Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities

by Bettany Hughes

Istanbul has always been a place where stories and histories collide.

From the Koran to Shakespeare, this city with three names--Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul--resonates as an idea and a place, real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between East and West, it has been the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was the very center of the world, known simply as "The City," but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a story.

In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities. As the longest-lived political entity in Europe, over the last 6,000 years Istanbul has absorbed a mosaic of micro-cities and cultures all gathering around its core. At the latest count, archaeologists have measured forty-two human habitation layers. Phoenicians, Genoese, Venetians, Jews, Vikings, and Azeris all called a patch of this earth their home.

Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate, and scholarly--narrative history at its finest.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Travel, Audiobook, Middle East, Ancient History, World History

689 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2016

About the author

Bettany Hughes is an English historian, author and broadcaster. Her speciality is classical history.

Bettany grew up in West London with her brother, the cricketer Simon Hughes. Her parents were in the theatre: she learnt early the importance and delight of sharing thoughts and ideas with a wider public. Bettany won a scholarship to read Ancient and Modern History at Oxford University and then continued her post-graduate research while travelling through the Balkans and Asia Minor. In recognition of her contribution to research, she has been awarded a Research Fellowship at King's London.

Bettany lectures throughout the world. She has been invited to universities in the US, Australia, Germany, Turkey and Holland to speak on subjects as diverse as Helen of Troy and the origins of female 'Sophia' to concepts of Time in the Islamic world. She considers her work in the lecture hall and seminar room amongst the most important, and rewarding she does.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful presentation of the continuity and transformations of this special city through the rise and fall of three empires—the Roman, the Byzantine, and the Ottoman. One pagan and the other two variable forms of Christian and Muslim theocracies. What a labor of love this is. As a reader trying to lighten my ignorance of each of these empires, I hit a bonanza with this book. It made real dent in my dream of some shortcut to catching up on 3,000 or so years of history. I gleaned a lot of personal lessons and dispelled a lot of misconceptions through my read of this guided tour of history through the biography of a city. There is in some sense of three cities of different names (Byzantion, Constantinople, Byzantium) located in the same place of the current post-empire city of Istanbul, in some sense overlaid on top of each another. All with a continuity borne of a geography fitted to mediate the commerce, institutions, and religions of two continents it spans and that of nearby North Africa. The question the book raised for me a lot is how maybe there was enough similarity in the city’s multicultural residents and government infrastructure despite the changes in dominant religion to consider the latter as a bit of a veneer. After all, the Byzantine rulers called their city “New Rome” and saw themselves as a continuation of the Rome Empire and the same is true for the line of Ottoman sultans of an empire they termed “Rum.”

Strategic location of Istanbul on the Bosporus Strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, which in turn connects to the Mediterranean via the Dardanelle Strait.

In the mindset of people of the West, over long stretches of time, tends to conceive of the city as liminal, a boundary and a buffer zone between Europe and aggressive powers of non-Christian Persians, Arabs, Slavs, and tribal hordes that periodically invaded from Central Asia. But it has also long been a gateway to the Mideast and Far East, as the Silk Road begins or ends there and grain from the breadbasket of North Africa long passed through its port. After Constantine built the capital of the Rome Empire “East Wing” at the site of an ancient settlement in the 4th century, his city of Constantinople became a world center of civilization, commercial trade, military might, and second only to Rome as a citadel of Christianity. A navy and the secrets of a napalm-like weapon known as Greek Fire were a key to success in plenty of wars. He completed an overland linkage to Rome and the West known as the Ignatian Way, which passed across the Balkans to a port in modern-day Albania across the Adriatic Sea from the Appian Way in Italy. In the 5th century, Emperor Theodosius (the last emperor of a unified Roman Empire) built massive outer walls to the city, a key to defense against many a siege over the ensuing centuries. In the 6th century a Golden Age of culture arises under the reign of Justinian, a ruler most remembered for his advances in in the legal system and benevolent works of his sainted wife Theodosia despite lowly origins as a circus performer and prostitute.

Constantine portrayed in a mosaic at the Hagia Sophia cathedral.


Representation of Constantinople’s imperial palace, cathedral, and Hippodrome, which reveals a successful emulation of the splendors of Ancient Athens and Rome.


Extent of the Byzantine Empire at its fullest extent in the 6th century (red line around the Mediterranean) and its restrictions by 1020 (in pink), and by 1360 (in red).

This Byzantine Empire wound down from centuries of assaults from Persians, Avars, Vikings, Vandals, Huns, and Goths, terrible earthquakes and plagues, and economic competition from Europe. By the 8th century Charlemagne set himself up as a competing emperor of Christianity and eventually the Crusades would rile up forces under the new banner of Islam to take defense into offense. By the Fall of Constantinople in 1452 to the Ottoman Turks, the Byzantine Empire had shrunk to just Constantinople and parts of Anatolia. The use of a huge cannon to break down the walls marks one key to the Ottoman’s success. Despite the overtones of their subsequent wars of expansion in the West being fundamentally religious in nature, Islam vs. Christian, the city continued as the religious center for Eastern Orthodoxy and for long stretches a haven for a thriving Jewish populations. Moreover, they frequently allied with Christian nations of Europe against common enemies. In the case of Queen Elizabeth I, she engaged their help in fighting the Spanish. The Ottomans also developed special skills in diplomacy, nurturing a new class of adepts known as dragomen. They also developed a whole class of people recruited as children from around the empire and trained in mastery and proud devotion to protecting the sultan and his extended family in the imperial harem, the Janissaries.

By the 17th century, Ottoman expansion peaked, and the following centuries of decline and decadence tends to be what sticks out in Western memory. By the time the empire joined forces with Germany and the Hungarian-Austrian Empire against the rest of the West in World War 1, the Ottoman state was typically viewed metaphorically as a “sick old man”.


Growth of the Ottoman Empire from Anatolia in the 14th century to its largest extent in the 17th century, when it almost equaled the range of the Byzantine Empire at its peak.

This is a lot of history to cover in one book. The Ancient Greece period is sketchy because of the lack of reliable historical accounts, but administering fees on ship traffic through the Bosporus to and from the Black Sea was a business worth fighting for among Imperial Greece, the Spartans, and Persians (Troy is practically a suburb of the city). From Constantine on there were 96 Christian reigns (in 21 dynasties), followed by 36 Muslim reigns. The author’s 79 chapters follow these successions by epochs, but she slows down to highlight particular periods and to explore thematic issues in a satisfying and engaging way. Some of my favorite chapters have catchy titles, such as the following:
--Wine and Witches
--The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
--The Problem with Goths
--Faith, Hope, Charity and the Nicene Creed
--Battles in Heaven and on Earth: Gaza and Alexandria
--Sex and the City: Eunuchs
--The Jewish City
--The Silkworm’s Journey
--A Bone in the Throat of Allah
--Monks by Night, Lions by Day
--Byzantium and Britannia
--Viking Foe-Friends and the Birth of Russia
--Negotiating Monks and Homicidal Usurpers
--No Country for Old Men
--A Diamond between Two Sapphires
--Dragomans and Eunuchs
--The Sultanate of Women
--The Janissaries
--The Great Siege of Vienna
--White Caucasians
--Tulips and Textiles
--Tsargrad
--Gallipoli: The End of an Empire

