The City of Constantine

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The City of Constantine
Constantine resolved to make the city a home fit for an emperor . . . He surrounded it with a wall . . . cutting off the whole isthmus from sea to sea. He built a palace scarcely inferior to the one in Rome. He decorated the Hippodrome most beautifully, incorporating the temple of the Dioscuri in it.

Zosimus, New History, c. 501

Byzantium–Constantinople–Istanbul is one of the most extraordinary natural sites. Like New York, Sydney and Hong Kong, it is a great metropolis with a deep-water harbour which brings the sea into the heart of the city. The proximity of water, the play of sunlight on the waves and views out towards the horizon create a very special quality of light. What attracted Constantine when he looked for a new capital for the Roman Empire in the early fourth century ad was a location from which he could control land and sea routes between Asia and Europe. He found a suitable site with a safe harbour on the Golden Horn, which could be sealed by a chain to keep out enemy ships and provide security from the dangerous currents of the Bosphoros. Where Leander of Greek myth is supposed to have swum the strait to woo his beloved Hero, Russian tankers now dominate, but even though modern Istanbul is a city of 12 million, the panorama of Constantinople on the Bosphoros remains magnificent. Until recently it was possible to rent a small boat and be rowed across to the historic wooden houses built with landing stages in Ottoman times. And although there are now two bridges joining Asia and Europe, passenger ferries continue to cross the Bosphoros, offering glasses of black tea and semits, rings of baked dough coated with sesame. On a fine day it is one of the great pleasures of life in Istanbul to sit on deck and enjoy a splendid view of Constantine’s city.

Byzantium–Constantinople–Istanbul 拜占庭-君士坦丁堡-伊斯坦堡就像是紐約-雪梨-香港一樣的大城市，極佳的天然位置，圍繞著深水的海港，也把海洋帶入了市中心，構成了一個超級大都會。海水波動著陽光，順著光線，寬廣的海平面，有著最特別的視野。西元四世紀時君士坦丁大帝Constantine找尋著一個理想的，羅馬帝國的首都，看上這裡，應該就是被這個歐亞大陸交界的獨特位置給吸引著。據守這個位置，一個安全的港灣，能夠控制著歐亞兩邊的進出，一條能夠封閉掌控的鎖鏈，敵人的船進不來，又還能確保橫跨The Bosphoros洋流的危險。希臘神話裡的英雄Leander曾經為了追求他的愛人，努力的想要游去....但不幸的還是在那裡消失了。今日伊斯坦堡俄羅斯的油輪在The Bosphoros進出著，地理位置過去那麼重要，到了今天也還是那麼重要。伊斯坦堡現在是一個住著一千兩百多萬人的超級大都會。你可以搭著像鄂圖曼土耳其時期的木船，想像著歷史過往橫渡The Bosphoros，喝著紅茶搭配著沾滿芝麻的土耳其大麵包，悠閒的在航道上緩行著順便欣賞這個大城是的風光。還有兩座大橋跨過The Bosphoros連結著歐亞大陸，控制著伊斯坦堡的脈動。

Born in the central Balkans at Nisˇ, Constantine was the son of Emperor Constantius Chlorus, one of the four rulers established by Diocletian (284–305), in an attempt to provide a much-needed element of stability in the vast Roman world. The Tetrarchy, ‘rule of four’, effectively divided the empire into two halves, ruled by two emperors acting in concert, with two junior colleagues who would succeed to full power on their death. It faltered due to the ambitions of sons of emperors who were denied a role. Constantine manifested this very problem after his father’s death at York in 306, when he was acclaimed emperor by his troops. Yet he was not recognized by Licinius, the senior emperor in the East, and a few years later there were three different military leaders each claiming the imperial title in the West. Moving south from England, Constantine fought and defeated the others, and then in 312 confronted Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge just outside Rome. After this decisive victory Constantine entered the eternal city in triumph, where he was acclaimed by the Senate but declined to thank the gods for his success at the Altar of Victory in the expected fashion. Later he said that he had seen a vision of the Cross in the sky, which he interpreted as a sign from the God of the Christians, who promised him victory. He had made himself Emperor of the West by military conquest and now had to negotiate with Licinius, Emperor of the East.
The two rulers met at Milan in 313 and consolidated their joint administration by marriage alliances which united the empire. They also decided to issue an Edict of Toleration, which proclaimed that all religions could be celebrated freely, including Christianity, so long as adherents of every god prayed for the well-being of the Roman Empire and the emperors. Ever since, Christians have prayed for the well-being of their monarchs. Whatever Constantine’s personal beliefs (see below), in 313 he had taken a step towards making the faith the official religion of the empire and consistently favoured the Christians. Intense rivalry between the two rulers was only resolved eleven years later when Constantine defeated Licinius at Chrysopolis on the Asiatic side of the Bosphoros. He took his rival prisoner, exiled him to Thessalonike and treacherously had him assassinated. In this way in 324 Constantine became ruler of the greater, richer and more populated East as well as the West. He had ridden and fought across the length and breadth of the Roman world, which he ruled for another thirteen years until his death in 337.

這兩段說明君士坦丁大帝的簡單生平，父親、當代的政治版圖與掌權君王、羅馬帝國東部與西部的分權與版圖，君士坦丁最後在拜占庭The Borsphoros戰勝，成為一統東西方各諸侯國的羅馬帝國大帝，又同時對基督教的信仰，他自稱在看到天上的十字架，宣稱這個神諭是，神的意旨要賦予他成為羅馬帝國的君王。又我個人認為，一個當代較有能力的人會去思考新的觀念，同時也吸收新的知識想法或觀點，在篩檢出適合自己的道理，同時拿來說服他人，影響他人，而自己能夠成為意見的領袖。譬如基督教當時是漸漸被接受而大部份知識分子或社會精英信仰的目標，而君士坦丁大帝是一位軍事專家，擅於打仗，能夠收服敵人，而另其他人諄從與追隨他。


Byzantium:The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin