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532

532

Events
- January 11 - Nika riots in Constantinople; the cathedral is destroyed.
- January 18 - Nika riots in Constantinople are put down by Belisarius and Mundus; maybe as many as 30 000 people are killed in the Hippodrome.
- Byzantine emperor Justinian I orders the building of a new cathedral - begin of the construction of the Hagia Sophia.
- Justinian I signs a peace treaty with the Sassanian shah Chosroes I.
- Franks invade the kingdom of Burgundy.
- Northern Wei Xiao Wu Di succeeds Northern Wei An Ding Wang in Northern China.
- Silla conquers Geumgwan Gaya in Korean peninsula. Births
- Aedan, king of Dalriada (approximate date) Deaths
- October 17 - Pope Boniface II Category:532 ko:532년

January 11

January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 354 days remaining (355 in leap years).

Events

- 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople.
- 1158 - Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
- 1569 - First recorded lottery in England.
- 1571 - Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
- 1693 - Eruption of Mt. Etna.
- 1759 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
- 1787 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
- 1805 - Michigan Territory is created.
- 1861 - Alabama secedes from the United States.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post - General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
- 1867 - Benito Juárez becomes Mexican president again.
- 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War begins.
- 1880 - Total solar eclipse blackens the sky of San Francisco one day after the funeral of Emperor Norton.
- 1908 - Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
- 1919 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
- 1922 - First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
- 1923 - Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments.
- 1935 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
- 1938 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
- 1942 - Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
- The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
- 1943 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
- 1946 - Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.
- Porfirio Barba-Jacob's ashes go back to Colombia.
- 1949 - First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
- 1957 - The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
- 1962 - Eruption of the Huascaran volcano in Peru; 4,000 deaths.
- 1963 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
- 1964 - United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports smoking may be hazardous to health. First such statement from US government.
- 1972 - East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.
- 1973 - Beginning of the Watergate burglars trial.
- 1974 - The world's first surviving set of sextuplets are born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Cape Town, South Africa.
- 1980 - Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master.
- 1982 - A cold snap sends temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
- 1990 - 300,000 march in favor of Lithuanian independence.
- 1991 - Ric Flair defeats Sting to become the first WCW Champion.
- 1992 - Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
- 1994 - Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Fein
- 1996 - Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1998 - Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria; over 100 people killed.
- 2001 - The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of AOL and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.

Births

1322 to 1899

- 1322 - Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)
- 1359 - Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)
- 1503 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Italian artist (d. 1540)
- 1591 - Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)
- 1630 - John Rogers, American President of Harvard (b. 1684)
- 1671 - François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)
- 1757 - Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
- 1757 - Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
- 1800 - Nat Turner, American slave (d. 1831)
- 1807 - Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder (d. 1874)
- 1815 - John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
- 1856 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1941)
- 1858 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
- 1859 - Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, British statesman, Viceroy of India (d. 1925)
- 1860 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Ukrainian artist (d. 1884)
- 1875 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)
- 1876 - Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
- 1885 - Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977)
- 1887 - Aldo Leopold, American ecologist (d. 1948)

