Constantine, Pope (708-716), a native of Syria, succeeded Sisinnius in 708. He visited Constantino- ple and Nicomedia, where he was received with great honor by the emperor Justinian the younger. After his return to Rome he defended the worship of im- ages against John, patriarch of Constantinople, and against PhUippicus, who had usurped the empire. Felix, archbishop of Ravenna, who had at first re- fused to acknowledge Constantine, and had been ex- Ued in consequence, made his submission to him, and was reinstated in. his see. Constantine died April 8, 716, and was succeeded by Gregory II. — ^Wetzer und Welte, Kirch^'Lex, ii, 888.
ConBtantinople. — There are few cities which unite more points of interest than Constantinople. It is unsurpassed in many elements of beauty, and for twenty-five centuries has been a place of great politi- cal and commercial importance. During several hun- dred years it was the chief centre of learning, refine- ment, and military power. As the seat of the Greek Church, in it were held a large number of councils. The indications are that its future will be as important as its past history. Yet no city has suffered more from the desolations of earthquakes, pests; famine, fire, and sword.
I. Hiitcry, — ^There are three defined epochs : 1, from the foundation of the city (B.C. 667) till it became the capital of the Roman empire (A.D. 808) ; 2, from this time till its conquest by the Turks fA. D. 1458) ; and, 8, under the Turkish dominion till the present time.
1. Byzantium. — ^The ancient Greeks attributed the 'oundation of Byzantium to a colony of Megarians,
% directed by an oracle of Apollo, buUt a dty (B.
0. 667) on the high land formeriy oocapied by Oi old seraglio. This dty soon became the eiilTep6t ia the grain trade from the Black Sea to Greece. Wift. out any great military power or unbition of ita oviu Byzantium fell into the hands of the diffeient ts&n that successively became dominant in Greece. It
' yielded without resistance to Darius (B.C. 612). Tie ten thousand rested here in their retreat (B.C. 4ft'). During a siege by Philip of Macedon (B.C. m% a
I light suddenly appeared one night, enabling the Athe- nian garrison to see and thwart an intended aaaaak^ the besiegers. In commemoration of this cvat, i
I crescent appears on some Byzantine coins, esd to tkij is usually attributed the origin of the crescent, the ea- blem of the Turkish empire, adopted immediately af- ter the conquest of Constantinople. With Greece Ais city fell under the dominion of Rome (B.C. 14€). Ac ancient legend relates that the apoetle St. Andrew, fs his arrival at Galata, a suburb of Conatantiocple, pressed the form of a cross into the rock -with his hamL After preaching here two years, he was driven avsv by the tyrant Zeuxippus, and he continued his labn on the opposite Asiatic shore. Byzantinm had, in s* der to resist the frequent sieges of the Northern htr- barians, been made the strongest fortified city in tk Roman empire. For harboring Piscinns its walls were razed by Septimius Severus (A.D. 169). These wen soon rebuilt, but the city was completely destroyed br Constantine (A.D. 824) for having rebelled again.
2. Under dte Eastern Empire. — Many reasons ctD- bined to induce Constantine to remove the capital cf the Roman empire from Rome to Byzanttiun, especial- ly his desire to free himself from the remnants of Uie power of the Roman senate ; his desire to follow tic Oriental custom of a great emperor and cooqnenr founding his own capital ; the central commercial poft- tion of Byzantium in the then known w<»ld, and k» favorable position for controlling the troublesome pazts of the empire on the Danube and the Euphrates. On May 11, 880, the new capital was inaugurated by fe- tivals and ceremonies, half Christian and half psgia, and lasting forty days. Among the many embelhc^ ments which Constantine added to the city were t^ hippodrome, surrounded by palaces, porticoes, and ftai- ues brought from all parts of the Roman empire ; tbe dstem of a thousand columns, the church of St So- phia, and many other churches and public buildings. Theododus also gready embdlished and enlarged fht capital. In 896 Constantinople became the capital cf the Eastern or Greek division of the Roman tmfot. The gloiy of the dty increased until the time (tf Heraclius (A.D. 641), although subjected to nunj scourges. Justinian (527-595) may be regarded ^ its second founder. After a civil commotion in A.D. 582, in which 80,000 men were slain, and which re- duced the city to ashes, Justinian rebuilt St. Sophia with unparallded magnificence. Hb goigeous pal- ace, the twenty-five otiier churches and many pub- lic edifices that he built, have all shice periahed. The size of the city may be estimated from the £ict that 800,000 persons died from the pest in one year. In 675 the Arabs lost 80,000 men before the wails, and in 718 1161 ships of war. The greatest destructioe of works of art in all history occurred in the ravaging of Constantinople by the Crusaders (1204), who tpest eight days after they took the dty in burning and plundering all public and private property. The re»> toration of the Byzantine empire (1261) had little d- feet in restoring tiie glory of the capital. The Gcbo> ese and Venetians, who had established themselves in the suburbs of Galata and Pera, had many contests near the city for commercial supremacy. In 1391 the Turks, who had already conquered moat of Eurcpen Turkey, forced the Byzantine emperor to permit a mosque to be erected in Constantinople, to permit tbe appointment of a kadi to look after the intenssts of the reddent Mohammedan merchants, and to pay the sil-