Founded in 324 by Constantine I on the site of Byzantion, the city of Constantinople remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire until its fall in 1453. Knowledge of its topography is largely determined by extant physical evidence and visual and textual records from the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods. The site is bordered by water on three sides, the Propontis (Sea of Marmara) to the south, the Bosporos to the east and the Golden Horn to the north, and covers seven hills emerging from a ridge running east to west (Gilles 1729:16-19). Inhabited since the seventh century bce, the Roman city inherited by Constantine had been developed under Septimius Severus with an acropolis, baths, and city wall. Leaving the acropolis as it stood, Constantine established the Great Palace to its south, built or rebuilt the hippodrome adjacent and to the west of the palace, constructed a new city wall, and proceeded to establish the public monuments necessary to the new capital. Between the fourth and sixth centuries, the hill slopes were cut with series of terraces (Crow 2007), and the city also acquired gardens and parks (Maguire 2000). In terms of daily life, the city was established in neighbourhoods, each with public facilities for existence and commerce, although some activities were located in specific areas of the city, often affected by the harbours and water supply, which had to be brought in from beyond the city {Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae, Descriptio; M. Mango 2000; Magdalino 2000; Dark 2004; Crow and Bayliss 2005). The material can be approached through the imperial monuments, palaces, places of entertainment, churches, monasteries, water supply, harbours, and granaries.
World History
