Who Controlled Constantinople The Longest?

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CREDITS:
Produced by Matt Baker
Script by Syawish Rehman & Theodor Tronêt
Narration & Animation by Syawish Rehman
Audio editing by Ali Shahwaiz
Theme music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. Available from incompetech.com

[@xaviotesharris891]

Just spent a month in Istanbul, and I'm here to say the cats aren't exactly feral and aren't even exactly strays. Most will let you pet them, and some will come sit in your lap. They are, basically, the well-fed collective outdoor pets of the citizens of Istanbul.

[@OhTheDeliciousIrony]

When on a 10-day holiday in Turkey with my family last December and I agree. The cats of Istanbul are similar to the community cats of Singapore.

[@mmtalii]

I lived in İstanbul for 4 years and have family members living there since 80s and you are %100 right. I want to add that I some cafes have their own cats they look after and some people(including my aunt) has their dedicated stash of cat food for those 'stray cats'.

[@csmatthew]

‘Public Cats’ is the term I’ve heard

[@aynenhaklsnkesinlikle7363]

😊😊9😅😊​@@OhTheDeliciousIrony

[@dannyarcher6370]

I think I'm gonna have to move there.

[@muthanna8804]

All middle east cities qualify for videos like this

[@elenilepouri7253]

Before Konstantpole it was the Greek city Byzantio and then East rome. Most of western peoole did not recognize the east Rome empire as true romans even they refered to themself as such bcs of the ancient Rome heritage. There were seen by many as a Hellenizated empire- Imperium Graecorum - continued by Rome and just kept the name. So it was Grecoroman but with Greek culture language names etc. Konstanpolis is a Greek name So can considers Greeks had from 7th cen bc untill 15th

[@q-tuber7034]

“Ruled longest by the Romans, except for a brief period when it was sacked by the Romans”

[@praevasc4299]

As if no other country ever had a civil war...

[@faustusliviuspraetextatus6773]

@@praevasc4299 Sacked by the romans who were not legally roman

[@q-tuber7034]

@@praevasc4299 in this case not a civil war, but the sack and takeover of a Greek city by Germans.

[@JonManProductions]

@@q-tuber7034 who claimed to be the actual holy romans by suzerainty of the Pope in Rome lmao

[@Mimi.1001]

​@praevasc4299 To be fair, the Romans are kinda known for their civil wars, much like China to some extent or any large empire with glory to attain for that matter who didn't do much to prevent that from happening (like the Ottoman killing all brothers thing, even though they still had their fair share). With the Romans like every odd emperor had some pretenders rising up at the same time or elite units / minorities revolting, especially when the previous emperor/ruler didn't think much of succession.

[@hoangkimviet8545]

The Persian reign in Constantinople compared to the whole history of the city was like a second in a minute.

[@tylerellis9097]

@IStevenSeagal The city has never been under Arab control.

[@mlgdigimon]

the arabs controlled the land past the bhosphorus and even had farms durring there seiges@IStevenSeagal

[@cristosl]

There was never a "Persian" reign in Constantinople

[@Moviesandshows_pr]

Achaemenids controlled Byzantium,thrace and Macedonia​@@cristosl

[@Pardisc13895]

@@cristoslyes their was The Persian empire had conquered constantinople its just that it was earlier then the greek, Roman , turkish rule it was during the Persian ackamenid dynasty btw

[@mism847]

The right answer is the Roman Empire.

[@EarlHebert-c8w]

It always is.

[@Kolious_Thrace]

Byzantion wasn’t Roman… It began Roman but very quickly things turned into Hellenic! Language, traditions, religion, the people… we had nothing to do with the Romans!

[@IamSome1]

​@@Kolious_Thraceit was the Roman empire till the very end, Greek was a lingua franca in the east since the Full Roman empire, not to say what you are writing about is wrong, but it's wrong factually.

[@colombianmonarchist]

​@@Kolious_Thracethe romans itself dont define the state like that

[@Kolious_Thrace]

@@IamSome1 so, Hellas never existed? Just because Rome conquered us that doesn’t mean that we vanished from the world! For a looong time we were part of their empire, we were NOT romans! We were Roman citizens! As well as French, Germans, Egyptians… all of these ethnicities we were Roman citizens, we lived under their influence. Byzantion was not Rome! Most of our emperors were Hellenes not Romans… latin was quickly abandoned and the language of our people🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 used through the whole Byzantine empire. A common mistake thy many non natives do is that: “You called yourselves Romans” Actually no! There are two different terms but in your ears sound the same: Ρωμαίος > Roméos Ρωμιός > Romiós Romèos was the Roman Latin citizen Romiós was the Hellene Orthodox citizen! We were Romii not Romans! A term adopted becaus me for many years our name Hellas was equivalent of the old pagan religion. So, it was forbidden to use it as from that point we were Orthodox Christians. Romios: Hellene in the origin without telling the term Hellas, and Orthodox. While Romèos meant Roman! Latin in origin and pagan worshipper of the West before they also adopted Christianity.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

The real controller of Istanbul is the cats.

[@Goldenskies__]

That's cute. I can support the CAToman Empire. Sultan Kedi has no enemies, everybody loves him 😉❤

[@filipefernandes870]

The cats are the Roman spirits who still walk in their city.

[@VergiliosSpatulas]

Constantinople*

[@filipefernandes870]

@@VergiliosSpatulas let me be annoying and also mention Konstantinoupolis(If I got that right) 😆

[@Agripapost]

"Byzantine Empire" is only an academic term. In reality it was still the Roman Empire.