1900 to 1999

- 1902 - Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)
- 1903 - Alan Paton, South African writer (d. 1988)
- 1906 - Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist
- 1908 - Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1911 - Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
- 1921 - Juanita M. Kreps, former US Secretary of commerce
- 1923 - Carroll Shelby, American automobile designer
- 1924 - Roger Guillemin, French neuroendocrinologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1924 - Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)
- 1924 - Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
- 1925 - Grant Tinker, American television executive
- 1926 - Lev Demin, cosmonaut (d. 1998)
- 1930 - Rod Taylor, Australian actor
- 1934 - Jean Chrétien, twentieth Prime Minister of Canada
- 1938 - Arthur Scargill British labor leader
- 1941 - Gérson, Brazilian football player
- 1942 - Clarence Clemons, American musician (E Street Band)
- 1943 - Jim Hightower, American radio host and author
- 1944 - John Piper, American theologian
- 1944 - Shibu Soren, Indian politician
- 1946 - Naomi Judd, American singer
- 1952 - Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
- 1952 - Lee Ritenour, musician and composer
- 1956 - Robert Earl Keen, American singer
- 1957 - Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
- 1958 - Vicki Peterson, American musician
- 1960 - Stanley Tucci, American actor
- 1961 - Jasper Fforde, British author
- 1962 - Susan Lindauer, American peace activist and accused spy
- 1963 - Dean Reynolds, English snooker player
- 1966 - Marc Acito, American novelist and humorist
- 1966 - Kelley Law, Canadian curler
- 1968 - Tom Dumont, American musician, Alison Lewis. British Writer and Humanitist
- 1971 - Mary J. Blige, American singer
- 1972 - Marc Blucas, American actor
- 1972 - Amanda Peet, American actress
- 1973 - Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
- 1977 - Shomari Buchanan, American football player
- 1978 - Emile Heskey, English footballer
- 1980 - Mike Williams, American football player

Deaths

314 to 1899

- 314 - St. Miltiades
- 705 - John VI
- 812 - Stauracius, Byzantine Emperor
- 1055 - Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor
- 1494 - Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
- 1495 - Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)
- 1641 - Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (b. 1583)
- 1696 - Charles Albanel, French missionary explorer in Canada (b. 1616)
- 1703 - Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)
- 1713 - Pierre Jurieu, French protestant leader (b. 1637)
- 1762 - Louis-François Roubiliac, French sculptor (b. 1695)
- 1763 - Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)
- 1771 - Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)
- 1791 - William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (b. 1717)
- 1801 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (b. 1749)
- 1843 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer (b. 1779)
- 1882 - Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (b. 1810)

1900 to 1999

- 1901 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
- 1902 - Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (b. 1862)
- 1905 - Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Hasidic rabbi (b. 1847)
- 1923 - King Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
- 1928 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
- 1941 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)
- 1958 - Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1966 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
- 1966 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
- 1968 - Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898) Alison Lewis British Crystal Healer
- 1970 - Richmal Crompton, British author (b. 1890)
- 1980 - Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
- 1981 - Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
- 1983 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
- 1988 - Pappy Boyington, American aviator (b. 1912)
- 1991 - Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- 1998 - Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
- 1999 - Fabrizio de André, Italian singer (b. 1940)

2000 onwards

- 2000 - Ivan Combe, American inventor (b. 1911)
- 2000 - Bob Lemon, baseball player (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Mickey Finn, English drummer (T. Rex)
- 2003 - Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)
- 2003 - Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1938)
- 2005 - James Griffin, American musician (Bread) (b. 1943)
- 2005 - Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (b. 1913)

Holidays and observances

- Albania - Republic Day (1946)
- Japan - Kagami-Biraki (Rice Cakes Festival)
- Morocco - The Independence manifesto day
- Nepal - Unity Day
- Roman Empire - First day of Carmentalia in honor of Carmen
- Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 10 - January 12 - December 11 - February 11 — listing of all days ko:1월 11일 ms:11 Januari ja:1月11日 simple:January 11 th:11 มกราคม

