Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

565 Justinian dies; his lasting memorial is the church of Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya), which would be the centre of Eastern Orthodox Christianity for many centuries. 620 Heraclius I (r 610–41) changes the official language of the eastern empire from Latin to Greek, inaugurating what we now refer to as ‘The Byzantine Empire’. 717 Leo III, a Syrian, becomes emperor after deposing Theodosius III; he introduces edicts against the worship of images, ushering in the age of iconoclasm. 1204 Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, leads the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade in a defeat of Constantinople; they sack the city and plunder many of its treasures. 1261 Constantinople is recaptured by Michael VIII Palaiologos, a Byzantine aristocrat in exile who had risen to become co-emperor of Nicaea; the Byzantine Empire is restored. 1432 Mehmet II, son of the Ottoman sultan Murad II, is born in Edirne; he succeeds his father as sultan, twice – once in 1444 and then permanently in 1451. 1453 Mehmet’s army takes İstanbul and he assumes power in the city, becoming known as Fatih (‘The Conqueror’); he dies in 1481 and is succeeded by his son Beyazıt II. 1520 Beyazıt’s grandson Süleyman, who would come to be known as ‘The Magnificent’, ascends the throne and soon builds a reputation for his military conquests. 1556