[@Ciech_mate]

I like that, it puts a lot of internal conflicts in my head to rest.

[@eugenegenoff3669]

ORIGINALLY known as: the Mighty Republic

[@Kolious_Thrace]

Byzantion began as Roman but things turned around very quickly! We were not Romans! Language, traditions, religion, the people… noting to do with Rome! Byzantion was Hellenic and Orthodox🇬🇷☦️

[@Agripapost]

@@Kolious_Thrace ethnic identities can be abandoned and reclaimed. your ancestors abandoned greek ethnicity because it was synonymous, at the time, with greek religion. greek became an extinct ethnic identity exactly as roman is now.

[@NikeonaBike]

@@Kolious_Thrace if they werent roman why did they call themselves Ῥωμαῖοι ?

[@wiaamhaddad8550]

Official renaming from Constantinople to Istanbul happened during the Turkish republic. During the Ottoman era it was always officially Constantinople.

[@7poppiesist]

Konstantiniyye

[@DonJuan911]

​@@7poppiesistthat's the official name of the city in ottoman turkish/Arabic but the English name is Constantinople just like Beijing is called Peking in German. Different languages have different names.

[@praevasc4299]

The Turks seem to have an issue with the names of their country and cities being translated to other languages. They insisted everyone calls Constantinople Istanbul, and recently they even demanded that the name of their country shall not be translated to other languages, but to use "Türkiye" instead. Which is quite a big double standard, for example they call Germany as "Almanya" instead of "Deutschland". So it's quite absurd they demand their country's name not to be translated, while they do translate the names of other countries.

[@Dr.Happy11]

​@@praevasc4299it's not that absurd on their behalf, just simply SDE.

[@benjiskyler7836]

I'm not told New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say. They just liked it better way.

[@pedromenchik1961]

I think a Cairo video on the same mold would be fun!

[@MohamedAli20244]

I'm sure you mean Alexandria because cairo was built and controlled by muslims only the British and the French managed to control and rule it for some time

[@davidroddini1512]

A video about Cairo mold? That would be different for sure.

[@juanfervalencia]

or Alsasce-Lorraine

[@Screwycummings]

@@juanfervalencia I'm thinking the same thing. It'll be interesting to see whether it's more French or German.

[@stevenemil9052]

The geographical area of greater cairo dates back to pharohes, it was called Heliopolis or Iunu so a video about it would be great I think and span a very long period of time.

[@decir6743]

26:35 that song can't get out of my HEAD!!

[@bblunder]

Didn't realize it until now hahaha

[@spencereades]

Why did Constantinople get the works... 36 times?

[@socialcontracttheory]

came here looking for the other TMBG fans. i am glad im leaving without feeling disappointed

[@tarafahomsy]

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam 😊

[@revinhatol]

Turkish delight, anyone?

[@janmelantu7490]

My favorite name for Istanbul is its Old Norse name: Miklagarðr. Mikla- being a cognate of Mega- and Much, and -garðr being the same root as Asgard and Midgard (often used for cities, Kyiv also has an Old Norse name, Kænugarðr). Basically, the Vikings called it a Megacity long before it was cool

[@ophirbactrius8285]

Aha its also known as "Tsargrad" by the Kievan-Russ fellas. 😃😃

[@concept5631]

Damn

[@forzaacmilan36]

Bruh I just learned that from Vinland saga

[@nurettinsarul]

Only the Turks can name their own city and they have done anyway. İSTANBUL

[@stsk1061]

​@@nurettinsarulTake care of your inflation, first of all.

[@Jacob-W-5570]

Fun fact in the 1990/2000's my school's Atlas still listed the city as "Constantinople (locally known as Istanbul)"

[@Dr.Happy11]

true OGs 💪🗿

[@omerunlusoy]

so it still hurts

[@siyacer]

lol

[@kylezdancewicz7346]

What country are you in?

[@kylezdancewicz7346]

You know the largest city in the USA is new Amsterdam (locally known as New York.

[@imbyron5356]

I like the history of cities videos. You should keep making them. Maybe not in the who controlled the longest format. Cities like Tokyo, Cairo or Mexico city would be fun.

[@mrXOwarrior]

I feel they have an agenda to talk about how great Islamic rule has been for great cities of Constantinople and Jerusalem, and that other leadership of other religions or societies are incompetent rulers.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Imagine thinking getting rid of icones rather than military reform is what you need when losing in many wars.

[@isthatrubble]

interestingly, when it's described in such basic terms that could almost refer to the english reformation as well

[@phosphorusgold2391]

I think it's important to mention the "Catalan Vengeance" (1305-1307). The mercenaries from the Catalan Company were managing to turn the tide on the war against the Ottomans in Anatolia, but their commander, Roger de Flor, was assassinated in a banquet by the son of the Byzantine emperor. This resulted in a revolt of the mercenary company which sacked and burnt most cities in the Byzantine Empire and actually conquered modern day Greece. The destruction was such that until 2015, Catalan citizens were forbidden to go to Mount Athos. Byzantium was done for after all this betrayal and destruction, and lost Anatolia shortly after.

[@concept5631]

Assassinating a key political figure at the worst possible moment. They truly were Romans to the end.

[@isuckatleague745]

Sounds like byzantine betrayed catalans :D why kill their commander and accuse them of betrayal. Fuck around and find out angle

[@phosphorusgold2391]

@@isuckatleague745 They were indeed betrayed, but it is understandable from their perspective: The Catalans were a bit rape-y and sacking all the cities they conquered, the Byzantines were starting to owe them tons of money and Roger the Flor was getting stronger by the day (both in political, monetary and military aspects). So the assassination was a plan to save Bysantine power, as they thought the Catalan mercenaries would disband after it. But they miscalculated.

