Istanbul, Europe's largest city, became an urban center of exceptional
size when it was chosen by Constantine the Great as a new Roman capital
city. Named 'Constantinople' after him, the city has been studied
through its rich textual sources and surviving buildings, but its
archaeology remains relatively little known compared to other great
urban centers of the ancient and medieval worlds. Constantinople:
Archaeology of a Byzantine Megapolis is a major archaeological
assessment of a key period in the development of this historic city. It
uses material evidence, contemporary developments in urban archaeology
and archaeological theory to explore over a thousand years of the city's
development. Moving away from the scholarly emphasis on the monumental
core or city defenses, the volume investigates the inter-mural area
between the fifth-century land walls and the Constantinian city wall - a
zone which encompasses half of the walled area but which has received
little archaeological attention. Utilizing data from a variety of
sources, including the 'Istanbul Rescue Archaeology Project' created to
record material threatened with destruction, the analysis proposes a new
model of Byzantine Constantinople. A range of themes are explored
including the social, economic and cognitive development, Byzantine
perceptions of the city, the consequences of imperial ideology and the
impact of 'self-organization' brought about by many minor decisions.
Constantinople casts new light on the transformation of an ancient Roman
capital to an Orthodox Christian holy city and will be of great
importance to archaeologists and historians.
