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| Beyan-i Manazil-i Safar-i Iraqayn-i Sultan Sulayman Khan(View of Istanbul from Sultan Suleiman's Iraq campaign), Matrakci Nasuhi, 1537-1538 * (Istanbul University Library) |
Founding a city in the ancient world was akin to a God-liked benefaction and in 324, right after defeating Licinius in Adrianople, Constantine the Great (the first Christian Roman emperor) set out to make his new city. It has been suggested that he considered Troy first but then changed his mind and moved up north to the ancient Greek city of Byzas. Unfortunately, today there is not much left in present day Istanbul, from Constantine's city to give us a substantial picture of how it might have been. The website Byzantium1200 is a great resource to get an idea of how the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire might have looked in the year 1200. We may not have the Forums or the porticoes of fourth century Constantinople but we do have artifacts that we can use to form a composite picture of "New Rome" as it was dedicated on this day in the year 330.
