Building the Walls of Constantinople
This video, shot on location in Istanbul, explores the walls of Byzantine Constantinople - and describes how they finally fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
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Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:44 The Rhegium Gate
1:37 The design of the walls
2:48 The Golden Gate
3:51 Defying invaders
4:45 The Ottoman threat
5:36 The Mesoteichon vs. Mehmed's guns
6:58 The Kaligaria Gate
7:22 The final assault
8:16 The Kerkoporta
8:41 The Turks take the walls
9:44 The Charisius Gate
Here I go thinking about the Roman Empire again.
Just the mere sight of the number 1453 is enough to put me in a sombre state of mind.
Ha ha Christian world will be overrun by immigrants ha ha 😂
@@canchero724i love seeing that number 😅
@@canchero724 Roma aşıgimisiniz
@@canchero724 Bende 1683 Sayisini
What I find amazing is how long the walls did their job, if not for gunpowder they might have held even longer.
Because they were really well designed, but also Constantine picked the place that was naturally well defended. Given the size of these walls, I feel sorry for soldiers that had to try to take them - mission impossible
It wasn't the guns that made the difference, it was the sorry state of Byzantine Empire, lack of resources and manpower. Medieval style walls were still effective defences well into the 17th and 18th century, especially against the Ottomans.
The Theodosian Land Walls were an amazing gift to the next 1,000 years of Roman history.
Didn't hold that well against the Franks, did they ? And those didn't have gunpowder, so no excuse.
It wasn't gunpowder that brought Constantinople down. It was a steady decline caused by political and trade isolation with the rest of the Christian west and near constant warfare for the last few hundred years. But to list one event as the thing that brought The Great City to disaster was leaving the circus gate open allowing the Ottoman hoard through the walls.
"The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars" That's amazing.
The full version of the verse is even more epic: "The spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars; The owl keeps watch in the towers of Afrasiab." It's a verse from the Shahname, the Persian equivalent of the Iliad, an epic highly popular among the Ottoman sultans.
I had no idea that this siege was so closely contested, despite the odds. I always thought the cannons blasted the theodosian walls to kingdom and that was that. Another enlightening video, thank you.
The walls that stood for a millennium. No great city in human history was tougher to break than Constantinople.
I know, right? It really sounds as if they very nearly won. If only they’d had more help from the west.
The West did help, the Ottoman ranks where filled with Slavic mercenaries.
@@xmaniac99 the engineer who made the cannon to bring down the wall was Hungarian too. Without European help, the Ottomans probably couldn't have done it in the manner they did.
@@JRLeemanYes. The West in the form of crusaders and Venetians helped destroy the eastern Empire.
Constantine XI was such a badass. One of the few to actually lead his troops to the very end in defense of their city
And the entirety of Roman civilization
He should have let his innocent people leave without harm. But I respect him for his act.
I like how you can visualize the history of the empire with the main entry of the Golden Gate - it gets bricked over and shrinks through the centuries until it is no bigger than a normal door.
why does it shrink?
@@thedudefromrobloxx when it's not used anymore, it's a good idea to brick up a huge gate, so it doesn't erode and eventually falls down. any epic doors made out of wood and / or bronze would have been plundered long ago anyway
Great video! Rome went down bravely, led by a heroic emperor. This video has helped me talk to my dog about the fall of Constantinople. He was very depressed.
Taking to your dog about Rome before, or after, he licks his own ass?
Best wishes to your dog. Maybe he should not tie his self-worth to the fate of ancient empires.
Po' doggie - toss him a bone and tell him it's an ancient relic of better byzantine times...
It's deeply regretted that another Emperor named Napoleon made the mistake to refuse Russia offer to retake Constantinople from the Ottomans in 1808
Dont worry, my cat has gone through the same, thats why i decided to review the history of Egypt to remind him of the good old times a bit and cherr him up
“Athena herself could scarcely have built these walls in so short a time” 💀 Has that dude ever read a Greek tragedy
This was the ruler. Like any "good" (as in competent, not moral) politician, even to this day, they ignore the facts, if gets in the way of a good speech.
athena about to challenge him to a wall-building competition...
He did say *scarcely*
Fridays become just a little more sweet when ToldInStone releases a new video 😊
Thank you for reminding me to send my friend a Rebecca black gif
I have passed through the Roman walls thousands of times. Actually, when you think about it, it is literally a 1000-year-old Roman wall, but no one think about that. The walls are completely part of the city and intertwined with daily life.
