Draft:History of Constantinople

Hagia Sophia Cathedral — a symbol of Byzantine Constantinople

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The history of Constantinople covers the period from the Consecration of the city in 330, when it became the new capital of the Roman Empire, to its conquest by the Ottomans in 1453.

Constantinople was rebuilt practically from scratch on the site of ancient Byzantium. Within half a century, thanks to the gigantic construction projects of the time, rapid population growth, the development of trade and crafts, its status as a capital city, and the efforts of the first Roman emperors, Constantinople became one of the largest cities in Europe and the Middle East. The rich and prosperous "megalopolis of the Middle Ages" was destined to become the largest political, cultural, and economic center of a vast empire, but it tended to decline. After the fall of Rome in the 5th century, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which existed for about ten centuries and tried to maintain its adherence to Roman and Hellenistic traditions. The history of Constantinople in the Byzantine era was filled with tumultuous political events: popular uprisings and palace intrigues, assassinations of emperors and changes of ruling dynasties, months-long sieges and campaigns against powerful western and eastern neighbors. For many centuries (until the 8th century), Constantinople was the greatest center of brilliant culture and science in medieval Europe, far surpassing other world capitals in the level of education, activity of spiritual life and development of material culture.

One of the most characteristic features of political life in Constantinople was the constant struggle for power between different groups of the aristocracy, army, merchants, and clergy. The elite of the capital was an extremely unstable and diverse group, as access to the top of Byzantium was open to natives of all social classes. Many capital nobles were not only not ashamed of their commoner or provincial origins, but were actually proud of the fact that they had been able to work their way up from the bottom of society to the pinnacle of power. Moreover, even the imperial throne could be occupied by a native of the people as a result of a palace conspiracy, a love affair, a successful marriage, a rebellion of the army or the townspeople. Examples of this in Byzantine history was a lot, emperors by fate became even simple soldiers, who served up to the military leaders of medium rank, butcher or peasant, who was later engaged in horseback riding and fist fights. In Constantinople, the contrast between the poverty of the common people and the wealth of the aristocracy, the imperial court, and the clergy was particularly striking. The city was rightly called "the main center of luxury and poverty in the whole East and West".

The capture of Constantinople by the Turks in May 1453 marked the final collapse of Byzantium and the transformation of the Ottoman Empire into one of the most powerful states in the world. The fall of Constantinople made an enormous impression on contemporaries, causing shock throughout Christian Europe and jubilation at the courts of Cairo, Tunis, and Granada. In addition, the destruction of many of the Roman and Byzantine cultural treasures of the once-flourishing city caused irreparable damage to all of European culture. In Europe, the image of the Turks became synonym with all that was cruel and alien to Christianity.

Constantine and his successors

The Column of Constantine, erected in 330 A.D.

The Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great appreciated the advantageous location of Byzantium on the seaside, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Constantine's decision was also influenced by the turbulent situation in Rome itself: the discontent of the nobility and the constant struggle for the throne. The emperor wanted to crown his reforming activities with the creation of a new administrative center of great power. The foundation of the city took place in the fall of 324, and Constantine personally decided to mark its boundaries. The area he demarcated was surrounded by an earthen wall, within which a large building was constructed. By Constantine's order, famous architects, painters and sculptors, the best masons, plasterers and carpenters were brought to Byzantium and exempted from other state duties. Another of his laws, designed to speed up the construction of the capital, obliged all owners of real estate in the cities of Pontus Euxine to acquire at least one house in Byzantium (only when this condition was met could the owners bequeath their property to their heirs).

Constantine encouraged the settlement of the new city from various provinces of the Roman Empire in various ways, granting them special conditions and benefits, and many imperial dignitaries were forcibly transferred here. Constantine established the rule that all settlers who purchased property in the new capital were entitled to free grain, oil, wine, and firewood. This so-called "food bonus" lasted for about half a century and played a major role in the influx of artisans, sailors, and fishermen into Byzantium. In addition to attracting human resources, Constantine also provided for the decoration of the city, for which magnificent works of art were brought to Byzantium from all corners of the vast empire — from Rome and Athens, Corinth and Delphi, Ephesus and Antioch.

On May 11, 330, a grand ceremony was held to inaugurate the capital of the Roman Empire, called New Rome (the text of the imperial edict issued on the same day was carved on a marble column). The main celebrations took place in the horse racing and included performances by artists and sporting events, including the chariot races favored by the people. During these celebrations, the Christian clergy, as well as the still influential pagan priesthood among the representatives of the Greek colleges, became more prominent in Constantine the Great's retinue. Although Christianity was becoming the dominant religion, the emperor, and himself did not immediately break with the old traditions, did not hinder the activities of the priests (however, during his reign, many pagan temples of ancient Byzantium were converted into churches and public buildings). On the occasion of the consecration of the new capital, a coin was minted depicting Constantine in a battle helmet with a spear in his hand. In honor of the city's patroness, the mother of God, a stele of red porphyry on a white marble base was erected. However, the name "New Rome" did not catch on, and soon the capital was called Constantinople — the city of Constantine.

During Constantine's reign, Hagia Sophia, Hagia Irene, Saint Agathius's Church on the Golden Horn and Saint Mocius's Church outside the city walls were built. Along with the first churches in Constantinople, the impressive Temple of Fortuna was built, several sanctuaries were renovated, and the huge column brought from the Roman Temple of Apollo was erected, crowned with a statue of Constantine himself in the image of Apollo (or Helios) greeting the rising sun. From Delphi was brought a bronze "Serpent Column", which served as the foot of the famous golden tripod, and in Constantinople decorated the arena of the Hippodrome. From Rome came the famous monument to the goddess Athena Pallada, which the Romans had removed from Athens in due time (its column was turned into a pedestal for statues representing Constantine and then his successors). In the city, to which the emperor gave the municipal structure of Rome, was established the Senate, henceforth here was one of the consuls. An impressive flow of Egyptian grain, previously used for the needs of the population of Rome, was diverted to Constantinople.

By the end of Constantine's reign, the new capital was spread over seven hills on the shores of the Bosphorus like Rome, there were built about 30 palaces and temples, more than four thousand significant residential buildings for the nobility, a hippodrome, a circus and two theaters, more than 150 baths, more than a hundred bakeries, eight aqueducts, and thousands of houses for the common people. North of the central square Augusteon, on the site of the acropolis of ancient Byzantium, was the Capitol, where pagan temples and shrines to various gods were preserved until the end of the 4th century. Under Constantine and his successors, who actively promoted local sailors and traders, Constantinople's navy grew in size, and the city regained its ancient Byzantine commercial glory.