The birth of a Christian empire and its succession by an Islamic one sets the big narrative to that of perpetual conflict between two patriarchal, monotheistic religions which, sadly, have more in common than difference. The author makes a fascinating exploration of the idea that Constantine’s conversion and alignment with what was then a minority sect in a largely pagan populace was motivated by pragmatic concerns to enhance his power with the Christian mantle:

Accepted as god-men, Roman emperors were themselves sublime, so why make yourself the follower of a forgiving God and of his impoverished, peace preaching failure of a son? …Rather than a threat, Christianity was looking increasingly like a means to unify and consolidate power. Who needs a democracy or republic if every man is equal in the eyes of God?...
Was this Constantine declaring himself a combination of Christ, the Greek Apollo, a Trojan hero, and the Eastern Sol Invictus?
…Constantine I might be a Christian emperor, but he wore the clothes of the pagan world.
…The ancient gods were always shape-shifting, so did this new church really just make another god-man bigger, shinier, and even more formidable?
…Now Constantine could better Herodotus’ vision of civilization—a city with both Greek and Near Eastern genetic coding, strengthened by Roman muscle and sinew, and wrapped in a Christian skin.

There is less doubt that his mother and wife were true believers. They both founded numerous churches, convents, and sanctuaries dedicated to Mary and started the mania of religious relic collection and reverence. She asks whether the condition of women in the empire was really an improvement over that of women elsewhere through the long epochs of the Middle Ages:
In Constantine there was a perfect storm of a pagan Eastern environment where female deities had real heft, combined with Roman legal attitudes to the rights of women and how this sublime role model in Orthodox Christian theology—of the Virgin Mary being the bearer of the Godhead.

She basically concludes her exploration of the topic by pointing out that the emperor’s female relatives were special cases. She suggests that the Church’s embracing of Augustinian doctrine that the temptation of men to sin from Eve on down contributed to keeping women is place as unworthy of responsible roles. Thus:
So it would be entirely foolish to imagine the city as some kind of proto-feminist wonderland. But as Christian women living in the city, you were not living in the past. You are the past—living in the present.

This book fulfilled a hunger to satisfy germs of interest sparked long ago when I was lucky enough to visit Istanbul as a 15-year old on a school trip. Picture a near blank-slate of a kid from Oklahoma experiencing the first view of the city aboard a tourist transport ship from Athens, the huge and busy harbor and the great mosques like the ancient Hagia Sophia nested among towering minarets in the glow of sunset. Imagine my confusion to learn how this impressive architectural wonder was a Christian cathedral for over a 1,000 years from construction in 537 AD. A visit to the fabulous Mosque of Ahmed (“Blue Mosque”) made me wonder why all the beautiful mosaics bore no images of religious figures. A visit to the Grand Bazaar comforted me that a city so dominated by religious edifices could retain such an old venue full of vibrant, diverse, and secular businesses . A tour of the Topkapi Palace stunned me with its opulence and disgusted me with the crass greed behind the accumulation of tons of jewels and fancy settings for the Imperial Seraglio. Just the very thought of slave women in the sultan’s harem reminds me of my negative image of man walruses riding herd on their diminutive females. With these first and lasting impressions, it was very helpful to get a full context on these cultural aspects of the Byzantine Empire. For example, the Grand Seraglio was effectively a school, safe society, and coveted path for slaves to achieve high status and potentially become an emperor’s mother or gain emancipation. Still, the practice is a blot on the Ottoman Empire no matter how you slice it.


Istanbul Harbor


Jeweled dagger in the Topkapi Palace museum. I got a thrill from the 1964 movie “Topkapi”, in which an elaborate heist is built around the theft of this famous object.


Stereotyped harem scene in a painting with a black eunuch in the imperial court performing an “Inspection of The New Arrivals” (by Giulio Rosati, early 20th century)..

As I have developed since then, I aspire to somehow become a citizen of the world and see the common brotherhood of man beyond race, creed, and nationality. But even in imagination or attitude, I can’t yet escape beyond my Western identity and the sense of the East as “other”. The history of Istanbul, the city that spans two continents, helps me begin to think of a marriage of the East and West and making a bigger “we” for my self to nest within. I begin to feel pride as a human for the periods in these empires when life in this city partook of admirable levels of civilization, including multicultural tolerance, sophistication in its legal system, public investment in schools, libraries, and institutions of learning, and social services such housing and food for the poor and disabled. At the same time, I was led by this reading into some kind of accommodation to the more shameful parts of the three empires centered on this remarkable city. The author, Betthany Hughes, may not be an academic heavyweight in historical scholarship, but she is a great communicator with a significant track record in creating TV documentaries on the ancient and medieval worlds and in authoring a couple of popular history books on Ancient Greece. Her education does include an undergraduate degree in history from Oxford and current engagement in graduate research at Kings College London.

This book was provided for review by the publisher through the Netgalley program.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this during a long car trip and repeatedly I was amazed at the knowledge of the author, the interesting details, the comprehensiveness and depth of the writing. What flashed through my head on several occasions was: I dare you to read this and not be amazed, not be impressed with the author’s knowledge on absolutely everything related to Istanbul. So yes, I judge the book to be amazing.

This book is about Istanbul from prehistoric times through to current times, that is to say when it was published in 2016. That is a wide expanse of time. It cannot give total detailed information upon all the topics touched upon, but the author makes every topic touched upon interesting. It is not a tourist guide…..except after reading the book you do want to hop into an airplane and go there! It is a history book. The author is an historian and the book is thoroughly researched. What she has learned is now on her fingertips and it feels like she is telling it to you.

What strikes the reader is the easy flow of the book. Each chapter has a title that tells the reader what will be discussed and the date of the events that are covered. When under Islamic rule both the Western calendar and the Islamic calendar dates are given. The end of the preceding chapter concludes with a sentence that leads you directly on to the next chapter. After the chapter’s heading are fascinating quotes from literature and famed people pertaining to that which now follows. The ending of one chapter leads you to ask for more. The next begins with enticing quotes that further piques one’s interest. Only then follows the text which answers what you are now asking for.

The material covered is expertly presented in a balanced, unbiased tone. For a city under both Islamic and Christian rule this is essential. She presents different mindsets equally well. Then Mustafa Kemal Attatürk came into power, the metropolis’ name changed to Istanbul and the state was secularized. A third mindset. Different points of view are presented. The unbiased presentation is achieved by offering opposing / alternate views, in sentences’ wording and in small details such as quotes from both Western and Eastern sources and the use of both calendars mentioned above.

I appreciated that both historical and modern day names of places are given. Do you know where Illyria was? I didn’t. Do you know that ancient Nineveh is present day Mosul, Iraq? I loved the references made to archeological finds. I loved watching both the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire, learning about low-born Emperor Justinian and former street dancer Empress Theodora and the Janissaries and the double headed eagle of the Byzantine flag and the etymology of words and……..

The prose is succinct. The author can sum up in a few lines what others will say in pages.

