A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CITY
The Origins
It is not yet in the power of our science to know the
origins of Istanbul. By what miracle it emerged from the
depths of the sea like a pearl from its shell, and spread
itself to form the banks of the Bosporus and the Golden
Horn, is a prodigy of which the history is not known.
Speaking in geological terms, in the period when our earth
began to assume its present configuration, the Aegean
region subsided, the sea invaded the deep declivities
and islands were formed. In order to link the blue and
limpid Sea of Marmara, resting there like an inland lake,
to the deep and shadowy Black Sea, nature forced apart
two enormous continents. From this caprice emerged the
fretted shores of the Bosporus. Then, in the triangle
remaining in the west, as if to prepare it for a long
future of strange chances she dug a channel into the interior
of the land.
Who were the first beings to people this exceptional land,
and to settle on it as their homeland?
In 1952, in the course of excavations carried out at Kadiköy,
the oldest district of Istanbul on the Asian side, skeletons
and tools were discovered dating from 3000 years B.C.,
from which it has been concluded that even in that remote
era, the Asian coast was inhabited. In 1871, in the course
of digging at the foot of Topkapi Palace to lay the railway
there, and later during excavations on the same site,
large blocks of stone were unearthed, showing that there
were human beings settled here long before the arrival
of the Greeks. It has been accepted that the first known
inhabitants of Istanbul were Thracians, living in Eastern
Thrace, and of Indo-Germanic stock. Old eminent historians
and geographers like Herodotus and Strabo have left writings
which confirm this. In addition, the Phoenicians who conducted
nearly all the commerce of the Asian coast, reached Kadiköy
and installed themselves there. One of the most ancient
legends relates that King Bizas, son of the demigod Semestras,
himself raised by the Thracian demigod Buzie, came from
Megara in Greece 660 B.C. to build a kingdom. Later the
Town was called Bizantion: from Buzas or Bizas. a Thracian
proper name, to which were added "nt" and "is",
the Phrygian suffixes.
This king was instructed to build his town 'in front of
the blind'. When the newcomers saw that those arriving
before them had settled at Chalcedon (The Kadiköy
of today), without taking into account the beauty of the
European shores, they called them 'blind' and built their
town opposite, in obedience to the oracle's orders.
It is known that Ionian sailors had founded colonies in
the eighth century B.C. on the shores of the Sea of Marmara
at Cyzicus and at Trapezus on the Black Sea. Already in
the seventh century B.C. mythology tell us, the inhabitants
of Bythinia and the Thinis had seized a town situated
opposite Kadiköy.
Not
long after, in the third century B.C., Byzantium experienced
the greatest misfortune of the career in its implications
for her future history: the arrival of the Celts. This
huge and destructive army surrounded the city, this being
the first time that the city experienced the menace of
invasion by the countries of the Balkan Peninsula. This
menace of terror continued for a thousand years. Byzantium
had to agree to a huge payment of tribute to avoid the
perils of a military occupation. However, in 220 B.C.
the Celtic government collapsed and Byzantium was saved,
albeit only for a short time.
In 202 B.C. Philip V of Macedonia returned to besiege
the city; the walls of the metropolis saved Byzantium
once again. Later Attalos I, King of Pergamum, with the
help of his allies Rhodes and Cyzicus, engaged in a naval
battle off the island of Chios and thereby rid away with
the Macedonians and as a result gained the sympathy of
Rome.
In 197 B.C. Rome completely vanquished the Macedonians
and recognized by a treaty the independence of Byzantium.
But in spite of this agreement, Byzantium found herself
a bedfellow of a new monster: Rome, but she continued
to follow nonetheless a policy of self-interest.
Already, a century before Christ, Rome had occupied the
Balkan Peninsula. Towards the end of the 2nd century A.D.,
she conquered Byzantium. The Emperor Septimus Severus,
to punish the town for supporting his rival, began by
ravaging it, then, impressed by its beauty, set about
its restoration.
From the year 325 the Emperor Constantine began enlarging
the town. And in 330, accompanied by great ceremony, he
transferred the throne of the Empire from Rome to Byzantium.
It was at this period that Istanbul entered World History.
From this moment a brilliant star had appeared in the
blue sky, platinum-colored with, from time to time, blood-red
reflections.
From this time onwards, and for 250 years, the Roman Latin
culture set its imprint on Byzantium. The Roman systems
of administration and law were imposed and Latin became
the official language.
At that period the town was known as the “Secunda
Roma”. After the 5th century it began to be called
"Nova Roma". And the inhabitants of the city,
then later all those within the Empire, were known as
«Romani». From this name is derived the word
«Rum» used by the Arabs and the Turks to designate
this people of the West.
Constance having enlarged the city, the ramparts stretched
along the shores of the Marmara and from Samatya as far
as Golden Horn and Cibali. In 395, the Roman Empire is
divided in two and Byzantium became the capital of the
East Roman Empire.
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