Greek army (about 3000 hours) were slaughtered, the elders, women and children were enslaved and sold. The Turks received huge booty and destroyed many of the most precious monuments of art: some were broken (for example, ancient Greek marble statues), others were melted, for a more convenient division of booty between the winners. Many buildings were destroyed and burned down. Only the temples were spared because Mohammed decided to turn them into mosques. K. turned from a purely Greek city into an almost purely Turkish one: the noble Greek families who survived the massacre were grouped in only one quarter of K. - Phanar, where the patriarch also found a place for himself.

Having proclaimed K. the capital of the empire, Mohammed II restored the destroyed fortress buildings (among other things, the "seven-towered castle") and built, partly from the building material of the destroyed temples and other buildings, several new mosques, seraglios (palaces), and others. changed, the city lost some of its splendor and wealth, and in this position it was until recently, before the beginning of a closer rapprochement between Turkey and the European peoples. In 1700, on July 13, Turkey concluded peace with Peter I in K. On January 16, 1790, an allied treaty between the Porte and Prussia against Russia and Austria was concluded in K., which, however, had no consequences. In 1821, a movement of Muslims against the Greeks took place in K., marked by the murder of Patriarch Gregory; in 1826 - a military rebellion of the Janissaries and their bloody pacification, which ended with the destruction of this army; in December 1853 - a revolt of the softs and other residents of Istanbul incited by them, due to misunderstandings between the Turkish government and the Western European powers. In 1854, on March 12, a treaty of alliance between England, France and Turkey was concluded in K., and on June 14 a convention was signed allowing Austria to occupy the Danubian principalities. In May 1876, the second uprising of the softs and the unrest of the Muslim mob broke out, the result of which was the overthrow of the Grand Vizier Mahmud Redim Pasha. In the winter of 1876-77, a conference of the great powers (see the Constantinople Conference) was held to settle the "Eastern Question" by peaceful means. In February 1878, Russian troops stood almost under the very walls of K., but did not enter the city.

Literature. Hammer, "K. und der Bosporus" (Pest, 1822); Théophile Gautier, "Constantinople" (P., 1853, new ed. 1877); ΣκαρλατονΔ. του Βυζαντιου, "Η Κωνσταντινουπολις" (Αθην, 1851); Πασπατη, "βυζαντιναι μελεται τοπογραφικαι καιστορικαι μετα πλειστων εικονων" (εν κωνσταντινουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπουπ key); De-Amicis, "Constantinopoli" (1881); "Stambul und das moderne Türkentum", von einem Osmanen (Lpts., 1877); Criegern, "Kreuzzug nach Stambul" (Dresd., 1878); Tchihatchef, "Le Bosphore et Constantinople" (P., 1864); Pulgher, "Les anciennes églises byzantines de Constantinople" (V., 1878-1880); Mordtmann, "Führer durch Konstantinopel" (Konstant., 1881); H. P. Kondakov, "Mosaics of the Kahrie-Jamisi Mosque" (Odessa, 1881); Leonhardi, "K. und Umgebung" (Zurich, 1885); de Blowitz, "Une cour à Constantinople" (P., 1884); H. P. Kondakov, "Byzantine churches and monuments to." (Odessa, 1887); G. S. Destunis, "Historical and topographical sketch of the land walls of K." (1887); Καραθεοδορη και Δημητριαδη, "Αρχαιολογικος χαρτης των χερσαιων τειχων Κωνσταντινουπολεως" (XIV т. трудов "Ελληνικος φιλολογικος Συλλογος εν Κωνσταντινουπολει", 1884); Hieromonk Anthony, "Essays K." (Yaroslavl, 1888); Dorn, "Seehäfen des Wellverkehrs" (vol. I, B., 1891); Meyer, "Türkei und Griechenland" (vol. I, Lpts., 1892).

- See Byzantium. (

Constantinople, Tsargrad, New Rome, Second Rome, Istanbul, Istanbul - in all cases we are talking about one city that became the capital of the Roman Empire in 330, by order of the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great. The new capital of the empire did not appear from scratch. The predecessor of Constantinople was the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, founded, according to legend, in 667 BC. Byzantium - the son of the god Poseidon.

Constantine, who shied away from arrogant Rome, decided to move the capital of the state to the periphery. Constantinople was not a "full-fledged" European city - it is the only city on earth that is located in two parts of the world at once: Europe (5%) and Asia (95%). The city is located on the banks of the Bosporus, which is the border of the continents. The city controlled the Bosporus and trade from Europe to Asia.