The author reads her own book. Most authors cannot do this properly, but Bettany Hughes does this magnificently. Perfect speed. Perfect emphasis of chosen words. She knows what she wants said and she says it so you comprehend. You hear her questions. You hear her curiosity and interest and enthusiasm. All of this is contagious. I adore the way she says ”but”! You hear the abrupt challenge and must be told the counter argument.

I have one minor complaint. The book ends with a coda that is too long. That is what I think, but it does leave a sentimental, heartfelt, kind of smaltzy ending that many may enjoy. Clearly the author has fallen in love with this city that she first visited at the age of eighteen. Istanbul is the essence of cosmopolitan living, of a lifestyle eternally looking both east and west and of a place where stories are synthesized into what the city is today.

If you are curious about Istanbul, well then you have to read this book, and I highly recommend the audiobook format.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Istanbul, Bettany Hughes sees not a city where East meets West, but where North, South, East, and West look frankly at each other, not always without complication, but with the hope of understanding. That is certainly her aim with this book, she addresses the 6000 years of history with well researched enthusiasm and genuine joy in telling the multiplicity of stories that make up this thrice named city.

Written chronologically but also thematically, the book lends itself to piecemeal reading, or in my case, listening, to ensure you have enough time to reflect on each new chapter. With the kind of time period covered, there is inevitably some selectiveness in what the author includes, but by centring each new section on specific ideas, people/families, events, themes, and innovations, Hughes covers not just the highlights but manages to add real depth and colour within a limited framework. Though I could have read and enjoyed a book three times as long, it is only because I found the whole experience so interesting and because there is always more to know, not due to any feeling that she missed anything significant. While separated by time, and by chapters within the book, Hughes ensured that the city's past and present were presented as a cohesive, but not linear, history. The natural geography of the area forms the basis for how the city was shaped and populated; men and women of all types and all times are quoted, their words bringing a sense of immediacy; new archaeological finds are integrated into historical argument and new areas of investigation suggested; buildings, roads, and monuments are described in their original, altered, and modern state, as they are put to different uses, destroyed, or left to crumble. It genuinely feels like Hughes is guiding you through the city on a personal tour, pointing out each thing like a secret shared.

At all times, Hughes remembers that history is about people and the makes a real effort to include sections of society not always addressed, as well as individuals about whom less is known. From eunuchs to the cult of Mary Theotokos, from the seraglio of the Topkapi palace to the role of Helena, Constantine's mother, from tribes to emperors to monks and witches, all manner of life is here and equally valid. One that particularly stood out to me is that of Theodora (500-548) who rose from whore to wife of Justinian I and Byzantine empress. A pretty impressive feat, to say the very least, and one thread of many that i'll be following on from here.

Overall an erudite, humorous, and endlessly fascinating read. Highly recommended.

[Yelda Basar Moers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me preface this book by saying, this could have been a GREAT book...

This new biography of Istanbul by historian Bettany Hughes was written with a lot of heart, and got off to a great start (especially with the Byzantine years), but then sadly fell apart. She just took on too much, too fast, too soon. I think Hughes needed to spend more time in the city, just living and breathing it, and second, she needed to work on making the narrative more cohesive and compelling. Note to all historians: Avoid info stuffing and dumping! It makes for a boring and laborious read— especially at over 600 pages! And yes I did read all 600 plus pages!!! I also found some inaccuracies in her narrative (for instance she said it’s unclear who won the Battle of Gallipoli. What??? It is well known historically as one of the greatest military victories for the Turks. She lost a lot of credibility for me after that major blunder.). She also skipped important periods in Ottoman history. Ottoman history is complicated and an experienced historian needs to spend much time studying it to get a complete and accurate historical record.

It could have been a GREAT book, but because of all of its blunders and shortcomings, its not! So sad! For those readers looking for a recent GREAT book about the history of Istanbul, I'd consider Thomas F. Madden's biography of the city, Istanbul.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was sent to me by the publisher, Hachette, at no cost. This review first appeared in the History Teachers of Victoria journal Agora.

If you are especially keen on the history of the Byzantine Empire, or the Eastern Roman Empire, like me you might have bought the classic John Julius Norwich trilogy. Again if you are like me, you may have got to the end of the second book and thought, “No more!” Despite that, the city at the heart of that empire (thrice-named, eat your heart out New York) has always enthralled me – and, Bettany Hughes suggests, has fascinated, enticed, and aggravated people for a good few thousand years.

Firstly: don’t be put off by the page count. Those 800 pages include an extensive timeline, detailed (and interesting but not imperative) endnotes, a thorough bibliography and an index. At 600 pages, with often quite short chapters, this is a very approachable book for such a complicated subject.

Hughes attempts to do two things in this book, and generally succeeds; she calls it “an organic examination – an archaeology of both place and culture” (6). It is a chronological examination of the development of the city now called Istanbul – the invasions and innovations and growth through successive regime changes (although “not a catch-all of Istanbul’s past” (3)). However, woven through that is a social history of the people who made the city what it is. This includes such luminaries as Theodora and Constantine and Süleyman II, but also the everyday people who made the city function. There are chapters, for instance, on the presence of eunuchs in Constantinople, and the realities of the harem (insofar as they can be known), and the Varangian Guard. Hughes includes discussion of the various peoples who threatened, worked with, and generally impacted on the city (Goths, Vandals, Vikings, Turks). In doing so she naturally expands her focus beyond the city walls, but this is unavoidable when dealing with the likes of a city such as Byzantion. Indeed, it adds greatly to the context of the book: how to understand the numerous Muslim sieges and eventual conquest of the city without an understanding of the growth of Islam? How to understand the birth of Turkey as a country and the move of the capital to Ankara without the context of the First World War and the internal Ottoman politics of the time? And so on. Hughes does a magnificent job of weaving all of these pieces together into a coherent whole.

Nominally the book’s narrative stops at 1924; there’s a chapter after that about Istanbul’s future, but it’s a fairly sweeping overview of the following ninety years. However, something that I very much enjoyed and which added to the book’s approachability is that Hughes makes occasional reference to contemporary events from when she is writing (2016). A passing reference to Prime Minister Erdoğan acting in a similar fashion to Justinian, preparing “to take his money and to fly” (219), points up similarities in situations that may provoke and intrigue the reader. Describing the city as “well designed for rioting” and using the Gezi Park/Taksim Square riots to indicate this truth in 2013 (when Hughes was herself in the city), and then proceed to discuss the AD 532 Nika riots, suggests a continuation in the city’s physical existence that is extraordinary over that span in time.

One of the most captivating aspects of Hughes’ book is her wonderful use of archaeological evidence. There are frequent references to discoveries made in Istanbul and elsewhere around the world, and how the goods and structures uncovered are continuing to change historians’ and archaeologists’ understandings of different periods. For a historian to remind her reader that the story of a place is not completely known is refreshing. She contextualises these sites, too: to find “one of the few scraps of evidence for one of the most remarkable phenomena of the medieval world” (the Varangian Guard), one passes “young men push[ing] second-hand mattresses… on wooden carts and kids sort[ing] through piles of redundant television aerials” (321). This provides a visceral feel for the city as it is today – a living city, not abandoned; a city continuing to leave behind remains for future archaeologists to sift and puzzle through. Hughes also has a lovely sense of humour that occasionally pokes through: in discussing the archaeological finds at Tintagel (which indicate trade connections between that part of England and the Byzantine world), she describes the finding of the graffito reading “Artugno” as “[u]tterly unhelpful for the historian but irresistible for the tourist guides” (292).

