Constantinopol !

 1-Acest articol este copiat !

2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1!

Today is the 1,692 anniversary of May 11th, 330 AD when the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great inaugurated his new capital city Nova Roma (New Rome) which would quickly become known as Constantinople (the city of Constantine). The city would go on to become extremely magnificent and known as the "Queen of Cities".

According to the authors Elizabeth James & Stephen English in Constantine the Great General: A Military Biography. Constantinople was superior to Rome in several key ways:

• It was strategically well sited, being the gateway not only from east to west, but north to south.

• It controlled the grain trade out of the Black Sea and whoever controlled the city could, therefore, control that trade (although the Black Sea region was not the only exporter of grain of course).

• It occupied a very defensible location. It was true that the city had only fallen after a siege to two emperors: Septimius Severus (only after a difficult siege) and Constantine himself. Once the city had been properly fortified it became a stronghold far exceeding the defensive capabilities of Rome.

• Constantinople could also be supplied by sea. As long as the city maintained naval supremacy in its waters, it could not be starved into submission and could receive regular reinforcements and resupplies as required. In comparison, Rome had to be supplied from a port at Ostia some miles away from the city which had all the potential difficulties of interruptions to the lines of supply as were faced by Athens and its port at Piraeus.

Nic Fields the author of God's City: Byzantine Constantinople wrote that:

The ancient city of Constantinople had five palaces, fourteen churches including the Church of the Holy Apostles, six divine residences of the Augustae, three most noble houses, eight baths, two basilicas, four forums, two senates, five granaries, two theatres, two mime theatres, four harbours, one circus [the Hippodrome], four cisterns, four nymphaea [public fountains], 322 neighbourhoods, 4,388 large houses, fifty-two porticoes, 153 private baths, twenty public mills, 120 private mills, 117 stairways, five meat markets… the Forum of Augustus, the Capitol, the Mint and three ports.

*He should have also mentioned the great walls of Theodosius.

Constantinople would serve as the capital of the Roman Empire from 330-1204 AD and then again from 1261-1453 AD.