By order of the first Christian emperor Constantine, large-scale construction began in the city: it expands, fortress walls are built, churches are built, works of art are brought to the city from all over the empire.

Throughout the history of Constantinople, 10 Roman and 82 Byzantine emperors, 30 Ottoman sultans ruled in it. The city was besieged a total of 24 times. At its peak, the population of Constantinople reached 800 thousand people.

The city has found a new life, having increased several times. Half a century later, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were built - they have survived to this day. In some places, the city wall reaches 15 meters in height, and its thickness reaches 20 meters.

The city experienced a golden age during the reign of Emperor Justenian (527 - 565). Destroyed in the fifth year of Justenian's reign during the Nika uprising, the city is rebuilt by the indefatigable emperor again - for this, the best architects of that time are involved. The burnt-out Hagia Sophia is being built again, which for more than a thousand years has become the largest Christian church on earth. The golden age of Justenian's reign was overshadowed by the plague, which in 544 claimed the lives of almost half of the inhabitants of the Byzantine capital.

From the middle of the 7th to the 10th century, Constantinople was haunted by a series of attacks and sieges. The city is attacked by Arabs, Bulgarians, Slavs.

Tsargrad (as the Slavs called the city) experienced its second birth in the 9th century, with the advent of the Macedonian dynasty. This is facilitated by a number of victories that can be won over sworn enemies - Arabs and Bulgarians. Science and culture are experiencing an unprecedented rise. After the split in 1054 of the Christian world into Orthodox and Catholic Constantinople became the center of Orthodoxy, actively carrying out missionary activities, especially among the Slavs.

The beginning of the decline of the city was laid by the crusader knights of the Fourth Crusade. Instead of freeing the Holy Sepulcher, they decided to profit from the treasures of the richest European city. In 1204, they treacherously captured it, plundered and burned it, massacring a large number of citizens. For more than half a century, the city became the capital of a new crusader state - the Latin Empire.

In 1261, the Byzantines liberate Constantinople, and the Palaiologos dynasty comes to power. However, the city is never destined to reach its former greatness and power.

In 1453, the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople. The Ottomans renamed the city Istanbul and made it the capital of their empire. Sultan Mehmed II built up the city with mosques, madrasahs, palaces of sultans. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque by adding minarets to it.

In 1923, after the abolition of the Sultanate, Istanbul loses the status of the capital of Turkey - it is transferred to Ankara.

Istanbul is currently largest city world with a population of about 15 million people. It is the most industrialized city in Turkey. In addition, a huge number of monuments of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires are concentrated in the city.

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Constantinople in the Byzantine era

Constantinople(other Greek. Κωνσταντινούπολις , Constantinoupolis, or other Greek. ἡ Πόλις - "City", Ottoman. قسطنطينيه ‎ , tour. Konstantinopolis, lat. Constantinopolis ) - the name until March 28, 1930, the unofficial name (official - New Rome) of the capital of the Roman Empire (330-395), Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire (395-1204 and 1261-1453), Latin Empire (1204-1261 ) and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922).

Byzantine Constantinople, located on a strategic cape between the Golden Horn and the Sea of ​​​​Marmara, on the border and was the capital of the Christian empire - the heir of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. During the Middle Ages, Constantinople was the largest and richest city in Europe. To this day, it remains the largest city in Europe by population.

Among the names of the city - Byzantium (Greek. Βυζάντιον , lat. Byzantium), New Rome (Greek. Νέα Ῥώμη , lat. Nova Roma) (included in the title of patriarch), Constantinople, Tsargrad (among the Slavs; translation Greek name"Royal City" - Βασιλεύουσα Πόλις - Vasilevousa Polis, city of Vasileus) and Istanbul. The name "Constantinople" is preserved in the modern Greek, "Tsargrad" - in South Slavic. In the 9th-12th centuries, the pompous name "Byzantida" (Greek. Βυζαντις ). The city was officially renamed in 1930 during Atatürk's reforms.

Story

Constantine the Great (306-337)

Church of the Holy Apostles

In 324, after victories in internecine wars, the emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine the Great, unfolds in the 7th century BC. e. as a Greek colony in the city of Byzantium, the largest construction was carried out - the hippodrome was rebuilt, new palaces were built, the huge church of the Apostles was erected, fortress walls were being built, works of art were brought to the city from all over the empire. As a result of large-scale construction, the city increases several times, and population growth increases significantly due to migration from European and Asian provinces.

