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The Fall and Legacy of Constantinople

This quiz explores the historical significance, events, and key figures associated with Constantinople and its empire, from its transformation to its fall in 1453.

#Constantinople #Byzantine Empire #Ottoman Empire #History #European History #Urban History

1 The city, and the empire, would ultimately fall to the ________ by 1453, but its enduring legacy had provided Europe centuries of resurgence following the collapse of Rome.

2 Although it did have senators, they held the title clarus, not ________, like those of Rome.

3 It was officially renamed to its modern Turkish name ________ in 1930 with the Turkish Postal Service Law, as part of Atatürk's national reforms.

4 The emperor ________ (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works.

5 Many scholars argue that these sophisticated fortifications allowed the east to develop relatively unmolested while ________ and the west collapsed.

6 Uldin, a prince of the ________, appeared on the Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in driving their king back north of the river.

7 The peace terms demanded by ________, sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them.

8 Constantinople appears as a city of wondrous majesty, beauty, remoteness, and nostalgia in William Butler Yeats' 1926 poem "________".

9 The palace of Blachernae in the north-west of the city became the main Imperial residence, with the old Great Palace on the shores of the ________ going into decline.

10 Heraclius, son to the exarch of ________, set sail for the city and assumed the purple.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Massacre of the Latins occurred in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, in 1182.
  • the Milion (pictured) of Constantinople was the origin of all the roads into the European cities of the Byzantine Empire.
  • the mosque of Hirami Ahmet Pasha (pictured) in Istanbul is the smallest Byzantine church of Constantinople still extant.
  • the Chrysotriklinos, the ceremonial hall of the Great Palace of Constantinople, was the model for Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in the Palace of Aachen.
  • the Moscow Kremlin's Church of the Deposition (pictured) is named after a Byzantine tradition that the robe of the Virgin Mary was taken to Constantinople.
  • the Valens Aqueduct was the major water-providing system of medieval Constantinople and Ottoman Istanbul.
  • the Augustaion, named after the Augusta Helena, was the main public square in medieval Constantinople.
  • three Byzantine emperors ended their lives as monks of the Studion, the largest monastery of Constantinople.
  • until it was looted in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, the Church of the Holy Apostles was the busiest place of worship in Constantinople.
  • the sack of Constantinople by Latin crusaders in 1204 destroyed the Byzantine economy, with the Latin emperors melting down statues for coin, and the Venetians exporting architecture spoils to decorate their churches.
  • the removal of an icon of Christ from the Chalke, the main ceremonial entrance to the Great Palace of Constantinople, marked the beginning of the Byzantine Iconoclasm.
  • the church of Hagia Thekla in Constantinople, now a mosque, was rebuilt by Emperor Isaac I Komnenos as thanks for surviving a hunting accident.
  • the Christian Byzantine Emperor Leo V performed pagan rituals in Constantinople at the signing of a peace treaty in 815 with the Bulgarians.
  • the Byzantine Empire and the Mongol Empire formed an alliance in 1263, and 4,000 Mongol soldiers were dispatched in 1282 to help defend Constantinople.
  • after Eustathios Maleinos hosted Byzantine Emperor Basil II on his estate in 995, the Emperor, alarmed by Maleinos' wealth and power, placed him under house arrest in Constantinople.
  • around 50% of adult Jews in Constantinople were subscribers of the Ladino language newspaper El Tiempo at the time of the First World War.
  • Pope Constantine, in 711, was the last pope to visit Constantinople for over 1250 years.
  • Juliana Anicia commissioned the largest church of pre-Justinian Constantinople.
  • Saint Mary of the Mongols (pictured) is the only Byzantine church in Constantinople to have remained Eastern Orthodox to this day.
  • during the Rus'-Byzantine War in 907 Oleg of Novgorod reportedly circumvented the chaining of the Bosporus by putting his ships on wheels and sailing them overland (pictured) to Constantinople.
  • during the absence of Byzantine emperor Heraclius from Constantinople in 622–626, the patrician Bonus defended the city from a major Avar siege in July 626.
  • the 6th-century Church of St. Polyeuctus (remains pictured) in Constantinople was deliberately planned to imitate the Temple of Solomon.
  • the Byzantine chapel of the Theotokos of the Pharos at Constantinople housed a huge collection of holy relics, many of which were acquired by Louis IX of France for his Sainte-Chapelle.
  • the 5th-century Palace of Lausus in Constantinople housed a vast collection of classical statues, including that of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
  • right after the Byzantine capital of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans, the rulers of the Byzantine Despotate of Morea called upon the Ottomans to suppress their own peasant revolt.
  • in 1261, Caesar Alexios Strategopoulos reconquered Constantinople from the Latins, thereby restoring the Byzantine Empire.
  • Ani, a medieval city once rivaling Constantinople, was ransacked by Mongols and now stands in ruin.
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