Nika riots

The Nika riots (Greek: Στάση του Νίκα), or Nika revolt, took place over the course of a week in Constantinople in 532. It was the most violence Constantinople had ever seen to that point with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed. The ancient Roman and Byzantine Empires had well-developed associations which supported the different factions (or teams) under which competitors in certain sporting events competed; this was particularly true of chariot racing. There were four major factional teams of chariot racing, differentiated by the colour of the uniform in which they competed. These were the Blues, the Reds, the Greens, and the Whites, although by the Byzantine era the only teams with any influence were the Blues and Greens. The emperor Justinian I was a fan of the Blues. The teams had aspects of street gangs and political parties, grouping people by social class and religion, and they frequently tried to affect the policy of the Emperors by shouting political demands between the races. The imperial forces and guards in the city could not keep order without the cooperation of the circus factions which were in turn backed by the powerful aristocratic families of the city: this included some families who believed they had a more rightful claim to the throne than Justinian. Setting the stage for the revolt, in 531 some members of the Blues and Greens had been arrested for murder during the normal course of rioting after a chariot race, not unlike the mayhem that erupts after a soccer or basketball championship in modern times. The murderers were to be hanged, and most of them were. But on January 10, 532, two of them, a Blue and a Green, had escaped and were taking refuge in the sanctuary of a church surrounded by an angry mob. Justinian was nervous: he was in the midst of negotiating with the Persians over peace in the east, there was enormous resentment over high taxes, and now he faced a potential crisis in his city. Facing this, he declared to hold a chariot race on January 13 and commuted their sentences to imprisonment, but the Blues and Greens demanded that they be pardoned entirely. On January 13 the chariot races were held; a tense and angry city arrived at the Hippodrome. The Hippodrome was next to the palace complex and thus Justinian could watch from the safety of his box in the palace and preside over the races. The crowd from the start had been hurling insults at Justinian. By the end of the day, at race 22, the chants had changed from "Blue" or "Green" to "Nika" ("Victory" or "Conquer") and the crowds broke out and began to assault the palace. For the next five days the palace was under virtual siege. Some of the senators saw this as an opportunity to overthrow Justinian, as they were opposed to his new taxes and lack of support for the nobility in general. The rioters, now armed and probably controlled by their allies in the Senate, also demanded that Justinian dismiss the prefect John the Cappadocian, who was responsible for tax collecting, and the quaestor Tribonian, who was responsible for rewriting the legal code. They then declared a new emperor, Hypatius, who was a nephew of Emperor Anastasius I. Justinian considered fleeing, but his wife Theodora convinced him to stay in the city. Justinian had his generals Belisarius and Mundus suppress the revolt on January 18, which they did with much bloodshed by trapping the rebels in the Hippodrome. About thirty thousand rioters were reportedly killed. Justinian also had Hypatius executed and exiled the senators who had supported the riot.

The riots in fiction

Theodora and the Emperor (1952) by Harold Lamb is an historical fiction novel that follows the events of the Nika riots closely, using timelines and characters based on historical documents. The Guy Gavriel Kay fantasy novel Sailing to Sarantium depicts a revolt inspired by, and very similar to, the Nika riots. David Drake's novel Counting the Cost retells it as science fiction in the Hammer's Slammers setting, with a very gritty, grunt's-eye view of the fighting. Jerry Pournelle's novel The Mercenary retells it as science fiction in the CoDominium setting, from as much a political as military standpoint. The Blue and The Green, a story-line in British science fiction television series The Tomorrow People, also used the Nika riots as its basis. In the Heart of Darkness by David Drake and Eric Flint, an alternate history novel from the Belisarius Series, has an alternate version of the Nika riots. Category:Byzantine Empire Category:Riots Category:Justinian Dynasty Category:532

Constantinople

:This article details the history of Constantinople before the Turkish Conquest of 1453. For details on the city since 1453, see İstanbul. İstanbul Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις) was the original and best known name of the modern city of İstanbul in Turkey in its role over more than a millennium as capital, first of the Eastern Roman Empire, subsequently of the Byzantine Empire. The last imperial designation reveals the city's even more ancient Greek name: Byzantium. Constantinople was located strategically between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe met Asia, and was highly significant as the successor to ancient Rome and the largest and wealthiest city in Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

Names

The name of Constantinople is an honorific eponym referencing its founder, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine established the Greek city of Byzantium as the second capital of the Roman Empire on May 11, AD 330, naming the city Nova Roma (New Rome). That particular name, however, enjoyed little common use, and it was as the 'City of Constantine' (Constantinopolis) that it lived through the subsequent centuries. A historical Slavic name for the city was Tsargrad. The word is an Old Church Slavonic translation of the Greek, presumably of Βασιλεως Πόλις, "the city of the emperor [king]": combining the Slavonic words tsar for "Caesar" and grad for "city", it stood for "the City of the Emperor [Caesar]". As fashions have changed the term has faded, and the word Tsargrad is now an archaic term in Russian, but is still used occasionally in Bulgarian. The Ottoman Turks called the city Stamboul or İstanbul, adopting a usage in Greek "eis tin Poli" (to or at the City). But they still used "Konstantiniyye" ("Constantine's City", or Constantinople) as the official name. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved to Ankara. Constantinople was officially renamed İstanbul by the Republic of Turkey in 1930.