May 11, 330 Constantine officially transfers the capital of the Roman Empire to the city on the Bosphorus and names it New Rome, Constantinople.

Subsequently, the city grew and developed so rapidly that already half a century later, under the reign of Emperor Theodosius, new city walls were being erected. The new walls of the city, which have survived to this day, have already included seven hills - the same number as in.

Divided empire (395-527)

After the death of Theodosius in 395, the Roman Empire was finally divided into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. After the death of the Western Roman Empire (476), the Eastern Empire is traditionally called the Western term Byzantine Empire or simply Byzantium, although it never had a self-name, and until the end of the existence of Byzantium, the empire was called Romean (that is, Roman), and its inhabitants - Romans (Romans).

City of Justinian (527-565)

During the reign of Emperor Justinian in 527-565, the “golden age” begins for Constantinople. Five years later, in 532, the largest Nika uprising broke out in the city - the city was significantly destroyed, the Hagia Sophia burned down.

After the brutal suppression of the rebellion, Justinian rebuilds the capital, attracting the best architects of his time. New buildings, temples and palaces are being built, the central streets of the new city are decorated with colonnades. A special place is occupied by the construction of Hagia Sophia, which became the largest temple in the Christian world and remained so for more than a thousand years - until the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral.

The "Golden Age" was not cloudless: in 544, the Plague of Justinian claimed the lives of 40% of the city's population.

The city grows rapidly and becomes at first the business center of the then world, and soon the largest city in the world. He was even called simply City. During its heyday, the area of ​​the city was 30 thousand hectares, and the population - hundreds of thousands of people, which is about ten times the typical size of the largest cities in Europe.

The first mention of a Turkish toponym Istanbul(- istanbul, local pronunciation ɯsˈtambul - ystambul) appear in Arabic and then Turkic sources of the 10th century and come from (Greek. εἰς τὴν Πόλιν ), "istin pόlin" - "to the city" or "to the city" - is an indirect Greek name for Constantinople.

Sieges and decline

Walls of Constantinople

In the period from 666 to 950, the city was subjected to repeated sieges by the Arabs, Bulgarians and Russ.

During the reign of Emperor Leo the Isaurian in 717-741, a period of iconoclasm begins, which will last until the middle of the 9th century, many frescoes and mosaics on religious themes are destroyed.

Heyday under the Macedonians and Komnenos

The second greatest flowering of Byzantium, and with it Constantinople, begins in the 9th century with the coming to power of the Macedonian dynasty (856-1071). Then, simultaneously with major military victories over the main enemies - the Bulgarians (Vasily II even bore the nickname Bulgar Slayer) and Arabs, Greek-speaking culture flourished: science (the Constantinople Higher School was being reformed - a kind of first European university, founded by Theodosius II in 425), painting (mainly frescoes and icons), literature (mainly hagiography and annals). Missionary activity is intensifying, mainly among the Slavs, an example of which is the activity of Cyril and Methodius.

As a result of disagreements between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054, the Christian Church was divided, and Constantinople became an Orthodox center.

New Palace in Blachernae

Since the empire was no longer as large as in the days of Justinian or Heraclius, there were no other cities comparable to Constantinople. At this time, Constantinople played a fundamental role in all areas of life in Byzantium. Since 1071, when the invasion of the Seljuk Turks began, the empire, and with it the City, again plunged into darkness.

During the reign of the Komnenos dynasty (1081-1185), Constantinople is experiencing its last heyday - though not the same as under Justinian and the Macedonian dynasty. The center of the city is shifting westward towards the city walls, into the current districts of Fatih and Zeyrek. New churches and a new imperial palace (Blachernae Palace) are being built.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Genoese and Venetians take over the commercial hegemony and settle down in Galata.

The fall

On April 13, 1204, Constantinople is captured by the knights of the Fourth Crusade, who burn it and almost completely destroy it. The city becomes the capital of the Latin Empire of the Crusaders, in which the economic dominance passed to the Venetians. In July 1261, the Byzantines, supported by the Genoese, recapture the city, and power again passes to the Byzantine dynasty of the Palaiologos.

Until the middle of the 14th century, Constantinople remained a major trading center, then it gradually fell into disrepair, key positions in the city were captured by the Venetians and Genoese. Since the end of the XIV century, Constantinople has repeatedly tried to seize Ottoman Turks. After the construction of the Rumel fortress by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1452, the fate of the city was decided, and on May 29, 1453, after a long siege, the city fell.

