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330
Week 1: Founding of the city of Constantinople as capital of Byzantium
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Period: 330 to
Constantinople
A timeline of Western interactions with the historical site of Constantinople from its founding until present day. -
May 29, 1453
Week 1: Siege of Constantinople
Constantinople falls to the Ottoman army commanded by Sultan Mehmed II -
Jan 1, 1499
Week 1: Scene from the battle defending Constantinople from Ogier le Danois
Verard, Antoine. "Scene from a Battle Defending Constantinople" from Ogier Le Danois, Vellum. 1499. Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin, Italy. Bridgeman Art Library. Bridgeman Art Library, 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2013. 15thC. manuscript of legendary French story character depicting the siege of Constantinople -
Week 2: Inquiries for Turkey by the Royal Society
Questions about Turkey drawn up for a Gentleman who will be travelling there. "Whether the parts of about the City of Constantinople or Asia Minor be as subject to earthquakes now as they have been formerly? And whether the Eastern winds plague the city with mists and cause that inconsistency of weather it is said to be subject to?" Inquiries for Turky. Philosophical Transactions (1665-1678) , Vol. 1, (1665 - 1666), pp. 360-362. Published by The Royal Society. -
Week 2: T. Smith D. D. and F. R. S. set sail for Constantinople
"We went on board the Leopard Frigat, a ship of 56 guns mounted. Captain O'Bryen Commander, appointed to carry Sir Daniel Harvey, His Majesty's Ambassador to the Port of the Ottoman Emperor at Constantinople." A Journal of a Voyage from England to Constantinople, Made in the Year 1668. by T. Smith D. D. et F. R. S. Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775) , Vol. 19, (1695 - 1697), pp. 597-619. Published by The Royal Society. -
Week 2: T. Smith D. D. and F. R. S. arrive in Constantinople
Scene depicting relations between English travelers and Ottoman dignitaries. Positive, friendly, exotic-sounding. A Journal of a Voyage from England to Constantinople, Made in the Year 1668. by T. Smith D. D. et F. R. S. Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775) , Vol. 19, (1695 - 1697), pp. 597-619. Published by The Royal Society. -
Week 3: David's Belisarius Begging for Alms
http://bit.ly/1c97OWx "Belisarius Begging for Alms" by Jacques-Louis David, 1781, Musee du Louvre, oil on canvas, ARTstor.
David's painting of the legend military commander who was imprisoned and blinded by Emperor Justinian for crimes he was wrongfully accused of. This is painted shortly before the French Revolution. There is "an attack on the inconsistency and ingratitude of the powerful." Late 18thC. admiration for "classical sufferers." -
Week 2: The Right Honourable Elizabeth Lady Craven visits Constantinople
Craven, E. Craven. (1789). A journey through the Crimea to Constantinople: In a series of letters from the Right Honourable Elizabeth Lady Craven, to His Serene Highness the Margrave of Brandebourg, Anspach, and Bareith. Written in the year MDCCLXXXVI. London: G. G. T. and J. Robinson. "All the ambassadors since my arrival here have given balls and dinners. Madame d'Hebert, the Imperial Minister's wife, is lively, and I see her often. The Dutch Ambassador's wife is a very good woman..." -
Week 4: Albert Smith Spends a Month in Constantinople
"On the lectern was a testament and the priest asked me to show him how the English read and pronounced Greek and was surprised to hear that the study of that language was part of our ordinary school education." Smith is recounting his visit to a Greek monastery in Constantinople. This is a clear example of the classical education taught to upper class gentlemen who would then part-take in the Grand Tour. Albert Smith, A month at Constantinople (1850): De Bogue: London -
Week 5: Analysis of Statue of Artemis from Chinly-Kiosk Museum, Constantinople
http://bit.ly/1bWsjlT The archaeology of the 19thC. led to the development of many techniques still used today. However, the practice of bleaching ancient marbles was always controversial. Saloman Reinach chastises the archaeologists for treating the statue like a "dirty stone wall." -
Week 5: Analysis of statue of Artemis from Mytilene on display in Constantinople museum