Another aspect of Hughes’ attitude towards the city and her people over time is the sympathy she displays. In speaking of the development of iconoclasm, for instance, which she says historians have “[o]ften described… as an irrational, typically ‘Dark Ages’ response” to the consequences of the Theran volcanic eruption in AD 726, Hughes insists “we have to pause for a moment to think of the horror of Thera’s eruption” and proceeds to describe the physical realities of such an eruption (300). This is a lovely moment of historical empathy that enables the reader to glimpse life for an eighth-century Byzantine.

As a physical object, it’s well-designed. The cover is perhaps predictable but gorgeous nonetheless. There are three sets of colour plates, covering a range of people and events, and many black and white images throughout. Each section (there are eight, each representing some important change in Istanbul’s history) has a series of maps at the start, showing changes in the city as well as context such as the reach of the Byzantine or Ottoman Empire over time (there is one section where the map, which goes over two pages, is split by the colour picture insert; that was a bit irritating).

Hughes’ passion for Istanbul – for the history of the place and for the contemporary city – come through across the volume. She delights in all aspects of its history and she wants the reader to share that with her. As an introduction to the complexity of the city’s history, as a history of a place that has impacted on European and Asian history for 2500 years (and was inhabited for many thousands of years before that), and as an example of how history writing can be made approachable, this is a fabulous book.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a longtime fan of modern Istanbul, Bettany Hughes' television programs and the sadly neglected field of Byzantine History I must say this lengthy listen was a delight in all three categories.


The Author/Narrator, clearly not in Istanbul.

A far-reaching history like this one needs must be rather selective but I feel it was for the most part quite balanced. If kvetch I must I could say that the tragic tale of Hypatia belongs more in a history of Alexandria or perhaps early Byzantine or Christian history writ large and not so much in a volume purporting to centre on "the Queen of Cities", but in truth including such a notorious account of the clash between classical attitudes toward learning and, to a lesser extent, women and the increasing monotheistic religious zealotry following the blip of Julian the Apostate must have been irresistible.


Photo of recent underwater archaeology conducted near Yenikapı, Istanbul.

Particularly praiseworthy is the effort to include findings from recent (mostly 21st century) archaeology in and around Istanbul and the Mediterranean to illuminate the written historical record. Definitely recommended for the general public interested in Turkish, Roman, Greek and near Eastern history.

[Melindam · Rating 5 out of 5]

My GR friend, Cat called this a biography of the city and it's absolutely fitting.

Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul is a character in itself with fascinating identities and fascinating stories and histories. It's clear that author Bettany Hughes knows the city intimately and loves it devotedly. The tale she wrote is worthy of its magnificent subject and stays intriguing & entertaining until the very end despite the big volume.

Highly recommended.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a detailed history narrative about what is now called Istanbul, from the first wooden coffin (8000 old) found on its territories up to protests on Taksim Square in the early 21st century. I read is as a part of monthly reading for September 2020 (okay, finished in October) at Non Fiction Book Club group.

I had some previous knowledge about parts of the history presented from other books and courses, from The World of Byzantium to Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly, and the Making of the Modern Middle East. However, I never previously knew it as a continuous history.

As a subtitle states “A tale of three cities” and it delivers – from the earliest archeological finds, to descriptions of founding the Byzatium from Herodotus, also noting that he was wrong and there was a habitat before Greeks; to its history as a second and then the only capital of Roman Empire, to its medieval period, adoption of Christianity, capture by Turks in 1453, Tanzimat reforms of 19th century, WW1 and Greek-Turkish war after that…

While the story is roughly chronological, each chapter presents its own topic of interest, so in times, it follows a few centuries, e.g. the question of eunuchs, just to get back in time to follow e.g. Vikings. I don’t know much about a large number of subjects, so it definitely a worthy read.

At the same side, I think it could have been made smaller and more to a point. For example, in Chapter 42
‘Viking foe-friends and the birth of Russia’ even the title is misleading, for Russia is the term introduced by Peter the great in 1721, just to set a narrative of a long history of the Muscovite Dukedom. Going on there is a question of etymology of Rus: “The Rus or Rhos were a people with whom the Byzantines would have a curious love–hate relationship, sometimes enemies, sometimes allies; their name in Old Norse was traditionally said to refer to the redness of their hair, but almost certainly meant men who rowed. These Rus were Vikings who had arrived from the country that we now call Russia in their honour.” First, no mention of red hair, so it was superfluous addition. Second, the haven’t appeared from a country – there was no country there at that moment, Scandinavians (Vikings) went thru the territories of modern day Russia and Ukraine, but they appeared from outside these lands. A similar issue say with Chapter 24 ‘Sex and the city: eunuchs’, the author goes in great detail describing eunuchs as ‘the third sex’, but almost forgetting to say – they were all men (for the patriarchy culture of the time assumed male superiority), who were unable to beget offspring and therefore less likely to rebel/plot against their employers. Yes, definitely, there was a separate early Christianity tradition of castrating themselves as a way to avoid sin, but I ain’t sure it should be taken in the same story, just because it follows the similar body modification.

All in all, when I read chapters about subjects I’m aware of, I found the info far from perfect, but not for chapters where my knowledge is nil.

[Alex O'Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am very disappointed by this book... such potential to be good, and just was not interesting at all.

[Silvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Kindle sample is really deceptive. The book turned out to be a bloated, patchwork narrative about anything Istanbul. Too many vignettes just in one chapter, and the transition to each topic is just random. Lots of interesting tidbits, of course, but they were all over the place and made it hard for me to follow. Maybe I was too ambitious in trying to find the real connecting dots and threads connecting the past and the present of this historical city.

My most awaited parts of the book, the Ottoman rule and the consequent wars until the founding of modern Turkey was uninspired. The author focused too much on the Constantinople and classical parts for my taste. I was a bit distracted with so many tangents like the story of Alexandria and so on. Feels like the book wants to cover everything classical periods and whatnot and it ran out of steam when it got to the Asian rule parts. A few reviewers also pointed out some incorrect facts.

It is always a bad sign when you frequently check how much time left in your book when reading. That happened. Now, I am open for a better history of Istanbul. Goodreads friends, give me your recs!

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities could, more accurately, have been called a Tale of Five Cities since Istanbul has gone through five different names- Byzantion, Byzantium, Constantinople, Kostantiniyye, and Istanbul.

Bettany Huges' history is detailed, fascinating, and a wonderful read. As a person who travels frequently, books like this are of paramount importance in not only learning about history, but in also giving great ideas for things to go see, or simply the historical context of the city.

From Byzantion's founding by the Megarian Greeks to its "rebirth" as Constantinople under Emperor Constantine to its conquest by the Ottomans, the vast and polyglot history of Istanbul is engagingly written by Hughes.

Her ability to show the modern city and where it was overgrown the old city is a true gem. Any visitor to this city would be well served to read this wonderful book for a great understanding of this cosmopolitan metropolis. It gives us a great context for what we see before us in the current age.