[@its_dey_mate]

The fall of the Balkans can largely be attributed to the incompetency of the Byzantines at that particular period in time, but hey, that's history.

[@imperator7828]

@@isuckatleague745 why dont you present the opposite perspective? Why did the byzantines do it ? GO ON

[@Nannerchan]

Under whose reign did the city become cat central?

[@UsefulCharts]

I answer that as well.

[@mmtalii]

OMG too many cats for no reason how cute=Turks.

[@efeaydinli25]

turks , from our papers while plauges happens in 1600s sultan took many cats from anatolia for pests and rats and it works

[@omarosama155]

Constantinople belongs to the Republic of Madagascar🇲🇬!!!

[@jadobied1065]

Real

[@danielkarsten2816]

I need more evidence

[@davidroddini1512]

Madagascar? Why Madagascar?

[@CarlosAdrianAguirre-hp9fv]

Finally someone talking some sense.

[@ShonMardani]

Constantinople is actually Constanti-noble and is a Farsi word "کسانی که نوآورند - kesani-ke-no-avarand" which means "Those who are innovative/Those who bring new things".

[@georgios_5342]

9:40 this is how the hymn "Ti Ypermacho" was created, it is a hymn to the Virgin Mary, who is referred to as the "Supreme Commander"

[@asdert6588]

27:12 Ottoman's didn't pick the wrong side in WW1 because they had only 1 choice. They needed an ally against growing Russian danger on their borders and French and British didn't support Ottomans joining to the allies.

[@OnLowBattery]

I went to Istanbul almost a year ago, Hearing all that history made it even cooler.

[@VergiliosSpatulas]

Constantinople*

[@szymeq.haizaki4898]

​@@DARK78521Constantinopole* your comment is also for muslims, who conquered Byzantine Empire and killed all real Turkeys.

[@ruyfernandez]

0:06 Two years ago?! Time passes so quickly!

[@danfsteeple]

Ρωμαίους 🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷☦️☦️☦️

[@dimitrosskrippka2154]

1919-1922 Istanbul was controlled by UK, and in 1878 it was almost taken by Russian Empire

[@W1mzyy]

yeah you re right

[@sadooww]

It was a occupied zone and it was a international zone. It was occupied, not conquered. The Turks won the war and the UK gave it back

[@dimitrosskrippka2154]

@@sadooww doesn’t it mean it was controlled?

[@cemdursun]

@@dimitrosskrippka2154 Yes and no. Officially it was still the Ottoman government in control but as a puppet of the British :)

[@VergiliosSpatulas]

Constantinople*

[@Tinil0]

Hmmm, I wonder why the choice was made to not include two sieges? Leo Tornikios's seige in 1047 is included as well as Andronikos IV Palaiologos's in 1376 but not Theodosius III/the Opsician Theme's in 715. And the first Latin seige in 1203 before the famous one in 1204. Also, some of the comments on the video are a mess. It's crazy how political some people find the city even all these centuries later.

[@JamesFischer_35]

Ottomans mostly called the city as: Dersaadet: Gate of Happiness Payitaht: Pillar of the Throne / Capital Konstantinopolis / Konstantiniyye : City of Constantine Im not 100% sure but İstanbul must be derived from Constantinople, not Islam - Islambol. (Islambol could be derived from Istanbul as you mentined) Constantinople ---> In Turkish: Konstantiniyye or Konstantinopolis (city of Constantine) Konstantinopolis ---> kon-STAN-tino-POL-is ---> ISTANBUL... This makes sense imo.

[@lyricistrito]

tysm for the song references at ~26:30 🤧

[@Amibingus]

Now you should do it with rome !

[@TheRatOnFire_]

Controlled by Rome. Then the Papal States. Then Italy. Done.

[@pas-giaw6055]

Not as interesting

[@joshuataylor3550]

Do it with your mum

[@tylerellis9097]

@@TheRatOnFire_ Nah you forgot Odoacer and the Ostrogoths, multiple HRE Emperors also directly ruled from there like Otto III.

[@GrigRP]

@@joshuataylor3550 Chav

[@incompetech_kmac]

Good content

[@CrackleJue]

I think because you are not familiar with the Arabic language, I think that the word “Fatih" and " conqueror” are not in the same meaning. Faith does not mean the word “occupation” at all. Faith is coming from verb open. There is a difference between the word “Fatih” and the word “occupation” and the word “Fatih” means that the city was besieged for a long period of time and then this army conquered it. You must correct the terminology that you use before presenting it. "الفاتح".: Fatih"

[@XY-uc1tw]

Turks mostly do not speak Arabic. They use word Fatih as "conqueror”. In Arabic it could have different meaning.

[@adamfarmer7665]

@@XY-uc1tw not mostly, turks don't speak arabic, they speak turkish which has no connection to the language arabic, its an asian language from central asia.

[@XY-uc1tw]

@@adamfarmer7665 you are right but it chanced since 2015. More than 10 mil. Arabs live in Turkey now.

[@adamfarmer7665]

@@XY-uc1tw immigrants are not turks. being a turk is a race and it has its own culture.

