Istanbul : city of majesty at the crossroads of the world / Thomas F. Madden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Madden, Thomas F., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Politics and government.

Civilization.

Istanbul (Turkey)--History.

Istanbul (Turkey).

Istanbul (Turkey)--Civilization.

Byzantine Empire--Civilization.

Byzantine Empire.

Turkey--Civilization--1288-1918.

Turkey.

Turkey--Civilization--20th century.

Turkey--Politics and government--21st century.

Turkey--Istanbul.

Physical Description:

xviii, 381 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Other Title:

City of majesty at the crossroads of the world

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, [2016]

Summary:

Perched at the tip of Europe, gazing across to the shores of Asia, Istanbul remains as much a city of crossroads as it has been for the past two millennia. The history of this fabled metropolis--known at first as Byzantion, then Constantinople, and now Istanbul--is glorious, grandiose, and astounding. No other city has stood at the center of world events for so long, a home to great empires and diverse cultures from the Greeks to the Romans, the Italians to the Armenians, the Ottomans to the modern Turks. Prizewinning historian Thomas F. Madden's tremendous new biography of this mysterious city captures centuries of triumph and defeat, riches and poverty, seen through the lives of those who inhabited it: the emperors and empresses, craftsmen and architects, sailors and fishermen, street vendors and harem concubines. This book propels the reader on a journey of Mediterranean commerce, thought, religion, and power, running through ancient roads, wharfs, forums, and palaces. Excavating centuries of firsthand accounts, Madden sets this history against the background of men and women who forever changed their worlds, including Alexander the Great, Constantine, Empress Theodora, Mehmed the Conqueror, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Witness the construction of the massive Theodosian Walls, the embellishment of rich Hagia Sophia, and the transformation and revitalization of the Golden Horn district. From 667 BC to President Erdoğan's tumultuous twenty-first century presidency, Madden's account not only questions how we think of Istanbul's past, but also examines what we can learn from a people who have withstood invasion and threat time and time again. Through the long gaze of Madden's stirring narrative, we experience the strength of a people who endure at the intersection of faith, geography, and ideology.--Adapted from dust jacket.

Contents:

Part I, Byzantion (667 BC-AD 330): Across from the city of the blind

Bread for Athens

Romans bearing gifts

Ruin and survival

Part II, Byzantine Constantinople (330-1453): Founding a new Rome

Baptized capital

East of the fall of Rome

City of Justinian

Surviving the Middle Ages

Byzantine plots

Dining with barbarians

Treasure and treachery

Blind men

Latin occupation

Life among the ruins

Empire's end

Part III, Ottoman Constantinople (1453-1923): The spider's curtain

City of Suleiman the Magnificent

The sultanate of women

Return of the West

Sick man of Europe

Empire's end, again

Part IV, Istanbul (1923-2016): Becoming modern.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-368) and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Madden, Thomas F., author Istanbul

ISBN:

9780670016600

0670016608

OCLC:

944380321

Publisher Number:

40026642347