Serpent Column established at the racetrack

The process of destruction and decline of the Roman Empire intensified after the death of Constantine the Great in Nicomedia in 337.  A desperate struggle for power broke out between Constantine's successors, one of the most dramatic episodes of which was a mutiny of the troops stationed in the capital, organized by Constantius II. He took advantage of the discontent in the Byzantine army over the uncertainty that had arisen after Constantine had bequeathed great power to his three sons (Constantius II, Constantine II, and Constantius) and two nephews (Dalmatius the Younger and Hannibalian the Younger). A bloody massacre took place in Constantinople, during which many of the late emperor's relatives were killed, including his two favorite nephews (only Constantius Gallus and Julian, sons of also killed Flavius Julius Constantius, younger brother of Constantine the Great, could be saved). Constantius held power over the western part of the Roman Empire for more than a decade, but died in 350 in a battle with the usurper commander Magnus Magnentius.  It was not until Constantius II's victory over Magnentius that the empire was restored under one emperor. In 357, the relics of the Apostle Andrew were solemnly transferred from Patras to the newly built Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where they were placed next to the relics of St. Luke, St. Timothy of Ephesus and the coffin of Constantine the Great (from the time of Constantine's burial until the 11th century, the Church of the Holy Apostles served as the tomb of Byzantine emperors). In 360 near the central square Augusteon was opened the temple, called by the people the Great, — the first predecessor of the modern cathedral of St. Sophia.

After the death of Constantius, who died in a campaign against the Persians, Julian entered Constantinople in December 361 and cruelly massacred the cronies of his predecessor.  He began the restoration of paganism (for which he received the nickname Apostate), carried out a reform of school education, founded in the capital library, which for centuries became the most important center of Byzantine culture. But the reign of Julian was short-lived, he died in the summer of 363 during the Persian campaign, after which the troops proclaimed the new emperor Jovian. During the reign of the Constantinian dynasty in Constantinople lived and worked the physician Oribasius, the rhetorician Libanius, theologians and church hierarchs Alexander of Constantinople, Paul the Confessor, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Macedonius I, Eudoxius of Antioch, in the city visited Athanasius the Great, Basil the Great and the famous heresiarch Arius (died here in 336).

Valentinian, Theodosius and their successors

Obelisk of Theodosius, installed in 390 at the hippodrome

In 364, Roman troops proclaimed Valentinian I as the new emperor, who made his younger brother Valent II his co-emperor in the eastern part of the empire. During his reign, a two-tier aqueduct was completed that carried water between the hills and became part of a huge system that supplied Constantinople with water from Thrace. In 378, in the battle of Adrianople, the Romans suffered a terrible defeat by the Transdanian Goths, on the battlefield remained 40 thousand Roman soldiers, including the emperor Valentus. Gratian appointed as the emperor of the eastern part of the Roman Empire the experienced commander Theodosius, who had expelled the Goths from Constantinople, having closed the world with them. Theodosius with the help of bribes, luxurious receptions in the imperial palace and appointments to high posts in the army managed to win over even some Gothic leaders and commanders. It was then that military settlements of Goths, who served in the city guard, arose in Constantinople.

In 381 the First Council of Constantinople condemned Arianism and established the status of the Bishop of Constantinople, who became second in status to the Bishop of Rome (previously, since the suppression of the Emperor Septimius Severus, the capital had been under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Heraclea). In 390 an Egyptian granite obelisk, taken from Heliopolis, was erected on the hippodrome of Constantinople. In 394 Theodosius, who executed the usurper Eugenius, briefly united both parts of the Roman Empire under his authority, but after his death in 395 the united state was divided among Theodosius' sons: Flavius Arcadius received the East and his brother Honorius the West. In the same year 395 Visigoths under the command of Alaric I have again raised revolt and together with joined to them Alemanni, Sarmatians, colonists and slaves have invaded Thrace (separate detachments of rebels reached walls of Constantinople, but then all mass of rebels has gone to Greece). By the end of the IV century in Constantinople lived more than 100 thousand people, new settlers did not have enough space within the fortress walls built by Emperor Constantine, and the city began to spread beyond them (in the coastal part of the houses were even built on stilts).

Constantinople's walls (in the middle)

In the second half of the 4th century in Constantinople worked great philosophers Themistius and Synesius of Cyrene, theologians Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and Nilus the Lenten. In 404 there were riots in the city, caused by the removal from the post of Constantinople archbishop popular among the people John Chrysostom, who conflicted with the wife of the emperor Eudoxia (during the riots and the fires that swept the capital burned even the Basilica of St. Sophia). In the beginning of 5th century (especially since 410) in connection with the threat of invasion of barbarians the stream of settlers-aristocrats from Rome to Constantinople has intensified. An earthquake in 412 largely destroyed the walls of the time of Constantine the Great, and there was an urgent need for a new ring of fortifications that would cover the sprawling neighborhoods of the city. The new walls, begun under Emperor Arcadius, were completed during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II by the prefect Anthemius. The wall of Theodosius had nine main gates, divided into civil and military, and many smaller passages (the most important gates, through which the busy trade routes passed, were the Golden Gate, the Resios Gate, the Gate of St. Romanus, and the Charisian Gate). Bridges over the moat led to the civil gates, which were walled up during sieges. The military gates were protected by the highest and most powerful towers, their double iron gates were locked in peacetime, and during sieges they were used for sorties against the enemy.

The total length of the walls of Constantinople was 16 kilometers, and there were about four hundred towers along its perimeter. Theodosius' walls, which crossed the Bosphorus cape from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn Bay, reached a length of 5.5 kilometers and were the most powerful. These walls were built in three rows (taking into account the fortifications completed later, after the devastating earthquake of 447). The first row of walls, 5 m high, protected a deep and wide moat with water (it was 20 m wide and in some places up to 10 m deep). The second row, 2-3 m wide and 10 m high, was reinforced by 15 m high towers. The third row, the most massive, was 6-7 meters thick and protected by towers 20 to 40 meters high. The towers were equipped with devices for throwing stones and pouring hot tar or oil on the enemy. Along the wall there were guardhouses for the guards and small stores of provisions and ammunition. The bases of the walls of Theodosius went 10-20 meters underground, which practically excluded the possibility of undermining. There were no fixed stone bridges across the moat, only light wooden ones, which were removed at night and quickly destroyed by the city's defenders during the siege.

