Istanbul Guide

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History In its guises of Byzantium and Constantinople, İstanbul was ruled by Greeks, Romans and their descendants, many of whom left their stamp on the city’s built heritage. After the fall of Byzantium, the city functioned as the capital of the world’s most powerful empire and benefited from the riches associated with this. Its politics have given us the descriptor ‘Byzantine’ and its patrons have endowed it with a legacy of buildings and artefacts that certainly brings history to life.

Byzantium Legend tells us that the city of Byzantium was founded around 667 BC by a group of colonists from Megara, northwest of Athens. It was named after their leader, Byzas. The new colony quickly prospered, largely due to its ability to levy tolls and harbour fees on ships passing through the Bosphorus, then as now an important waterway. A thriving marketplace was established and the inhabitants lived on traded goods and the abundant fish stocks in the surrounding waters. In 512 BC Darius, Emperor of Persia, captured the city during his campaign against the Scythians. Following the retreat of the Persians in 478 BC, the town came under the influence and protection of Athens and joined the Athenian League. Though this was a turbulent rela tionship, Byzantium stayed under Athenian rule until 355 BC, when it gained independence. By the end of the Hellenistic period, Byzantium had formed an al liance with the Roman Empire. It retained its status as a free state, and kept this even after being officially incorporated into the Roman Empire in AD 79 by Vespasian. Life was relatively uneventful until the city’s leaders made a big mistake: they picked the wrong side in a Roman war of succession following the death of Emperor Pertinax in AD 193. When Septimius Severus emerged victorious over his rival Pescennius Niger, he mounted a three-year siege of the city, eventually massacring Byzantium’s citizens, razing its walls and burning it to the ground. Ancient Byzantium was no more.

The name İstanbul probably derives from ‘eis ten polin’ (Greek for ‘to the city’). Though the Turks kept the name Constan tinople after the Conquest, they also used other names, includ ing İstanbul and Dersaadet (City of Peace and/or Happiness). The city’s name was officially changed to İstanbul by Atatürk in the early republican years.

1000 BC Thracian tribes found the settlements of Lygos and Semistra; Plinius mentions the founding of Semistra in his histories and traces of Lygos remain near Seraglio Point.

667 BC Legend tells us that Byzas, a citizen of the city of Megara, northwest of Athens, travels up the Bosphorus and founds Byzantium on the site of Lygos.

512 BC The army of the Persian emperor Darius captures the city; after the Persians’ retreat in 478 BC, Byzantium chooses to join the Athenian League for protection.