[@ahmetgunay91]

Fatih: conqueror, fetih: conquest in Turkish

[@rosskourtis9602]

For Greeks who keep calling the Eastern Roman Empire "Greek", ask yourself: are they Greek or are modern Greeks actually Roman? I myself am Greek, but I have to accept that modern Greece has been profoundly influenced by Rome and is arguably the most direct continuation of the Roman Empire-culturally speaking. That's not to say that we cannot or should not call ourselves Greek, but I think we should reclaim our Roman name as well. Why should we shun our Roman heritage? Rome was a great civilisation.

[@user-jh9nx6tl1n]

Greeks in Turkey still call themselves Roman.

[@txikitofandango]

The national term "Greek" was adopted in the 18th century by Greek-speaking Romans under Ottoman rule, right?

[@rosskourtis9602]

​@@txikitofandango It was adopted during the revolution, which started in 1821. There were many reasons for the revival of the term, one of which was that some of the leaders of the revolution were western-educated and, thus, misinformed about the Eastern Empire.

[@Pagokeraunos]

It's the same thing. Ethnicaly Greeks, politicaly Roman. We had been the Roman empire for so long it became integral part of our identity.

[@captainvanisher988]

Greek 100%. Ethnically, culturally, religiously and linguistically Greek. More particularly Hellenic. Roman was only a civic name or otherwise called "official name". The DPRK calls themselves democratic, is it democratic though? As for Rome and Roman civilization, the truth is that Greek influence inside Rome was far stronger than any influence Rome had over the Greek provinces. Most Ceasars spoke Greek in private during the united republic of Rome. So in a sense it would be more accurate to call the Roman empire, Greek than to call the Eastern Roman empire Italian. The modern successor of the Eastern Roman Empire is Greece, no matter how much people seethe.

[@Konstantinos3631]

really? Eastern rome was greece. Fucking don't understand why anyone thinks otherwise

[@AQJ_DK]

@1:00 Not to forget "City of World's desire"

[@Orianna_Bumssen321]

It was still called Constantinople during Ottoman Times it wasnt renamed to Istanbul officially until Mustafa Kemal Attaturk came to power.

[@DobyTheElf]

Konstantiniyye

[@omerunlusoy]

Atam beee, bir kere daha gururlandım!

[@captainvanisher988]

@@DobyTheElf that's just a translation of Constantinople in Turkish. Same way Germans call Beijing Peking.

[@nikorasunippon2371]

🇬🇷☦️

[@kuvikina]

''The city of world's desire''

[@HannahHäggAutisticTransWoman]

Byzation, constantinople and now Istanbul. Three names for one city

[@ophirbactrius8285]

Always forever Constantinople@Qunstantiniyyah 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[@jackholler3572]

​@@ophirbactrius8285 Uhmmm not sure about that 😂😂

[@monsieur558]

They change the name, which is better than changing a gender 💀

[@christopherdawson233]

You should do Thomas Jefferson family tree.

[@HowlinAndyDE]

This was great... i always wondered about that. Would be great to see something similar about Sicily or the south of Italy.

[@joaomarques4030]

I'd suggest Cairo as the next city to look at :)

[@BinanceUSD]

Constantine looks like Mark Zuckerberg

[@stevetournay6103]

Well he said Byzantium was founded by that Amazon guy, so why not...😁

[@AbuTate69]

Maybe it’s his 500x greatest grandad

[@TangerineCreamsickle]

"It's nobody's business but the Turks"? Uh, maybe the native population? Imagine saying this about any other indigenous land that was colonized by foreign imperialists. Incoherence.

[@Hiroakiarai88]

refeerence to a song

[@ahmetgunay91]

If every generation had a children in Istanbul when they were 50, there would be 9 generation there. Not to mention most people having kids around 20-30…

[@mertnecati875]

Oh the native population? Turks live there since some 600 years. Not enough time? Who is the native of Istanbul? Lately during subway work they discovered a Neolithic village. Maybe your ancestors came to Istanbul from one of their own colonies. Anatolia was colonized several times already before Turks. Yet something about them hurts you so much.

[@Hiroakiarai88]

@mertnecati875 another man who can only turn to history for his coping mechanisms. Common

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

What? Useful Charts without the voice of Matt Baker? What's going on here?

[@davidhunt6508]

It's not the first time. He occasionally has others narrate videos, I think ones they created, or are particularly passionate about.

[@JustinLe]

you must be new to the channel 😂 there have been guest hosts for years

[@lucinae8512]

That's Syawish from Al Muqaddimah, he's pretty much done all the videos relating to Islamic history because of his familiarity and better pronunciations. He's also done a few other videos recently due to Matt being sick or busy!

[@revinhatol]

Remember Jack Rackam?

[@Freefs1]

I've been watching a lot of this channel's videos recently, and around 6 episodes in, I realized that in these videos you do not state any of your sources, which made me question the reliability of these videos. I'd encourage you to state your sources in the description or somewhere to ensure that your videos are reliable.

[@VoidLantadd]

Read "The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium" by Anthony Kaldellis if you want an up to date account of everything they mentioned from Constantine refounding the city to Mehmed's Conquest of it. Having read extensively on Roman history, the video was largely accurate, though skipped over a lot of history for the sake of the length of the video.

[@Freefs1]

@@VoidLantadd I get it, but it's not the viewer's job to do the research and verify the facts, these should be presented by the creator instead.

[@sophiafayz7909]

I love History!

[@Historynerd4931]

Obviously the Romans

[@captainvanisher988]

aka modern Greeks

[@kknoesis]

Μacedonia was Greece mate... Its was a Hellenic kingdom with Hellenic Doric people.. Moreover there were not Greece with contemporary's term it was city states with hellenic people...

