| 1. | Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium Paperback by Jonathan Harris. This book examines the intriguing interaction between the spiritual and the political whilst reconstructs the awe-inspiring city in its heyday of 1200. During the early Middle Ages, travellers to the East returned with stories of a place called Miklagarth, a city so vast that its churches, palaces and monasteries covered the land and so rich that its ruler could scatter bagfuls of gold among his astonished guests. This was no legend or tall tale because Miklagarth was a real place. Better known as Constantinople, it was the capital city of the empire of Byzantium and a major political force in the eastern Mediterranean for over a thousand years. The mythical aura that surrounded Constantinople was no accident. It was assiduously cultivated by the Byzantine emperors to bolster their power, wealth and prestige. Jonathan Harris examines the intriguing interaction between the mythical and the actual to reconstruct the city at the peak of its power. (Amazon.com Sponsored Result) |
| 3. | Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924 Paperback by Philip Mansel. Philip Mansel's highly acclaimed history absorbingly charts the interaction between the vibrantly cosmopolitan capital of Constantinople -- the city of the world's desire -- and its ruling family. In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror entered Constantinople on a white horse, beginning an Ottoman love affair with the city that lasted until 1924, when the last Caliph hurriedly left on the Orient Express. For almost five centuries Constantinople, with its enormous racial and cultural diversity, was the centre of the dramatic and often depraved story of an extraordinary dynasty. (Amazon.com Sponsored Result) |
| 4. | The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Canto) Paperback by Steven Runciman. This classic account shows how the fall of Constantinople in May 1453, after a siege of several weeks, came as a bitter shock to Western Christendom. The city's plight had been neglected, and negligible help was sent in this crisis. To the Turks, victory not only brought a new imperial capital, but guaranteed that their empire would last. To the Greeks, the conquest meant the end of the civilisation of Byzantium, and led to the exodus of scholars stimulating the tremendous expansion of Greek studies in the European Renaissance. (Amazon.com Sponsored Result) |
| 5. | The Walls of Constantinople AD 324-1453 (Fortress) Paperback by Stephen Turnbull. The walls of Constantinople are the greatest surviving example of European medieval military architecture in the world. They withstood numerous sieges until being finally overcome by the artillery of Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453, and exist today as a time capsule of Byzantine and Medieval history. This book examines the main defensive system protecting the landward side of the city, which consisted of three parallel walls about 5 miles long. The walls defended the city against intruders, including Attila the Hun, before finally being breached by European knights during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and, ultimately, destroyed by Turkish artillery in 1453. (Amazon.com Sponsored Result) |
| 6. | Constantinople: Istanbul's Historical Heritage Paperback by Stephane Yerasimos. Byzantium - Constantinople - Istanbul: founded as a Greek settlement on the Bosporus, the city's history is replete with significant political and cultural developments. The Hagia Sophia stems from the early Christian era, the Middle Ages bequeathed us churches and monasteries rich in mosiacs as well as illuminated manuscripts and icons; and the cultural Renaissance in 1453 brought magnificent palaces and mosques, calligraphic treasures, and book and miniature paintings inspired by Persian and Arabic forms. (Amazon.com Sponsored Result) |
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