Byzantium

Constantine's foundation of New Rome on this site reflected its strategic and commercial importance from the earliest times, lying as it does astride both the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black or Euxine Sea to the Mediterranean, whilst also being possessed of an excellent and spacious harbour in the Golden Horn. No doubt for these reasons, a city was first founded on the site in the early days of Greek colonial expansion, when in 667 BC the legendary Byzas established it with a group of citizens from the town of Megara. This city was named Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον), after its founder.

Constantine's Foundation

Byzantium, ca. 1000)]] Constantine had altogether more ambitious plans. Having restored the unity of the empire, now overseeing the progress of major governmental reforms and sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, Constantine was well aware that Rome had become an unsatisfactory capital for several reasons. Located in central Italy, Rome lay too far from the eastern imperial frontiers, and hence also from the legions and the Imperial courts.Moreover, Rome offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians; it also suffered regularly from flooding and from malaria. It seemed impossible to many that the capital could be moved. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the correct place: a city where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the empire. Constantine laid out the expanded city, dividing it into 14 regions, and ornamenting it with great public works worthy of a great imperial city. Yet initially Constantinople did not have all the dignities of Rome, possessing a proconsul, rather than a prefect of the city. Furthermore, it had no praetors, tribunes or quaestors. Although Constantinople did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. Nor did it have the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food-supply, the police, the statues, the temples, the sewers, the aqueducts and other public works. The new program of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and removed to the new city. By the same token, however, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica, and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to citizens. At the time the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.

Public buildings

332 Constantinople was a Christian city, lying in the most Christianised part of the Empire. Justinian made the temples of Byzantium into ruins, and erected the splendid Church of the Holy Wisdom, Sancta Sophia (also known as Hagia Sophia in Greek), as the centrepiece of his Christian capital. He oversaw also the building of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and that of St Irene. Constantine laid out anew the square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augusteum in honour of his mother, Helena. Sancta Sophia lay on the north side of the Augusteum. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. Located immediately nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the Baths of Zeuxippus (both originally built in the time of Severus). At the entrance at the western end of the Augusteum was the Milestone, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Empire. From the Augusteum a great street, the Mese, led, lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second senate-house, then on and through the Forum of Taurus and then the Forum of Bous, and finally up the Sixth Hill and through to the Golden Gate on the Propontis. The Mese would be seven Roman miles long to the Golden Gate of the Walls of Theodosius. Constantine erected a high column in the centre of the Forum, on the Second Hill, with a statue of himself at the top, crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking towards the rising sun.

Constantinople in the Divided Empire

Walls of Theodosius, on a contemporary silver plate (Royal Academy of History, Madrid)]] The first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople was Honoratus, who took office on 11 December 359 and held it until 361. The emperor Valens built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate, probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors, up to Zeno and Basiliscus, who were elevated at Constantinople, were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded the church of John the Baptist to house a relic of the saint, put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coachhouse for the Praetorian Prefect; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine. Gradually the importance of the city increased. Following the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 376, when the emperor Valens with the flower of the Roman armies was destroyed by the Goths within a few days' march of the city, Constantinople looked to its defences, and Theodosius II built in 413-414 the 60-foot tall walls which were never to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University at the Capitolium near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425. In the 5th century, when the barbarians overran the Western Empire, its emperors retreated to Ravenna before it collapsed altogether. Thereafter, Constantinople became in truth the greatest city of the Empire, and the greatest in the world. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in the Great City, and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Asia flowed into Constantinople.

