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144-615: Upon arriving in Constantinople in February 1666, Sabbatai was imprisoned on the order of the grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha . In September of that same year, after being moved from different prisons around the capital to the imperial courts' seat in Adrianople (now Edirne ), he was judged on accusations of fomenting sedition . Sabbatai was given the choice of either facing death by some type of ordeal or of converting to Islam by

288-543: A call for aid from Alexius , the First Crusade assembled at Constantinople in 1096, but declining to put itself under Byzantine command set out for Jerusalem on its own account. John II built the monastery of the Pantocrator (Almighty) with a hospital for the poor of 50 beds. With the restoration of firm central government, the empire became fabulously wealthy. The population was rising (estimates for Constantinople in

432-545: A center of Kabbalism, as his base. Proclaiming himself the Messiah or "anointed one," he gained a large following and put on all sorts of mystical events—e.g., the celebration of his marriage as the "One Without End" (the Ein Sof ) with the Torah , preparing a solemn festival to which he invited his friends. But the rabbis of Salonica, headed by Rabbi Hiyya Abraham Di Boton, banished him from

576-626: A center of culture and education of the Mediterranean basin, Constantinople came to be known by prestigious titles such as Basileuousa (Queen of Cities) and Megalopolis (the Great City) and was, in colloquial speech, commonly referred to as just Polis ( ἡ Πόλις ) 'the City' by Constantinopolitans and provincial Byzantines alike. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently. The medieval Vikings, who had contacts with

720-611: A city-state until it was annexed by Darius I in 512 BC into the Persian Empire , who saw the site as the optimal location to construct a pontoon bridge crossing into Europe as Byzantium was situated at the narrowest point in the Bosphorus strait. Persian rule lasted until 478 BC when as part of the Greek counterattack to the Second Persian invasion of Greece , a Greek army led by

864-448: A computational system is a complex object which consists of three parts. First, a mathematical dynamical system D S {\displaystyle DS} with discrete time and discrete state space; second, a computational setup H = ( F , B F ) {\displaystyle H=\left(F,B_{F}\right)} , which is made up of a theoretical part F {\displaystyle F} , and

1008-797: A dwindling and depopulated city. In 1261, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos liberated the city, and after the restoration under the Palaiologos dynasty, it enjoyed a partial recovery. With the advent of the Ottoman Empire in 1299, the Byzantine Empire began to lose territories, and the city began to lose population. By the early 15th century, the Byzantine Empire was reduced to just Constantinople and its environs, along with Morea in Greece, making it an enclave inside

1152-627: A hundred years ago. In the 1930s a comprehensive study on the history of the sects was also published in French by Abraham Galanté. More recently, Professor Cengiz Şişman has published a new study called The Burden of Silence . According to a review published in the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post , the branch known as Karakaş follow Sufi-influenced practices, while the Kapancıs have not been influenced by Islam at all and are now completely secular. A house in

1296-623: A minority opinion in the Talmud, in the messianic time there would no longer be holy obligations. The fast of the Tenth of Tevet became a day of feasting and rejoicing. Samuel Primo , who became Sabbatai's secretary when he went to Smyrna, directed the following circular to all of the Jews in the name of the Messiah: The first-begotten Son of God, Shabbethai Tebi, Messiah and Redeemer of the people of Israel, to all

1440-631: A new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard . They were known for their ferocity, honour, and loyalty. It is said that, in 1038, they were dispersed in winter quarters in the Thracesian Theme when one of their number attempted to violate a countrywoman, but in the struggle she seized his sword and killed him; instead of taking revenge, however, his comrades applauded her conduct, compensated her with all his possessions, and exposed his body without burial as if he had committed suicide. However, following

1584-652: A new city wall in his name, the Severan Wall. Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as of sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church , he was well aware that Rome was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians. Yet it had been

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1728-491: A new romantic and licentious element entered Sabbatai's career. The overturning of her past life was interpreted by Sabbatai's followers as further confirmation of his messiahship, following the biblical story of the prophet Hosea , who had also been commanded to take a "wife of whoredom" as the first symbolic act of his calling. With Halabi's financial and political backing, a charming wife, and many additional followers, Sabbatai returned to Jerusalem in triumph. Passing through

1872-703: A pitch that the government had to intervene, while at Sale , Morocco, the emir ordered a persecution of the Jews. During this period Sabbatai declared the fasts of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av (his birthday) would henceforth be feast-days, and contemplated converting the Day of Atonement to one of celebration. While Sabbatai was in Abydos prison an incident occurred which ultimately led to his downfall. Polish Jewish communities, hearing of Sabbatai's Messianic claims, sent

2016-609: A purely physical process occurring inside a closed physical system called a computer . Turing's 1937 proof, On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem , demonstrated that there is a formal equivalence between computable statements and particular physical systems, commonly called computers . Examples of such physical systems are: Turing machines , human mathematicians following strict rules, digital computers , mechanical computers , analog computers and others. An alternative account of computation

2160-437: A rule. "Medium-independence" requires that the property can be instantiated by multiple realizers and multiple mechanisms, and that the inputs and outputs of the mechanism also be multiply realizable . In short, medium-independence allows for the use of physical variables with properties other than voltage (as in typical digital computers); this is imperative in considering other types of computation, such as that which occurs in

2304-469: A sight. He also claimed to have visions of God. Sabbatai revealed his claim to being the Messiah early on to Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro , the latter a brother-in-law of the Italian rabbi and Kabbalist Joseph Ergas . However, at a mere twenty-two, Sabbatai was still too young to be thought of as an established rabbinic authority; his influence on the local community was limited. Even though he had led

2448-428: A well-defined statement or calculation as any statement that could be expressed in terms of the initialisation parameters of a Turing machine . Other (mathematically equivalent) definitions include Alonzo Church 's lambda-definability , Herbrand - Gödel - Kleene 's general recursiveness and Emil Post 's 1-definability . Today, any formal statement or calculation that exhibits this quality of well-definedness

2592-423: Is an academic field that involves the study of computation. The notion that mathematical statements should be 'well-defined' had been argued by mathematicians since at least the 1600s , but agreement on a suitable definition proved elusive. A candidate definition was proposed independently by several mathematicians in the 1930s. The best-known variant was formalised by the mathematician Alan Turing , who defined

