Constantinople - Rome: "Constantine the Great"


Gnaeus Egnatius was a Roman senator who received the title of proconsul after 146 BC. It was his appointment as governor of the province of Macedonia that linked his name to one of the principal roads crossing the Balkans, the Via Egnatia. This main trade route was the eastward extension of Trajan’s road (Via Traiana), which ran southeast from Rome to end at Gnathia (Egnatia), between the major ports of the Adriatic at Bari and Brindisi. Gnathia had ferries to transport people and goods from the Italian peninsula to the Balkan shores at the major port of ancient Epidamnos, renamed Durres after the Roman conquest. Although the course of the Via Egnatia ran along older Macedonian roads, it was constructed in line with all the technical features of Roman road building. It passed close to cities old and new, such as Lychnidos (Ohrid), Heraclea Lyncestis, Pella and Thessaloniki, where it ended, at least during its first phase. It was however quickly expanded eastwards, to pass through Rentina, Amphipolis, Philippi, Topeiros, Maximianoupolis, Traianoupolis and as far as ancient Byzantium. The Via Egnatia was of tremendous military, economic and commercial importance for the empire in Late Antiquity and Byzantium, as it was the main road leading to the cities of the southern Balkans. It was primarily used by the army, and of course by merchants, as a relatively safe way to transport large quantities of goods from Rome and the Italian Peninsula to Constantinople, at the entrance to the Black Sea.

After 315 Constantine no longer lived in Rome; he returned only briefly in 326, to celebrate the twentieth year anniversary of his reign. From as early as 319 he had decided to build a new city on the site of ancient Byzantium. In 324, as sole emperor, he gave it his name, offering his dynasty and the heirs of his own empire a new capital. Constantinople was not designed to vie against Rome - how could it? It was Constantine’s Rome.


Glossary (0)


Information Texts (4)