Fun, engaging, and extremely informative, this is a magnum opus historical look at the ancient city of Istanbul. Highly recommended.

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never knew much about Istanbul or any of its previous incarnations. We didn't really study it much in school for whatever reason. There's a lot of info here, and I can't say I remember even half of it, lol. I was never good at memorizing names and dates even when I have a book to hold in front of me, and I knew I'd have no hope of remembering these things with an audiobook. But I didn't need that. I wanted a general understanding of things, how this city impacted history and vice versa, and that's what I got. Given it's location and it's parts in the various trade routes and the Crusades and other such important events, it really is baffling that none of my schools focused on this area, and instead opting to go over Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt over and over and over again. Like, there's more to the ancient world than those two places, you know?

The author also narrated the audiobook, and I had to speed it up to 1.45x playback speed in order to concentrate on it, since her voice was so calm and soothing it kept putting me in a trance if I tried listening at my usual speed. And even going that fast, I still sometimes had trouble paying attention, lol.

[Tariq Mahmood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bethany is in love with Istanbul, she has unabashedly professed her love openly a number of times, which made it all the more difficult to produce an objective biography of this wondrous and enchanting city. From the Roman times to the Christian era, and from the Islamic Caliphate to the Secular Republic, she has managed to engage and captivate my imagination of her beloved Istanbul. I was engaged completely till the end with the many stories of Kings and Sultans, of their battles and Harims, of slavery and revolutions.

A fantastic read.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a marvellous history of Istanbul - but perhaps it is too much. Bettany Hughes does try and cover everything - and while she does an excellent job her book hasn't replaced, in my affections, books on Constantinople such as:

'Constantinople: City of the World's Desire, 1453-1924' by Philip Mansel

'Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul' by Charles King

'Istanbul: Memories and the City' by Orhan Pamuk

'Stamboul Sketches: Encounters in Old Istanbul' by John Freely

You'll notice that none of them deal with the 'Byzantine' or 'Greek' period but I think Ms. Hughes attempts to create a link between the city's pre and post 1453 existences is a failure. One could argue that the pre 1453 city had hardly any significant connection with Constantine's or Justinian's city. Even by 1204, when the city was sacked by the soldiery of the fourth Crusade it was long, long, time since Constantinople had been the capital of a real and not chimerical 'empire'. It may not be fashionable to acknowledge historical endings but what happened to Constantinople in 1453 was as brutal and definitive as the capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge in 1975.

Splendid though Ms. Hughes book is, it is not the one I would recommend.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a massive book, spanning 800 pages, 5 millennia and a cast of thousands. It tells the tale of Byzantion/Constantinople/Istanbul - a city bridge across two continents

I have always been fascinated by Byzantium, a remnant of the Roman empire that endured long after Rome had fallen to the barbarians. A bastion of Christianity, a city of marvellous churches and palaces, teeming with people from all over the world.

Yet this book left me cold. Not sure wby, it has a wealth of detail, shining a light on quirky nooks and crannies of history. Normally this draws me in to a book. It didn't work this time. I think it's me.

[Bevan Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unnamed Byzantine described Istanbul as the city of the world’s desire. This beautifully written book takes us through the history of a city which has played a key role for over 2,000 years. Sitting strategically between Europe and Asia, North and South, East and West she has grown through the profits of trade, the bounty of the sea and the choice of key world historical individuals.
The three cities of the title refers to the names - Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul - by which she has been known. In fact though Bettany Hughes’ tale has many more components than this. She takes it from the earliest settlers found through the archaeological record through the Greeks, Romans to the Ottoman and Turkish era. The book describes the context of the great Empires led from the city whilst keeping the focus firmly on Istanbul. The excellent maps (the best I have seen in a Kindle book) help with the essential topographic understanding of the changing city. Hughes uses a similar technique to Mary Beard in SPQR as she relates archeological surroundings, description of the locations in the present day and historic events. The result is almost feeling like a TV documentary, centering the past on the present with a real sense of place, as a history of a city should.
The prose is excellent, and the many eras will probably drive interest in further reading on them. I can recommend Byzantium: A History by John Haldon for a good overview of the last millennia of the Roman Empire.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh What a noble and beautiful city is Constantinople …. How many remarkable things may be seen in the principal avenues and even in the lesser streets - Fulcher of Chartres

The above quote starts Chapter 47 of this historical account of my favourite City, one I have had the pleasure to visit both on holiday and more recently, on a number of occasions, on business.

Hughes’s account is an excellent one, drawing heavily on archaeological evidence to link the past of this City (and its past dominions)up to 1923 to the present day, in a series of nearly 80 short chapters, drawing on the various incarnations of the City – Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul (but also its wider identities – for example as New Rome) and at the same time drawing a picture of how the City both influenced and was influenced by world events.

Highly recommended.

[Raheel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been reading this behemoth of a book all year and finally finished. I'm not a slow reader by any means, but the reason this book took me so long was because of the sheer density of information in each chapter. The author has a difficult task of summarising around 3 millennia of history in a mere 800 pages (!), so this reads as something of a highlight reel, which, for the curious, leads to endless trips down rabbit holes of further reading and research.

I'd hoped there was more of a focus on the Islamic history and less detail on the Greek/Roman side (as interesting as that was). I also felt the recent history was a bit Euro-centric, but I can't criticise the author for that too much given her background.

Overall, a difficult read at times but extremely well researched and fascinating.

[Tony · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is likely the most disorganized book I have ever read. The work is principally arranged by topic. Some sections span a handful of years, others cover literally centuries. There is also no rhyme or reason to the grouping of these divisions; the reader never knows what subject Hughes will jump to next. Even within each chapter, the discussion routinely wanders off topic. In sum, if you would like to read 800 pages of random facts about Istanbul, this is the book for you. If not, choose another.

[Araik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ik geef het 3,71 sterren
Goed: heerlijke verhalen op basis van archeologische vondsten die de geschiedenis van Istanbul levend maken
Niet zo goed: het kon af en toe wat duidelijker wie er op dat moment de keizer of de sultan was en wat dit in het algemeen betekende voor de stad, soms iets te ingezoomd

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“But of course, the idea of Istanbul is exponentially bigger than her footprint.”

4.5 Stars

Coming in at 800 pages (although the last chunk is notes and the bibliography), this comprehensive history book may seem daunting, but it reads well and details so many fascinating things that it feels half as long. Bettany Hughes delves into the deep, rich history of Istanbul chronologically, mixing culture, religion, and war to create a vivid picture.

“In terms of both historical fact and written histories this place reminds us why we are compelled to connect, to communicate, to exchange. But also to change.”

I read books like this and realize how ignorant and little I know of the world and its history (and geography). Istanbul (nee Constantinople, nee Byzantium) took center stage many times over history:

“The Milion marks out distance, and it marks the moment when Byzantium truly becomes a topographical and cultural reference point shared by East and West.”
...
“And so the city of Constantinople was founded on dreams, faith and hope, but also on ambition and blood.”
...
“Istanbul is not where East meets West, but where East and West look hard and longingly at one another, sometimes nettled by what they see yet interested to learn that they share dreams, stories, and blood.”