The line of Theodosius' walls defined for centuries the boundaries within which Constantinople developed (the western suburbs of Eudom, Pigi, Philopateon, Blachernae and Kosmidion remained outside the walls). Further growth of the city already went at the expense of the creation of suburbs on the northern coast of the Golden Horn (around Galata) and on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus, opposite the Bosphorus cape (around Chalcedon and Chrysopolis). In October 415 Theodosius II has finished the delayed restoration of the Cathedral of St. Sophia, in 421 has erected near the walls of Constantine in the center of the square the column with the statue of the predecessor — emperor Arcadius, after that the square began to be named Forum Arcadius. In 425, the emperor opened a public school on the Capitol, which laid the foundation for the University of Constantinople (where the best rhetors, grammarians, sophists and professors of the time taught young people Latin and Greek diction, medicine, philosophy, rhetoric and law), then not far from the Hippodrome built an underground cistern Theodosius. Sister Theodosius II founded the Convent of St. Andrew, which later became the Monastery of St. Andrew of Crete. Under the strong influence of the clergy, Theodosius II forbade Jews to build new synagogues, to hold positions in the state apparatus, and to keep Christians as servants in their homes, which greatly reduced the Jewish community of Constantinople. A quarter of a century after the walls of Theodosius were built, a wall was built along the seashore, also reinforced with towers (it was known as the Wall of Propontis, or the Marmara Sea Wall). Theodosius' wall, the fortified old wall of Constantine, and the newest wall protecting the city from the sea formed a powerful defensive belt that was difficult to overcome even with the most advanced siege equipment.

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  Seaside walls section
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  Theodosius Walls
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  Theodosius Walls
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  Second military gate
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  Seaside walls section

Around 425 Constantinople, like Rome, was divided into 14 neighborhoods (regions), each headed by a curator (regarch). At their disposal were the guardians of order and the night watch. Since the time of Constantine the Great, the eparch (in ancient Greek ὁ ἔπαρχος τῆς πόλεως) was the head of the entire city, responsible for the city's economy, beautification, administrative apparatus, maintenance of internal order, and security of the capital. Under Constantius II, the functions and rights of the Eparch of Constantinople were almost identical to those of the Prefect of Rome, and he had the power that made him the second person in the state after the Emperor. He presided over the meetings of the Senate and distributed grain, had the right to arrest, imprison, or expel from the city any person who in his opinion posed a danger to the well-being of Constantinople (and could also limit a citizen's right of residence to a certain place). The eparch was subordinate to numerous collegia and state institutions, such as the city police, the prison (located in the basement of the Praetorium, in front of the Forum of Constantine), and the judicial institutions of all 14 quarters; he supervised the investigation of all criminal offenses committed in the city.

The Aqueduct of Valens was an important part of the public utilities of Constantinople

On the will of the Eparch of Constantinople depended the life and destiny of every citizen, so his office was constantly besieged by numerous petitioners and complainants, who begged for pardon for loved ones, tried to obtain orders from the authorities for the construction or repair of city facilities, demanded the settlement of disputes between artisan corporations. The eparch's office was also responsible for organizing theatrical performances, preparing the city for religious festivals, parades of imperial processions, ceremonial meetings of noble guests and foreign ambassadors. The eparch was one of the key figures of various celebrations and ceremonies at the imperial court, and the rite of his appointment always took place in the palace in the presence of all the courtiers and the city's nobility. Then the new eparch delivered a speech to the representatives of all the city estates and associations, from the palace he went to the Church of St. Sophia, and from there to his department. The citizens were not indifferent to the emperor's choice, and if the choice fell on an unpopular nobleman, the ceremony of the eparch's appointment often ended in mass riots among the demos. The most popular eparch of a period of formation of Constantinople was Cyrus, who has done much for development and improvement of a city, but his popularity frightened the emperor Theodosius Great, who has removed Cyrus from a post and has ordered to be tonsured in monks.

The handicraft production reached a great development. There were many imperial workshops (ergastiria) in Constantinople, which fulfilled the orders of the court, the army and the city authorities. Artisans were bound to these workshops for life, and this duty was hereditary. In addition, a significant portion of the workshop workers were slaves. There were also many private, municipal or church workshops, as well as workshops owned by nobles, monasteries and almshouses (the last three categories of owners preferred not to manage the enterprises directly, but to rent them out). These workshops employed free artisans who were organized into companies whose activities were strictly regulated by special statutes (they were obliged to pay taxes and, if necessary, to serve the state). Throughout the Middle Ages, Constantinople was a kind of "workshop of splendor" for the countries of Europe and the East. In many cities and at almost all courts, silk and wool fabrics, expensive clothes, leather, ceramics and glassware, jewelry and church ornaments, cold weapons and military ammunition (especially belonging to the category of luxury goods) were widely known. Merchants were also organized into corporations, and their activities were supervised by the state (private international trade was dominated by Syrian and Egyptian merchants). Many branches of trade were imperial monopolies, and it was common for the authorities to outsource them. The Eparchy regulated the number and duties of the members of the companies, their internal organization, but especially strict officials controlled the trading companies that supplied Constantinople with food.

The Column of Marcian, erected in the middle of the 5th century

A very large segment of the Constantinople population was the urban plebs, which included not only hired workers and petty servants, but also the poor, interrupted by casual earnings, as well as various declassed elements: beggars, prostitutes, cripples, and fools. Many of them had no shelter, were often hungry, and after earning a little money — got drunk in numerous cheap taverns. The government regularly rewarded the plebs with gifts — on the occasion of celebrations in the name of the emperor the poor were given money, bread and wine, the bishop of Constantinople distributed alms, sometimes the plebs had the opportunity to see performances of magicians, trainers and acrobats at the hippodrome. However, in spite of such "care", the plebs were extremely volatile and easily succumbed to calls for rebellion. The slightest spark was enough: an increase in the price of bread, sympathy for a disgraced nobleman, a fiery speech by another pretender to the imperial throne.

In January 447, as a result of a strong earthquake in Constantinople, many buildings were destroyed and the fortress walls were seriously damaged. About 16 thousand people spent two months not only restoring the old fortifications, but also building an outer wall with a number of towers and an embankment, as well as deepening the protective moat lined with bricks. As a result, the city was covered from the land by a tiered defense system reinforced by 192 towers. In the spring of the same year, Attila's troops approached the city from Thrace, which caused panic and mass flight of the citizens, but the Huns did not dare to storm the city and went to Greece. From the middle of the 5th century, the archbishops of Constantinople began to bear the title of patriarch. In 451, under the supervision of imperial officials, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was held at Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, which condemned Monophysitism and laid the foundations of the doctrine of Eastern Orthodoxy. In 453 the Church of the Virgin Mary was built in the suburb of Blachernae outside the walls of Theodosius (it was founded by Pulcheria, the wife of Emperor Marcian). In some years, at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Leo I, two Byzantine patricians during the pilgrimage to Palestine have stolen a robe of the Virgin, which has been placed in the church of Blachernae. Later here were transferred also clothes and a part of a belt from the opened tomb of the Mother of God. Above the tablet of Markian also commemorates the column of his name, erected by the governor of Constantinople in the middle of the 5th century (earlier the column was crowned by the statue of the emperor, and the pedestal was richly decorated with bas-reliefs).