The city: Around the top of the Thermaic Gulf there were several small ancient towns with intense commercial activity, which further expanded after the destruction of Olynthus by Philip in 348 BC. According to Strabo, King Cassander founded a new city in 316 BC, naming it Thessaloniki after his wife, sister to Alexander the Great. The few traces of Hellenistic buildings identified to date - an important administrative building complex in Governing House Square, and the east part of the wall - indicate that from the outset the city was intended to be a major political and military centre. Thessaloniki’s geographic location at a key point on Macedonia’s land and sea routes was an important factor in its growth down the centuries. From the mid 2nd century BC onwards it was the most important military and trading post on the Via Egnatia, which crossed the Balkan Peninsula from Durres to Byzantium (later Constantinople). Its port also began to flourish, lying as it did at the end of the road leading from the Danube to the Aegean. The city thus became the crossroads of the major trading routes heading East-West and North-South in the Roman Empire. Christian history in Thessaloniki began with the arrival of Paul the Apostle, who preached in the city’s synagogue in 51 or early 52 AD, though archaeological traces are thin on the ground until three centuries later. The 1st century saw the foundation of the Roman forum, along with several public buildings such as the library, the gymnasium and the Gallery of Figurines, which may have belonged to the imperial bath complex. In 298-299 Caesar Galerius moved his headquarters from Sirmium in Panonnia to Thessaloniki, adorning it with new monumental buildings such as the palace, the hippodrome, the theatre-stadium and the Rotonda, which was originally a temple modelled after the Pantheon in Rome. The famous Arch of Galerius, a dedicatory tetrapylon known locally as the Kamara, was erected at this time, decorated with scenes from Galerius’s victories against the Persians. In 322 Constantine the Great built the port at the southwest end of the shore. Thessaloniki became an important ecclesiastical centre from the late 4th century onwards. In 380, while staying in the city with his court in preparation for a campaign against the Goths, Emperor Theodosius I was baptized by Bishop Acholius (or Ascholios) and issued a decree forbidding sacrifices throughout the empire. Around the same time, the bishop of the city was promoted to archbishop and vicar (representative) of the Pope of Rome, with jurisdiction over the entire prefecture of East Illyria. The Christian churches built over the next two centuries changed the city, as they were the tallest buildings and most important landmarks in the new town plan developed on either side of the imperial road (the Via Regia), along the axis of what is now Egnatia Street. The Episcopal Church was a large five-nave basilica, possibly dedicated to Agios Markos; the Church of Agios Demetrios became the city’s major pilgrimage shrine. The large public buildings of the past either fell into gradual decline and were abandoned (such as the forum, which became a quarry for rocks and clay), or changed function (such as the Rotonda, which was converted into a Christian church). Excavations in the city’s historic centre have brought to light numerous early Christian buildings, the majority of which are houses. Most are urban villas in the city’s north and east section, with a spacious vaulted banquet room (triclinium) and a peristyle surrounded by rooms, baths, storage areas or cisterns. The cemeteries outside the city walls contained graves of all types, from pit graves to cist graves and tiled versions etc. Most important of all are the vaulted tombs, with fresco decorations in the interior. From the late 6th century Thessaloniki was repeatedly raided by the Avaro- Slavs and suffered earthquakes which destroyed many buildings. Combined with a general decline in the state economy, the raids and earthquakes altered living conditions in the city. This change can be traced in the construction of smaller, humbler houses with one or at most two rooms, erected on the ruins of old buildings. Descriptions of the houses preserved in legal documents of the Mount Athos monasteries provide an idea of life in the city; workshops and houses stood cheek by jowl, around shared courtyards with ovens and wells. House walls often incorporated earlier ruins and were constructed of various materials - some were of plaster coated wooden boards. Small churches and chapels were founded in the neighbourhoods on monastery-owned land. The Archbishop of Thessaloniki came under the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the new Cathedral of Agia Sophia was built in the late 8th century, decorated with mosaics sponsored by the emperor. The establishment of the Theme of Thessaloniki in the early 9th century offered security to the inhabitants and stability in the region. The markets filled with goods and the number of visitors grew. The city was proud of its scholar Bishop Leo the Mathematician and of two brothers: Constantine, who became a monk named Cyril, and Methodius. In 863 they travelled to Moravia, where they created the Old Slavonic alphabet and translated the Bible, the Divine Liturgy and important canonical texts into the language of the newly converted Slavs. Over the next centuries many more chapels and churches were built, such as Agios Euthymios, next to Agios Demetrios, and Panagia Chalkeon (1028). After Thessaloniki fell to the Saracens in 904, the next wave of destruction occurred when the city was wrested by the Normans in 1185. The Crusaders made