I highlighted many portions of this monograph; it is so rich in information and much of it beautifully written (especially for nonfiction). This is definitely a book I’ll refer back to and re-skim.

“Istanbul is a settlement that, in her finest form, produces, promote and protects the vital, hopeful notion that, wherever and whoever we end up, we understand that although humanity has many faces we share one human heart- to know Istanbul is to know what it is to be cosmopolitan- this is a city that reminds us that we are, indeed, citizens of the world.”

[Romulus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nie dość, że znakomicie napisana to również doskonale wydana. Lektura jest wciągająca - co chyba nie jest normą w przypadku książek historycznych i do tego poświęconych miastom. Zwłaszcza temu miastu, z taką historią i dziedzictwem. To jedno z moich podróżniczych marzeń i chyba może przyćmić Rzym, w którym już spędziłem łącznie kilka tygodni a mam wrażenie, że wciąż go nie znam od „zwykłej” turystycznej strony. Stambuł, Konstantynopol, Bizancjum - a pod każdą z tych nazw kryje się potężna opowieść. Autorka zmieściła ją w jednej, bardzo treściwej książce (sporo tu miejsca na przypisy i dodatki), poruszając się przez wieki linearnie, ale nie do końca, ponieważ nie da się iść prostą drogą przez taką opowieść. Ale i tak polecam tę książkę tylko fanom nie tyle historii Stambułu, co historii miast w ogóle.

[Taveri · Rating 2 out of 5]

ISTANBUL
In April 2019 I visited Istanbul for five days so I thought this book would be an interesting read. The City I found to be a modern clean efficient city when I thought it would be more like Cairo. I rode the subway, the train, and the busses and found them all to be quick and inexpensive. Even taxi rides were inexpensive. I visited museums, mosques, the crumbling wall, historical markers and the fabulous aquarium. I rode ferries across the Bosporus for $2 rather than pay $40 for a tourist trip. In the Spice Market I bought scarves and broaches for my nieces, watches for my sisters, hats for my friends at a quarter of the price I would have paid elsewhere. The Grand Bizarre, an intricate labyrinth worthy of exploration, was much more expensive. The people I met were from somewhere else: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Kurdistan. There was only one carpet salesman to endure who was polite but persistent. I was charmed by the city and wish to return.
The book was a difficult read with the author seldom staying on topic. Most paragraphs held snippets of distant information: how the gods were related, what was found in Chinese tombs, Viking fascination with silk, when Romas were removed and histories of families. It might have been interesting if each topic was pursued on its own rather than many pieces of information thrown into a mix that was a challenge to follow. The four Roman bronze horses of the Triumphal Quadriga, moved to Venice Cathedral of St. Mark, after the 1204 sack of Constantinople, received but one sentence. The Lonely Planet Guide on all of Turkey, with mostly maps and pictures, gives the topic nearly a whole page.
The note, at the beginning, of over twenty names, Istanbul had through time, was the most interesting segment. The book flowed better after the second half with more prolonged passages on a topic with fewer diversions/tidbits.
Other reviewers got a lot more out of this read than I did. Amidst the plethora of facts I did find a few things noteworthy such as Constantine providing bread rations for 80,000 everyday; workshops were established for free burial, along with hospitals for diseases and maternal care (an early social welfare system). Theodora (of Justin and Theodora) circa AD 530 accomplishments for women included: husbands had to get consent of wives before taking on debt; families had to return dowries to widows; men were charged more often for rape and punishments were more severe. There were moves to prevent young women from being trafficked through promises of food and clothes. Canons used to bombard the walls were 26 feet long and could only be fired every twelve hours (after they cooled down). Tintagel, on the Cornwall coast, got its start from trading tin with Istanbul, which in turn the trade creating wealth may have given rise to the Arthurian kingdom.
Venetian siege ladders were mounted on masts of their ships enabling breaching walls by sailing right up to them. Some of the Ottoman traditional calendar members predicted the end of the world 7,000 years after its 5508 BC creation – that would be 1492 – the same year the Maya world would end if using the Spinden correlation (instead of the more commonly used but not-necessarily-correct Goodman-Martinez-Thompson correlation for 2012).
Constantinople was the only defeated nation of World War I to be occupied by the victors. My favourite bit of minutiae: there were so many spies in Istanbul that one hotel put up a sign asking them to give up their seats in the lobby in favour of paying guests.
Items were introduced and not pursued. For instance during the 1683 failed attack on Vienna there was mention of Russia launching 100,000 cavalry with one million horses without continuation on where they ended up. Maps are provided at the beginning of chapters, showed changes in empires and movements of nations, but there was no discussion follow up providing an overview. It was like being tantalized with an introduction of what was to come without development.

[YouMo Mi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Topic:

The story of the city we now call Istanbul spanning three millennia, from Byzantion’s semi-mythical origins as a Greco-Thracian colony along the Bosphorus circa the 7th century BC, steeped in legends of Argonauts and Homeric epics, with shifting allegiances between Athens, Sparta, Persia, Macedonians, and rival Roman emperors, to the city’s rebirth as Roman Byzantium by the 1st century AD and rechristening as Constantinople 300 years later as the New Rome, to its transformation into the cosmopolitan Ottoman imperial capital Konstantiniyye (alternatively, and later only, Istanbul), the seat of Europe’s longest-lasting caliphate, from the 15th century AD until the empire's disintegration by WWI, culminating in the modern Eurasian metropolis. The author tries (and largely succeeds in) constructing a unified and dramatic narrative of the city through this thick jungle of history.

I timed this book to coincide with my first visit to the country and city in 2019. I managed to get to the Crusades by the time I reached Turkey and finished the rest within a week of leaving. If you haven’t visited or don’t currently have plans to, it will be hard to resist after finishing this book. On a side note, I alternated between the audiobook and hard copy, about 60/40 breakdown as there many maps, illustrations, and pictures included.

Style:

The author, a fellow at Cambridge with a background in classical studies, is not only a fantastic writer, but an excellent narrator in the audiobook, fully embracing the theatricality of the rich oral history that has contributed to the myth and awe of Istanbul in all its incarnations, sometimes at the expense of actual facts (“rumor and gossip are often the drivers of history"). One of my favorite podcasts, Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History — whose epic three part “King of Kings” on the Achaemenid Persian Empire is a great companion to the first part of this book — has a similar sense of self-reflection on both the macro and micro: marveling in hindsight at the evolution of the city’s various rulers, communities, beliefs, and architecture without ignoring how contemporaneous day-to-day smells, tastes, superstitions, violence, and emotions informed (and were informed by) now-well known events. A few fun snippets include:

• the sacred ecumenical councils based in or near Constantinople which still form the foundation of today’s mainstream Christian beliefs, so fiercely debated that St. Nicholas a.k.a. “Santa Clause” was urinated on after punching the now-heretic Arius for denying Jesus as co-equal to God the Father;

• the Western Crusaders’ wholesale destruction, looting, and eventual partitioning of the diverse and culturally rich Byzantine city (so famous for wonders such as Emperor Justinian’s Hagia Sophia that the Arab Umayyads modeled the layout of their capital Damascus after failing to conquer the city and even the Chinese elite of the faraway Tang Dynasty buried themselves with imitation solidi coins from "the Fortunate City, Fulin”), a watershed moment which ironically helped usher in the Italian Renaissance via Greek migration; and

• the Ottoman victories and defeats in Europe through the end of WWI, the effects of which are still felt and remembered today (The Battle of Vienna in 1683 with the largest cavalry charge in history is chronicled extensively in Western art and literature, but often overlooked is the more ambitious but failed plan over a century earlier by Suleiman the Magnificent to grab not only Vienna but Italy with a fleet commanded by the famed admiral Barbarossa), which, combined with various earthquakes, plagues, comets, and visions, sparked recurring Christian and Muslim eschatological fears.