The Golden Gate is sealed due to a Greek myth. It is said that a Greek king will reconquer Constantinople and restore the empire, and he will enter the city in triumph by the golden gate as the emperors of old. The Ottomans were superstitious so they sealed that gate. There's also the Marble Emperor myth, according to which Constantine XI's body was recovered by the Angel Michael and was buried underneath the golden gate.
I was just watching a biography on Mehmed the second. Fought dracula,huge roman history fanboy, his favorite historical character was Alexander the great. He also made it legal for a king to murder his brother to preserve the nation. Intense guy.
The Ottomans were by far the longest lasting Islamic dynasty, so I think it's the best working system for their monarchy. It someone maintained a steady flow of the most ruthless prince almost always making his way to the top.
Alexander was an icon among many muslim-Turkic rulers such as Alaaddin Muhammad II, Selim the Grim, & Alauddin Khalji who were familiar with the title "Sikandari Sani" (The Second Alexander)
I visited Istanbul this year. I don't know the city well, and it was difficult to get to the walls. I got off the tram a stop too late, and it was extremely hard to get back to them on foot because the area was dominated by busy roads with poor pedestrian access. There's a '1453 Panorama' museum near where the fighting took place that gives a very patriotic Turkish interpretation of the siege, but is still very interesting and entertaining. Yet the walls themselves are mostly in a fairly run-down series of parks, which aren't well served by public transit. I'm sure more people would visit the spectacular ruins and that part of the city if it was made easier and more inviting, and the Istanbul local authorities should look into it.
I taught English to university and high school students in Istanbul for 4 years and parts of the wall were along my metrobus commute to work. I may have had 2 or 3 day trips with friends to visit different parts of the wall, but it wasn't hardset destination for me compared to other historical sites. Some areas of the wall are in some pretty rough neighborhoods and not a good idea for a foreigner to go alone. That 1453 Panorama museum is kinda cringe but guess its fun too. I recommend the Military Museum in Harbiye (near Taxim) for much better historical exhibits.
@@juniorjames7076 as acitizen of Istanbul i recommend istanbul Archaeological Museums it was better experience for me than the hagia, topkapi palace or other things in there.
@Om.BaverYldz The Naval Museum in Besiktaz is also good!
How can someone be patriotic and proud of stealing?
I’m a simple man. I see Toldinstone new video, I hit play
Frfr
Me too. Greets
Mehmed the Conqueror couldn't stand to see that city in that shape, he interrupted the customary plunder of the soldiers early and rode back to Edirne as soon as possible. He was not some kind of "savage" and/or "angry" Sultan Western literature tend to frame him as one. He was more like a victim of his destiny; he had to let people ruin what he cared the most, the seat of the Caesars. This can be seen in his poems clearly.
A correction. Yedikule is early Ottoman, not late Byzantine
"Athena herself could scarcely have built such a fortress herself so quickly" famous last words.
And that’s how termites came into existence
They stood for a thousand years. You can't really ask for more than that.
@@cartesian_doubt6230 I meant more along the lines of it being a bad idea for someone to challenge the gods in greek/roman mythology. Athena would probably turn him into some sort of plant or insect or something lmao.
@@NandeadstudiosIt's A Hellenism Not "Greco-Roman Mythology" THIS IS READ TO ROMAN AND GREEK RELIGION'S NAMES IN HISTORY.
The finsl quotation of Dr. Ryan confirms his sensibility and the greatness of the final fall of the Roman civilisation. The video reminded me of the beautiful pages that Gibbon devotes to the event. Thanks as always.
What does the quote mean? Hard to understand
It was amazingy to see these walls still standing today on my recent holiday.turkey really is an amazing place for history both Ancient and medieval.....Im great full toldinstone for his videos and books for preparing me for my Mediterranean trip though turkey,greece,Italy
What is so interesting, yet so unfortunate to consider is that Constantinople/Istanbul would likely be a far different place today if the Fourth Crusade never happened. Even if the Ottomans took the city just as they did, we would likely still see far more ancient parts of the city: statues, forums.. the hippodrome! Mehmed II was a cultured individual, and if Constantinople wasn't in a ruined state, far more would have been adapted or kept for Ottoman purposes. At the very least - we would probably have Renaissance era drawings. In 1203, Constantinople was quite literally the last 'pillar' standing in terms of being an ancient looking city. I don't think there was any close comparison at the time. I read a nice write up on the statues from the city from Cambridge University. What was left was little after the crusade: the Justinian statue and column, a couple others around the Augustaion, and a select few others of porphyry and marble. None of these survived the Ottoman conquest as far as I can find.