2736-419: Is found throughout the works of Hilary Putnam and others. Peter Godfrey-Smith has dubbed this the "simple mapping account." Gualtiero Piccinini's summary of this account states that a physical system can be said to perform a specific computation when there is a mapping between the state of that system and the computation such that the "microphysical states [of the system] mirror the state transitions between

2880-567: Is known about this initial settlement. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , romanized :  Byzántion ) in around 657  BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. Hesychius of Miletus wrote that some "claim that people from Megara, who derived their descent from Nisos, sailed to this place under their leader Byzas, and invent

3024-476: Is of Thracian origin. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas . The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honor of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was more likely just a play on the word Byzantion . The city was briefly renamed Augusta Antonina in the early 3rd century AD by

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3168-597: Is still used by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the title of one of their most important leaders, the Orthodox patriarch based in the city, referred to as "His Most Divine All-Holiness the Archbishop of Constantinople New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch". In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpoli(s) ( Κωνσταντινούπολις/Κωνσταντινούπολη ) or simply just "the City" ( Η Πόλη ). Constantinople

3312-492: Is termed computable , while the statement or calculation itself is referred to as a computation . Turing's definition apportioned "well-definedness" to a very large class of mathematical statements, including all well-formed algebraic statements , and all statements written in modern computer programming languages. Despite the widespread uptake of this definition, there are some mathematical concepts that have no well-defined characterisation under this definition. This includes

3456-435: The kaymakam to tell him of Sabbatai's ambitions. The kaymakam informed Sultan Mehmed IV and Sabbatai was removed from Abydos and taken to Adrianople , where the vizier gave him three choices; subject himself to a trial of his divinity in the form of a volley of arrows (should the archers miss, his divinity would be proven); be impaled; or convert to Islam. On the following day (September 16, 1666) Zevi appeared before

3600-786: The Church of John the Baptist to house the skull of the saint (today preserved at the Topkapı Palace ), put up a memorial pillar to himself in the Forum of Taurus, and turned the ruined temple of Aphrodite into a coach house for the Praetorian Prefect ; Arcadius built a new forum named after himself on the Mese, near the walls of Constantine. After the shock of the Battle of Adrianople in 378, in which Valens and

3744-566: The Church of the Resurrection or the New Church. Chariot-racing had been important in Rome for centuries. In Constantinople, the hippodrome became over time increasingly a place of political significance. It was where (as a shadow of the popular elections of old Rome) the people by acclamation showed their approval of a new emperor, and also where they openly criticized the government, or clamoured for

3888-563: The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and guardian of Christendom 's holiest relics, such as the Crown of Thorns and the True Cross . Constantinople was famous for its massive and complex fortifications, which ranked among the most sophisticated defensive architectures of antiquity . The Theodosian Walls consisted of a double wall lying about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of

4032-562: The Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbor. Already then, in Greek and early Roman times, Byzantium was famous for the strategic geographic position that made it difficult to besiege and capture, and its position at the crossroads of the Asiatic-European trade route over land and as the gateway between the Mediterranean and Black Seas made it too valuable a settlement to abandon, as Emperor Septimius Severus later realized when he razed

4176-641: The High Holy Day of Yom Kippur . Upon his death, his widow, brother, and children by his first wife moved to Thessaloniki. His tomb was believed to have been in Berat at a tekke built in the yard of the Imperial Mosque ( Albanian : Xhamia e Mbretit ), where a tomb stood until 1967. Research done in 1985 suggested that he was actually buried in Dulcigno . His biographer, Gershom Scholem , mentioned that his tomb

4320-483: The Holy Spirit at Passover , and had received a revelation. Either Sabbatai or one of his followers published a mystical work claiming he was the true Messiah in spite of his conversion and that his goal was to bring thousands of Muslims to Judaism. However, he told the sultan that he was trying to convert Jews to Islam, and the sultan permitted him to associate with other Jews and preach in their synagogues. Gradually

4464-696: The Messianic Age would begin in 1666 with the conquest of the world without bloodshed. The Messiah would lead the Ten Lost Tribes back to the Holy Land , "riding on a lion with a seven-headed dragon in its jaws". The rabbis of Jerusalem viewed Sabbatai's movement with great suspicion, and threatened its followers with excommunication . Acknowledging that Jerusalem was not the best place to carry out his plans, Sabbatai left for his native Smyrna, and Nathan proclaimed that henceforth Gaza rather than Jerusalem would be

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4608-583: The Ottoman government. Raphael Joseph led an ascetic life, which included fasting, bathing in cold water, and scourging himself at night, and used his great wealth for charity, supporting poor Talmudists and Kabbalists, fifty of whom reportedly dined at his table regularly. He became a supporter and promoter of Sabbatai's messianic claims. In about 1663 Sabbatai moved on to Jerusalem where he resumed his former ascetic practice of frequent fasting and other penances. Many saw this as proof of his extraordinary piety . He

4752-582: The Pax Romana , for nearly three centuries until the late 2nd century AD. Byzantium was never a major influential city-state like that of Athens , Corinth or Sparta , but the city enjoyed relative peace and steady growth as a prosperous trading city lent by its remarkable position. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean , and had in

4896-690: The Rump Parliament , appealed to it as a reason to readmit Jews into England, saying, "[T]he opinions of many Christians and mine do concur herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their native country is very near at hand." As he was the agent for an English trading house in Smyrna, Sabbatai's father must have had business contact with English people and it is possible that his son learned something about Western millenarian expectations at home. Scholars are still assessing how much influence English and Dutch Calvinist millenarianism had on

5040-608: The Tetragrammaton , an act which Judaism prohibited to all but the High Priest of Israel in the Temple in Jerusalem on Yom Kippur . For scholars acquainted with rabbinical and Kabbalistic literature, this act was therefore highly symbolic. Sabbatai also claimed that he could fly, but told his followers that he couldn't do so in public because they were 'not worthy enough' to witness such

5184-539: The brain or in a quantum computer . A rule, in this sense, provides a mapping among inputs, outputs, and internal states of the physical computing system. In the theory of computation , a diversity of mathematical models of computation has been developed. Typical mathematical models of computers are the following: Giunti calls the models studied by computation theory computational systems, and he argues that all of them are mathematical dynamical systems with discrete time and discrete state space. He maintains that

5328-563: The sultan 's crown on his own head, the grand vizier , Köprülü Fazıl Ahmet Paşa , ordered his immediate arrest and had him imprisoned, maybe to avoid any doubts as to the power still wielded by the Turkish Sultanate. However, his imprisonment discouraged neither Sabbatai nor his followers. He was treated well in prison, perhaps because of bribes which seems to have strengthened his followers' belief in him. Meanwhile Nathan of Gaza, Abraham Yachini and others circulated fabulous reports about

5472-540: The 12th century vary from some 100,000 to 500,000), and towns and cities across the realm flourished. Meanwhile, the volume of money in circulation dramatically increased. This was reflected in Constantinople by the construction of the Blachernae palace, the creation of brilliant new works of art, and general prosperity at this time: an increase in trade, made possible by the growth of the Italian city-states, may have helped

5616-423: The 12th century. Toward the end of Manuel I Komnenos 's reign, the number of foreigners in the city reached about 60,000–80,000 people out of a total population of about 400,000 people. In 1171, Constantinople also contained a small community of 2,500 Jews. In 1182, most Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople were massacred . In artistic terms, the 12th century was a very productive period. There

5760-517: The 13th and 11th centuries BC. The site, according to the founding myth of the city, was abandoned by the time Greek settlers from the city-state of Megara founded Byzantium ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον , Byzántion ) in around 657 BC, across from the town of Chalcedon on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus. The origins of the name of Byzantion , more commonly known by the later Latin Byzantium , are not entirely clear, though some suggest it

5904-551: The Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Princes' Islands . Oryphas , the admiral of the Byzantine fleet, alerted the emperor Michael, who promptly put the invaders to flight; but the suddenness and savagery of the onslaught made a deep impression on the citizens. In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6,000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into

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6048-658: The Caesar (Emperor)', from the Slavonic words tsar ('Caesar' or 'King') and grad ('city'). This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις ( Vasileos Polis ), 'the city of the emperor [king]'. In Persian the city was also called Asitane (the Threshold of the State), and in Armenian , it was called Gosdantnubolis (City of Constantine). The modern Turkish name for

6192-731: The Danube about this time and advanced into Thrace, but he was deserted by many of his followers, who joined with the Romans in driving their king back north of the river. Subsequent to this, new walls were built to defend the city and the fleet on the Danube improved. After the barbarians overran the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople became the indisputable capital city of the Roman Empire. Emperors were no longer peripatetic between various court capitals and palaces. They remained in their palace in

6336-599: The Doge and the leading Franks were installed in the Great Palace, and the city was given over to pillage for three days. Computation A computation is any type of arithmetic or non-arithmetic calculation that is well-defined. Common examples of computation are mathematical equation solving and the execution of computer algorithms . Mechanical or electronic devices (or, historically , people) that perform computations are known as computers . Computer science

6480-501: The Emperor Septimius Severus (193–211), who razed the city to the ground in 196 for supporting a rival contender in the civil war and had it rebuilt in honor of his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (who succeeded him as Emperor), popularly known as Caracalla . The name appears to have been quickly forgotten and abandoned, and the city reverted to Byzantium/Byzantion after either the assassination of Caracalla in 217 or, at

6624-720: The Gate of the Droungarios ( Turkish : Odun Kapısı ) on the Golden Horn. Nevertheless, the destruction wrought by the 1197 fire paled in comparison with that brought by the Crusaders. In the course of a plot between Philip of Swabia , Boniface of Montferrat and the Doge of Venice , the Fourth Crusade was, despite papal excommunication, diverted in 1203 against Constantinople, ostensibly promoting

6768-512: The God of Jacob." In Hamburg , the council introduced the custom of praying for Sabbatai not only on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), but also on Monday and Thursday; unbelievers were compelled to remain in the synagogue and join in the prayer with a loud Amen . Sabbatai's picture was printed together with that of King David in most of the prayer-books, along with his Kabbalistic formulas and penances. Such innovations caused great commotion in some communities. In Moravia excitement reached such

6912-438: The Grand Vizier representing Sultan Mehmed IV . He seems to have chosen the latter course, donning a turban from that time on. The heads of the Ottoman state then rewarded him with a generous pension for complying with their political and religious plans. About 300 families who followed Zevi also converted to Islam and became known as Dönme . Subsequently, the Ottomans banished him twice, first to Constantinople , and, when he

7056-420: The Great City and sent generals to command their armies. The wealth of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia flowed into Constantinople. The emperor Justinian I (527–565) was known for his successes in war, for his legal reforms and for his public works. It was from Constantinople that his expedition for the reconquest of the former Diocese of Africa set sail on or about 21 June 533. Before their departure,

7200-414: The Jewish world. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising in Poland, a young Jewish orphan named Sarah was found by Christians and sent to a convent to be cared for. After ten years, aged about sixteen, she escaped (she claimed through a miracle), and made her way to Amsterdam and then to Livorno where, according to reports, she led a life of prostitution while also conceiving the notion that she would become

7344-424: The Kabbalist Nehemiah Ha-Kohen to interview him in his captivity. Nehemiah reached Abydos, after a journey of three months at the beginning of September, 1666. The meeting did not go well - Nehemiah declared Sabbatai to be an impostor. Some Sabbataians are said to have contemplated murdering Nehemiah as a rival. Nehemiah, however, escaped to Constantinople, where he pretended to embrace Islam to get an audience with

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7488-438: The Netherlands were already centres of his messianic movement, and the Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam learned of the events in Smyrna from trustworthy Christians. Henry Oldenburg , a distinguished German savant who became the first secretary of the Royal Society , wrote to Baruch Spinoza ( Spinozae Epistolae No 33): "All the world here is talking of a rumour of the return of the Israelites ... to their own country. ... Should