The City under Justinian

The emperor Justinian (527-565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure the ship of the commander, Belisarius, anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor; and also where they openly criticised the government, or clamoured for the removal of unpopular ministers. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. The entire late Roman and early Byzantine period was one where Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the horse-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens, and in the form of a major rebellion in the capital of 532 AD, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Victory!" of those involved). "Nika" riots Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the basilica of St Sophia, the city's principal church. Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with the incomparable St Sophia, the great cathedral of the Orthodox Church, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through the streets (St Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of the city, and is now a museum). The dedication took place on Christmas Day of 537 AD in the presence of the Emperor, who exclaimed, "O Solomon, I have outdone thee!" Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles, built by Constantine, with a new church under the same dedication. This was designed in the form of an equally-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church was to remain the burial place of the emperors from Constantine himself until the eleventh century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror.

The City after Justinian

Justinian was succeeded in turn by Justin II, Tiberius II and Maurice, able emperors who had to deal with a deteriorating military situation, especially on the eastern frontier. Subsequently there was a period of near-anarchy, which was exploited by the enemies of the Empire. After the Avars came to threaten Constantinople from the west and simultaneously the Persians from the East, Heraclius, the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the purple. He found the situation so dire that at first he contemplated moving the imperial capital to Carthage, but with military genius he succeeded in expelling the invaders. No sooner had he carried war into their own territories, however, and achieved an advantageous peace with Persia, than he was faced with the Arab expansion. Constantinople was besieged twice by the Arabs, once in a long blockade between 674 and 678, and once again in 717.

Importance of the City in its prime

Constantinople was historically important for a number of reasons. 717 Byzantium, later Constantinople, was one of the larger and richer urban centers in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenic period and later during the Roman Empire, mostly due to its strategic position commanding the trade routes between the Aegean and the Black Sea. During the Fourth Century AD the Emperor Constantine relocated his eastern capital to Byzantium, hence the name Constantinople (Constantine's City), in an attempt to reinvigorate the Empire. It would remain the capital of the eastern, Greek speaking empire, short several interregnums, for over a thousand years. As the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (now commonly known as the Byzantine Empire), the Greeks called Constantinople simply "the City", while throughout Europe it was known as the "Queen of Cities." In its heyday, roughly corresponding to what is now known as the Middle Ages, it was the richest and largest European city, exerting a powerful cultural pull and dominating economic life in the Mediterranean. Visitors and merchants were especially struck by the beautiful monasteries and churches of the city, particularly the Hagia Sophia, or the Church of Holy Wisdom. A Russian 14th-century traveller, Stephen of Novgorod, wrote, "As for St Sofia, the human mind can neither tell it nor make description of it". The influence of Byzantine architecture and art can be seen in its extensive copying throughout Europe, particular examples include St. Mark's in Venice, the basilica of Ravenna and many churches throughout the Slavic East. Also, alone in Europe until the 13th century Italian florin, the Empire continued to produce sound gold coinage, the solidus of Diocletian becoming the bezant prized throughout the Middle Ages. Its city walls (the Theodosian Walls) and urban infrastructure was moreover a marvel throughout the Middle Ages, keeping a memory alive of the skill and technical expertise of the Roman Empire. The city, also provided a defence for the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire against the invasions of the 5th century, for Europe against the Arabs, and for European Christendom against Islam. Constantine assured the position of the Bishop or Patriarch of Constantinople as pre-eminent in the Eastern Empire. This action placed Constantinople at the religious heart of Orthodoxy. The Patriarch of Constantinople is still considered first among equals in the Orthodox Church along with the Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, and the later Slavic Patriarchs. This position is largely ceremonial but still carries emotional weight.

