The Site of Constantinople: A Factor of Historical Value

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For more than 2000 years the leading minds of the world have dreamt of Constantinople. Dreamt of it in visions of splendor as did the Russians of Kief and Smolensk in midmedieval days when they thought of Tsarigrad-the city of Emperors. Dreamt of it in golden dreams as did the bankers of Venice and Genoa in the twelfth century when they figured that the annual income of Byzantine Emperors exceeded one hundred million dollars. Dreamt of it as did the minstrels of western Europe when they sang of the beauty of Byzantine palaces and the pleasures of life in Byzantium. To account for the magic of the name and for the strength and permanence of the impression it created requires a thorough understanding of the value of its site, and I am attempting to show in the following lines that a large share of Constantinople's greatness and fame was the result of its geographical position. This paper will therefore be confined to a presentation of what might correctly be called a background study. Were we to liken the world of ancient history to a gigantic spider's web, Constantinople would occupy the center, and the threads radiating outward would represent the far-reaching system of roads leading in every direction from the capital. How different is the relation of Rome and Constantinople to systems of world routes! We are so accustomed to the saying that all roads led to Rome that we forget the truth which was that all roads were made to lead artificially to Rome for a stated period of history, whereas they have always led naturally to Constantinople. Rome was the convenient center for a Mediterranean power. Constantinople on the other hand was the indicated headquarters of authority in the western half of the eastern hemisphere. It was the hub of a set of land and sea roads which, spokelike, linked it to the outermost fringe of the inhabited world. The Baltic was reached on the north through the long rivers