7632-435: The Ottoman Empire. The city was finally besieged and conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, remaining under its control until the early 20th century, after which it was renamed Istanbul under the Empire's successor state , Turkey. According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History , the first known name of a settlement on the site of Constantinople was Lygos , a settlement likely of Thracian origin founded between

7776-491: The Spartan general Pausanias captured the city which remained an independent, yet subordinate, city under the Athenians, and later to the Spartans after 411 BC. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.  150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. This treaty would pay dividends retrospectively as Byzantium would maintain this independent status, and prosper under peace and stability in

7920-444: The Talmud. At the same time, he was fascinated by mysticism and the Kabbalah and was influenced by Isaac Luria . The practical Kabbalah , whose devotees used asceticism to communicate with God and the angels , to predict the future and perform all sorts of miracles , was especially appealing to him. As well as Luria's writings, he read the Zohar and practiced asceticism and purification exercises called tikkunim . During

8064-440: The Thracian shore at the mouth of the Pontos,     where two pups drink of the gray sea,     where fish and stag graze on the same pasture, set up their dwellings at the place where the rivers Kydaros and Barbyses have their estuaries, one flowing from the north, the other from the west, and merging with the sea at the altar of the nymph called Semestre" The city maintained independence as

8208-407: The Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script. After that, as part of the Turkification movement, Turkey started to urge other countries to use Turkish names for Turkish cities , instead of other transliterations to Latin script that had been used in Ottoman times and the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. The name Constantinople

8352-477: The Turks tired of Sabbatai's antics, ending his doorkeeper's salary. At the beginning of 1673, the sultan had Zevi exiled to Ulcinj ( Dulcigno , Turkish : Ulkum ) where his wife died in 1674. Zevi then married Esther, the daughter of rabbi Joseph Filosoff of Thessaloniki. In August 1676, Sabbatai wrote to the Jewish community in Berat, Albania , requesting religious books. Shortly thereafter, he died in isolation—according to some accounts, on September 17, 1676,

8496-402: The accession of Theodosius I , emperors had been resident only in the years 337–338, 347–351, 358–361, 368–369. Its status as a capital was recognized by the appointment of the first known Urban Prefect of the City Honoratus, who held office from 11 December 359 until 361. The urban prefects had concurrent jurisdiction over three provinces each in the adjacent dioceses of Thrace (in which the city

8640-428: The blue and green factions, innocent and guilty. This came full circle on the relationship within the Hippodrome between the power and the people during the time of Justinian. Fires started by the Nika rioters consumed the Theodosian basilica of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), the city's cathedral, which lay to the north of the Augustaeum and had itself replaced the Constantinian basilica founded by Constantius II to replace

8784-457: The bride of the Messiah, whose appearance was thought to be imminent. When a report of her adventures reached Cairo, Sabbatai claimed that such a consort had been promised to him in a dream because he, as the Messiah, was bound to fall in love with an unchaste woman. He reportedly sent messengers to Livorno to bring Sarah to him, and they were married at Halabi's house. Her beauty and eccentricity reportedly helped him gain new followers. Through her

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8928-427: The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire ; 330–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence , the Turkish capital then moved to Ankara . Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe , straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia , and

9072-455: The capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by

9216-408: The center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization ". From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia , the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church , which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ; the sacred Imperial Palace , where

9360-443: The centre of İzmir close to the Agora has long been associated with Sabbetai Zevi. Having been left in ruins as recently as 2015, it has since been restored to its original style. Constantinople Constantinople ( see other names ) became the capital of the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine the Great in 330. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained

9504-407: The city and sources differ as to the route he then took, with Alexandria , Athens , Constantinople , Jerusalem , and Smyrna mentioned as temporary bases. Eventually he settled in Cairo , where he lived for about two years (1660–1662). There he befriended Raphael Joseph Halabi (of Aleppo ), a wealthy and influential Jew who held the high position of mint-master and tax-farmer in Cairo under

9648-479: The city could no longer be supplied from Egypt as a result of the Persian wars: the population fell substantially as a result. While the city withstood a siege by the Sassanids and Avars in 626, Heraclius campaigned deep into Persian territory and briefly restored the status quo in 628, when the Persians surrendered all their conquests. However, further sieges followed the Arab conquests , first from 674 to 678 and then in 717 to 718 . The Theodosian Walls kept

9792-461: The city impenetrable from the land, while a newly discovered incendiary substance known as Greek fire allowed the Byzantine navy to destroy the Arab fleets and keep the city supplied. In the second siege, the second ruler of Bulgaria , Khan Tervel , rendered decisive help. He was called Saviour of Europe . In the 730s Leo III carried out extensive repairs of the Theodosian walls, which had been damaged by frequent and violent attacks; this work

9936-441: The city of Gaza , which at the time had an important Jewish community, he met Nathan Benjamin Levi, known since as Nathan of Gaza ([נתן העזתי] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |translit= ( help ) ), who became very active in Sabbatai's messianic career, serving as his right-hand man and declaring himself to be the risen Elijah , who, it was predicted, would proclaim the arrival of the Messiah. In 1665, Nathan announced that

10080-431: The city to the ground for supporting Pescennius Niger 's claimancy . It was a move greatly criticized by the contemporary consul and historian Cassius Dio who said that Severus had destroyed "a strong Roman outpost and a base of operations against the barbarians from Pontus and Asia". He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina , fortifying it with

10224-404: The city was also called 'Second Rome', 'Eastern Rome', and Roma Constantinopolitana ( Latin for 'Constantinopolitan Rome'). As the city became the sole remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew, the city also came to have a multitude of nicknames. As the largest and wealthiest city in Europe during the 4th–13th centuries and

10368-561: The city, İstanbul , derives from the Greek phrase eis tin Polin ( εἰς τὴν πόλιν ), meaning '(in)to the city'. This name was used in colloquial speech in Turkish alongside Kostantiniyye , the more formal adaptation of the original Constantinople , during the period of Ottoman rule, while western languages mostly continued to refer to the city as Constantinople until the early 20th century. In 1928,

10512-705: The city. Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the Augustaeum . The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke , and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne . Nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and