Throughout the early Middle Ages, Constantinople was a major cultural center, surpassing all the capitals of Western Europe. The flourishing trade and crafts, the highly educated state apparatus with its numerous bureaucracies allowed elements of high ancient culture to be preserved. The extensive foreign relations of Byzantine merchants and diplomats led to the development of geography, astronomy, mathematics, rhetoric and linguistics in Constantinople. The impressive trade and monetary turnover of the capital, frequent conflicts over transactions and inheritance led to the development of civil law and legal education. The presence in Constantinople of the imperial court, numerous secular and ecclesiastical nobles, and other wealthy patrons and supporters of the arts contributed to the development of medicine, architecture, construction and closely related mechanics, as well as literature (especially poetry and hagiography), music, theater, arts and crafts (pottery, mosaics, and enamels), and the production of dyes (for painting and dyeing fabrics). A cadre of Byzantine historians (e.g., Priscus, Sozomenes, and Socrates Scholasticus) emerged from the court bureaucracy and high priests of the time. Despite the growing influence of the clergy on culture, Constantinople preserved secular education, based on its traditions from antiquity (in contrast to the countries of Western Europe, where the Church actually monopolized the remnants of education). The Church's struggle with various heretical currents, remnants of "paganism" and ancient traditions (especially in philosophy and theology) had a great influence on the science of the time.

Leo and his successors

After the death of Marcian, Leo I Macella was placed on the imperial throne with the active support of the influential Gothic generals Aspar and Ardavur. The new emperor has built in a wood behind the city walls, near a healing source in area Piga church (later emperor Justinian I, cured by waters of a source, has built here more magnificent temple and male monastery of a life-bearing source, and his successors repeatedly expanded and decorated highly esteemed monastery)[comment. 18]. In 463, near the shores of the Sea of Marmara, a church was built by the patrician Stoudios, which became the foundation of the Studian Monastery, one of the first monasteries of the city, which laid the foundation for the numerous and influential monasticism of Constantinople. Soon the monastery was settled by the Akimite ("awake" or "alert") monks, followers of Alexander of Constantinople, whose order played a decisive role in the confrontation with Monophysitism. In 471, by order of Leo I, who wanted to get rid of foreign influence, his former patrons —Aspar and his son Ardavur— were brutally killed in the imperial palace (in retaliation, one of Aspar's commanders attacked the palace, but the attack was repulsed by troops loyal to the emperor).

Sfendon — preserved part of the hippodrome (fragment of the southern wall surrounding the stands)

In 476, the barbarian commander Odoacer deprived the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire Romulus Augustulus of power and sent the signs of the imperial dignity to Constantinople. By the end of 5th century the population of the capital and the nearest suburbs has reached 700 thousand people (according to other data, at the beginning of VI century it was about 500 thousand people). According to the historian Zosima, who lived in that period, Constantinople was a crowded and cramped city. Foreign merchants and numerous pilgrims who came to the city noted in their notes and memoirs wide central streets with covered galleries, spacious squares decorated with columns and statues, majestic imperial palace and residences of rich nobles, Christian temples, triumphal arches and a large hippodrome. The main street —Mesa ("Middle")— stretched from west to east, from the Golden Gate through the forums of Arcadia, Voloviy, Theodosius (Bull) and Constantine to the Augusteon square, in the center of which stood the statue of Helena Equal to the Apostles or Augusta. The Mesa and the large squares it crossed were the real center of the capital's commerce. Rows of shops stretched from the Augusta Square to the Forum of Constantine, where there was a brisk trade in expensive fabrics, clothing, jewelry, and incense. In other squares, cattle, meat, fish, grain, bread, wine, oil, dried fruits, raw silk, soap, and wax were traded.

In addition, the most important state, religious and public buildings were located on the stone-paved Mesa Street and in the adjacent quarters (on both sides of the Mesa there were houses with two-storey shaded porticoes and colonnades), along which the imperial cortege and church processions passed. Most of the other streets in the central part of Constantinople were not more than 5 meters wide and were lined with one- and three-story houses of nobles and merchants, decorated with one-story porticoes, which were often used as trading rooms. The further away from the city center, the narrower and more unkempt the streets became; on the outskirts, they were usually not paved with stone and had no gutters. Here, in multi-storey profitable houses, sometimes reaching and nine floors, lived craftsmen, small shopkeepers, sailors, fishermen, loaders and other working people (if in Rome in the V century there were almost 1.8 thousand individual houses in Constantinople — almost 4.4 thousand, which indicates a large middle class).

A pillar preserved from the tetrapylon Milius

Most of the most important monuments of Constantinople — the Halki Gate (Halka), which served as the main entrance to the Imperial Palace[Comm. 19], the Senate and the Imperial Library, luxurious palaces of the nobility, the Baths of Zeuxippus(where the most valuable works of art were brought from all over the Roman Empire), the Temple of St. Sophia and the residence of the Patriarch, the Hippodrome and Milius (or Miliarium)[Comm. 20] — were attached to the Augusteon Square. Paved with marble slabs, the Forum of Constantine was richly decorated with columns (in the center rose the famous column of Constantine the Great), porticoes and triumphal arches. Nearby were a large bakers' market and the "Valley of Tears" alley, where slaves were traded. The square Bull Forum (or Bull Square) was adorned with a triumphal arch and the Basilica of Theodosius. From there, the Mesa branched off in two directions — the main road went to the west, to the Golden Gate, and continued into the Roman Egnatian Way; the other part of the Mesa went to the northwest, to the Adrianople (or Charisian) Gate. In the center of the Forum of the Crow stood a huge bronze figure of a bull brought from Pergamum, whose belly served as a furnace in which criminals condemned to such a painful death were burned.

At the beginning of the 6th century, the trade route through the straits of the Black Sea and the duties from the ships again became one of the main sources of the city's prosperity. New large ports were built on the shores of the Sea of Marmara (Theodosia and Juliana) in addition to the ports that existed on the shores of the Golden Horn (Prosforion and Neorion) during the ancient Byzantine period. Ships carrying spices, incense, ivory and precious stones from India and Ceylon, silk and porcelain from China, carpets, cloth and pearls from Persia, grain, cotton, glassware and papyrus from Egypt, furs, honey, wax, gold and caviar from the Black Sea region entered these ports, Slaves and pilgrims from the Crimea, the Balkans and North Africa (regular maritime traffic connected Constantinople with Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Smyrna, Rhodes, Patras, Thebes, Corinth, Thessalonica and Chersonesos, as well as with some ports in Italy, Gaul, Spain and North Africa).

