Istanbul Book

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

Foreword Moris Farhi xv

Introduction Center of Empire xix

Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul xx

Cosmopolitan City xxii

Chapter 1 The Queen of Cities 1

The Birth of an Empire 1

A Roman and Christian City 5

Paganism Persists 7

The Emperor at the Center 8

The Emperor and the Church 10

The City from Constantine to Justinian 12

The Emperor Justinian 15

The Nika Riots 17

Justinian's Legacies Church, Law and Trade 18

The Iconoclast Controversy 22

Photius and Education 24

The Macedonians: Imperial Zenith 26

Trade and Architecture 28

The Impact of the Crusades 30

A Jewish Visitor 33

1204: Humiliation 35

Aftermath: Restoration, Creativity and Decline 40

A Muslim Visitor 42

Chapter 2 The Siege of 1453: Regime Change 47

A Western Visitor Twenty Years Before 1453 50

Constantinople and the West 51

Ottoman Advance 55

The Siege 57

Assault and Fall 61

After the Conquest 64

Heirs of Byzantium 65

Chapter 3 Islamic Empire 67

Constantinople Becomes Kostantiniyye 67

Christians under the New Regime 69

Muslim Rule and the Fatih Mosque 70

Cultural Diplomacy 73

Mehmet's Immediate Successors 76

Family Continuity and Siileyman 77

Slavery 80

The Great Sinan 81

Ottoman Bureaucracy 82

The Guilds and Evliya Çelebi 84

The "Tulip Period" 86

The Greeks in the Capital 87

Changes of the 1820s 88

International Interest 91

Sultans and Tanzimat Reformers 92

Chapter 4 Modernity and Foreign Influences 97

An Industrial Family: The Dadians 101

The Impact of the Crimean War 102

International Banking and Galata 106

The White Slave Traffic 108

Mid-Century Public Transport: Steamers, Bridges, Trams and Trains 110

Belle Epoque Architectural Eclecticism and the Work of the Balyans 114

Fin-de-Siècle Dragomans 121

Good Years for Armenians 124

The Jews of Istanbul... 125

... and of Balat 127

The Roma 131

Chapter 5 Walking Through Belle Epoque Istanbul 133

Ìstiklâl Caddesi/Grande Rue de Pera 133

Taksim to Tünel 135

From Tünel to Pera House 148

The British Consulate General 153

The Buildings of Bankalar Caddesi 159

Chapter 6 End of Empire 165

Sultan Abdiilhamid II 165

Arab Courtiers: Arap Izzet 169

From Abdülhamid to the Great War 170

Hashemites in Istanbul 172

The End of the Belle Epoque 174

The Last Caliph: Abdülmecid Efendi 175

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Istanbul 178

Chapter 7 The Waters of the City 185

The Bosphorus 185

Büyükada, Trotsky and Pope John XXIII 190

Ismet Inönü on Heybeliada 192

Yesilköy 196

Chapter 8 Sailing To Istanbul 199

Lord Byron: an Aristocrat Abroad 199

Adolphus Slade: Witness to Change 202

Disraeli; Turkish Prejudices 205

A.W. Kinglake: Travel Classic 208

Thackeray 209

Adam Mickiewicz: Poet of Poland 210

Mark Twain 212

The Prince of Wales, 1869 214

Edwin Pears: Forty Years in Constantinople 219

Marmaduke Pickthall: Conservative and Muslim 220

Wilfred Thesiger: "Showpieces of a Dead Past" 223

Chapter 9 Contemporary Istanbul 225

The Changing Face of the City 225

Economic Take-off and the Skyscrapers of Levent 230

The Sabanci and Koç Families and Culture 232

Isiamism in Contemporary Istanbul and the "Clash of Civilizations" 235

Soccer and Tribalism 238

Ethnic and Cultural Identity 241

Orhan Pâmuk and Nazim Hikmet 243

Earthquake Fears 245

Envoi 246

Futher Readings 249

Index of Historical & Literary Names 257

Index of Places & Landmarks 262