10656-472: The claims of Alexios IV Angelos brother-in-law of Philip, son of the deposed emperor Isaac II Angelos . The reigning emperor Alexios III Angelos had made no preparation. The Crusaders occupied Galata , broke the defensive chain protecting the Golden Horn , and entered the harbour, where on 27 July they breached the sea walls: Alexios III fled. But the new Alexios IV Angelos found the Treasury inadequate, and

10800-403: The computational states." Philosophers such as Jerry Fodor have suggested various accounts of computation with the restriction that semantic content be a necessary condition for computation (that is, what differentiates an arbitrary physical system from a computing system is that the operands of the computation represent something). This notion attempts to prevent the logical abstraction of

10944-598: The construction of the Theodosian Walls in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new Golden Gate , reaching a total length of seven Roman miles . After the construction of the Theodosian Walls, Constantinople consisted of an area approximately the size of Old Rome within the Aurelian walls, or some 1,400 ha. The importance of Constantinople increased, but it was gradual. From the death of Constantine in 337 to

11088-513: The day preceding Passover , he slew a paschal lamb for himself and his followers, and ate it with its fat, a violation of Jewish Law. He is said to have pronounced over it the benediction: "Blessed be God who hath restored again that which was forbidden." The immense sums sent to him by his rich followers, the charms of the queenly Sarah, and the cooperation shown by the Turkish officials and others enabled Sabbatai to show off almost royal splendour in

11232-588: The death of an Emperor, they became known also for plunder in the Imperial palaces. Later in the 11th century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England . The Book of the Eparch , which dates to the 10th century, gives a detailed picture of the city's commercial life and its organization at that time. The corporations in which

11376-616: The emperors lived; the Hippodrome ; the Golden Gate of the Land Walls; and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople was founded in the 5th century and contained artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453, including its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000 volumes. The city was the home of

11520-690: The empire through their expansion in eastern Europe ( Varangians ), used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr (from mikill 'big' and garðr 'city'), and later Miklagard and Miklagarth . In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-Kubra (Great City of the Romans) and in Persian as Takht-e Rum (Throne of the Romans). In East and South Slavic languages, including in Kievan Rus' , Constantinople has been referred to as Tsargrad ( Царьград ) or Carigrad , 'City of

11664-565: The empress Irene restored the veneration of images through the agency of the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. The iconoclast controversy returned in the early 9th century, only to be resolved once more in 843 during the regency of Empress Theodora , who restored the icons. These controversies contributed to the deterioration of relations between the Western and the Eastern Churches. In

11808-528: The fable that his name was attached to the city". Some versions of the founding myth say Byzas was the son of a local nymph , while others say he was conceived by one of Zeus' daughters and Poseidon . Hesychius also gives alternate versions of the city's founding legend, which he attributed to old poets and writers: It is said that the first Argives, after having received this prophecy from Pythia,     Blessed are those who will inhabit that holy city,     a narrow strip of

11952-772: The famed Baths of Zeuxippus . At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the Milion , a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire. From the Augustaeum led a great street, the Mese , lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through

12096-512: The financial center of Turkey . In 324,following the reunification of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires, the ancient city of Byzantium was selected to serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire, and the city was renamed Nova Roma, or 'New Rome', by Emperor Constantine the Great . On 11 May 330, it was renamed Constantinople and dedicated to Constantine. Constantinople is generally considered to be

12240-401: The first Byzantine cathedral, Hagia Irene (Holy Peace). Justinian commissioned Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus to replace it with a new and incomparable Hagia Sophia . This was the great cathedral of the city, whose dome was said to be held aloft by God alone, and which was directly connected to the palace so that the imperial family could attend services without passing through

12384-500: The first half of the 17th century, millenarian ideas about the approach of the messianic time were popular. They included ideas about the redemption of the Jews and their return to the land of Israel , with independent sovereignty. The apocalyptic year was identified by Christian authors as 1666 and millenarianism was widespread in England. This belief was so prevalent that Menasseh Ben Israel , in his letter to Oliver Cromwell and

12528-492: The first wall and a moat with palisades in front. Constantinople's location between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara reduced the land area that needed defensive walls. The city was built intentionally to rival Rome , and it was claimed that several elevations within its walls matched Rome's 'seven hills'. The impenetrable defenses enclosed magnificent palaces, domes, and towers, the result of prosperity Constantinople achieved as

12672-556: The flower of the Roman armies were destroyed by the Visigoths within a few days' march, the city looked to its defences, and in 413–414 Theodosius II built the 18-metre (60-foot)-tall triple-wall fortifications , which were not to be breached until the coming of gunpowder. Theodosius also founded a University near the Forum of Taurus, on 27 February 425. Uldin , a prince of the Huns , appeared on

12816-491: The front and grown long at the back, and wide-sleeved tunics tight at the wrist; and to form gangs to engage in night-time muggings and street violence. At last these disorders took the form of a major rebellion of 532, known as the "Nika" riots (from the battle-cry of "Conquer!" of those involved). The Nika Riots began in the Hippodrome and finished there with the onslaught of over 30,000 people according to Procopius, those in

12960-463: The gateway between two continents ( Europe and Asia ) and two seas (the Mediterranean and the Black Sea). Although besieged on numerous occasions by various armies, the defenses of Constantinople proved impenetrable for nearly nine hundred years. In 1204, however, the armies of the Fourth Crusade took and devastated the city, and for several decades, its inhabitants resided under Latin occupation in

13104-490: The greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around

13248-558: The growth of the economy. It is certain that the Venetians and others were active traders in Constantinople, making a living out of shipping goods between the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer and the West, while also trading extensively with Byzantium and Egypt . The Venetians had factories on the north side of the Golden Horn, and large numbers of westerners were present in the city throughout

13392-402: The halting problem and the busy beaver game . It remains an open question as to whether there exists a more powerful definition of 'well-defined' that is able to capture both computable and 'non-computable' statements. Some examples of mathematical statements that are computable include: Some examples of mathematical statements that are not computable include: Computation can be seen as

13536-576: The heavy taxes levied by the Ottoman government. Known as the favourite of the rich and powerful Raphael Joseph Halabi in Cairo, Sabbatai was chosen to appeal to him for money and support and his success in getting the funds to pay off the Turks raised his prestige. His followers dated his public career from this journey to Cairo. Another event that took place during his second stay in Cairo helped spread Sabbatai's fame in