In 512, a line of fortifications was built from Selimbria on the Sea of Marmara to Derkont on the Black Sea to protect against Slavic attacks, called the "Long Wall" or the Anastasian Wall (the historian Evagrius Scholasticus called it "a banner of impotence and a monument of cowardice"). The length of the wall was about 50 km, and it was called to protect from enemy raids rich agricultural farms in the western suburbs of Constantinople, which supplied the capital with products. In the same year, 512, there was a rebellion in Constantinople against the religious policies of Anastasius, who openly supported Monophysitism. The crowd, plundering the houses of the emperor's closest associates, wanted to enthrone the consul Areobinda, but he refused the opportunity to usurp power and fled the capital. In 514 to the walls of Constantinople approached the army of the rebellious commander Vitalian, but he did not dare to storm, satisfied with the terms of truce and generous payoffs from Anastasius. Soon Vitalian's troops and fleet were approaching the Byzantine capital again, and once again the emperor was forced to agree to the rebels' terms. In 516 Vitalian undertook the third campaign on Constantinople, but now thanks to the skillful actions of generals Justinian and Marin Syrian rebels have been inflicted heavy defeat. During the reign of Emperor Anastasius, monetary and fiscal reforms were carried out (he abolished the chrysargyr, which made him popular with the merchants and artisans of the capital). During the reign of the Leo dynasty, prominent historians Malchus Philadelphianus and Zosimus worked in Constantinople.

At the top of the social pyramid of the population of Constantinople stood the emperor, his immediate entourage and the highest aristocracy (the patriarch of Constantinople, senators, including illustrians, clarissimi and spectabilis, patricians and consuls, as well as prefects of the praetorium, prefect of Constantinople, military masters, magister officii, prepositor of the sacred bedchamber, quaestor of the sacred palace, comites of the sacred bounties). The senatorial aristocracy included influential relatives of the reigning emperor and provincial dynasties of rich landowners, whose descendants were able to establish themselves at the imperial court. An example of such dynasties are the families of Apion and Laksarion from Egypt. Senators also became commanders, officials, lawyers and diplomats (including those from the "barbarian" tribes, i.e. Goths, Herulians, Gepids, Scythians and other tribes). Very few of the senators were descendants of the old Roman aristocracy who moved to Constantinople in the 4th-5th centuries. Often senators fell out of favor, and their property was confiscated for the benefit of the emperor[comment 22].

Next came the highest echelons of the army (committees of exquisitors, domestics and stratilates) and the clergy (bishops, abbots of monasteries and cathedrals), other officials of the imperial court and city administration, university professors and heads of private schools, distinguished physicians, lawyers (especially courtiers who were members of the Imperial Council and served in the Imperial Chancellery), architects, philosophers and other scholars, wealthy merchants-wholesalers, owners of large workshops, argyroprats, shipowners (navicularia)[comm. 23] and heads of trade and craft companies. Behind them were ordinary lawyers, physicians, engineers, rhetors, teachers of elementary schools, highly skilled craftsmen and small tradesmen, ordinary clergy and clerical attendants (monks[comment 24], deacons, subdeacons, readers, singers, ushers, hartophylaxes, skevophylaxes, church economists, notaries, and ekdiks), as well as persons of creative professions (theatrical performers, painters, and sculptors). Small artisans and shopkeepers bore the brunt of paying taxes, rents, interest on loans, and the burden of various state duties. At the bottom of the social ladder were the urban poor, ruined peasants, beggars, and numerous state, church, and private slaves. The poor made up the bulk of day laborers, who were widely used in workshops, shops, gardens, construction sites, ports, and shipyards. Slaves worked mainly in workshops, shops, and as domestic servants (especially in the imperial palace and the homes of the nobility).

Justinian and his successors

The Hagia Irene, rebuilt after the Nika revolt

In 527, Justinian I, the Macedonian-born nephew of Justinian I the Elder, ascended the imperial throne. At that time, the dimas - mass "sports" (or "circus") parties — acquired a special weight in the capital, first emerging during the competition at the Hippodrome, and then gradually transforming into political organizations of citizens, defending the interests of different classes and strata of society[comment 25]. The Hippodrome played an important role in the political life of the city and the empire; the people used it as a place of assembly where they could express their dissatisfaction with the actions of the authorities. There were four main dimas in Constantinople - Veneti ("blue"), Prasins ("green"), Levki ("white") and Rusii ("red"), named after the colors of the chariot drivers' clothing. The most influential among them were Venets and Prasins, who had elected leaders — dimarchs and dimocrats, the treasury, real estate and armed detachments of city youth who put pressure on the imperial authority. The Venetians were led by large landowners and senators from among the aristocrats (who favored strengthening slaveholding relations, had large interests in the western part of the empire, and close ties to the clergy), the Prasinovs by rich merchants, profiteers, and usurers (who had close ties to the eastern provinces of the empire and patronized the Monophysites), but ordinary members of both parties were from the middle and lower classes of Constantinople[comment 26]. The ruling upper classes of Dimos fought among themselves for power, income, and influence at the imperial court. The masses of ordinary Dimots often participated in urban riots caused by the tax burden and oppression of the authorities, but the leaders of the Dims managed to contain the discontent of the crowds until the time.

In January 532, the riots began in Constantinople, which went down in history under the name of the revolt "Nika", i.e. "Victory". This slogan was chosen by the urban poor who were dissatisfied with the taxation of officials and the religious oppression of the zealous Christian Justinian. The core of the rebels were united Venetians and Prasinians, joined by senators dissatisfied with the emperor. On January 11, equestrian competitions were held at the Hippodrome as usual, but the situation on the stands was heated to the limit. The leaders of the Prasinians with anger at the hated chief of the palace guard Kalopodius, and then through the imperial herald began a dialogue between the leader of the Prasinians and Justinian. To the roar of the crowd that filled the hippodrome, the Prasinians made a series of accusations against the emperor's officials, and then went so far as to openly attack and insult Justinian himself. After the Greens defiantly left the Hippodrome, Justinian ordered the arrest of not only the leaders of the Prasinians, but also some of the leaders of their eternal rivals, the Venetians.