The Isaurians

In the eighth and ninth centuries the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act which was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754 which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over. Following the death of his son Leo IV in 780, the empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

The Comneni and Palaeologi

787, 1840]] Following the catastrophic defeat in 1071 of the emperor Romanus IV Diogenes by the Seljuk Turks at Manzikert in Armenia, his successor Michael VII pleaded for assistance from the West. In due course this was to lead to the First Crusade, which assembled at Constantinople in 1096 in the reign of Alexius I Comnenus, and moved on towards Jerusalem. Much of this is documented by the writer and historian Anna Comnena in her work The Alexiad. The Crusades were, however, to lead in time to the disastrous capture and sack of Constantinople by soldiers of the Fourth Crusade on April 12 1204. For the subsequent half-century or more, Constantinople remained the centre of the Roman Catholic crusader state, set up after the city's capture under Baldwin IX, and which became known as the Latin Kingdom. During this time, the Byzantine emperors made their capital at nearby Nicaea, which acted as the capital of the temporary, short-lived Empire of Nicaea and a refuge for refugees from the sacked city of Constantinople. From this base, Constantinople was eventually recaptured from its last Latin ruler, Baldwin II, by Byzantine forces under Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261. The Palaeologi founded a beautiful new imperial palace at Blachernae in the north-west of the city, the Great Palace subsequently falling into disuse.

The Ottomans

Blachernae (painted 1499)]] Constantinople and the Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Empire on Tuesday May 29, 1453, during the reign of Constantine XI Paleologus (see Fall of Constantinople). Although the Turks overthrew the Byzantines, Fatih Sultan Mehmed the Second (the Ottaman Sultan at the time) let Orthodox Patriarchy to continue its affairs, having stated that they did not want to join the Vatican.

Constantinople in popular culture

- Constantinople appears as a dusty faded capital, shorn of its glories, in William Butler Yeats' 1926 poem Sailing to Byzantium.
- Constantinople's change of name was the theme for a song by The Four Lads later covered by They Might Be Giants entitled Istanbul (Not Constantinople) [http://www.lyricsdepot.com/they-might-be-giants/istanbul-not-constantinople.html]. "Constantinople" was also the title of the opening track of The Residents' EP Duck Stab!, released in 1978.
- Constantinople under Justinian is the scene of "A Flame in Byzantium" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro released in 1987.

Notes

- Constantinople is derived from the Greek Κωνσταντινούπολη. Other names for the city:
- Turkish name: İstanbul.
- Modern Greek name: Κωνσταντινούπολη, older name: Κωνσταντινούπολις (Konstantinoupolis; see also List of traditional Greek place names)
- Roman name: Constantinopolis;
- Latin name: Constantinopolis, Nova Roma
- Arabic name: قسطنطينية (Kostantiniyya)
- Armenian name: Konstaninopolis / Gonstantinobolis
- Swedish viking name: Miklagård
- Ottoman Turkish name: Konstantiniyye.
- Slavonic name: Tsargrad (Царьград).
- Stamboul (used by British and other diplomatic corps in "The City")
- The Sublime Porte - the Ottoman Foreign Ministry, so-called for its gate-location within the Topkapi and often used as a synonym for "Constantinople" in diplomatic notes (the same way "Whitehall" would be used in the case of the British Foreign Office, or "No. 10 Downing" to refer to the PMO)
- Source for quote: Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum, ed T Preger I 105 (see A A Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 1952, vol I p 188).

External links

- [http://www.sephardicstudies.org/istanbul.html Info on the name change] from the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
- [http://www2.arch.uiuc.edu/research/rgouster Welcome to Constantinople], documenting the monuments of Byzantine Constantinople, compiled by Robert Ousterhout, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/BURLAT/3
- .html#1 Constantinople], from History of the Later Roman Empire, by J.B. Bury
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04301a.htm History of Constantinople] from the "New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia."
- [http://www.byzantium1200.com/ Byzantium 1200], A project aimed at creating computer reconstructions of the Byzantine Monuments located in Istanbul, Turkey as of year 1200 AD. Category:Byzantine Empire Category:Cities along the Silk Road Category:Holy cities Category:Ottoman Empire Category:Roman sites in Turkey Category:Roman colonies ko:콘스탄티노폴리스 ja:コンスタンティノポリス

