We all liked the book. Francis thought that the book was fantastic but didn't like the last chapter.
Tom pointed out how for a long time Constantinople was considered to be the center of the world, or at least the western world.
Tashina and Francis both commented on how they like the level of details that the author put into the book. Tashina didn't like the fact that the author would describe something in the city, but not include a picture of it. More pictures would have been very helpful.
There were several interesting little tidbits in the book. One that Tom mentioned was how the city of Chalcedon, on the Asian side of the Hellespont, was settled first. Later, a city called Byzantion was established on the European side, on the banks of a river which was later named the "Golden Horn". A century later when a Persian general heard that Chalcedon was founded first instead of Byzantion, which turned out to be a far better location for a city, he said that the first settlers must have been blind.
The city has gone by a few different names. The original name was Byzantion (Greek) or Byzantium (Latin). Later it was re-founded as Constantinople. It was many times referred to as just "The City" or "Polis". In Turkish that works out to be 'Istanbul'.
As previously stated, the book includes a lot of detail about many aspects of the city. I liked how the author talks extensively about the various walls which were built around the city. An original set of walls was built around the city of Byzantion. Later, a new wall, covering a much larger area, was built by Constantine around his re-founded Constantinople. Later, under emperor Theodosius, a new wall almost twelve miles long was built surrounding even more territory, up to 17 feet thick and averaging 40 feet high. The wall system around Constantinople was so good that the city was never conquered just by force.
Jim said that he learned a lot of historical things about the city, and also a lot of religious history that he hadn't known.
Other points that we discussed include the Janissaries and what they did to the city, what actually happened which caused/allowed the Crusaders to sack the city, how much money was wasted either through misuse or theft, the many occasions where new Ottoman sultans blinded and/or killed their family members in order to protect their thrones, and that many of the leaders of the Ottoman Empire came from the Balkans.
We all agreed that it was a worthwhile book to read.
Until next month ...
Leroy