On January 13, Prasinians and Venetians gathered at the Hippodrome and appealed to the emperor to pardon the leaders of the Dims, who had been sentenced to death, and when they received no answer, they revolted against Justinian in Constantinople. Crowds of rebels freed prisoners from jails, destroyed noble houses and archives where tax lists and debt documents were kept, and set fire to government buildings and Christian temples. In the flames of numerous fires the building of the Senate, a part of the buildings on the Augusteon Square, the majority of the buildings on the Mesa Street to the Forum Constantine, the churches of St. Sofia and St. Irina, the Thermae Zeuxippa and a part of the Imperial Palace perished. Justinian made concessions, removing from their posts a number of dignitaries (including John of Cappadocia and Tribonian), but when the rebels demanded the deposition of the emperor himself, he threw groups of mercenaries (Goths and Herulas) against them. Street battles brought success to the rebels, and even the emperor's attempt to reconcile with the Dimotes ended with the crowd again showering Justinian and Theodora with curses and insults. The emperor was forced to flee the Hippodrome and prepared to leave Constantinople, but Theodora persuaded him to continue the struggle at a meeting of the Imperial Council. In many ways, Justinian's fate was decided by his loyal commander Narses, who managed to bribe some of the Venetians and lure influential senators to the emperor's side.

Interior of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral

On January 18, groups of Armenian and Herulian mercenaries under the command of Velisarius, Munda, John the Armenian and Narses attacked the Hippodrome from several sides, taking the rebels by surprise. During the bloody massacre committed by the troops, about 35 thousand people were killed. After the rebellion was crushed, Justinian forbade the Hippodrome to hold any kind of competition for a long time, and it was not until five years later that it resumed. Fearing new rebellions, Justinian ordered to build in the palace in case of a siege of bread stores, and next — to complete a large underground water reservoir, started under Emperor Constantine the Great, which was named Basilica Cistern (earlier, in 528 near the Hippodrome was built another underground cistern — Philoxena). But the main project of the emperor, aspiring to immortalize the name and glory of Constantinople, became construction of new cathedral of St. Sofia which by the sizes and magnificence should overshadow all that was built in the capital before that[comment. 27]. According to the legends, Justinian personally asked the owners of some lands to cede them for the future cathedral, the plan of the cathedral was shown to the emperor in a dream by an angel, and some disputes between Justinian and the architects were resolved by the intervention of heavenly powers. The laying of the foundation stone began on the morning of February 23, 532, the fortieth day after the great fire that had destroyed the previous church. For the construction of the temple in Constantinople were invited architects Anfimius from Trall and Isidore from Miletus, the construction was employed about 10 thousand craftsmen and workers. Justinian personally observed the progress of the work almost every day, coming to the site in the afternoon. In 534, a new code of Justinian was issued, which regulated all aspects of life in Byzantine society.

The construction of the cathedral took about six years and consumed enormous funds, equal to almost all the revenues of the Byzantine Empire. For example, the annual income of such a rich province as Egypt was spent only on the ambo and choirs[comment 28]. Costly building materials (marble, granite, and porphyry) were brought to Constantinople from all corners of the Empire, as well as the surviving fragments of ancient buildings — marble columns from Rome, Athens, and Ephesus, snow-white marble from Prokonez, light-green marble from Karystos, white-red marble from Iasos, pink marble with veins from Phrygia. At one point Justinian even wanted to cover the entire cathedral with gold tiles, but he was dissuaded from this wasteful idea. When the emperor entered the temple on the day of its consecration (December 27, 537), he exclaimed: "Praise be to the Most High who has chosen me to accomplish this great deed! I have surpassed you, Solomon!" The celebrations for the consecration of the cathedral lasted 15 days, and coins and bread were distributed in the streets in Justinian's name [Note 29]. During Justinian's reign, the churches of St. Irene (536) and of the Holy Apostles (549) were rebuilt, as well as the church of St. Polyeuktes (527), the church of St. Sergius and Bacchus (536), and the unique aqueduct that brought water from the Kidaris River to Constantinople (its four two-story arches 36 m high were thrown over a 140 m wide stream). A huge column was erected near the Cathedral of St. Sophia, crowned by a bronze equestrian statue of Justinian.

The granite Column of the Goths, in antiquity, adorned with a statue of the legendary Byzantium

In the first half of the 6th century, Constantinople's handicraft sector included state workshops for the production of linen, wool and silk fabrics, dyeing and sewing workshops, workshops for the production of luxury goods (especially jewelry) and weapons, minting facilities, bakeries using Egyptian grain, shipyards, oarsmith and purple shellfishermen's workshops. Some trades were forbidden to private individuals and were subject to imperial monopolies. It was not easy to become a member of the state corporations (workshops); in addition to the right age and skills, one had to come from the family of a member of the corporation. There were also several thousand workshops of free craftsmen in the city, united in their trade and crafts corporations (almost 1.7 thousand workshops and shops were exempt from state taxes, in return they financed the needs of Hagia Sophia and provided fire protection of Constantinople). Private enterprises included blacksmiths, weavers, potters, tanners, shoemakers, furriers, jewelers, knife makers, agricultural tool makers, candle makers and soap makers, as well as artels of masons, carpenters, painters, diggers, stonecutters and gardeners. Most of the workshops and shops of the same profile formed specialized quarters, for example, argyroprats settled on the Mesa. A considerable part of the workers of Constantinople was employed in the maintenance of proastia — landed estates, which were the estates of the emperor, aristocrats, monasteries and churches with extensive auxiliary agriculture.

During the reign of Justinian had to restore destroyed in the era of the Great Migration of peoples trade links with the Black Sea region and the transformation of Constantinople into an important center of transit trade. Byzantium has achieved unlimited domination in the straits and a basin of the Black Sea, which has allowed Justinian to collect high customs duties from all passing capital ships[comment 30]. Trade was under the constant control of imperial officials who carefully inspected ships and land caravans arriving in the city, determined the amount of duty, established the permissible length of stay of visiting merchants in Constantinople, and controlled the availability of property and goods at the time of their departure. In order to increase the commercial role of the capital, the Byzantine authorities prohibited the transit of a number of goods through the Straits (including grain, wine, olive oil, and some types of silk), forcing foreign merchants to make their purchases in Constantinople itself. These restrictions, on the one hand, contributed to the prosperity of the capital's trading companies and, on the other hand, stimulated the formation of neighborhoods of foreign merchants in the city[comment 31]. Ships from Egypt, Canaan, the Crimea, Italy and Spain stood in the ports of Constantinople, caravans from Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia, the Caucasus and India flocked to the inn.

