Vanished Polity of the Day: Byzas' colony
With the awarding of the Nobel prize for literature to Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul - the writer's true love - has been much in the news. The city's ancient pedigree (coupled with its "layering" of empires, religions and languages) sends the imagination spinning off into dusky, amber-hued la-la land. It's a place of patriarchs and intrigue, incense and incest, pomp, grandeur and decline of universal proportions...
But when did it all begin? Not, as you may be told, with the establishment of Constantinople by the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD. No, indeed, one must turn back the clock one thousand years to the year 667 BC, when the intrepid Byzas, a Doric Greek from the city of Megara, encouraged other Greeks to settle on the European side of the Bosphorus ("cow-ford" in ancient Greek), thumbing their noses at the Chalcedonians on the other bank. The colony prospered, taking advantage of its useful perch over sea traffic through the straits and land trade in and out of Asia minor. Its name, Byzantium, was taken from its storied founder.
One suspects that the old Byzantium, like its modern-day edition, was a hotbed of cultures. The name Byzas is likely more Thracian in origin than Greek, suggesting that the Aegeans weren't the only people involved in establishing the city. As the Byzantine Empire has long been the pet of Greek nationalist historiography, it wouldn't be surprising if future research shows Byzas' colony to be less Greek than originally supposed.
The town was largely destroyed in 196 AD by the rather severe Roman emperor Septimus Severus. Only in 330 AD, did the Roman emperor Constantine found "Nova Roma," which after his death was renamed Constantinople.
But when did it all begin? Not, as you may be told, with the establishment of Constantinople by the Roman emperor Constantine in the 4th century AD. No, indeed, one must turn back the clock one thousand years to the year 667 BC, when the intrepid Byzas, a Doric Greek from the city of Megara, encouraged other Greeks to settle on the European side of the Bosphorus ("cow-ford" in ancient Greek), thumbing their noses at the Chalcedonians on the other bank. The colony prospered, taking advantage of its useful perch over sea traffic through the straits and land trade in and out of Asia minor. Its name, Byzantium, was taken from its storied founder.
One suspects that the old Byzantium, like its modern-day edition, was a hotbed of cultures. The name Byzas is likely more Thracian in origin than Greek, suggesting that the Aegeans weren't the only people involved in establishing the city. As the Byzantine Empire has long been the pet of Greek nationalist historiography, it wouldn't be surprising if future research shows Byzas' colony to be less Greek than originally supposed.
The town was largely destroyed in 196 AD by the rather severe Roman emperor Septimus Severus. Only in 330 AD, did the Roman emperor Constantine found "Nova Roma," which after his death was renamed Constantinople.
posted by kvbt at 9:24 AM
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