What makes this book exceptional is that, alongside this riveting narrative of armies, omens, and opulence (worthy of the popular fiction it has clearly inspired such as Game of Thrones or the Lord of the Rings), the author still finds time to be a travel writer and scholar. In addition to the dozens of maps and illustrations, a detailed thirty-page timeline of the city, and another sixty pages listing all the primary and secondary sources cited, the author visits abandoned sites of ancient Mediterranean battles and describes many relevant archaeological findings as far away as Britain and China. She even takes time to conduct a scientific experiment to confirm that the bronze Temple of Marneion built by Emperor Hadrian in 2nd Century AD Palestine was, as history records, actually torched to the ground with its worshippers some three hundred years later using oil, sulfur, and pig fat on the orders of the Empress Eudoxia at the behest of (now Saint) Porphyry of Gaza as retribution for the past persecution of Christians.

Organization:

This is a very dense 800 pages and 78 chapters, divided into 8 parts corresponding to different phases of the city’s history. Given its ambitious scope, this could have ended up another bland textbook, but the author adds plenty of zest to the many bite-sized chapters, structured more like an anthology of chronological essays/lectures on an array of topics, such as the presence and influence of Hippodrome chariot racing club hooligans, the elite Viking Varangian guards, Jewish refugees from Catholic Spain, rival Venetian and Genoese merchants, the mafia-like Janissary corps, powerful Anatolian and Ethiopian eunuchs, and the artistic and charitable female patrons, notably former-prostitute-teen-mom-turned-Christian Empress Theodora’s hospitals and legal reforms benefiting women and children and the various Christian-origin concubines of the Topkapi harem such as Hurrem, Nurbano, and Safiye who rose to the rank of Valide Sultan (“Queen Mother”) and were so powerful that the Europeans described the empire as ruled by “the Sultanate of Women.”

She also takes time to balance admiration of the past with reminders of the brutality and violence sadly common to every era. For example, the author opines that Constantine's deathbed conversion to Christianity (and the motivation for his mother Helena's pilgrimage to the Holy Land to retrieve relics) was perhaps, in part, atonement for ordering the execution of his son and second wife on suspicion of an affair. There are horrible tales of pagan Romans persecuting early Christians, Byzantines burning alive Christian Franks, Russians raping Circassians, Turkish mobs killing Armenians, nationalist Greek Christians attacking their Muslim and Jewish neighbors, etc. She doesn’t shy away from critiquing Orientalist fantasies of odalisques while still decrying the sexual slavery that led many women into harems with few options.

The author has added many parenthetical cross-references to different eras (e.g., foreshadowing Christian saints or Ottoman battles when describing events in Hellenic Byzantion and vice versa) to help bind the story and make these chapters easily reread/listened in any order.


Takeaway:

I loved this book. If you enjoy history or are already enamored with Istanbul, then this is an epic account of not only the city’s history but also a heritage across three continents. The closing of her book neatly sums it up: "To know Istanbul is to be cosmopolitan -this is a city that reminds us that we are indeed citizens of the world.”

There are a million things in this book that make for fascinating discussion and so many interesting tidbits of history that will leave you curious to investigate further. However, what’s really worth appreciating is the author’s creation of a coherent narrative of the city with recurrent themes across many different eras with rulers often antagonistic to each other. Each of the city's rulers (and inhabitants) were fans of its history and mythology, and were aware that possession of the World's Desire was a necessary part of their ambitions. One example is the legend of the fallen city of Troy, which the Romans considered their ancestral home, where Julius Caesar considered relocating Rome and both Constantine and Mehmed the Conqueror made pilgrimage as Rome's heirs, and stories of which were still carried in copies of the Iliad by WWI Allied forces at Gallipoli.

Not surprisingly, a lasting impression on readers will be what an enormous influence the Byzantines and especially the Ottomans had on both East and West. While certainly reminding the readers of Turkish possession of the Arab Near East and religio-cultural affinity with Persian Safavids and Indian Mughals (Mimar Sinan, the genius architect responsible for much of Istanbul's landscape, apparently had an indirect hand in the Taj Mahal's design), the author does emphasize the very Western gaze of the Ottomans, seeing themselves as "Renaissance princes" of Europe and the new Roman Empire. European history schoolbooks typically limit the Ottoman to a a military threat to continental Europe, leaving out the very normal cultural exchange that carried over from the Byzantines, often with the help of polyglot Greek dragomans. The Ottomans were more than just Orientalist tropes and scary villains. Da Vinci sought Ottoman patronage by designing a precursor to the Galata Bridge that was rejected (too advanced?) by Sultan Bayezid II who purportedly asked Michelangelo as he was getting ready to paint the Sistine Chapel. The works and travels of Lord Byron, Mozart, Pushkin, Delacroix, Florence Nightingale, to name a few, brought Constantinople to German, English, French, and Russian audiences. The Baroque influences on Dolmabahce Palace and the Ortakoy Mosque are apparent to anyone and testament to this unique European outlook even before Atatürk came along. Lumping all of this under "Muslims Empires," as my college Art History textbook did, is just plain silly.

Reading this around the time I visited Istanbul was especially cool, as the author has clearly walked every inch of the city. I would recommend a daytime boat ride up and down the Bosphorus and into the Golden Horn, which allows you to spot many of the events and locations she recounts.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliant book. Let me preface this by saying that I love Bettany Hughes and have watched nearly all her tv documentary shows...so I entered this book with high expectations - and can I just say that she totally delivered.

Researched, written and narrated by Ms Hughes, this was a very informative and interesting book about Istanbul, from prehistoic times to modern day (ie 2016). That is a huge tie period to cover - and yet she did it will apparent ease. I enjoyed how she focused on the city and all its comings and goings - great idea for this book and very different from the usual history of the Byzantine period/the Crusades...etc. I loved how this book was broken up into appropriate chapters and it flowed so beautifully. Great stuff. Well worth a listen.

[Johanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a fabulous history of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul in all its glory and horrors. A long cooking listen in the kitchen and time well spent. This book covers the whole history from neolithic to the present and covers not only the rulers but the lives of the people too. My second favourite city biography after Simon Seabag Montfiore's jerusalem

[Pinar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bu kitaba merakla başlamıştım ama son düşüncelerim hüsran. İçinde bir takım enteresan bilgiler bulabilirsiniz, ama kesinlikle tarih kitabı olarak dikkate alınacak değerde olmadığını düşünüyorum. İstanbul tarihinin bir “İngiliz” yazarın (yani zorlanarak tarihçi diyeceğim) ağzından anlatımı.