Retail trade was concentrated in shops and arcades along the Mesa (from Milius to the Forum of Constantine) and the Artopolis. There were special markets, such as for imported goods (at Julian's harbor) and a cattle market. The port of Hieron, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, where Justinian ordered a permanent customs house to be built, was a lively trading center. The emperor's merchants and other influential people, as well as merchants-wholesalers and various intermediaries, bought goods here and transported them to Constantinople by ship. There were many shops in the city where they traded in expensive fabrics and ready-made clothes, jewelry and precious stones, wax, candles, soap and incense, wine, olive oil, spices and condiments, meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. Alongside the merchants was a layer of officials who formalized transactions, money changers and moneylenders who accepted money at interest, as well as gold and silver for storage, paid bail, appraised property, acted as intermediaries in transactions or guarantors in the payment of debts, lent money at interest or bail, sold property at auction (including property confiscated, died without wills, or ruined people), and even appraised coins. Senators, other aristocrats or their representatives took an active part in financial transactions.

By the end of Emperor Justinian's reign, the Byzantine Empire was at its height, encompassing most of North Africa and Italy, parts of Spain and Armenia, Dalmatia, and the territory of the former Byzantine Empire. Controlling such rich areas as the Balkans, Asia Minor, the Aegean Islands, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, Byzantium played a paramount role in the international relations of the early Middle Ages, and Constantinople was the center through which the collected taxes and military spoils of this vast power flowed. In the capital settled Slavs and Thracians, Arabs and Jews, Armenians and Copts, Goths and other barbarians, natives of Italy and Spain, most of whom converted to the Greek language, accepted Orthodoxy and quickly assimilated Byzantine traditions. Justinian established the unlimited power of the emperors, granted significant privileges to the Church, and guaranteed the rights of private property; it was under him that the transition from Roman traditions to the Byzantine style of government took place. This period of prosperity was overshadowed by the so-called "Plague of Justinian" of 541-542, brought to Constantinople on grain ships from Egypt (according to various estimates, at its peak the pandemic killed 5 to 10 thousand citizens per day, thus destroying 40 to 50% of the capital's population). In 553, on the initiative of Justinian, the Second Council of Constantinople was held in the capital, which repeatedly condemned Nestorianism as a heresy. In 557 and 558, Constantinople suffered strong earthquakes, many of the city's buildings, including the Cathedral of St. Sophia and the Monastery of St. Michael with the ancient church of Chora (the church of Christ the Savior "in the village" or "in the fields"), received significant damage.

Little Hagia Sophia

In the 6th century, the philosophers Stephen of Byzantium and John Philoponus, the theologian John of Ephesus, the mathematical architects Anfimius of Trallus and Isidorus of Miletus lived and worked in Constantinople, which underwent a rapid cultural and scientific boom during the reign of the Justinian dynasty, The historians Procopius of Caesarea, Agathius of Myrinae (who was also a famous poet), John Malala, Isychius of Miletus, Peter Patricius, Menander the Protector and John Lydus, the geographer Cosmas of Indicople and the poet Paul Silentarius lived and worked in Constantinople. At the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century, rebellions of slaves, semi-independent and ruined peasants, tribes and followers of heresies, soldiers and military leaders of various ranks, often supported by the urban poor of Constantinople, broke out in many areas of the Byzantine Empire (in the capital, where serious speeches occurred in 588, 601 and 602, the situation was complicated by the traditional activity of the Dims)[comment 32]. Emperor Mauritius, taking into account the sad experience of Justinian, placated the leaders of the Dims by entrusting armed detachments of Prasinians and Venetians, numbering about 2,500 men, to guard the city walls. However, due to the lack of grain, the unrest did not subside and led to an open attack by the crowd on the emperor during the procession. Under hail of stones Mauritius with the son and the retinue has been forced to hide behind walls of Blachernae palace, and dimots have left the posts on walls and have joined rebels. When in 602 on capital have moved rebellious against emperor the parts of the Byzantium army, standing on Danube, it is rebellious city plebs and slaves have helped them to seize Constantinople. Mauritius fled on a small ship, but was soon caught and executed in Chalcedon (and first all his children were beheaded before his eyes).

One of the military leaders who rebelled against Mauritius —Centurion Phocas— was enthroned, against whom the still influential slave-owning nobility, senatorial aristocracy, large landowners, part of the provincial and capital officials and generals opposed, which resulted in an open civil war between supporters and opponents of the new emperor. In 603 the capital excitements have come to an end with grandiose fire during which many buildings of the central part of Constantinople have burnt down. In 607 and 609 authorities brutally suppressed demonstrations against Phocas prasinov, having beheaded and drowned many rebels, but repressions only worsened position of the usurper. Meanwhile, the Persians under the Sassanid Shahinshah Khosrow II Parviz easily overpowered the demoralized Byzantine army, plundered Asia Minor and reached Chalcedon.

During the reign of Justinian, an influential Armenian diaspora began to emerge in Constantinople, which later played a major role in the life of the Byzantine Empire. At the imperial court, Armenians served as commanders and advisors, diplomats and treasurers. In 571, after an unsuccessful uprising against the Persians, many representatives of the Armenian nobility fled to Constantinople, including Prince Vardan Mamikonian, Catholicos of all Armenians, and several bishops. At the same time, the first emperor of Armenian origin, Mauritius, ascended the Byzantine throne. However, not all Armenians found themselves in Western Byzantium of their own will, Tiberius II and Mauritius practiced forced deportation of the population from Armenia to Thrace, as a result of which some Armenians from the western regions of the empire moved to the capital.

Bird's-eye view of Byzantine-era Constantinople (reconstruction)

From the time of Constantinople's founding, there were numerous inns, guesthouses, and pilgrim shelters to accommodate both visitors to the city and pilgrims from Europe to Jerusalem (pandohayons and mitates were commercial, while xenodochia were charitable institutions that housed the poor). During the reign of Justinian and his successors, xenodochia began to transform into medical institutions that provided medical care to the poor. Many xenodochia had plots of land (proastia) with workshops, gardens and orchards in the city and suburbs, which were leased on a long-term basis (emphyteusis) and the income used to maintain the buildings and doctors. Later, with the financial support of emperors, wealthy citizens, and monasteries, xenodochia as almshouses with a medical focus became a widespread phenomenon in Constantinople. On the Asian side of the Bosphorus there was a leprosarium Argyronius under the jurisdiction of the Church. There were many physicians in the city, both those who received salaries from the state (a privileged group of court physicians stood out among them) and those who lived solely on the funds they received from patients.