[@haksrax39]

He did count macedonian as greek?

[@kknoesis]

@@haksrax39 At 2:09 says Anatolia, Macedonia and Greece. There were not political entity of Greece.. it was Greek States and greek Macedonian kingdom

[@tarafahomsy]

So the city belongs to the cats after all ❤

[@omerunlusoy]

I live in İstanbul but I cannot deny

[@jefflanam]

Now do Rome. I don't think it would beat Jerusalem or Constantinople for most of anything, but it would be interesting.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

Yea that arabic writing in the Hagija Sofija would not have been there when Justinian saw it. 9:10

[@davidwright7193]

There would have been a mosaic of Christ on a gold background there. Assuming that other Orthodox Church domes are modelled on it,

[@UsefulCharts]

Unfortunately, no one was smart enough to take a photo of the time Justinian entered it.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@UsefulCharts A shame really.

[@omerunlusoy]

Well, it is there now, get over it

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

@@omerunlusoy I am a man who isnt particularly bothered by things he cant change. Fear if I ever get godlike powers tho, then the turks will be driven from Thace.

[@Alex-ll3ig]

Make the video about Serbian capital Belgrade and region of Kosovo and Metohija

[@Frahamen]

He said the thing! :D

[@AceticTWO]

Thats a banger right there

[@Rationalific]

Very informative video! Thanks! However, although I guess I can calculate it myself, it may have been better to have separated the Byzantine Empire from the Roman Empire, since the former was pagan and Latin and the latter was Christian and Greek. So although the Byzantines may have called themselves Romans, the actual society was very different. In contrast, you could say that the Ottomans still rule Constantinople to this day, as besides losing non-Turkish territories and changing their government, it's the same cultural lineage that still exists there. So rather than "Greek", "Roman (but mostly Greek later on), and "Ottoman", it may be better to understand the eras as "Greek Pagan", "Roman Pagan", "Greek Christian", and "Turkish Muslim".

[@JustinLe]

if it was me I would have counted it by unbroken succession of rulers. So to me the Roman rule should have ended at the 13h century.

[@mariapapa6370]

Your logic isn't quite correct the Turks today don't call themselves ottoman while the Byzantines definitely called themselves Romans well after the siege of the city. Also sure the religion changed but their every day lifes and their customs not so much.

[@Rationalific]

@@mariapapa6370 I could have said "Turk" instead of "Ottoman" at first, but later in my comment, I mentioned the way I would have liked the groups to have been delineated, and they were "Greek Pagan", "Roman Pagan", "Greek Christian", and "Turkish Muslim", so I would guess you might not have an issue with that. Also, I would guess that aside from some added and somewhat precarious secularism, the lives of the Turks didn't change much from the late Ottoman period through the modern Turkish period, either (aside from changes that affected most societies throughout the early 20th century). However, a religious change, demographic change, or administrative language change is quite major when compared to that.

[@Absolute_Zero7]

This argument has always annoyed me, because it reeks of people not taking into account that these transitions in culture, religion, and language take place over long periods of time. The big problem is when exactly do you draw the line between "Roman Empire" and "Byzantine Empire"? This is before I bring up the fact that the United Roman Empire was always a lot more greek than people think it was. Even if we ignore how the Roman Republic reused a crap ton of traditions and symbols from the greeks, Roman society always had some level of Greekness to it. For instance you bring up how the Roman Empire was "Latin Speaking" but newsflash: Greek was effectively a 2nd language for the country going as far back as Augustus. In fact, Augustus and virtually all emperors after him spoke Greek when in private, and the way it worked was Latin was the language of the commoners, meanwhile Greek was the language of the scholars and political upper class. As for the culture and society, I mean yes it was quite different to the Roman Empire, but that's because Rome was a multi-cultural behemoth that never had any form of cultural hegemony. The only real cultural ground that was shared was the latin/greek language. In the Roman world, Rome was culturally different from Carthage which was different from Alexandria which was different from Gaul. Not to mention it being a millennia spanning empire, yes of course the culture changed with time. Sure 900s Byzantium was very different culturally from 50CE Rome, but that's going to happen to any country given 900 years. And its not like there was an overnight shift in culture and language, where the empire suddenly became greek and everyone got a hard-on for gold Mozaics, these transitions happened overtime over the course of centuries. Finally as for the religion argument, the edict of Milan took place in 313 AD, 80 years before the splitting of the empire, and 160 years before the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In fact, if we overlay this time period over modern history, and had the fall of western rome take place today: The edict of milan would've happened the same year as the founding of Canada as a country, 2 years after the conclusion of the American Civil War, and 4 years before the unification of Germany. I cannot emphasize enough just how long of a time frame these events took place over.

[@Rationalific]

​@@Absolute_Zero7 One of your arguments appears to be "history is messy", and if that had been your only point, then I would definitely agree. However, I also believe that religion, language, and other demographic changes matter more than what the government says its lineage is. Let's imagine that the British Empire made New Delhi a capital along with London back in the early 1900s, and then imagine that Germany had conquered Britain, and India became the seat of government for the British Empire. The people are Indian, and some people at the top may be British for a while, but then over the next century or so, the rulers of the British Empire are almost all ethnic Indians who are mostly Hindus and Muslims and speak mostly Hindustani. My idea is that we should cut off the British Empire era when the UK fell to Germany, and start a new era called the Indian Empire from that point on. Your argument, on the other hand, is that if a HIndi / Hindustani empire continued for another 1,000 years as almost all Indian then that should be referred to as the "British Empire" and we should pretend that it's the same thing, even when the religion and demographics are completely different. If that's your take, then we disagree.

