The Two Romes

After our friend Sami Aji wrote about the anniversary of Istanbul, born in the year 330 on the 11th of May, I thought I should give some explanations about the two cities that bore the same name and which, thanks to Constantine the Great, survived until the 15th century as capital of the Roman Empire, called the Byzantine Empire.

Constantine the Great speaks thus: 'From today onwards, we decide that the right and the power of my reign be transferred to this province of Byzantium, an excellent place, and that a city be built in my name, and my right be established there.'

With these words Constantine took two great steps in world history. He gave freedom to the Christians and made Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire. It is known that Constantine had thought of establishing the capital of the empire at Troy before Byzantium, but as he won the last war to be sole emperor right opposite Byzantium, at Chrysopolis, today called Üsküdar, fortune fell to Byzantium instead of Troy. Today we do not know very well whether Constantinople was designated as capital or whether its star shone because the star of Rome had darkened. On the other hand Rome, becoming the centre of Christianity, gained a religious importance.

Before Constantine, the emperor Diocletian tried to establish himself at Nicomedia, today called 'İzmit', a city at the end of the gulf of İzmit on the Sea of Marmara. Other attempts to establish the capital were made at Thessalonica, 'Selanik', or at Antioch, 'Antakya'. We know that the emperors Constantius, son of Constantine, Julian, who prohibited Christianity, and Valens, who built the 'Bozdoğan' aqueduct, stayed much more in Antioch than in Constantinople. But Constantine, who restored the Hippodrome for the chariot races (yarış), bringing important monuments from other parts of the empire, raising the famous column we call today 'Çemberlitaş', on top of which he placed his own statue in the form of 'Apollo', and widening the walls of Byzantium, made this city as splendid as Rome. After searching all the documents, only in three of them was the name 'New Rome' or 'Second Rome' found for Constantinople; so these names were never used frequently.

After the vandalism of the Goths and Visigoths in the year 410, the Rome of Italy declined more than greatly. With the building of the church 'Hagia Sophia', which means 'the Sacred Wisdom', after the Nika riots of the year 532, by the emperor Justinian, our Rome became the largest city of the Mediterranean Sea. Even so, its name 'Byzantion' disappeared just after the 7th century. And in the year 1054 the two Romes anathematized (excommunicated) each other. What we know today as Constantinople was completed by the emperor Theodosius, who moved the walls to where they are now, in the 5th century.