It's ironic that the supposed"allies" of the Romans did more damage than the "barbarians". The Fourth Crusade was one of the greatest crimes in history, absolutely tragic. Imagine walking through a perfectly preserved ancient Roman city!
"I would rather see a Turkish turban in the midst of the City (i.e., Constantinople) than the Latin mitre."
@@precariousworlds3029 It's one of those events in history that really bothers me. It could have very easily NOT happened, but several events led to this disaster: namely the slaughtering of Venetian traders in 1182 or "Massacre Of The Latins". To me, it's sort of a matter of 'so-close yet so far' in terms of getting a Roman city in the modern day. 1204 is much closer than 476 AD... Not that Rome was put into a ruinous state at that point, it was gradual there with many buildings getting robbed for building material and the several earthquakes - but one singular event essentially destroyed the beauty of Constantinople. We are lucky to have Hagia Sophia with all or almost all its interior marble intact. I thoroughly believe that if the city survived intact into the Renaissance, Neo-Classical architecture and statuary would be different, and surely more authentic. Not that what was built isn't beautiful and should have been done differently, but it's an interesting thing to consider. The closest thing you can see to what Constantinople 'was' is Venice, St. Mark's of course... The Venetians alone I imagine would have destroyed less and taken more to decorate their city, but the rest of the crusaders couldn't have cared less.,,
I think the Massacre of the Latins had little to do with the ulterior Sack because the City had been in Venetia's plans for some time. Maybe Enrico Dandolo the Blind had some relative who died in that Massacre but nevertheless he was a greedy politician and the French Nobility a bunch of greedy people too (lands, titles and name). Sad sad event.
INB4 far right idiots in the comments lamenting the fall of Europe 🤣🤣
Tolkien's inspiration for the Rammas Echor, the ancient great wall encircling Minas Tirith and the Pelennor Fields, its farmlands and suburbs.
Thanks for posting, love seeing the walls up close like this!
Your videos and quality is unparalleled and matched with your enthusiasm for the topics. Great informative videos, I can’t wait for the next one
Great video. So nice to see actual footage. Well done
I just immediately pre-ordered that book as soon as i saw the add for it. I absolutely loved the first one and have read it from start to finish at least 3 times. As someone with dyslexia it’s quite hard for me to read a full book but the last one was so worth it and I know the new one will be too. Thanks so much and please keep writing 🎉😊🎉
I've read extensively about the siege so was interested to see how you handled it. This was the best & most concise intro to the subject. Always enjoy your videos.
This was a great retelling of the history of Constantinople's last great defense. The footage you took really provided some great context and I had to pause a few times to enjoy some of the illustrations.
This was fantastic. Exceptionally good work
Keep up the awesome job, Garrett 👍😊
Oh I used to commute past these almost every day, some parts look so pristine that I questioned whether or not they were renovated.
As a Greek, I approve this video! The bit about their fall is what most hurts the Greeks today. For the Golden Gate, throughout its history was known as the Χρυσεία Πύλη, (the Golden Gate in Greek), and it was mainly used to describe the political affairs with symbolism, as it was the begging of the Μέση, the biggest thoroughfare of Constantinople, along which most of the biggest monuments and palaces were located and the Imperial Palace was located at the end of the Mese. And the term "Golden Gate" was used for Ottoman Empire's politics until the 19th century.
Why do Greeks still get mad about it? You guys have a beautiful country 😅
@@n00b_n00b_because Istanbul is still the most beautiful city in the Mediterranean
@@eons8941 nah, we Turks kinda fucked it over lol
@@n00b_n00b_ I mean, at least you're honest about it. I'm also Greek by the way.
Tbh, you should be glad the Turks took over the city. If it were the Franks......... yeah the city probably would cease to exist.
We need more Eastern Rome vids! ❤
Another triumph! This is just a great video; you really bring the ancient world to life! Thank you!
I've never been able to visit any of these ancient places (and there are too many I would like to go to ever see them all anyway) but I would imagine that when you walk through the ruins of these ancient places, you would almost be able to faintly hear the echoes of the chaos of battle and normal life as it once was so long ago.