it the capital of the Frankish kingdom from 1204 to 1224. From then onwards Thessaloniki frequently changed hands between Greek rulers who laid claim to the imperial throne, until 1246, when it was annexed to the Empire of Nicaea along with the rest of Macedonia. In 1303 Irene-Yolanda of Montferrat, second wife of Andronicus II, came to the city and remained there until her death in 1317, while in 1320 Emperor Michael IX died in the city. Important monuments of Paleologan art and architecture still survive from the first third of the 14th century, such as the churches of Agioi Apostoloi, Agia Aikaterini, Agios Panteleimon, Agios Nikolaos Orfanos and the Taxiarches (Archangels). Art production continued over the subsequent turbulent decades, though on various scales: the Church of Christ the Saviour, built after 1340, is the smallest church in the city, while that dedicated to the Prophet Elijah, built after 1360, is one of the largest. Several vacant plots within the city walls were turned into vegetable gardens or cemeteries. During the conflict between Andronicus II and his grandson Andronicus III, the Serbs and Ottomans became involved in the internal affairs of the empire as allies for one or other party vying for the throne, drawing ever closer to Thessaloniki and its surroundings. From 1342 until 1349 the city was tormented by discord between the Zealots and the Hesychasts. In 1387, following a four-year siege, the city was surrendered to the Ottomans. In 1403 it returned to Byzantine rule under Manuel II. In 1412 and 1416 it was besieged by Musa, one of the aspiring successors of Sultan Bayezid. Fearing a new conquest by the Ottomans, in 1423 Andronicus Palaeologus handed the city over to the Venetians, on conditions that were never honoured. Thessaloniki finally fell to the Ottomans in 1430.
The settlement: The naturally fortified mound of Rentina is located approximately 75km northeast of Thessalonica, south of the Richios River and next to the ancient Via Egnatia. Excavations carried out on the hill and its environs have revealed traces of human presence since Neolithic times; on the basis of their construction and associated finds, the building walls and abutments unearthed in the southwest section of the castle date to the Hellenistic period. Rentina lies close to the settlement of Arethousa, which went into decline from the 6th century onwards. According to one interpretation, Rentina may take its name from the nearby staging post (mutatio) called Peridipidis (genitive: Peripidinis). The fortifications at Rentina are reasonably well preserved, as are the impressive remains of a settlement that may well be Artemision Castle, referred to by Procopius in his work On Buildings as having acquired fortifications in the time of Justinian. Nevertheless, research findings to date indicate that the first fortifications, which included water cisterns capable of supporting a small guard, should be dated to the mid-4th century. Under Justinian the wall was reinforced with towers and equipped with a large cistern on the level ground in the citadel. In mid-Byzantine times the wall was rebuilt to serve as fortifications for a settlement founded in the first half-decade of the 10th century, when it was seat of the Diocese of Lete and Rentina. At that time a church was built over the ruins of the then defunct cistern on the citadel, together with accommodation for the bishop and his retinue. By the end of the same century several houses had been erected in the lower town, following the line of the old wall and on stepped terraces. A third wall then surrounded the settlement from the most vulnerable section to the west, where a tower was built. Wood remains from the interior of this have been carbon dated to around 980 AD. After 1204 the settlement was surrendered to the rulers of the Frankish Kingdom of Thessalonica. As indicated by the large number of contemporary coins found in excavations, they appear to have installed a permanent guard, with the obvious aim of controlling the Plain of Thessalonica and the Strymonic Gulf. In 1242 John Vatatzes took the castle while marching on Thessalonica, since, as George Acropolites would have it, the Franks abandoned their position without a fight. News of the inhabitants of Rentina in the 13th and 14th century is contained in legal documents held by monasteries on Mount Athos, where mention is made of lands, mills and houses in the area. In the first half-decade of the 14th century a small cruciform church was built inside the eastern enclosure, possibly in connection with an infant and child cemetery. In the mid-14th century the Metropolitan of Thessalonica granted the vacant bishopric of Rentina to the Bishop of Platamonas, who was indicted for suspect ordainments but acquitted at the synod of 1363. From around the same period it appears that the inhabitants gradually abandoned the settlement, which passed successively into the hands of Serbs, Greeks and then Turks. The arrival of Turkish Yuruks in the area probably led the greater part of the population to seek the safety of larger centres, the most prominent of which was Volvi. The few coins excavated from that time up until the mid-16th century are illustrative of the decline of the once flourishing settlement at Rentina, confirming the existence of a small-scale farm on the same site.