Nika riots

The riots in fiction

Constantinople

Names

Byzantium

Constantine's Foundation

Public buildings

Constantinople in the Divided Empire

The City under Justinian

The City after Justinian

Importance of the City in its prime

The Isaurians

The Comneni and Palaeologi

The Ottomans

Constantinople in popular culture

Notes

External links

Belisarius

(1781); the depiction is now believed to be fictionalized.]] Flavius Belisarius (505-565) was one of the greatest generals of the Byzantine Empire. Of the great generals of history, Belisarius is not particularly well known today (certainly nowhere as near as well-known as Julius Caesar, or Alexander the Great), but this is due more to a lack of attention to Byzantine history than to his skill and accomplishments, which were matched by few, if any, military commanders.

Early life and career

Belisarius was probably born in Germane or Germania, a location that was probably somewhere at the border of Illyria, Thrace and Macedonia. Some suggest that he was of Romanized Slavic ancestry, on the grounds that his name is somewhat similar to the Slavic "Beli Tsar" ("White Prince"), but most contemporary historians disregard this theory as the word tsar was first used in the 10th century, well after Belisarius' death. He became a Byzantine soldier as a young man, serving in the bodyguard of the Emperor Justin I. Following Justin's death in 527, the new Emperor, Justinian I, appointed Belisarius to command the Byzantine army in the east to deal with incursions from Persia. He quickly proved himself an able and effective commander, defeating the much larger Persian army through superior generalship. In June 530 he led the Byzantines to a victory over the Persians in the Battle of Dara, followed by a near defeat (really a mutual escape) at the Battle of Callinicum on the Euphrates in 531. This led to the negotiation of an "Endless Peace" with the Persians. In 532, he was the ranking military officer in the Imperial capital of Constantinople when the Nika riots (among factions of chariot racing fans) broke out in the city and nearly resulted in the overthrow of Justinian. Belisarius, with the help of the magister militum of Illyria, Mundus, suppressed the rebellion with a bloodbath that is said to have claimed the lives of 30,000 people.

Campaigns against the Vandals

For his efforts, Belisarius was rewarded by Justinian with the command of a great land and sea expedition against the kingdom of the Vandals, mounted in 533-534. The Byzantines had both political and strategic reasons for mounting such a campaign. The pro-Byzantine Vandal king Hilderic had been deposed and murdered by the usurper Gelimer, giving Justinian a legal pretext for mounting an expedition. In any case, Justinian wanted control of the Vandals' territory in North Africa, which was vital for guaranteeing Byzantine access to the western Mediterranean. In the late summer of 533, Belisarius sailed to Africa and landed near the city of Leptis Magna, from which he marched along the coastal highway toward the Vandal capital of Carthage. Ten miles from Carthage, the forces of Gelimer (who had just executed Hilderic) and Belisarius finally met at the Battle of Ad Decimum (Tenth Milestone; September 13, 533). It nearly turned into a defeat for the Byzantines; Gelimer had chosen his position well and had some success against the opposing forces along the main road. The Byzantines, however, seemed dominant on both the right and left sides of the main road to Carthage. However, at the height of the battle, Gelimer became distraught upon learning of the death of his nephew in battle. This gave Belisarius a chance to regroup, and he went on to win the battle and capture Carthage. A second victory at the Battle of Ticameron later in the year (December 15) resulted in Gelimer's surrender early in 534 at Mount Papua, permitting the lost Roman provinces of north Africa to be restored to the empire. For this achievement Belisarius was granted a Roman triumph (the last one ever given) when he returned to Constantinople.

