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🏛️ MEMORIALIZING BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION AND THE CITY OF CONSTANTINOPLE 🏛️

  • EMPERORS
    • Constantine the Great
    • Alexios Komnenos
    • Constantine XI Palaiologos
    • The Varangian Guard: Imperial Security
  • CONSTANTINOPLE
    • Church of the Holy Apostles
    • Hagia Sophia
    • The Pharos and it’s Relics
    • The Theodosian Walls
    • The Sea Walls of Constantinople
    • The Walls of Blachernae
    • Aqueduct of Valens
    • The Anastasian Wall
  • Byzantine cities
    • Ravenna
    • Nicaea
    • Amorion
    • Medieval Athens
  • Byzantine Art/Mosaics
    • The Omphalion of Hagia Sophia
    • Theodora Mosaic
    • Justinian Mosaic
    • Palace of Theoderic
    • Constantine IV Mosaic
    • Leo VI “The Wise” Mosaic
    • Nikephoros Phokas Fresco
  • Sieges Of Constantinople
    • The Arab Siege of 717
    • The Fourth Crusade and the Rape of Constantinople (1204)
    • Liberation of Constantinople 1261
    • The Fall of Constantinople 1453
  • Battles/Warfare
    • Battle of Manzikert (1071)
    • Battle of Myriokephalon
  • Roman/Byzantine Continuity
  • Being Roman: Byzantine Ethnicity
  • Negative Media Portrayal of Romans
  • Roman-Chinese Foreign Relations

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THE WORLD OF BYZANTIUM

  • EMPERORS
    • Constantine the Great
    • Alexios Komnenos
    • Constantine XI Palaiologos
    • The Varangian Guard: Imperial Security
  • CONSTANTINOPLE
    • Church of the Holy Apostles
    • Hagia Sophia
    • The Pharos and it’s Relics
    • The Theodosian Walls
    • The Sea Walls of Constantinople
    • The Walls of Blachernae
    • Aqueduct of Valens
    • The Anastasian Wall
  • Byzantine cities
    • Ravenna
    • Nicaea
    • Amorion
    • Medieval Athens
  • Byzantine Art/Mosaics
    • The Omphalion of Hagia Sophia
    • Theodora Mosaic
    • Justinian Mosaic
    • Palace of Theoderic
    • Constantine IV Mosaic
    • Leo VI “The Wise” Mosaic
    • Nikephoros Phokas Fresco
  • Sieges Of Constantinople
    • The Arab Siege of 717
    • The Fourth Crusade and the Rape of Constantinople (1204)
    • Liberation of Constantinople 1261
    • The Fall of Constantinople 1453
  • Battles/Warfare
    • Battle of Manzikert (1071)
    • Battle of Myriokephalon
  • Roman/Byzantine Continuity
  • Being Roman: Byzantine Ethnicity
  • Negative Media Portrayal of Romans
  • Roman-Chinese Foreign Relations
Like the Roman state recognized as the true Roman Empire, which fell in 1453, Trebizond was isolated. The fall of Constantinople must have cast a spell of doom over the city. The city had resisted Murad II’s attack in 1442. In 1456 an Ottoman governor launched a raid of Trebizond’s suburbs and took many slaves/ demanded tribute to leave There were dynasties in Byzantium but there are differences in their conception in Byzantine society in comparison to other places. At certain times, dynasties ruled for a while, but they were not intrinsically by blood thought to have the right to rule. Divine right to rule seemed to mean the imperial office itself, not a bloodline. Though I think this was a bit tested by the longer lasting Macedonian and Palaiologan dynasties, status wasn’t really based on blood in Byzantium. Even those dynasties rose to usurp other bloodlines to establish themselves. The people never thought a bad Emperor had the inherent right to rule when it came time to overthrow one. Anthony Kaldellis discussed the matter in “Byzantium Unbound”: In Byzantium Unbound, Anthony Kaldellis brilliantly summed up why the Byzantines didn’t need a renaissance and why the term medieval is less useful for it: It was an apocalyptic moment - the ancient Theodosian walls crumbled from weeks of bombardments, dead Ottoman soldiers everywhere. The blood price to take Constantinople was extremely high. Mehmed came up with a plan to send 3 waves of attack to break the City to use Ottoman numbers One of the things that makes the Fall of Constantinople a great story is the dignity which the character and courage of Constantine XI gave to the defenders during the battle, as well as Romans/Greeks of later centuries. He did not simply surrender the City and flee to Rome or the Morea or to Venice, which he certainly could have. He fought and died for his people and for Constantinople, and for that he deserves respect. In this story, he is the tragic hero who dies a heroic death in most narratives. “On the twenty-ninth of May, the last day of the siege, our Lord God decided, to the sorrow of the Greeks, that He was willing for the city to fall on this day into the hands of Mahomet Bey the Turk son of Murat” - Nicolo Barbaro, a contemporary Venetian source for the fall of Constantinople. Tunneling is an ancient tactic to destroy enemy fortifications. The concept is simple – men will dig underneath the walls, building wooden supports as they go in order to hold up the walls and earth above them. Then, when the operation is complete they set fire to the tunnels and destroy the woodworks inside. The supports are destroyed and the walls collapse into the holes created by the collapsing earth. However, this is not an easy endeavor. Not only is it hard work to undermine the fortifications, but the defenders can attack you as the work is undertaken. The Ottomans had tried to tunnel in previous sieges, however it did not work It always seemed to me that Lord of the Rings took some inspiration from Byzantium for Gondor. The capital city of Minas Tirith, though it doesn’t look like Constantinople, performed a similar role. It’s a relic of the past, a city so great Gondor couldn’t build it but it can maintain it. It’s the center of their state. Gondor essentially was the continuation of a once grander ancient civilization, but still respectable and grand itself. The beacon system also seemed to be Byzantine-inspired. Nikalaos Mesarites in his description of the Holy Apostles Church described the gifts that the aqueduct gave the city’s residents where the water was plentiful. “Indeed one can see in it and in the regions surrounding it inexhaustible treasures of water and reservoirs of sweet water made equal to seas, from which as though from four heads of rivers the whole City of Constantine receives its supply. One can also see deep and fertile soil, rich and soft, easy to dig, richly responding to the desires of husbandmen, equally good for sowing and for growing, and well suited to the production of both classes of products, both tall trees with rich fruit, and fruits in abundance; the beauty of these even surpasses the quantity, and the crops are taller than trees themselves are elsewhere.“

A Street In Constantinople – By Raphtor

A Street In Constantinople - By Raphtor

Imperial Palace Mosaic – By ShadowsOfConstantinople

by ShadowsofConstantinople

Chalke Gate to the Great Palace of Constantinopleby AMELIANVS

Theophano: A Byzantine Tale – a Graphic novel you should buy!

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