The Eastern Roman Empire, Timeline
293 Roman emperor Maximianus introduced tetrarchy. 305 Emperor Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Jovius of Rome abdicated. Constantius I Chlorus (Flavius Valerius Constantius) became Western emperor. Galerius (Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus) became Eastern emperor….
Da Vinci & Istanbul
In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci did a simple drawing of a graceful bridge with a single span of 720-foot span (approximately 240-meters.) Da Vinci designed the bridge as part of a civil engineering…
Istanbul Walls
Istanbul today refers to the whole city but actually Istanbul, Constantinople was the city inside the walls built during the Byzantine period. Today the walls surrounding the old city has two parts: Sea…
Harem
Did you know the word “harem” derives from the Arabic haram (forbidden). A maze of rooms and corridors, the Harem was a closed world occupied by the sultan’s wives, concubines and children. A…
Bizans, Byzantion, Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BCE and named after their king Byzas (Greek: Býzas, genitive Býzantos). The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the…
Sultans of the Ottoman Empire
Did you know? The first 6 sultan stayed in Bursa, the others in İstanbul. After the 9th sultan (Selim I) sultans were also called “caliph” as well as “padişah/sultan”. The sultan who lived…
The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits
The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was a 1936 agreement that gives Turkey control over the Bosporus Straits and the Dardanelles and regulates military activity in the region. Signed on…
Timeline of the Ottoman Empire
1280 Osman, founder of the Ottoman dynasty was born. 1299 Osman declares the independence of his small principality from the Selcuk sultanate of Konya. 1326 Orhan Gazi captures Bursa, which becomes the second…
