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Constantinople: The City That Kept Getting Renamed

Constantinople, also known as Byzantium, was an ancient city located in modern-day Turkey. It was founded by a guy named Byzas (don’t worry, no one’s heard of him) in 657 BC. But he quickly realized that the name “Byzantium” didn’t quite have the same ring to it as, say, “Athens” or “Rome.” So he petitioned the gods for some help, and they sent him a seer who told him to look for a place where he could find a “city of the blind.” Not sure what that meant, but Byzas was desperate, so he wandered around for a bit and eventually stumbled upon a spot where he saw a bunch of people who were completely oblivious to the fact that they were about to get overrun by enemy soldiers. Byzas thought, “Hey, now there’s a place where I could build a city,” and promptly did so.

For centuries, Constantinople (as it was later renamed by some dude named Constantine) was one of the most important cities in the world. It was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was basically the Roman Empire’s weird little brother. The Byzantines were known for their impressive architecture, intricate mosaics, and love of chariot racing. They also invented something called “Greek Fire,” which was a super-secret weapon made from a mixture of chemicals that could burn boats and buildings alike. The formula for Greek Fire was apparently lost during the Fourth Crusade, which is either a testament to its awesomeness or to the fact that the Byzantines maybe should have kept better track of their inventions.

Anyway, over the centuries, Constantinople went through a lot of changes. It was conquered by the Romans, the Visigoths, the Huns, the Slavs, the Bulgars, the Crusaders, the Ottomans, and probably a few random Vikings who got lost on their way to Norway. It was also sacked, burned, rebuilt, renamed, re-renamed, and re-re-re-renamed. Some of its other nicknames over the years include:

But honestly, who cares about all that? The real reason Constantinople is famous is because of that one time in 1453 when the Ottomans finally managed to conquer it after besieging it for like a million years (okay, it was only two months, but still). The Ottomans were led by a dude named Mehmed II, who apparently really wanted to add Constantinople to his Instagram feed. So he rallied his troops, built a giant cannon (seriously, it was really big), and finally breached the city walls. The Hagia Sophia, which had been the largest cathedral in the world for like a thousand years, was turned into a mosque, and the Byzantine Empire officially ceased to exist. But on the bright side, the Ottomans were really good at coffee, so at least there was that.

In conclusion, Constantinople was a city that had a lot going for it, even if it couldn’t decide on a name. It was a center of culture, religion, and history for over a thousand years, and even though it’s been gone for centuries, its legacy lives on. Plus, it’s always fun to say “Constantinople” really fast ten times in a row without stumbling over your words. Go ahead, try it. We’ll wait.