Bazıları için okumayı kolaylaştırıyor olabilir, ama ben tarih kitaplarının, kurgu şeklinde yazılmasından hiç hoşlanmıyorum (Justinianus böyle hissetmiştir, Teodora şöyle düşünmüş olmalı).

Kitabın böyle bir konuyu anlatırken hop günümüze sıçrayıp analojiler yapmasını da oldukça gereksiz ve okumayı zorlaştırıcı buldum. Bizans diye giderken araya Gezi olaylarını, Erdoğan’ı almak.. Osmanlı derken ISISe geçmek falan bence çok gereksiz. Yani İstanbul tarihinde Erdoğan’a yer verilecekse, Menderes’ten başlayarak daha bir çok kişiye değinilebilir, ki Osmanlı tarihinde bir sürü kişiyi atlayıp geçmiş. (2.Mehmet, Kanuni, Safiye Sultan, Nurbanu Sultan, Barbaros, Mimar Sinan, 4. Mehmet falan biraz daha uzun değinilen kişiler)

Belli bir tarihsellikte ilerlerken tekrar geri dönüp aynı konuları tekrar tekrar anlatması, arada bir iki bilgi veriyor ama gerçekten kitaba devam etmeyi oldukça sıkıcılaştırıyor. Teodora’ya hiç değinmiyorum, ama Kalkedon’u anlatıp anlatıp, en az on yerde “Körler Ülkesi” demesi fenalık getirdi. Bir de durup durup İstanbul’un bin yıllık tarihinde gidip gidip Londra’yla karşılaştırması..

Kitapta Yahudilerin Bizans’tan bu yana İstanbul’daki etkinliklerine dair enteresan bilgiler öğrendim. Fetih öncesi İstanbul’unda bakır çarşısında Museviler bakırcılık yapıyormuş falan. Ama kitaptan edindiğim izlenime göre, Doğu Roma’nın komşusu Araplar, bir şekil hiç ortada yokken Türkler pörtleyip İstanbul’u alıyorlar. (Bir şekil Osmanlı’nın kuruluşundan da isimlere değiniyor ama, oldukça özet. Osmanlı tarihi içinde oldukça uzun harem, köle ticareti ve yeni çeriler anlatılıyor.

Osmanlı Savaş tarihi, askeri başarıları falan hop geçip, İkinci Viyana kuşatmasını hezimetine, zafer kazananlar içinde bir de sonradan İngiliz kralının bulunduğunu öğreniyoruz. Bizans Vareng Muhafızları içinde İngilizler de varmış (ama kaç Alman, İsveçli, Norveçli, Dan, Fin vardı bilgisi verilmiyor). Osmanlı tarihine dönecek olursam oldukça geniş ve kompleks bir tarih yerine harem fantazileriyle harcanmış.

Daha yakın tarihe, 1. Dünya Savaşına dair de verdiği bilgilere oldukça sinir oldum. Misalen bölüm başlığı “Gelibolu: İmparatorluğun Sonu”, Osmanlı Çanakkale Savaşı yüzünden yıkılmadı. Çanakkale Savaşında yenilmez denilen İngiliz donanması hayatının yenilgisini yaşadı. Yazarın kafası oldukça karışmış. "Çanakkale Zaferi" belki lapsus yapmış İngiliz İmparatorluğu'nun çöküşünün başlangıcı olarak kastetmiştir.

Yazar Türklerin savaşa girişi için, “Osmanlı İngiltere’ye sipariş ettiği gemilerin parasını ödemediği için İngiltere gemileri vermedi” diyor, ama İngiltere parası ödenmiş gemileri Osmanlı’yı savaşa zorlamak için vermedi... değil miydi?

Kitabın sonlarıda “İstanbul: Romalılar, Yunanlar, Türkler ve İngilizlerin yönettiği şehir” falan.

İstanbul’u, İstanbul tarihini, Roma İmparatorluğunu falan hiç bilmeyen biri için enteresan gelebilecek bilgiler var. Bazı yerlerinde sıkıntıdan patlamama rağmen son kısma kadar 3 yıldız falan verebilirdim, ama yakın tarihin bu kadar taraflı ve eksik yazılması önceki dönemler için de soru işareti oluşturdu. Kurgu hikaye kitabı olarak sıkılmazsanız okuyun. Ben sesli kitap olarak dinledim, kitap olarak bitiremeyebilirdim.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant look at the history of Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul - a unique city with multiple identities over the millennia.

I'm a sucker for this sort of history - if it weren't for the fact that we cover thousands of years and a dizzying array of characters and events you could almost call it a microhistory. Let's call it a biography of the city.

And actually, biography isn't far wrong, as the city does become a distinct character, growing and changing and yes, diminishing, over the course of history.
Hughes is passionate about the city, and that comes out very clearly in every description of Istanbul, and the excitement that archaeological discoveries are still turning up new insights into this complex city (oldest wooden coffin!) She uses modern events to compare, contrast and highlight similarities and differences in society, in a way that makes even ancient history seem relevant.

At the end of the book she makes the sad point that we view other ancient civilisations very differently - ancient Rome, ancient Greece, ancient Egypt are all treated very differently to this city which occupies a unique place in the geopolitical landscape. Certainly I am now desperate to go and visit Istanbul!

[Mehmet Dönmez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Şehre tutkun olanların zevkle okuyacağı ansiklopedik bir rehber. Bu tip hacimli eserlerin karakteristiklerini barındırıyor: Takip edilebilir detaylı bir kronoloji, eksik parçaları dolduran kitabi bilgiler vs. Bu benim için Bizans’la ilgili kısmın daha ilginç gelmesi ama daha zor hazmedilmesi demek, öte yandan Osmanlı zamanıyla ilgili ise çok az şeyi farklı söylüyor yazar. Bölümlendirmelerin de kısa tutulmasının okunabilirliği arttırdığını söyleyeyim, ama sonuçta bu bir tarih kitabı değil; daha çok bir gazeteci popüler bir üslupla şehrin tarihinden bahsediyor, o esnada arkeolojiden, Hristiyan tarihinden ve etimolojiden geniş çapta yararlanması benim için ilgi çekici, zaman zaman güncel meselelerle de kurduğu ilişki düşündürücü: Mesela Nika İsyanıyla Gezi arasındaki ilişki gibi...

Zayıf karnının dizgi ve çeviri olduğunu düşünüyorum, bazı cümleler devrik ve sakil. Öte yandan Hughesun zaman zaman İngiliz okurlara da yönelik yazdığı intibasındayım: Çanakkale’den kimin kazandığı belli olmadığı bir savaş olarak bahsetmesi...olacak şey değil!

[Jenia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the book was excellent and certainly 5-star worthy. However, after the Ottomans took over I felt it became a bit.. Euro-centric? Like, it kept giving accounts of "this British person came to Istanbul and thought X"; not sure if I didn't notice it as much when the city was under Christian + pagan rule but I felt like while there were outsider sources they weren't the main focus.

In any case, still very very much worth a read. I like the idea of concentrating on the history of one city in general, and Istanbul/Constantinople/Byzantium is certainly The City to do it for. I'd love to read a book like this about Jerusalem or Beijing. I feel like it clarified the general timeline of the last few thousand years more generally for me too, which is great!