@@adamk.7177 or some shitty Turk traffic noises and fumes right nearby an intensely important world heritage site
@Matt just like the shitty Italian traffic noises and fumes. It's almost like the problem is the car, not any particular ethnic group.
@@Matt67012you know that it’s not an amusement park but actual city with ppl living inside right? My boy expects everyone to stop their life just for him to experience an authentic moment lmao
Haha i am turk , i live in Leodikya
So thankful for this channel
great video! unfortunately many artifacts and buildings of the eastern roman empire have been lost forever but I'm pretty sure the walls are gonna be staying there for a long time💯
Kinda sad that if this was in Europe still those walls and gates would be immaculately attended to and culturally and legally protected, like City of Rome.
@@Matt67012 if this was Europe, the walls and gates likely would have been destroyed long ago to make way for medieval castles or 17th-century star forts. Everybody knows that outside of Italy, the best-preserved stuff from Greco-Roman antiquity is in Muslim or formerly Muslim lands: Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and the Levant all still have amazing stuff--and they would have even MORE stuff, like the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the original Parthenon, if invading Europeans hadn't pulled stuff down to make fortresses in the case of the former or just bombed it outright in the case of the latter. Even when Europeans DID start to care about archaeology, their initial attempts at excavations/trophy hunting deleted thousands of years of things we could have learned about, as they wrecked the strata of countless important sites, e.g. Athens and Troy. I'm not claiming that Africa and Asia were always saints about preserving architecture from antiquity. And it's VERY true that modern Turkey today needs to do a whole lot better about preserving their cultural treasures. But acting like Europe is the protector of ancient architectural treasures is kinda racist and ahistoric.
@@Matt67012 They're still geographically in Europe, but I get what you mean - if a European nation had control over them they'd be much better preserved.
You both are wrong. İt was your so loved Europen, catholic friends that ruined the City. When they occupyed the City, they stole all beatuies, even brass metal pieces that covered the golden gate and the obelisk. (They were so stupid that thougt them gold) beatiful horse statutes of the hippoddrom the took with them to Venice. They even partied in Hagia Sofia with prostitutes
@@Matt67012 Rome is an exception. There are tons of preserved sites and buildings Istanbul whilst nearly nothing in London from that era. The rule of thumb is, if the city has been continually inhabited, there isn't much left, if it was abandoned (like Ephesus) lots to find.
Superb recounting of the fascinating history of these mighty walls and great personal footage! You made me look up 'postern', always good to be reminded of a word you vaguely know but not really :) It's cool that you use the Turkish names too, your pronunciation's not bad either :)
Really good video. I enjoyed it very much. I don't think I've ever seen photography of the famous walls before.
0:28 OMG I thought that was a giant statue head in situ on the castle walls. Scary! 😮
Great, thanks for sharing Big Dog!
The combination of a good narrative and in loco images is outstanding. Congrats.
love this channel!, the best for ancient history.
It's really amazing to see you talk about the walls at the site itself!
great presentation, thank you!
Modern Turkey has undertaken a rebuilding of the wall. I witnessed some of the progress made twenty years ago. An interesting video would show what progress has been made and what commitment there is to complete the goal.
Tbh i am i impressed with the effort that the Turkish have taken in preserving the archeological record in their nation.
@xmaniac99 Tourism is one of the main reasons people even think about Turkey. Doing anything else but taking care of historical ruins would be unwise.
@@xmaniac99 eh its not great. A lot of the wall was left to fall into ruin, but with other sites the government has been much more careless.
Nowadays there is a part of the wall you can stand on, walk a around a little with boards in English/Turkish explaining what is what. Sadly this is only a small part, the majority of the wall is used by addicts and drunks
They keep vandalizing everything even as we speak. Last year they even vandalized the imperial door of Hagia Sophia, which stands as symbol of the Greek Orthodox religion (as important to it as Mekka is to Islam), and a World Heritage site. They respect nothing, and I dont mean all the Turks, no... but there're so many to show zero respect, indeed total contempt for the history prior to their appearance in the history of this region, such scorn to the history that belongs to others and not to them, that endangers a vast amount of historical sites even as we speak.
Fantastic video Dr.
fascinating documentary. as an engineering geek i wish there were more videos like this. Good job.
Great video as always!