Constantinople became the capital of a new strong state - the Ottoman Empire.

Tsargrad

Rotunda Hagia Sophia

Tsargrad - Slavic name of a city or land Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the modern c. It is provided in several ways depending on the language, for example, Old Church Slavonic: Tѣsargrad; Church Slavonic; Tsargrad, Russian: Rus. Tsargrad; South Slavic languages: Karigrad or Tsarigrad, depending on their alphabets (or Tsarigrad as an alternative Latin transliteration of Cyrillic); Slovak Carihrad ; Czech Carrihrad ; Polish Carogrod ; Ukrainian Tsargorod; also Czargrad and Tzargrad ; see King.

Tsargrad- Old Slavonic translation of the Greek Βασιλὶς Πόλις. Combining the Slavic words tsar for "Caesar /" and hail for "city", it meant "City of Caesar". According to Per Thomsen, the Old Russian form influenced the Old Norse name of Constantinople Miklagard(Mikligarðr).

Gallery

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



Column of Constantine, built by Constantine I in 330 AD to celebrate the proclamation of Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire



Constantine the Great brings the City as a gift to the Mother of God (mosaic). Hagia Sophia, around 1000



Coin issued by Constantine I in honor of the founding of Constantinople



Another coin issued by Constantine I in 330-333 AD. e. in honor of the founding of Constantinople and Rome also confirms as the traditional center of the Roman Empire.



Theodosius I was the last Roman emperor to rule over an undivided empire (detail from the Obelisk at the Hippodrome of Constantinople).



The map of Constantinople (1422) by the Florentine cartographer Buondelmonti is the oldest map of the city and the only one that predates the Turkish conquest of the city in 1453



Today's Hagia Sophia was commissioned by Emperor Justinian I after the previous one, which was destroyed during the Nike uprising of 532. It was turned into a mosque in 1453 when the Ottoman Empire established itself and became a museum in 1935.



Emperor Leo VI (886–912) worships Christ. Mosaic at the top of the Imperial Gate in Hagia Sophia.



Mosaic of the XII century from the upper gallery of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. Emperor John II (1118–1143) is shown on the left, with the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in the center, and Empress Irene, consort of John, on the right.



Crusaders in Constantinople. Painting by Delacroix.



Latin Empire, Empire of Nicaea, Empire of Trebizond and the Kingdom of Epirus. The boundaries are very indefinite.



Mehmed the Conqueror enters Constantinople, painting by Fausto Zonaro



Eagle and snake, 6th century mosaic on the floor, Constantinople, Grand Palace.

It was the capital of the Christian empire - the successor of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. During the Middle Ages, Constantinople was the largest and richest city in Europe.

Story

Constantine the Great (306-337)

In 324, after victories in internecine wars, the emperor of the Roman Empire, Constantine the Great, unfolds in the 7th century BC. e. as a Greek colony in the city of Byzantium, the largest construction - the hippodrome was rebuilt, new palaces were built, the huge Church of the Apostles was erected, fortress walls were being built, works of art were brought to the city from all over the empire. As a result of large-scale construction, the city increases several times, and population growth increases significantly due to migration from European and Asian provinces.

Divided empire (395-527)

After the brutal suppression of the rebellion, Justinian rebuilds the capital, attracting the best architects of his time. New buildings, temples and palaces are being built, the central streets of the new city are decorated with colonnades. A special place is occupied by the construction of Hagia Sophia, which became the largest temple in the Christian world and remained so for over a thousand years - until the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.

The "Golden Age" was not cloudless: in 544, the Plague of Justinian claimed the lives of 40% of the city's population.

The city is growing rapidly and becomes first the business center of the then world, and soon the largest city in the world. He was even called simply City.

The first mention of a Turkish toponym Istanbul ( - istanbul, local pronunciation ɯsˈtambul- ystambul) appear in Arabic, and then Turkic sources of the 10th century and come from (Greek. εἰς τὴν Πόλιν ), "istin pόlin" - "to the city" or "to the city" - is an indirect Greek name for Constantinople.

Sieges and decline

In the period from 666 to 950, the city was subjected to repeated sieges by the Arabs and Russ.

During the reign of Emperor Leo the Isaurian in -741, a period of iconoclasm begins, which will last until the middle of the 9th century, many frescoes and mosaics on religious themes are destroyed.