http://bit.ly/1bWsjlT Saloman Reinach writes that the statue in the Chinly-Kiosk Museum in Constantinople is probably a Roman recreation of an older Greek statue. He concludes this because the left hand is awkwardly large and the right calf and ankle look swollen. It also appears to be slightly unfinished. There is evidence of bleaching the marble. http://bit.ly/1cOkUH0 -
Week 4: Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain
Fountain constructed in the Sultanahmet, the ancient Hippodrome in Istanbul as a commemoration for Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit to the Ottoman Empire two years before. The fountain was constructed in Germany and presented as a gift, a symbol of German-Ottoman cooperation. http://library.artstor.org.proxy1.library.mcgill.ca/library/iv2.html?parent=true# -
Week 6: Constantinople and the First World War
http://bit.ly/IhrHQh
Captain Henry Newbolt Lyster writing about his experience in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The Ottoman Empire collapsed following defeat by the Allie powers. This is an exerpt demonstrating this process. Lyster, Ian. Among the Ottomans: Diaries from Turkey in World War I. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010. 151. -
Week 6: End of the Ottoman Empire
http://bit.ly/1iU9OoN Following the Turkish War of Independence, the Grand National Assembly officially abolishes the caliphate. This finally ends the Ottoman Empire. Pictured: Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) became the first president of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 -
Week 8: Turkey joins NATO
Both the USA and the USSR saw Turkey as a potential ally. Turkey's position in the Middle East would provide the USSR with protection in the south or provide the USA protection over oil trades, military bases abroad and be close to its target. The USA eventually won Turkey and it joined NATO in 1951, as explained by Melvyn P. Leffler in his article, Strategy, Diplomacy, and the Cold War: The United States, Turkey, and NATO, 1945-1952
http://bit.ly/1cODTRM -
Week 7: The Four Lads record iconic song
Released in 1953 as a fun, swing-style song, "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" has been covered repeatedly over the passed 60 years. The song's popularity is a testament to the accessibility of Istanbul to Western countries (Turkey is a part of NATO). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vankaSlfSr0 -
Week 7: Changing the old for the new
John A. Wilson discusses old Muslim design and structures and their new, Western counterparts. He laments the fact that beautiful, old buildings are being replaced by "characterless" modern buildings. Given class discussion about how "authentic" societies are being "lost" to modernization, it was interesting to reconsider this passage; maybe the old buildings were simply too expensive to maintain and in despair need of repair, but scholars seem to avoid such answers. http://bit.ly/18oW6s1 -
Week 7: Tourism in Istanbul and its vices
http://bit.ly/1aW6PZn As Istanbul opened up to tourism in the 1950s and 1960s, the Department of Antiquities aspired to properly catalogue Turkish antiquities in regional museums. Machteld J. Mellink wrote that false tour guides or individuals seeking to live out a Grand Tour were taking antiquities from Istanbul and selling them abroad for profit which was a serious issue for Turkish authorities. -
Week 12: Turkey granted candidacy for EU
Candidacy approved at the Helsinki European Council http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/candidate-countries/turkey/eu_turkey_relations_en.htm -
Week 12: Narratives in City Landscapes: Cultural Identity in Istanbul by Amy Mills
Turkey has been trying for decades to be accepted in the European Union. Before achieving EU status, Turkey must revise its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities which Amy Mills argues stems from a history of insecurity concerning cultural identity. Mills focuses on Istanbul as "the location of European culture" in Turkey. Should Turkey achieve EU status, how then might it consider its cultural identity?
http://bit.ly/1fKA19F -
Week 13: Video by VICE of demonstrations in Istanbul
In the summer of 2013, a revolt broke out in Istanbul after a peaceful protest against a development plan for Gezi park turned violent when police were called in. The protest grew and addressed issues such as the president's authoritarianism, environmentalism and conservativism. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Uwh971f6w
Photo: Fleshstorm June 15th 2013
