Waubonsee Community College

Istanbul, a tale of three cities, Bettany Hughes

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 705-762) and index

mapsplatesillustrations

index present

non fiction

Istanbul

bibliography

1002855117

Bettany Hughes

a tale of three cities

Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul-- one city, where stories and histories collide. The gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Hughes takes us on an historical journey from the Neolithic to the present, exploring the ways that Istanbul's influence has spun out to shape the wider world. This is the story not just of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but of the poor and the voiceless, of the women and men whose aspirations and dreams have continuously reinvented Istanbul"Istanbul has long been a place where stories and histories collide, where perception is as potent as fact. From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names--Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul--resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, North and South, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City," but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a global story. In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey from the Neolithic to the present, through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities--exploring the ways that Istanbul's influence has spun out to shape the wider world. Hughes investigates what it takes to make a city and tells the story not just of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but of the poor and the voiceless, of the women and men whose aspirations and dreams have continuously reinvented Istanbul. Written with energy and animation, award-winning historian Bettany Hughes deftly guides readers through Istanbul's rich layers of history. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate, and authoritative--narrative history at its finest."--Publisher's description

Introduction -- Byzantion, Byzas' City, 800,000 BC-AD 311. Bones, stones and mud ; City of the blind ; City of light ; Persian fire ; City of siege ; Wine and witches ; All roads lead from Rome : the Egnatian way ; The enemy within ; Persecution ; The meek shall inherit the earth -- Constantinople, City of God, AD 311-475. The battle of Milvian Bridge ; City of gold ; In the name of Christ's Blood ; Queen of cities ; Faith, hope, charity and the Nicene Creed ; Helena ; Births and deaths ; Pagans and pretenders ; The problem with Goths ; A dove of peace or a fist of iron : Theodosios ; Battles in Heaven and on earth : Gaza and Alexandria : Christian particles in a pagan atmosphere : Nova Roma ; Statues in the sky : ascetics ; Sex and the city : eunuchs ; The sack of Old Rome : the problem with Goths, part two ; Vandals, wisdom and Attila the Hun -- The new Rome, AD 476-565. City of the Mother of God ; The golden age ; Earthquakes and fires ; The Phoenix city ; Spectacular, spectacular ; Law and order ; The Jewish city ; The classical city ; All is vanity -- The world's desire, AD 565-1050. The silkworm's journey ; Al-Qustantiniyya ; A bone in the throat of Allah ; Monks by night, lions by day ; Byzantium and Britannia ; Icons and iconoclasm ; Viking foe-friends and the birth of Russia ; Within the walls ; The Varangian Guard -- City of war, AD 1050-1320. A great schism? ; 1071,1081, and all that ; The city of crusades ; Negotiating monks and homicidal usurpers ; Venetian peril, chivalric kingdoms -- Allah's city, AD 1320-AD 1575 (Islamic calendar 720-983). Yıldırım : the thunderbolt ; No country for old men ; Twilight city ; The abode of felicity ; One God in heaven, one empire on earth ; Renaissance city ; A garden of mixed fruit ; A diamond between two sapphires ; The Muslim millennium -- Imperial city, AD 1550-1800 (Islamic calendar 957-1215). Gunpowder empires and gunning personalities ; dragomans and eunuchs ; The Sultanate of women ; The Janissaries ; The great siege of Vienna ; The while slave trade and the white plague ; White Caucasians ; Soap and smallpox ; Tulips and textiles -- City of revolt and opportunity, AD 1800 (Islamic calendar 1215) onwards. O love! Young love! ; Massacre ; Revolution ; Tsargrad ; Scutari ; One-way traffic ; A sick man in the Rose Garden ; Gallipoli : the end of an empire ; The red apple ; The catastrophe ; The last caliph ; Global futures -- Coda