Heyday under the Macedonians and Komnenos

The second greatest flowering of Byzantium, and with it Constantinople, begins in the 9th century with the coming to power of the Macedonian dynasty (-). Then, simultaneously with major military victories over the main enemies - the Bulgarians (Vasily II even bore the nickname Bulgar Slayer) and Arabs, Greek-speaking culture flourishes: science (the Constantinople Higher School is being reformed - a kind of first European university, founded by Theodosius II in 425), painting (mainly frescoes and icons), literature (mainly hagiography and annals). Missionary activity is intensifying, mainly among the Slavs, as exemplified by the activities of Cyril and Methodius.

As a result of disagreements between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople, a division of the Christian Church occurred in the city, and Constantinople became an Orthodox center.

Since the empire was no longer nearly as large as in the time of Justinian or Heraclius, it had no other cities comparable to Constantinople. At this time, Constantinople played a fundamental role in all areas of life in Byzantium. Since 1071, when the invasion of the Seljuk Turks began, the empire, and with it the City, again plunged into darkness.

During the reign of the Komnenos dynasty (-), Constantinople is experiencing its last heyday - however, it is no longer the same as under Justinian and the Macedonian dynasty. The city center is shifting west towards the city walls, into the current districts of Fatih and Zeyrek. New churches and a new imperial palace (Blachernae Palace) are being built.

In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Genoese and Venetians take over the commercial hegemony and settle down in Galata.

The fall

Constantinople became the capital of a new strong state, the Ottoman Empire.