13680-593: The holy day. There was outrage and dissension in the communities, while many of the leaders who had been sympathetic to the movement were shocked by such radical innovations. Solomon Algazi , a prominent Talmudist of Smyrna, and other members of the rabbinate who opposed the abolition of the fast, narrowly escaped death at the hands of Sabbatai's followers. At the beginning of 1666, Sabbatai left Smyrna for Constantinople ( İstanbul in present-day Turkey ), possibly forced out by city officials. Since Nathan of Gaza had prophesied that, once in Constantinople, Sabbatai would place

13824-613: The invaders poured in. Alexios V fled. The Senate met in Hagia Sophia and offered the crown to Theodore Lascaris , who had married into the Angelos dynasty , but it was too late. He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard . Then the two of them slipped away with many of the nobility and embarked for Asia. By the next day

13968-507: The late 11th century catastrophe struck with the unexpected and calamitous defeat of the imperial armies at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes was captured. The peace terms demanded by Alp Arslan , sultan of the Seljuk Turks, were not excessive, and Romanus accepted them. On his release, however, Romanus found that enemies had placed their own candidate on

14112-496: The late Roman and early Byzantine periods, Christianity was resolving fundamental questions of identity, and the dispute between the orthodox and the monophysites became the cause of serious disorder, expressed through allegiance to the chariot-racing parties of the Blues and the Greens. The partisans of the Blues and the Greens were said to affect untrimmed facial hair, head hair shaved at

14256-524: The latest, the fall of the Severan dynasty in 235. Byzantium took on the name of Constantinople ( Greek : Κωνσταντινούπολις, romanized : Kōnstantinoupolis; "city of Constantine") after its refoundation under Roman emperor Constantine I , who transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 330 and designated his new capital officially as Nova Roma ( Νέα Ῥώμη ) 'New Rome'. During this time,

14400-411: The mapping account of pancomputationalism , the idea that everything can be said to be computing everything. Gualtiero Piccinini proposes an account of computation based on mechanical philosophy . It states that physical computing systems are types of mechanisms that, by design, perform physical computation, or the manipulation (by a functional mechanism) of a "medium-independent" vehicle according to

14544-471: The messianic movement that developed around Zevi's activities. Along with general messianic beliefs, there was another computation , based on a passage in the Zohar (a famous Jewish mystical text), that Israel would be redeemed by the long-awaited Jewish Messiah in 1648. In 1648, Sabbatai announced to his followers in Smyrna that he was the anticipated messianic redeemer. To prove this, he started to pronounce

14688-526: The mid-17th century. The bloody pogroms of Bohdan Khmelnytsky during the cossack riots had wiped out an estimated 10,000 - 20,000 Jews in Eastern Europe and destroyed many centres of Jewish learning and communal life. For most of the Jews of Europe, therefore, this was a propitious moment for the messiah to deliver the promised salvation. Probably with his consent, Sabbatai's adherents planned to abolish many ritualistic observances because, according to

14832-457: The miraculous deeds "the Messiah" was supposedly performing in the Turkish capital, and the messianic expectations in the Jewish diasporas continued to rise. After two months' imprisonment in Constantinople, Sabbatai was moved to the state prison-castle at Abydos accompanied by some of his friends. The Sabbataians then renamed the fortress Migdal Oz (Tower [of] Strength). As Sabbatai had arrived on

14976-476: The news be confirmed, it may bring about a revolution in all things." Sabbatai's followers soon included many prominent rabbis, such as Isaac Aboab da Fonseca , Moses Raphael de Aguilar , Moshe ben Yonatan Galante , Moses ben Mordecai Zacuto , and Chaim Benveniste. Benjamin Musaphia , an adherent of Spinoza , also became a follower. Meanwhile, fantastic reports circulated and were widely believed. For example, it

15120-800: The numbers of individual with descent from the group. They have been described as presenting themselves as Muslim in public whilst practising their own forms of messianic/mystical Jewish beliefs in private. Some claim that Dönme still play a role in Turkish politics (one of interference), particularly some political parties in Turkey like the MHP . However, others dismiss it as an antisemitic conspiracy theory . The Dönme eventually split into three sects, each with quite different beliefs, as Ottoman Jewish scholars Abraham Danon , and Joseph Néhama pointed out in French-language Jewish Studies journal articles over

15264-699: The oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second Senate-house and a high column with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of Helios , crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the Forum Tauri and then the Forum Bovis , and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the Constantinian Wall . After

15408-415: The people rose again: Alexios IV was imprisoned and executed, and Murzuphlos took the purple as Alexios V Doukas . He made some attempt to repair the walls and organise the citizenry, but there had been no opportunity to bring in troops from the provinces and the guards were demoralised by the revolution. An attack by the Crusaders on 6 April failed, but a second from the Golden Horn on 12 April succeeded, and

15552-488: The pious life of a mystic in Smyrna for several years, the older, more established rabbinic leadership was suspicious of his activities and the local college of rabbis. Headed by his teacher, Joseph Escapa , they kept a watchful eye on him. When his messianic pretensions became too bold, he and his followers were subjected to an edict of ḥerem , a type of excommunication in Judaism . In about 1651 (according to others, 1654),

15696-456: The prison at Abydos. Accounts of his life there were exaggerated and spread among Jews in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in some parts of Europe, Jews began to unroof their houses and prepare for a new "exodus". In almost every synagogue, Sabbatai's initials were posted, and prayers for him were inserted in the following form: "Bless our Lord and King, the holy and righteous Sabbatai Zevi, the Messiah of

15840-462: The rabbis banished Sabbatai and his disciples from Smyrna. It is uncertain where he went from there, but by 1658, he surfaced in Constantinople . There, he met a preacher, Abraham Yachini a disciple of the Talmudic scholar Joseph Trani , who confirmed his messianic mission. Yachini is said to have forged a manuscript in archaic characters which bore testimony to Sabbatai's claim to being the Messiah. It