[@alpertunga6792]

Istanbul has been in the hands of the Turks for 571 years. And this situation will continue forever.

[@W1mzyy]

so the Greeks were the ppl who ruled Constantinopole the moste because exeptp the Greek era th Byzantine Empire was greek and the Byzantine Empire has the city the most years

[@TheManWithTheFlan]

boy when they called it "the city of world's desire" they weren't fucking kidding huh

[@ylmazonur4158]

Because we, the Turks love cats :D

[@virginlamo8202]

Saddest moment is history is the Hagia Sofia being converted to a Mosque

[@Phonixrmf]

I'm a Muslim and even I don't like that decision. Alas it's not the first house of worship that changed... ownership, and I don't think it would be the last

[@emilgilels]

Which time? ;-) Not sure it's correct to call it "the saddest" moment in history: history is alas full of them. The magnificent building is still there, persevering over the millennia through the caprices of human history.

[@torilongstaff5591]

Hey real quick question: how do you feel about the Great Mosque of Córdoba? real sad when that was converted into a cathedral huh?

[@richardvillano4004]

@@torilongstaff5591yes, but that was done 800 years ago. Hagia was converted just a few years ago and it wasn't even a Church anymore anyway so there was no reason for that other than to show some people reverted to a medieval mentality in the 21st century. Congratulations!

[@nuclearpotato2000]

​@@torilongstaff5591 The Muslims conquered Spain, built mosques, heavily taxed people of other religions, that's called colonization. Spain retook the peninsula during the reconquista and removed mosques. That's called decolonization. Turks conquered Greece and converted a great building into a mosque, replacing the native culture with your own is called colonization. Funny how colonizers always cry when decolonization happens to them, eh?

[@LocaChoca]

Today I learned that Muhammad was a cat guy.

[@reddimus11]

Hey I’m going to the City, you guys want anything?

[@m070sam]

i think by this graph the greek control is the longest

[@-RONNIE]

Thank you for the video and information

[@alperenbaytimur]

bro we literally only changed our regime, nothing else, we are still the same people as the ottomans

[@2Links]

Very fun video, even if the premise was more of an excuse that quickly faded into the background haha.

[@tasosGRvocals]

So basically the Greeks, if you combine the ancient era and half of the Roman period where the empire was basically a Greek empire.

[@VoidLantadd]

It was not basically a Greek Empire. It was completely Roman. The Romans spoke Greek in the eastern provinces as they always had, but Greek was never how they identified themselves.

[@richardvillano4004]

@@VoidLantaddYou are correct but it's a bit more complicated than that. They did consider themselves Romans. They were the Roman Empire as we all know Byzantine Empire is a name historians gave them well after they ceased to exist. Yet they were aware they were Greek. But as you stated they considered themselves Roman. This was the case even before the western empire fell. They were the same but they were very different as well. That's probably why most think of the Roman Empire ending in the 5th century when it technically lasted almost another 1000 years. It's a shame.

[@gilpaubelid3780]

​@@VoidLantadd​ It was basically a Greek empire. Greeks with roman citizenship took under their control the Roman state during the medieval period and they controlled it for almost a millenia. The empire during the byzantine period had Greeks in charge, Greek elite, Greeks at its center, Greek as the lingua franca and Greek culture as the dominant culture. So even though medieval Greeks preserved the state and kept the Roman law and institutions it's not wrong to say that, in essence, the empire transformed into a Greek empire during the byzantine period. Medieval Greeks identified as both Greeks and Romans since that's what they were : Greeks and citizens of the Roman state (a state that they controlled during the medieval period). I'm not sure what gave you the impression that they didn't identify as Greeks. Plenty of sources from that period have survived and it's a fact that Byzantines identified as Greeks.

[@VoidLantadd]

@@gilpaubelid3780 It is not a fact that they identified as Greek. In those times Greek came to specifically mean someone from the Greek peninsula, so a Greek speaking Roman in Asia Minor for example would not have identified as Greek, while a Roman from Athens would have.

[@gilpaubelid3780]

@@VoidLantadd No, it didn't. And we have plenty of sources from Greeks from Asia minor that identified as Greeks. How do you explain this extract from George Tornikes for example? He refers to Byzantines as Greeks and distinguishes between barbarians and Hellenes (Greeks) , those who are "slaves by nature" ( τοις φύσει δούλοις) and those who are free (ελεύθεροι). He expresses his discontent that "barbarians" are used to fill up important posts in the byzantine empire during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos and says that he can't accept having the Greeks, who are disciples of the Muses and of Hermes coming second to those who speak a barbarous tongue, have barbarous mores and are servants of Ares. («Μη μοι τοις βαρβάροις τον Έλληνα μηδέ τοις φύσει δούλοις τον ελεύθερον συναπόγραφε ο φιλέλλην και φιλελεύθερος. Ου δέχομαι γλώσσαν μεν άλλους έχοντας βάρβαρον, ειπείν δε και γνώμην, και υπηρέτας Άρεος χρηματίζοντας ός επίπαν τοις βαρβάροις ωκείωται, ανά μέσον βαρβάρου διαστέλλειν και Έλληνος , τον δε γνώμην και γλώσσαν υπέρ Έλληνά τε πάντα και ήρωα, εραστήν τε Μουσών και Ερμού, των ανδρών εκείνων δεύτερον έρχεσθαι».) Another example:Joseph I Galesiotes (13th century) said that they were Greeks in race that call themselves Romans, a name that they took from New Rome/ Constantinople: Ἕλληνες ὄντες τῷ γένει, Ρωμαίους ἑαυτοὺς ὀνομάζομεν και αληθώς γε μην· εκ γαρ της Νέας Ρώμης η παρωνυμία αύτη προσκεκλήρωται ημίν Another example:The byzantine translators when they were translating the syriac text of Pseudo-methodius into Greek (8th century) they wrote as a clarification note : The empire of the Romans meaning that of the Hellenes/Greeks ( Εστί δε νυν η βασιλεία των Ρωμαίων ηγουν Ελλήνων) From the primary sources we can see that Byzantine Greeks (no matter where they were from) identified as Greeks during the entirety of the byzantine period.

