Hidden Ruins of Byzantine Constantinople

[Music] at the beginning of the 13th century Constantinople capital of the Byzantine Empire was the largest and richest city in the Christian world to the Arabs it was constantina the impregnable Citadel that had defied the armies of the cffs the Vikings called it melg Garth the great Wald place and wonder at its riches the Turks of Anatolia may have already begun to call it Istanbul whatever the name Constantinople was a spectacular place at the city's heart was the sprawling great palace overlooking the Hippodrome and its ancient statues across the square known as The austan Rose the Dome of Hagia Sophia a Broad cated Avenue connected these monuments with the forums of Constantine and theodosius and finally with the gates of the Towering theodosian walls near the walls with the exception of the region around the BNI Palace the preferred Imperial residence after the 11th century large areas were set aside for reservoirs Orchards and Market Gardens most of the city's 400,000 inhabitants lived closer to the center where churches and marble walled Mansions loomed over the packed HS of the poor the fires that accompanied the Crusader sack of 124 destroyed about half the city and the ensuing Latin occupation was almost equally devastating as the cast strapped westerners cannibalized the city's Treasures after the restoration of Byzantine Rule and especially after the catastrophic Civil Wars of the mid-4th century the Emperors lacked the resources to repair more than a handful of the most important buildings by the eve of the Turkish Conquest much of constan opal lay in Ruins Travelers compared the outline districts to a rural landscape scattered with villages the great palace was a shell the Hippodrome was overgrown and the Church of the Holy Apostles melum of the Emperors was collapsing after the Ottomans took the city in 1453 Constantinople became the capital of a rich and rapidly expanding Islamic empire top Capa Palace rose on the summit of the ancient Acropolis and the city's other Hills were soon crowned by vast Imperial mosques the population swelled too and then beyond its Byzantine Peak with the exception of the larger churches which usually became mosques most of the Byzantine city was soon demolished for building material over the past Century the continued growth of modern Istanbul has covered much of what remained but if you know where to look traces of medieval and ancient Constantinople can still be found during late Antiquity a series of Byzantine emperors set up honorific columns in the public places of Constantinople ultimately inspired by The Columns of Tran and Marcus aurelus in Rome these were imposing monuments designed to loom over the surrounding area some were Granite monoliths imported from Egypt others were decorated with spiraling bands of marble reliefs all were crowned with statues the remains of one of visiting constantinople's honorific columns can be found in the second Courtyard of top Capa Palace we have here the impost block that's the bit of the giant block that went on top of the capital from the column of Leo the who reigned around the end of the fifth century we have a larger part over here the entire Capital the monument was demolished uh in the early ottoman period probably just for Building Material ended up here uh where bits were reused but a few sections survived including this wonderful Capital which as you can see has human faces incorporated into the campus leaves this is the column of the emperor marcian it consists of two joint Columns of Egyptian granite and its capital adorned as you can see with eagles once carried a seeded statue of the were that statue is long gone you can still see this wonderful relief of Nike on the base along with the dedicatory inscription which reads this is the Monument of the emperor marcian dedicated by the prefect tatianos the most imposing of constantinople's honorific columns were associated with the Imperial forums like their predecessors in Rome these were Monumental plot es ringed by Cades designed to celebrate the victories and glory of the reigning Emperor the form of Constantine was a circular Plaza ringed by colonades it was bounded on one side by the Senate house and on the other by an EMP all that vanished long ago but the anic column at the center of the plaza made uniquely and extravagantly of poery still survives it was crowned originally by a statue of Constantine wearing a radi crown that toppled in the 12th century you can see that the top drum is a later Byzantine restoration but the rest still survives albe it a bit charred a remarkable testimony to this vanished public place the Forum of theodocious completed in 393 was an expansive Monumental square that featured a basilica an honorific column and imposing triumphal Arch whose own columns rather exotically were made to look like clubs you can see those tear-shaped patterns those are actually LED branches as though it were heun from a tree at the top of those loped branches was a fist and if you look just below me here there are the fingers the column at the center of the form of theodosis which stood roughly in the middle of your screen resembled the column of trun at Rome with lines of spiraling reliefs though the column was destroyed around 1500 a few of those reliefs were incorporated into the foundations of the bads of Basit as you can see here most of Byzantine constantinople's churches were converted into mosques within a century of the Ottoman Conquest in addition of course to haia Sophia many of these can still be visited highlights include the monastery of the pantor the Kora church and the Church of saints sergius and bakas between 524 and 527 the immensely wealthy ays Ania Giuliana the daughter and granddaughter of Emperors built a church dedicated to St Pocus it was widely considered to be the most impressive Church in Constantinople it was a huge structure about the size of Suman mosque and very richly decorated Justinian Hagia Sophia was built to rival it it burned sometime in the middle business period and was plundered by the venetians as you can see it's currently under excavation only a small part of the great palace the Mosaic museum near the Blue Mosque is accessible today and only facades remain of the buan and lerni palaces the mansions built by the Byzantine Elite have also virtually disappeared with two notable exceptions this is part of the Palace of anti Antiochus was a court unic in the reign of Theus II that is in the first part of the fifth century ad he was immensely wealthy and built this colossal Mansion beside the Hippodrome we're looking at what used to be known as the Palace of laus which has now been established as an antichamber or reception room for the larger Palace of Antiochus most of that Mansion lay off to our right behind that tall fence its Central feature was an enormous trinium dining room that was circular in form and had elaborate absis worked into the walls after anas's death this became a church dedicated to St euphemia and served as such it seems until the ottoman Conquest to my right are the substructures of a very substantial middle Byzantine building but what that building was is unclear it may have been the Bania 's Palace but this is just conjecture it served later as a sistern and now unfortunately is just a place to leave trash let's see if we can take a look inside although most of the extent remains of ancient and medieval Constantinople belong to imposing Monumental structures there are also scattered remains of the more utilitarian buildings where most byzantines lived and worked it seemed fitting to close with constantinople's oldest and most mysterious Monument this is the column of the Goths it received its name from the inscription on its base which reads to Fortune giving thanks in return for victory over the Goths we don't know who set it up it may have been Constantine or it may have been claudus scus in the previous century when Constantinople was still banon its capital carried a statue of Tu the goddess of good fortune or possibly according to a different source of Bas the mearan the founder of banon whoever set it up and whoever it commemorated it survives as a tantilizing fragment of Byzantine Constantinople for more overlooked Byzantine buildings check out my tour of Byzantine Thessaloniki which is linked on screen and in the description my new book inane Emperors sunken cities and earthquake machines is now available as a paperback ebook and audiobook you can buy your copy through Amazon Barnes & Noble or your local bookstore for more toen Stone content check out my channels toen Stone footnotes and scenic routes to the past which are linked in the description please consider joining other viewers in supporting toen Stone on patreon thanks for watching

Channel: toldinstone

Views: 482,503

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Id: l95HyMeAotM

Length: 11min 19sec (679 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023