15984-627: The religious processions of the clergy. He removed Theodora from the Great Palace to the Carian Palace and later to the monastery of Gastria , but, after the death of Bardas, she was released to live in the palace of St Mamas; she also had a rural residence at the Anthemian Palace, where Michael was assassinated in 867. In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir , two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through

16128-401: The removal of unpopular ministers. It played a crucial role during the riots and in times of political unrest. The Hippodrome provided a space for a crowd to be responded to positively or where the acclamations of a crowd were subverted, resorting to the riots that would ensue in coming years. In the time of Justinian, public order in Constantinople became a critical political issue. Throughout

16272-508: The sacred city. On his way from Jerusalem to Smyrna, Sabbatai was greeted enthusiastically in Aleppo . In Smyrna, which he reached in the autumn of 1665, great homage was paid to him. After some hesitation, he declared himself to be the expected Messiah during Rosh Hashanah in 1665; his declaration was made in the synagogue , with the blowing of shofars , and shouts of "Long live our King, our Messiah!" His followers then began to refer to him with

16416-570: The ship of the commander Belisarius was anchored in front of the Imperial palace, and the Patriarch offered prayers for the success of the enterprise. After the victory, in 534, the Temple treasure of Jerusalem , looted by the Romans in AD ;70 and taken to Carthage by the Vandals after their sack of Rome in 455, was brought to Constantinople and deposited for a time, perhaps in the Church of St Polyeuctus , before being returned to Jerusalem in either

16560-533: The sons of Israel, Peace! Since ye have been deemed worthy to behold the great day and the fulfilment of God's word by the Prophets, your lament and sorrow must be changed into joy, and your fasting into merriment; for ye shall weep no more. Rejoice with song and melody, and change the day formerly spent in sadness and sorrow into a day of jubilee, because I have appeared. Primo's message was considered blasphemous, as Sabbatai wanted to celebrate his own birthday rather than

16704-466: The streets. "The architectural form of the building was meant to reflect Justinian programmatic harmony: the circular dome (a symbol of secular authority in classical Roman architecture) would be harmoniously combined with the rectangular form (typical for Christian and pre-Christian temples)." The dedication took place on 26 December 537 in the presence of the emperor, who was later reported to have exclaimed, "O Solomon , I have outdone thee!" Hagia Sophia

16848-416: The sultan, cast off his Jewish garb and put a Turkish turban on his head, thereby accomplishing his conversion to Islam. Satisfied, the sultan rewarded Sabbatai by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) Effendi , and appointing him as his doorkeeper on a generous salary. Sarah and approximately 300 families among his followers also converted to Islam. Thereafter these new Muslims were known as Dönme. Sabbatai

16992-413: The throne in his absence; he surrendered to them and suffered death by torture, and the new ruler, Michael VII Ducas, refused to honour the treaty. In response, the Turks began to move into Anatolia in 1073. The collapse of the old defensive system meant that they met no opposition, and the empire's resources were distracted and squandered in a series of civil wars. Thousands of Turkoman tribesmen crossed

17136-419: The title clarus , not clarissimus , like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of

17280-404: The title AMIRAH, a Hebrew acronym for the phrase "Our Lord and King, his Majesty be exalted" ( Adoneinu Malkeinu Yarum Hodo ). Assisted by his wife, Sabbatai became the leader of the community and used his power to crush any opposition. He deposed the existing rabbi of Smyrna, Aaron Lapapa , and appointed Chaim Benveniste in his place. His fame began to extend far and wide. Italy, Germany, and

17424-621: The tobacco and textile trades. They established progressive schools and some members became politically active. Many joined the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the revolutionary party known as the Young Turks . With the major Dönmeh city of Selanik (now Thessaloniki) becoming part of Greece in 1912, Greece expelled the Muslims, including the Dönme, from its territory, with most migrating to Turkey. This

17568-475: The tradesmen of Constantinople were organised were supervised by the Eparch, who regulated such matters as production, prices, import, and export. Each guild had its own monopoly, and tradesmen might not belong to more than one. It is an impressive testament to the strength of tradition how little these arrangements had changed since the office, then known by the Latin version of its title, had been set up in 330 to mirror

17712-513: The unguarded frontier and moved into Anatolia. By 1080, a huge area had been lost to the Empire, and the Turks were within striking distance of Constantinople. Under the Komnenian dynasty (1081–1185), Byzantium staged a remarkable recovery. In 1090–91, the nomadic Pechenegs reached the walls of Constantinople, where Emperor Alexius I with the aid of the Kipchaks annihilated their army. In response to

17856-450: The urban prefecture of Rome. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Constantinople had a population of between 500,000 and 800,000. In the 8th and 9th centuries, the iconoclast movement caused serious political unrest throughout the Empire. The emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against images, and ordered the destruction of a statue of Christ over one of the doors of the Chalke, an act that

18000-607: The view. During Justinian I's reign, the city's population reached about 500,000 people. However, the social fabric of Constantinople was also damaged by the onset of the Plague of Justinian between 541 and 542 AD. It killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants. In the early 7th century, the Avars and later the Bulgars overwhelmed much of the Balkans , threatening Constantinople with attack from

18144-487: The wealthiest provinces of the Empire. Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330. Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis. Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a proconsul , rather than an urban prefect . It had no praetors , tribunes , or quaestors . Although it did have senators, they held

18288-647: The west. Simultaneously, the Persian Sassanids overwhelmed the Prefecture of the East and penetrated deep into Anatolia . Heraclius , son of the exarch of Africa, set sail for the city and assumed the throne. He found the military situation so dire that he is said to have contemplated withdrawing the imperial capital to Carthage, but relented after the people of Constantinople begged him to stay. The citizens lost their right to free grain in 618 when Heraclius realized that

18432-612: Was a poultry dealer in the Morea . During the war between Turkey and Venice , Smyrna became the center of Levantine trade and Mordecai became the Smyrna agent of an English trading house, achieving some wealth in the process. In accordance with the prevailing Jewish custom of the time, Sabbatai's father had him study the Talmud . He attended a yeshiva under the rabbi of Smyrna, Joseph Escapa . Studies in halakha , or Jewish law, did not appeal to him, but apparently Zevi did attain proficiency in