Volkhov - Volga trade route Dvina - Dnieper trade route Other places

An excerpt characterizing Constantinople

It was not difficult to say "tomorrow" and maintain a tone of propriety; but to come home alone, to see sisters, brother, mother, father, confess and ask for money to which you have no right after the given word of honor, it was terrible.
Haven't slept at home yet. The youth of the Rostovs' house, having returned from the theatre, had supper, sat at the clavichord. As soon as Nikolai entered the hall, he was seized by that loving, poetic atmosphere that reigned that winter in their house and which now, after Dolokhov's proposal and Yogel's ball, seemed to thicken even more, like the air before a thunderstorm, over Sonya and Natasha. Sonya and Natasha, in the blue dresses they wore at the theatre, pretty and knowing it, were happy and smiling at the clavichord. Vera and Shinshin were playing chess in the living room. The old countess, expecting her son and husband, was playing solitaire with an old noblewoman who lived in their house. Denisov, with shining eyes and disheveled hair, was sitting with his leg thrown back at the clavichord, and clapping his short fingers on them, he took chords, and rolling his eyes, in his small, hoarse, but true voice, sang the poem he had composed "The Enchantress", to which he tried to find music.
Sorceress, tell me what power
Draws me to abandoned strings;
What kind of fire did you plant in your heart,
What delight spilled over the fingers!
He sang in a passionate voice, shining at the frightened and happy Natasha with his agate, black eyes.
- Wonderful! Great! Natasha screamed. “Another verse,” she said, not noticing Nikolai.
“They have everything the same,” thought Nikolai, looking into the living room, where he saw Vera and his mother with an old woman.
- BUT! here's Nikolenka! Natasha ran up to him.
- Is daddy at home? - he asked.
- I'm glad you came! - Without answering, Natasha said, - we have so much fun. Vassily Dmitritch stayed another day for me, you know?
“No, dad hasn’t arrived yet,” said Sonya.
- Coco, you have arrived, come to me, my friend! said the voice of the countess from the living room. Nikolai went up to his mother, kissed her hand, and, silently sitting down at her table, began to look at her hands, laying out the cards. Laughter and cheerful voices were heard from the hall, persuading Natasha.
“Well, all right, all right,” Denisov shouted, “now there is nothing to excuse, barcarolla is behind you, I beg you.
The Countess looked back at her silent son.
- What happened to you? Nikolai's mother asked.
“Ah, nothing,” he said, as if he was already tired of this one and the same question.
- Is daddy coming soon?
- I think.
“They have the same. They don't know anything! Where can I go? ” thought Nikolai and went back to the hall where the clavichords stood.
Sonya sat at the clavichord and played the prelude of that barcarolle that Denisov especially loved. Natasha was going to sing. Denisov looked at her with enthusiastic eyes.
Nikolai began to pace up and down the room.
“And here is the desire to make her sing? What can she sing? And there is nothing funny here, thought Nikolai.
Sonya took the first chord of the prelude.
“My God, I am lost, I am a dishonorable person. Bullet in the forehead, the only thing left, not to sing, he thought. Leave? but where to? anyway, let them sing!”
Nikolai gloomily, continuing to walk around the room, looked at Denisov and the girls, avoiding their eyes.
"Nikolenka, what's wrong with you?" asked Sonya's gaze fixed on him. She immediately saw that something had happened to him.
Nicholas turned away from her. Natasha, with her sensitivity, also instantly noticed the state of her brother. She noticed him, but she herself was so happy at that moment, she was so far from grief, sadness, reproaches, that she (as often happens with young people) deliberately deceived herself. No, I'm too happy now to spoil my fun with sympathy for someone else's grief, she felt, and said to herself:
"No, I'm sure I'm wrong, he must be as cheerful as I am." Well, Sonya, - she said and went to the very middle of the hall, where, in her opinion, the resonance was best. Raising her head, lowering her lifelessly hanging hands, as dancers do, Natasha, stepping from heel to tiptoe with an energetic movement, walked across the middle of the room and stopped.
"Here I am!" as if she were speaking, answering the enthusiastic look of Denisov, who was watching her.
“And what makes her happy! Nikolay thought, looking at his sister. And how she is not bored and not ashamed! Natasha took the first note, her throat widened, her chest straightened, her eyes took on a serious expression. She was not thinking of anyone or anything at that moment, and sounds poured out of the smile of her folded mouth, those sounds that anyone can produce at the same intervals and at the same intervals, but which leave you cold a thousand times, in make you shudder and cry for the thousand and first time.
Natasha this winter began to sing seriously for the first time, and especially because Denisov admired her singing. She sang now not like a child, there was no longer in her singing that comic, childish diligence that had been in her before; but she did not yet sing well, as all the judges who heard her said. “Not processed, but a beautiful voice, it needs to be processed,” everyone said. But they usually said this long after her voice had fallen silent. At the same time, when this unprocessed voice sounded with incorrect aspirations and with efforts of transitions, even the experts of the judge did not say anything, and only enjoyed this unprocessed voice and only wished to hear it again. There was that virginal innocence in her voice, that ignorance of her own strengths and that still unprocessed velvety, which were so combined with the shortcomings of the art of singing that it seemed impossible to change anything in this voice without spoiling it.
“What is this? Nikolai thought, hearing her voice and opening his eyes wide. - What happened to her? How does she sing today? he thought. And suddenly the whole world for him concentrated in anticipation of the next note, the next phrase, and everything in the world became divided into three tempos: “Oh mio crudele affetto… [Oh my cruel love…] One, two, three… one, two… three… one… Oh mio crudele affetto… One, two, three… one. Oh, our stupid life! Nicholas thought. All this, and misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and malice, and honor - all this is nonsense ... but here it is real ... Hy, Natasha, well, my dear! well, mother! ... how will she take this si? took! thank God!" - and he, without noticing that he was singing, in order to strengthen this si, took the second third of a high note. "My God! how good! Is this what I took? how happy!” he thought.
O! how this third trembled, and how something better that was in Rostov's soul was touched. And this something was independent of everything in the world, and above everything in the world. What losses here, and the Dolokhovs, and honestly! ... All nonsense! You can kill, steal and still be happy ...

For a long time Rostov had not experienced such pleasure from music as on that day. But as soon as Natasha finished her barcarolle, he remembered reality again. He left without saying anything and went downstairs to his room. A quarter of an hour later the old count, cheerful and contented, arrived from the club. Nikolai, hearing his arrival, went to him.
- Well, did you have fun? said Ilya Andreich, smiling joyfully and proudly at his son. Nikolai wanted to say yes, but he could not: he almost sobbed. The count lit his pipe and did not notice the state of his son.
"Oh, inevitably!" Nikolai thought for the first and last time. And suddenly, in the most careless tone, such that he seemed disgusting to himself, as if he was asking the carriage to go to the city, he said to his father.
- Dad, I came to you for business. I had and forgot. I need money.
"That's it," said the father, who was in a particularly cheerful spirit. “I told you that it won’t. Is it a lot?
“A lot,” said Nikolai, blushing and with a stupid, careless smile, which for a long time later he could not forgive himself. - I lost a little, that is, even a lot, a lot, 43 thousand.
- What? To whom?... You're kidding! shouted the Count, suddenly blushing apoplectically on his neck and the back of his head, as old people blush.
“I promised to pay tomorrow,” Nikolai said.
“Well!” said the old count, spreading his arms and sank helplessly on the sofa.
- What to do! Who hasn't this happened to? - said the son in a cheeky, bold tone, while in his soul he considered himself a scoundrel, a scoundrel who could not atone for his crime all his life. He would like to kiss his father's hands, on his knees to ask for his forgiveness, and he casually and even rudely said that this happens to everyone.
Count Ilya Andreich lowered his eyes on hearing these words of his son and hurried, looking for something.
“Yes, yes,” he said, “it’s hard, I’m afraid, it’s hard to get ... with anyone! yes, with whom it has not happened ... - And the count glanced at his son's face and went out of the room ... Nikolai was preparing to fight back, but did not expect this at all.
- Daddy! pa ... hemp! he shouted after him, sobbing; forgive me! And, seizing his father's hand, he pressed his lips to it and wept.