The city: Amphipolis is located at the foot of Mount Pangaion, near the banks of the River Strymon. Archaeological evidence indicates strong human presence and activity in the area from as early as the Middle Neolithic. Built like an amphitheatre at a strategic location, Amphipolis was an Athenian colony founded in 437/6 on the site of Ennea Hodoi (Nine Ways), and the earlier city of Hedonia. Public and private life in the city blossomed during the Classical and Hellenistic periods, while the fact that the Via Egnatia passed through Amphipolis was a key factor in maintaining its prosperity through Roman and early Christian times. At least until 692 it was the seat of a bishop, and grew into a major centre of ecclesiastical activity in the area. Excavations within the city limits have revealed four basilicas decorated with sumptuous mosaics and marble revetments, an episcopical palace and a centrally planned church, all dating to this period. At this time the city was fortified by a 7.5 km long wall, and a second enclosure 2.2 km in length, bounding the citadel. The city was probably destroyed in the 8th or 9th century, for it was then that the inhabitants relocated to the major fortified harbour town of Chrysoupoli, at the mouth of the River Strymon . A small settlement named Marmarion grew up on the ruins of Amphipolis, becoming a staging post for travellers crossing the Strymon at the nearby ford of Poros Marmariou. In the 13th-14th century two towers owned by the monasteries of Mount Athos were founded on either side of the river. The better preserved of the two, built of spolia on a hill to north of the modern village, stood three storeys high and was surrounded by a defensive wall. According to an inscription, the tower was founded in 1367 by two generals named Alexius and Ioannis, blood brothers and founders of Pantocrator Monastery on Mount Athos, which owns the monument. On the opposite bank of Strymon lie the remains of the second tower, which must have been at least two floors high. Although the towers were primarily used as warehouses for storing produce grown on the local estates and monasteries, their presence also served to control the passage to the hinterland. Chrysoupoli was abandoned in the 16th century, whereas Marmaris survived for a further two hundred years, only to be replaced by Neohorio.
The city: Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, was built on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, on the triangular peninsula formed by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. This was an excellent location that controlled trade routes linking the Aegean to the Black Sea. Emperor Constantine founded Constantinople in 330 AD as a city to rival Rome in splendour, wealth and power. The city grew fast, leading to problems of space and facilities, so Theodosius I extended it to the west by building new strong walls that protected Constantinople until the end of the Byzantine Empire. The city was laid out after Rome. A main road, the Mese Odos, linked the palace to the Golden Gate. On this road was the Forum, a circular plaza with a statue of Constantine mounted on a column, surrounded by public buildings. Theodosius I and Arcadius later built more forums decorated with their own statues. Following the Nika riots in the 6th century, Justinian adorned Constantinople with magnificent edifices, palaces, baths and public buildings. This time also saw the construction of Agia Sophia (the Holy Wisdom), the church which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate throughout the Byzantine period. During the 7th and 8th centuries Constantinople faced major problems that threw it into disarray: attacks by the Avars (a siege in 674) and Arabs (attacks in 674 and 717-718); natural disasters (a powerful, destructive earthquake in 740); and epidemics (plague in 747). Limited building activity resumed in the 8th and 9th century, mainly concentrated on strengthening the city's fortifications. With the recovery of the Byzantine Empire from the 9th to the 11th century, Constantinople became the most populated city in Christendom; the majority of inhabitants were Greek-speaking, but many other ethnic groups lived alongside them, such as Jews, Armenians, Russians, Italians merchants, Arabs and mercenaries from Western Europe and Scandinavia. Many public, private and church-owned buildings were erected at the time, with an emphasis on establishing charitable institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages and schools. Higher education flourished, thanks to the care of the state and the emergence of important scholars. This renaissance lasted until the mid-11th century, when economic problems due to poor management set in, compounded by the adverse outcome of imperial operations beyond the borders. The Crusaders left Constantinople entirely unscathed when first passing through, but in the Fourth Crusade of 1204 the Franks conquered and ransacked the city, slaughtering those inhabitants they did not take prisoner or drive out. In 1261 the city was retaken by Michael VIII Palaeologus, who rebuilt most of the monuments and the walls but proved unable to restore the city to its former splendour and glory. Enfeebled as it was, the empire was incapable of checking the advance of the Ottomans, and in 1453 Constantinople finally fell into their hands. The fall signalled the end of the empire. Nevertheless, the Byzantine intellectual tradition remained significant, as many scholars settled in the Venetian dominions of Crete and the Peloponnese, as well as in European countries, conveying Greek learning to the West.


Bibliography (2)

1. Μπούρας Χ., ‘Απόψεις των Βυζαντινών πόλεων από τον 8ο έως τον 15ο αιώνα’ in Οικονομική ιστορία του Βυζαντίου από τον 7ο έως τον 15ο αιώνα, Μ.Ι.Ε.Τ, Athens, 2006

2. Dagron, G, Η γέννηση μιας πρωτεύουσας: η Κωνσταντινούπολη και οι θεσμοί της από το 330 ως το 451, Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τράπεζας, Athens, 2000


Comments (0)