Episode #216- Did the Siege of Constantinople Even Happen? (Part I)

When the capital of the Roman empire was moved from Rome to the city of Constantinople, the city on the Bosporus strait became one of the most important places on planet earth. One top being the heart of Roman religious, political, and cultural life for a millennium, the city had a reputation for being impregnable. From the 6th to the 13th century the city was besieged an amazing 19 times, and not once was it overcome by a foreign army. This resilience added to the city’s legendary status. Two of the most significant sieges came at the hands of the Muslim Umayyad Caliphate, in 674 and 717. These battles have been cited as historical turning points, however recent scholarship has cast doubt on the traditional sources. How significant were these sieges? Did they both even occur? Tune-in and find out how sassy Voltaire, sloppy meta-narratives, and the end of the world all play a role in the story.

Episode 45 – The Empty Fleet | The History of Byzantium — The Roman Empire (in Blue) circa 670 AD

Maps | The History of Byzantium — Anatolia – Notice Constantinople right where the Black Sea Meets the Sea of Marmara

File:Constantinople area map.svg - Wikipedia — Sea of Marmara – notice Cyzicus, site of the Arab base, on peninsula on the south shore and Chalcedon directly across the water from Constantinople.

Map of Constantinople before Ottoman occupation — A map of Constantinople accurate to the 7th century

Antique old map - bird's-eye view of Constantinople (Istanbul) by Braun and Hogenberg | Sanderus Antique Maps - Antique Map Webshop

Works Cited

Brownworth, Lars. Lost to the West : The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization. 1st ed., Crown Publishers, 2009.

El-Cheikh, Nadia Maria. Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs. Distributed for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University by Harvard University Press, 2004.

Evans, Helen C., and Brandie Ratliff. Byzantium and Islam : Age of Transition 7th – 9th Century. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012

Haldon, John F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century : The Transformation of a Culture. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Haldon, John F. The Empire That Would Not Die : The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640-740. Harvard University Press, 2016.

Howard-Johnston, James. Witnesses to a World Crisis : Historians and Histories of the Middle East in the Seventh Century. Oxford University Press, 2010.

Jankowiak, Marek. “The First Arab Siege of Constantinople”. In Zuckerman, Constantin (ed.). Travaux et mémoires, Vol. 17: Constructing the Seventh Century. Paris: Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance. pp. 237–320. 2013

Theophanes, et al. The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor : Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813. Clarendon Press, 1997.