While the father was explaining himself to his son, an equally important explanation was taking place between the mother and her daughter. Natasha, excited, ran to her mother.
- Mom! ... Mom! ... he made me ...
- What did you do?
- Made an offer. Mother! Mother! she shouted. The Countess could not believe her ears. Denisov made an offer. To whom? This tiny girl Natasha, who until recently played with dolls and now still took lessons.

Photo: TV channel "Tsargrad", Constantine the Great brings the City as a gift to the Mother of God. Mosaic above the entrance to Hagia Sophia

Archpriest Andrei Tkachev on Constantinople

People have birthdays, cities also have birthdays. There are cities where we know exactly the day of laying the first building or fortress wall. And there are those cities about which we do not know this, and we use only the first chronicle mention. This is the case with most cities: they first heard a mention somewhere, and consider this the only appearance in the historical annals.

But we know for sure that on May 11, 330 from the Nativity of Christ, Constantinople, the city of Constantine, was founded. Tsar Constantine, who appeared as the first Christian emperor, himself was baptized just before his death. However, by the Edict of Milan, he stopped the persecution of Christians. Subsequently, he also headed the first Ecumenical Council.

Constantine founded a new city in honor of his name. As it is written, narkosha their names on the lands. Alexander poured Alexandria all over the world, and Constantine created Constantinople.

What can we say about Konstantin, if we have all sorts of Kalinins, Zhdanovs, Stalingrads - there were an unmeasured number of these cities. People were in a hurry to name the subway, factories, steamships and so on after themselves. Constantine acted more humble - he named only one city, the capital of the empire.

The Russians called this city Tsargrad - the City of the Tsar, the Tsar's City, the Great City. Compared to Constantinople, all other cities were villages. Today's name Istanbul is the Turkic Greek expression "istinpolin", which means "from the city". That is, where are you coming from - from the city. This is how Istanbul was born.

It is the City of Cities, the mother of all cities in the world. Not only Russian cities, as we call Kyiv. In Russia, in Russia, this wonderful city has always been reverently and reverently treated - the city of monasteries, bookish wisdom, the city of the tsar and Vasilevs. Therefore, exactly one thousand years after the founding of Constantinople, the Russians laid the stone church of the Savior on Bor on Borovitsky Hill, within the Moscow Kremlin. It was, however, destroyed by the Bolsheviks. But it was such a symbolic act - stretching the historical thread from Constantinople to the new Constantinople. From the Second Rome to the Third Rome. Although the Turks had not yet entered Constantinople, Mehmet the Conqueror had not yet broken through the walls of Constantinople, neither external nor internal, they had not yet sung "azan" in Hagia Sophia - but the Russians already felt their continuity and connection. A thousand years later they laid the foundations of Constantinople, the Church of the Savior on Bor, inside the Kremlin walls.

Our ancestors had this feeling - connections and continuity with Byzantium, gradually descending from the historical arena.

So, I congratulate all the residents of Constantinople - everyone working on our channel, as well as all people who have a solid worldview vertical, a connection with heavenly Jerusalem, on the day of memory of the founding of the city of Constantine, on the birthday of the city, which, in contrast to the old Rome, became the foundation of the Byzantine Empire for more than a thousand years. who gave rise to Christian worship. And in general, whose influence on world history is difficult to overestimate. Every May 11, on the day of the city, the memory of Hagia Sophia and Saint Constantinople burns like a fire under the ashes in the bowels of present-day Istanbul…