[@zjpdarkblaze]

lets be real here the ottomans change the name constantinople to istanbul because constantinople is named after a christian ruler and the ottomans are muslims. thats so obvious that not mentioning that and instead saying its the turks business is biased.

[@alexiafillipi9857]

2:10 Macedonia IS Greece. You cannot even get that right and you expect us to take your videos seriously ? I am out of here.

[@bigchungus6320]

Yes but Macedonia is fundamentally different from the Greek city states, Greek city states saw Macedonians as cousins rather than the same

[@wmarkfish]

The Muslims renamed Constantinople because they didn’t know where they were.

[@revivalist355]

Interestingly, it was the secularists, not the Muslims who renamed it

[@miss1of2]

The cats are my favourite fact about Istanbul!

[@mannychuks8016]

You say Roman Empire, I hear Greeks. We'll agree to disagree on that one, pal

[@oldemanA]

Freakin' GREAT call back to Bette Midler's 'Istanbul (not Constantinople)' . . . I nearly fell off my chair laughing) many, many thumbs up . . . .

[@xaviotesharris891]

Love the song and Bette though I do, she only covered that song. The Four Lads first recorded it in 1953, I think in a nod to the 400th anniversary of the fall on Constantinople.

[@oldemanA]

@@xaviotesharris891 -thanks for pointing this out...just found The Four Lads version . . . . too funny

[@lp-xl9ld]

But of course, most people know the song today owing to the 1990 version by They Might Be Giants

[@xaviotesharris891]

@@lp-xl9ld Right. When that came out, I was unaware of Bette's brief stab at it on stage some years earlier - I thought TMBG had written it. When I saw her earlier version, I looked into it and learned about The Four Lads. And of course, TMBG had the benefit of Animaniacs.

[@sechuan]

why are you still counting them as roman years when you said already it was definitely greek by then, and all the emperors had greek names

[@zuraorokamono204]

The Byzantine Empire was Roman by status, culturally it was Greek so ~800 years of that can be shared by the two categories, if not straight up counted as Greek.

[@LibertyMonk]

Anyone who took Byzantium and stuck their capital there is doing so to become culturally Byzantine for the legitimacy. They even renamed the thing "The City", which is the kind of thing you do when it's important to your legitimacy.

[@tylerellis9097]

Well it is based on Political control not cultural and at no point did the Byzantine Empire stop considering itself the Roman Empire. It remained a Greek City as Byzantium even under Roman control so yeah if the criteria was changed Greek would be the undisputed number 1.

[@DCCrisisclips]

@@tylerellis9097 Yes why don't these people get that Roman and Greek is one and the same and that roman control was not seen as a occupation.

[@zuraorokamono204]

@@DCCrisisclips it wasn't always like that, the first few centuries the Romans were seen as foreign rulers, the Latins had to conquer the area after all, the Greek adoption of the Roman identity was a gradual process it cannot be helped that the Greek dominated medieval Byzantine/Rhomaioi Empire be distinguished from the classical Latin dominated Eastern Roman Empire culture wise even if they have a political continuum

[@zuraorokamono204]

@@tylerellis9097 they never stoped considering themselves the Roman Empire but the ruling elite stopped having cultural ties with Rome it wasn't a Greek city controlled by Romans, it was a Greek city controlled by Greeks calling themselves Romans I do not aim to devalue their legitimacy at all, I'm just saying the distinction must be made

[@LondonPower]

Constantinople is a greek city only the Greeks mourn for the fall in 29 04 1453 and thats a fact

[@nenenindonu]

If the ancient era of the citys being refered to as Greek era despite different states ruling it so should the Ottoman & Turkish Republic eras be lumped together and called Turkish era

[@SethTheOrigin]

Nah you’re wrong

[@nenenindonu]

​@@SethTheOrigink

[@jackyex]

There's a quite big different between the modern and theoretically secular and national Turkish state of now with the multi ethnic multi religious, Islamic ottoman empire. They were related entities but they are different.

[@winterwolf34]

The Turkish people as a nation and ethnic identity were founded in 1920 by Mustafa Kefal, no such thing as ''Turkish'' before that, ''Turk'' was a swear word for peasant people during the Ottoman times, they did not identify as Turks.

[@igorlopes7589]

The Ottoman Empire still had a huge greek presence in Constantinople and Western Anatolia. So it is different from the ethnically homogenous Turkey

[@mohammadbahrampour3417]

I don't know who ruled Istanbul the longest but Gli ruled Istanbul the best

[@stephanthegreat1348]

Constantinople belongs to the Romans. The turks barely hold it since a fraction of the time the Romans did

[@A_foranonymous]

The roman dont exist anymore

[@Theodoros_Kolokotronis]

Monumental works of Sir Steven Runciman regarding the Greek Byzantine Empire; “Byzantine Civilization”, “The Fall of Constantinople 1453”, “The Great Church in Captivity: A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence”, “Byzantine Style and Civilization”, “The Last Byzantine Renaissance”.

