|
With the catchy little tune from They Might be Giants running through our heads, we turned to the Yahoo! search box and entered "constantinople istanbul name change" to shed some light on the change in appellation. After quite a bit of reading, we got to the bottom of the matter. Apparently, Turkey's largest city has actually gone by several names. The confusion stems from the rich history of the location. The place in question began its life as a town
called Byzantium, founded by the Greeks around 600 BC. Because of its strategic location, the city was continually being besieged and captured during its tumultuous history. Over the years, the city passed through the hands of the Persian Empire and Alexander the Great before becoming part of the Roman Empire in 73 AD. In 330 AD, Roman emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The name of the city was later changed to Constantinople, to honor the emperor. In 1453, Ottoman
Sultan Mehmed II conquered the city and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Now under new rule, the metropolis was dubbed "Istanbul" from the Greek phrase "eis ten polin," which meant "in the city." The name of the city wasn't officially changed until 1930, and Westerners continued to refer to it as Constantinople on maps and in speech into the '60s. So next time you happen to visit Turkey, avoid confusion and remember: Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul
|