18576-499: Was a part of the messianic scheme. Those such as Nathan of Gaza and Primo who were interested in maintaining the movement encouraged such belief. In many communities, the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av were still observed as feast-days in spite of bans and excommunications by the rabbis. At times Sabbatai assumed the role of a pious Muslim and reviled Judaism; at others he associated with Jews as one of their own faith. In March, 1668, he announced that he had been filled with

18720-455: Was a revival in the mosaic art, for example: Mosaics became more realistic and vivid, with an increased emphasis on depicting three-dimensional forms. There was an increased demand for art, with more people having access to the necessary wealth to commission and pay for such work. On 25 July 1197, Constantinople was struck by a severe fire which burned the Latin Quarter and the area around

18864-525: Was entitled The Great Wisdom of Solomon , and began: I, Abraham, was confined in a cave for forty years, and I wondered greatly that the time of miracles did not arrive. Then was heard a voice proclaiming, "A son will be born in the Hebrew year 5386 [the year 1626 CE] to Mordecai Zevi; and he will be called Shabbethai. He will humble the great dragon; ... he, the true Messiah, will sit upon My throne." Armed with this document, Sabbatai chose Salonica , at that time

19008-420: Was fiercely resisted by the citizens. Constantine V convoked a church council in 754 , which condemned the worship of images, after which many treasures were broken, burned, or painted over with depictions of trees, birds or animals: One source refers to the church of the Holy Virgin at Blachernae as having been transformed into a "fruit store and aviary". Following the death of her husband Leo IV in 780,

19152-400: Was finalized with the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey . By the mid-20th century they were becoming highly assimilated. Although little is known about them, various groups called Dönme continue to follow Sabbatai Zevi today, mostly in Turkey . Estimates of the numbers vary. As of 2016 there are 'perhaps 2,000' believing Dönme still living in Turkey, though this is dwarfed by

19296-401: Was financed by a special tax on all the subjects of the Empire. Theodora, widow of the Emperor Theophilus (died 842), acted as regent during the minority of her son Michael III , who was said to have been introduced to dissolute habits by her brother Bardas. When Michael assumed power in 856, he became known for excessive drunkenness, appeared in the hippodrome as a charioteer and burlesqued

19440-460: Was founded by the Roman emperor Constantine I (272–337) in 324 on the site of an already-existing city, Byzantium , which was settled in the early days of Greek colonial expansion , in around 657 BC, by colonists of the city-state of Megara . This is the first major settlement that would develop on the site of later Constantinople, but the first known settlements was that of Lygos , referred to in Pliny's Natural Histories. Apart from this, little

19584-607: Was heard singing Psalms with Jews, to a small town known today as Ulcinj in present-day Montenegro . He later died in isolation. Sabbatai Zevi was born in the Ottoman city of Smyrna , supposedly on Tisha B'Av 1626, the Jewish holy day of mourning. In Hebrew Sabbatai means Saturn , and in Jewish tradition "the reign of Sabbatai", the highest planet, was often linked to the advent of the Messiah. Zevi's family were from Patras and either of Ashkenazi origins (according to Encyclopaedia Judaica ) or of Spanish descent (according to The Jewish Encyclopedia ). His father, Mordecai,

19728-431: Was located), Pontus and Asia comparable to the 100-mile extraordinary jurisdiction of the prefect of Rome. The emperor Valens , who hated the city and spent only one year there, nevertheless built the Palace of Hebdomon on the shore of the Propontis near the Golden Gate , probably for use when reviewing troops. All the emperors up to Zeno and Basiliscus were crowned and acclaimed at the Hebdomon. Theodosius I founded

19872-431: Was ordered to take a second wife to confirm his conversion. Some days afterwards, he wrote to the community in Smyrna: "God has made me an Ishmaelite; He commanded, and it was done. The ninth day of my regeneration." Sabbatai's conversion devastated his followers, and Muslims and Christians alike ridiculed them. In spite of his apostasy , many of his adherents still clung to their belief in him, claiming that his conversion

20016-424: Was said to have a good voice, and attracted large audiences when he sang psalms all night long, or Spanish love-songs to which he gave mystical interpretations. At other times he prayed and cried at the graves of pious men and women or distributed sweetmeats to children on the streets. Gradually he gathered a larger circle of adherents. At the time the Jewish community in Jerusalem was in dire need of money to pay

20160-421: Was said, "In the north of Scotland a ship had appeared with silken sails and ropes, manned by sailors who spoke Hebrew . The flag bore the inscription 'The Twelve Tribes of Israel'." The Jewish community of Avignon , France prepared to emigrate to the new kingdom in the spring of 1666. Jewish readiness to believe Sabbatai Zevi's messianic claims may largely be explained by the desperate state of European Jewry in

20304-438: Was served by 600 people including 80 priests, and cost 20,000 pounds of gold to build. Justinian also had Anthemius and Isidore demolish and replace the original Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Irene built by Constantine with new churches under the same dedication. The Justinianic Church of the Holy Apostles was designed in the form of an equal-armed cross with five domes, and ornamented with beautiful mosaics. This church

20448-427: Was to remain the burial place of the emperors from Constantine himself until the 11th century. When the city fell to the Turks in 1453, the church was demolished to make room for the tomb of Mehmet II the Conqueror. Justinian was also concerned with other aspects of the city's built environment, legislating against the abuse of laws prohibiting building within 100 ft (30 m) of the sea front, in order to protect

20592-434: Was unable to make good the rewards he had promised to his western allies. Tension between the citizens and the Latin soldiers increased. In January 1204, the protovestiarius Alexios Murzuphlos provoked a riot, it is presumed, to intimidate Alexios IV, but whose only result was the destruction of the great statue of Athena Promachos , the work of Phidias , which stood in the principal forum facing west. In February 1204,

20736-432: Was visited by Dönme pilgrims from Salonika until the early 20th century. "By the 1680s, the Dönme had congregated in Salonica, the cosmopolitan and majority-Jewish city in Ottoman Greece. For the next 250 years, they would lead an independent communal life—intermarrying, doing business together, maintaining their own shrines, and handing down their secret traditions." By the 19th century, the Dönme had become prominent in

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