[@advanceringnewholder]

27:56 The true ruler of Istanbul

[@KorhanErel]

I was fortunate to meet Gli at the end of 2011. She was one of the sweetest cats I have ever encountered. She was the true empress, but without the political intrigue and the powerplay. She just wanted to hang out and sleep on your lap. On colder days, she'd also put her face against the light projectors, becoming a truly holy being of light. She met almost all politicians, state and religious leaders who visited Haghia Sophia during her lifetime.

[@emilgilels]

The true ruler of Catstantinople. 😹😺

[@KorhanErel]

@@emilgilels ❤️🐱

[@albertorimoldi8713]

I met Gli in the summer of 2017. Really a wonderful and lovely cat.

[@zufizuf200]

You count as roman, greek and then ottomans. But rightfully it should be counted as the turkish era and the republic of turkey should be counted alongside with it, as the republic of turkey is the continutation of the Ottoman empire. Not as an empire but as a republic. Something like it was ruled by the roman empire and later as east roman empire....

[@musicomp4949]

The Byzantine Romans who were Greeks therefore the Greek Era is longer

[@Theodoros_Kolokotronis]

Eternal glory to our formidable Byzantine ancestors. For preserving and delivering the Ancient Greek legacy and for blending it majestically with our splendid Christian Orthodox tradition. 🇬🇷 ☦️

[@almami1599]

26:35 that was gold

[@FARIS_482]

True my bro

[@19.vishveshgupta32]

what is that??

[@FARIS_482]

@@19.vishveshgupta32 , the great rise of islam

[@hakanhakan8327]

Türkiye is legally the successor state of the Ottoman Empire. It is just a regime change. Türkiye even paid the Ottoman debts. So you may combine those two periods together.

[@Soviet-Gaming]

bro at 1:05 I have that Poster lmao

[@t0ny360]

There is a difference between the initial Roman empire that conquered Byzantium and the Hellenised capital of the East Roman empire. I think those should be differentiated. The initial Roman conquest of the city more closely resembled the Latin period of 1204.

[@bekirbekirbekirbekir]

During the Ottoman period Konstantiniye/Constantinople/İstanbul/Dersaadet all used interchangeably. Seems Ottomans don't care about names and even no offical name declared. İstanbul name is officially declared at new Turkish Republic era

[@AltaicGigachad]

The expression originated in the mid-15th century, shortly after the capture of Constantinople (ancient Byzantium and present-day Istanbul) by the troops of Sultan Mehmet II in 1453. Examples "I have two, sir, who, without vanity, could be presented to the pope, especially my eldest, who is a pretty bit of a girl. I am raising her to be a countess, although her mother does not want it. How old is she, sir, this future countess? But she is approaching fifteen years old: already that is a fathom taller for you, nice, fresh as an April morning, agile, uncoupled, sprightly, and above all strong as a Turk. Devil! these are good dispositions for being a countess. Oh! her mother may say so, she will be. >> Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Don Quixote of La Mancha

[@GS-pf8kf]

2:09 You distinguish between Macedonia and Greece. I think this is inaccurate for several reasons. First the term Greece doesn't apply to the period you are talking about and second in the 7th century BC and also later, the area was dominated by city-states such as Athens, Sparta, etc... The term Greece (if used) applies to the entire area or it is more accurate to say Macedonia, Thessaly, Athens, etc... who are all Hellenes or Greeks

[@JenniferinIllinois]

It's Istanbul not Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul not Constantinople. Hehehe...

[@luigifranceschi2350]

I disagree on the romanity of the bizantine empire. First of all the most widely spoken language in the east of the Roman Empire since it was taken by the Romans, always remained Greek. And in 610 Heraclius replaced Latin with Greek as Official language of the state. So after 610 whatever was left of the Roman Empire had become a Greek empire.

[@DominickvdHoff]

Free Palestine

[@stevetournay6103]

Hardly...it's proving incredibly costly.

[@taWay21]

was the answer ever in doubt? lol

[@st-craftbeats8374]

Romans = Greek-speaking Orthodox people, the ancestors of Modern Greeks who called themselves 'Ρωμαίοι' and 'Έλληνες' (from the 10th century onward) until 1832 where the term 'Έλληνες' prevailed. Even now, in all Greek traditional songs, Greeks call themselves 'Ρωμιοί'.

[@OMARragab-ys3ze]

bruh so greek are latins ?

[@Kmr571-l8y]

Can you do the same for any chinese , latin american or indian cities and add some graphs abd some cool graphics too

[@KimberlyGreen]

Time to queue up & listen again to They Might Be Giants "Instanbul (Not Constantinople)" .

[@TheBandit025Nova]

My Early Shorts have the it if you want to hear the short version

[@stevetournay6103]

One of several covers of that quirky '50s song...

[@psychorabbitt]

Make Istanbul Constantinople Again

[@nisargdhamecha8476]

Another city that can come near to Constantinople in terms of being besieged is Delhi. The only problem is there's not much written history about Delhi before 1500 years. The admin can actually throw some light on it.

[@DobyTheElf]

Really? Attacked by Ghaznavis ?

[@XY-uc1tw]

"İslambol" is made up name. Nobody called the city with that name in history. Turks call it Konstantiniyye (just local name for Constantinople) or later on "Istanbul" (this one explained in video).