Got to climb a stair behind one of the gates and stand atop the Theodosian Walls too many years ago, on a "History of Rome" tour with Mike Duncan. Amazing site, amazing experience.
Wonderful. Thank you Doc.
Love your work, and really enjoying the video coverage of original locations to complement the original static images. But I would STRONGLY request that you also do in-studio voiceover work for these on-site video segments. It's really jarring to be jumping between on-location audio and in-studio audio.
Great video! It must have been an epic battle. ⚔🔥🙌
Very interesting tour, thank you for sharing. I will definitely explore the walls of Constantinoble if I get the chance to visit Istanbul. Greetings from Denmark.
My wife asked me and all of our male friends how often we think about the Roman Empire yesterday. Apparently it's a TikTok trend.
Even though I have no obvious connection, I still feel a sense of loss, watching, or reading, about the fall, especially bearing in mind, the bravery, and determination, of the defenders, to the last!
I couldn't agree more!
What a great video. I didn't know anything about this subject.
Excellent story telling!
Well done!
Totally fascinating! Thank you so much. Any chance you can do your new book as an audiobook?
What a great video.. I'm exhausted! 😄
Some build, some dont. I value the builders in this world.
best video yet
i love your content broooo
I commented how I was disappointed with the choice of sponsorship and my comment was removed. Also in the comment was how I love the channel and have seen dozens of videos. Your shadowban censorship is exacerbating my paranoia sir.
Great Video and two great Leaders clashing
Every week I do my regular training with running along these walls. Always motivates me. Greetings from istanbul
Wow this is amazing
Excellent video.
I think you are a great narrator …perfect voice.
Great episode. This is one of the best history channels on KZhead
I like how these emperors take credit, when all they did was saying: "Hey you, start building a wall"
Could you imagine if the 1204 sack hadn’t occurred? All that was lost there…
When that big cannon shot it was crazy!
really liked this one
This sounds like an event that should be made into a movie.
Great video! I'd love to see more videos about the Asian parts of Rome and Greece, including Turkey but especially Syria.
My dad sideswiped that exact column once as driving through the Rhegium gate sometime in 80's.
*HOW DARE YOU CREATE SUCH GREAT CLEAN CONTENT!* I'm going to *SUBSCRIBE SO HARD TO YOUR CHANNEL! THAT'LL SHOW YOU!*
Old Constantinople is an amazing city even today, I loved it there!
Very well told! ..instone
very good job. please more battles!
Thank you
That retelling was beautiful but heartbreaking
Goosebumps on the first line
This is great.
Great one
Fascinating history.
Grew up driving in front the walls often because my father's office was in Yedikule, truly a feat of engineering and craftsmanship of their time.
Read Steven Runciman's fall of Constantinople back in mid 80s when i was 13 or so,here in Greece(and believe it or not published from the Greek Army historical bureau) ..highly recommended, such a beautifully written work...
The band of brick layers were incorporated to the walls to absorb the shock waves of the earthquakes. Yedikule is where I spent my childhood, playing on top of those walls, climbing them via their irregular steps. The imperial gates were made ever smaller as the empire started declining. Osman the Young was strangled in the Yedikule dungeon. The only sultan to be killed by the Janissaries.
I visited the Golden Gate in this video a few days back in Istanbul, and there I was, feeling the spirit of the Roman Empire.
I live literally next to the walls, see them anytime I get out do something. Sometimes I look at these walls and think about them, the history they contain as they still stand. A bad fact about these walls nowadays is lots of addicts and drunks hang around the walls. I don't know why they hand around the wall a lot, but they sure like it.
Fascinating
The opening jingle is like the start of an Age of Empires 2 match!
My granny could scrap better than that
great video greetings from turkey
Very good video! A lot of interesting stuff :)
I hope you know there is a trend on Tiktok where women ask the men in thier lives how often they think of the Roman Empire. My sister asked me today and this youtube channel came up. Thanks to you, I could be apart of this new cliche and trend lol
Thanks for saying so.
Cursed be the Hungarian designer who gave the Ottomans the cannons.
Thanks for the video. Just like add a bit of detail; the first Ottoman soldier on the walls, Hasan (Ulubatlı Hasan, Hasan of Ulubat) was a Timarli Sipahi, an Anatolian regular cavalryman.
There is no such person as Hasan from Ulubat in the historical records. It's just a good urban legend.