Urban Structure of Constantinople as a Christian Capital

Abstract

Constantinople was founded by Great Constantine, over the urban structure of Byzantium city-state, with the name of 'Nea Roma Constantinopolitana' at a time that should be considered as a milestone for the Roman Empire. The founder Constantine, created an almost alternative Rome here, who thinks that the empire should keep up with the changing global conditions and take the side of Christianity which consistently growing, against the Paganism. All the decisions Constantine had made on the empire scale, had manifested itself in entire areas, from the location choice of city to architecture of main buildings of this new capital that he called Nea Rome. Where necessary, he was loyal to the Roman tradition for the acceptance of Constantinople as Nea Roma by Pagan people but all this is done in such a way as not to be deprived of the support of the Christian people. The physical structure of the city was built in such a way that would turn to an entirely Christian capital in the long run. In the 6th century, Constantinople had the appearance of a Christian capital, through the next rulers took new decisions in favor of Christianity throughout the empire and filled the Constantine's city scheme with new monumental buildings. Constantine's settlement scheme continued to be one of the decisive factors of urban texture until the 15th century. This paper aims to figure out the base structure of 15th century Constantinople, by analizing urban development from the foundation of the city to the 6th century AD.