Heraclius and his successors

The civil war ended with the accession of Heraclius I, whose troops entered Constantinople on October 3, 610. Phocas and his cronies were executed and their bodies burned in the Bull Forum. Heraclius was a protégé of the new feudal nobility, which had reached a compromise with the old slave-owning aristocracy, but Byzantium's position in the international arena was not so rosy: from the east the empire was threatened by the Sassanians, from the west by the Avar Khaganate. In 617, Persian armies reached Chalcedon and really threatened Constantinople, after which they made several devastating raids on Byzantine lands in Asia Minor, reaching the shores of the Bosphorus. In 619, Sassanid troops conquered Egypt and cut off grain supplies to Constantinople, forcing the emperor to stop the free distribution of bread for the first time. In 620, Heraclius made peace with the Pannonian Avars, agreeing to pay a huge tribute to their formidable neighbor, and undertook a series of successful campaigns against the Persians. Seizing the moment when the emperor's troops were on another eastern campaign, the Persian army under the command of Farrukhan Shahrbaraz captured Chalcedon in the winter of 625 and devastated the surrounding areas along the Asian shore of the Bosphorus.

In the summer of 626 from the west to Constantinople has moved 300-thousand army of Pannonian Avars, in which structure there were many detachments of the conquered Slavic tribes. The Khagan's armies took by storm the wall of Anastasius and stood at the city walls Theodosius. They were opposed by a fairly strong garrison under the command of the regents appointed by Heraclius — the patriarch Sergius and the patrician Vona, as well as an impressive fleet, the advantage of which was that neither the Avars nor the Persians had significant naval forces. Ships Byzantines easily coped with small ships Slavs and constantly prevented contact between the Avars and settled on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus Persians. Having received refusal in delivery of all treasures of Constantinople, Hagan in the end of June 626 has started an attack of fortress walls, having applied heavy siege towers. The Avars built 12 huge siege towers, to which the Byzantines responded by applying "Greek fire", which destroyed all the siege equipment of the enemy.

The wall at the Blachernae Palace

After a series of failures on land and sea, the Hagan sent part of the troops and the remaining light Slavic ships to the mouth of the shallow Golden Horn bay, where they could not be reached by the heavy Byzantine ships. But the defenders of the city quickly and secretly strengthened this part of the defense and positioned the fleet along the coast of the Golden Horn, thus luring the Avar assault detachments into an ambush. On the night of August 4, the Kaganate troops suffered another defeat, after which many of the Avars' allies began to leave the besiegers' camp. Khagan was forced to lift the siege and retreat from the walls of Constantinople, destroying the neighborhoods of the capital. After these events, the complex of defensive fortifications in the northwestern part of the city, in the area of the suburb of Blachernae, was strengthened by the so-called Wall of Heraclius, which successfully complemented the line of walls of Theodosius (the wall was almost four meters thick and was fortified with 20 massive towers).

In the spring of 628, Emperor Heraclius entered Constantinople through the Golden Gate in victory, bringing with him many trophies from a successful campaign against the Persians, including the True Cross, other Christian relics, gold from the sacked palaces of the Shah, and hundreds of Byzantine banners previously lost in battle. In 641, after the death of Heraclius, his eldest son from his first marriage, Constantine III Heraclius, ascended the throne, but he died a few months later. As a result of a palace coup organized by the commander Valentinian Arshakuni, troops captured Chalcedon and forced Heraclius' younger son and Constantine III's co-emperor Heraclonas into exile, placing Constantine's minor son Constant II on the throne (he moved his residence from Constantinople to Syracuse, where he was killed by a servant in 668).

In the beginning in the second third of the 7th century, Byzantium entered into a series of wars with the Arab Caliphate, losing Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Upper Mesopotamia, Cilicia, and possessions in North Africa. This hit Constantinople's economy hard, especially since the capital's trade with India and China passed through these lands. The Arabs made regular raids on the empire's possessions in Asia Minor, and their fleet began to threaten Byzantium's maritime dominance in the Aegean Sea basin. In 670, the Arab fleet captured the neighboring city of Cyzicus, and from 674 onward, Arab ships appeared at the walls of Constantinople every five years. In addition, in the west, most of Byzantium's Italian possessions were overrun by Germanic tribes, and the Balkans were settled by Slavic tribes. From November 680 to September 681, on the initiative of Emperor Constantine IV, the Third Council of Constantinople was held in the capital, which confirmed the condemnation of Monothelitism as a heresy. The situation of the Empire was further complicated at the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 8th centuries by the beginning of a period of political anarchy, caused by a fierce struggle for the imperial throne between different groups of feudal nobility. During the reign of Justinian II, the second phase of the imperial palace complex was built, but after his overthrow in 695, a new period of instability began. For more than two decades, six emperors succeeded to the throne, the last of whom, Theodosius III, remained in power for less than two years.

• 
  Theodosius Cistern
• 
  Philoxenus Cistern
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  Basilica Cistern
• 
  Basilica Cistern

In 695, the commander Leontius raised a rebellion in Constantinople, seized Justinian, ordered his nose and tongue cut off, sent him into exile, and took the throne himself. In 698, the Byzantine navy was forced to leave Carthage under the blows of the Arabs, and its commanders, afraid of the Emperor's wrath, seized the capital, overthrew Leontius (who also cut off his nose and was imprisoned in a monastery), and placed the military leader Tiberius III on the throne. In 705, Justinian II, who had escaped from exile, regained power with the help of the army of the Bulgarian Khan Tervel and ordered the beheading of Leontius and Tiberius in one of the markets of Constantinople. In 711, Constantinople has again seized rebels, proclaimed emperor Armenian by origin Philippicus, who has been executed by all Justinian. In 713, after one of the feasts Philippicus was blinded, and his secretary Anastasius II ascended the throne. In the summer of 715, fierce battles broke out under the walls of besieged Constantinople, culminating in November of the same year with the capture and sacking of the capital by rebellious provincial troops. Anastasius abdicated the throne and tonsured himself as a monk, and the new emperor became Theodosius III (according to one version — the son of Tiberius III).

The military events of the 7th century accustomed the inhabitants of Constantinople to be ready for frequent sieges. The inhabitants of Constantinople kept the city walls in good condition, made sure that the granaries were filled with grain and the cisterns with fresh water. The "spiritual defense" of the capital was also important. The Homeric legend about the siege of Troy and the hope for the protection of the Virgin Mary, popular among the inhabitants of the city, added to the confidence of invulnerability (during any external threats to the walls of Constantinople icons of the Virgin Mary, flags with her image, marble crosses and boards with prayers inscribed on them, religious processions, reciting prayers and carrying various relics of the Virgin Mary marched along the bastions). In the 7th century, the historian Theophylact Simocatta, the theologian Maximus the Confessor, and the poet George of Pisidai lived and worked in Constantinople.

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