Campaigns against the Ostrogoths

Justinian now resolved to restore as much of the Western Roman Empire as he could. In 535, he commissioned Belisarius to attack the Ostrogoths. Again, he chose well, as Belisarius quickly captured Sicily and then crossed into Italy proper, where he captured Naples and Rome in 536. The following year, he successfully defended Rome against the Goths and moved north to take Mediolanum (Milan) and the Ostrogoth capital of Ravenna in 540, where the Goth king Witiges was captured. Shortly prior to the taking of Ravenna, the Ostrogoths offered to make Belisarius the western emperor. Belisarius feigned acceptance and entered Ravenna via its sole point of entry, a causeway through the marshes, accompanies by his comitatus (veterans). Once inside the city, Belisarius quickly seized Witiges and then capitalized on the resulting lack of leadership to secure the city. Thereupon, he proclaimed the capture of Ravenna in the name of the Emperor Justinian. The Goths' offer perhaps raised suspicions in Justinian's mind and Belisarius was recalled to the East to deal with a Persian conquest of Syria, a crucial province of the empire. Belisarius took the field and waged a brief, inconclusive campaign against them in 541-542. He eventually managed to negotiate a truce (aided with the payment of a large sum of money, 5,000 pounds of gold), in which the Persians agreed not to attack Byzantine territory for the next five years. Belisarius returned to Italy in 544, where he found that the situation had changed greatly. In 541 the Ostrogoths had elected Totila as their new leader and had mounted a vigorous campaign against the Byzantines, recapturing all of northern Italy and even driving the Byzantines out of Rome. Belisarius managed to recover Rome briefly but his Italian campaign proved unsuccessful, thanks in no small part to his being starved of supplies and reinforcements by a jealous Justinian. In 548, Justinian relieved him in favor of the eunuch Narses, who was able to bring the campaign to a successful conclusion. For his part, Belisarius went into retirement.

His later life and campaigns

The retirement of Belisarius came to an end in 559, when an army of Slavs and Bulgars crossed the Danube River to invade Byzantine territory for the first time and threatened Constantinople itself. Justinian recalled Belisarius to command the Byzantine army against the Bulgar invasion. In his last, successful, campaign, Belisarius defeated the Bulgars and drove them back across the river. In 562, Belisarius stood trial in Constantinople on a charge of corruption. The charge was likely trumped-up, and modern research suggests that his bitter enemy, his former secretary Procopius of Caesarea, the author of the Secret History, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/procop-anec.html] may have judged his case. Belisarius was found guilty and imprisoned. However, not long after the conviction, Justinian pardoned him, ordered his release, and restored him to favour at the imperial court. Fittingly, Belisarius and Justinian, whose sometimes strained partnership increased the size of the empire by 45%, died within a few weeks of one another in 565.

The myth of Belisarius as a blind beggar

565, 1776. Beliarius, blinded, a beggar, is recognised by one of his former soldiers]] According to a story that seems to have developed during the Middle Ages, Justinian is said to have ordered Belisarius' eyes to be put out, and reduced him to the status of homeless beggar condemned to asking passers-by to "give an obolus to Belisarius" (date obolum Belisario), before pardoning him. Although most modern scholars believe the story to be apocryphal, after the publication of Jean-François Marmontel's novel Bélisaire (1767), this account became a popular subject for progressive painters and their patrons in the later 18th century, who saw parallels between the actions of Justinian and the repression imposed by contemporary rulers. For such subtexts Marmontel's novel received a public censure by Louis Legrand of the Sorbonne, which contemporary divines regarded as model expositions of theological knowledge and clear thinking (Catholic Encyclopedia: "Louis Legrand"). Marmontel and the painters and sculptors (a bust of Belisarius by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Stouf is at the

532

January 11

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Nika riots

The riots in fiction

Constantinople

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Constantinople in popular culture

Further reading

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See also

External links

Nika riots

The riots in fiction

Constantinople

Names

Byzantium

Constantine's Foundation

Public buildings

Constantinople in the Divided Empire

The City under Justinian

The City after Justinian

Importance of the City in its prime

The Isaurians

The Comneni and Palaeologi

The Ottomans

Constantinople in popular culture

Further reading

Notes

See also

External links

Belisarius

Early life and career

Campaigns against the Vandals

Campaigns against the Ostrogoths

His later life and campaigns

The myth of Belisarius as a blind beggar