The Forum of Constantine was the most important square in Istanbul during the Roman and Byzantine periods. The square was located on the Mese, the main street of Constantinople, and was built by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
In this article, you can find information about the Forum of Constantine, which was built in Istanbul, the capital of the Roman Empire in the East. You can also see at the end of the article why the Column of Constantine in the Forum began to be called “Cemberlitas” during the Ottoman period.
In order to talk about the history of the Forum of Constantine, we will have to take a journey through history. We will also talk about Constantine moving his throne from Rome to Constantinople and the architectural development of the new capital. Let’s start by hoping you enjoy this article.
Reforms of Emperor Constantine in Rome
Emperor Constantine holds a special place in history because he was the first Roman Emperor to accept Christianity. The Roman Empire, which had a polytheistic belief, entered a new era with Constantine’s reign and completed its religious transformation within the following 50 years.
Emperor Constantine’s reforms determined the future of the world and laid the foundations for a new Roman Empire centered in the East (Byzantium). The ancient capital of Rome, which was under threat from the endless attacks of the barbarians, lost its importance from the time of Constantine and was replaced by Constantinople (Istanbul).
New Capital Constantinople
Constantine’s emergence from the Tetrarchy Period as the sole ruler signaled a change. The four-emperor regime brought by Emperor Diocletian collapsed in just 30 years and was replaced by a single emperor once again.
Emperor Constantine, who was greatly respected by the Roman army, gained infinite power after defeating his last rival, Licinius. He was now the sole ruler of Roman lands stretching from Spain to Mesopotamia.
The first thing Constantine did was to abandon Rome, the symbol of the old empire. He wanted to establish a capital closer to the trade routes in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It is rumored that Constantine considered Nicomedia and Troy as the new capital. However, he ultimately decided on Byzantium, a small Greek colony. Byzantium was the first hill of Istanbul, where historical monuments such as Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sophia are located today.
By order of Emperor Constantine, construction of the new capital was undertaken between 324 and 330. The city, initially named “New Rome”, was to resemble the ancient capital of the empire, Rome. Architects, engineers and artists flocked here. At the end of intensive work, the construction of the new capital was completed on May 11, 330.
The new capital Constantinople, established roughly within the borders of today’s Sultanahmet district, did not yet cover the entirety of today’s Historical Peninsula.
The city, which developed rapidly since the day it was founded, began to be insufficient during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (408-450) and was therefore expanded.
The famous walls of Constantinople (Theodosian Walls) were built in 413. Thus, the legendary Byzantine capital, which spread completely over the peninsula south of the Bosphorus, emerged.
Forum of Constantine, an Iconic Building
During Emperor Constantine’s construction of the New Rome, many monumental structures were added to the city. The most important of these were of course the Great Palace, the Church of the Apostles, the Hippodrome and the Forum of Constantine.
Not much has survived from these first monumental structures of the city. However, the Column of Constantine, which adorned the center of the Forum of Constantine, can still be seen.
When we examine these structures built in the early period of the city, we see that the emperor attached great importance to the new capital. He wanted the city to be magnificent and sacred just like Rome. The Great Palace, where the emperors would live, and the Hippodrome, where races would be held in honor of the emperor, were built side by side.
In addition, the Forum of Constantine, a giant square where people would come together, was designed. Finally, the Church of the Holy Apostles, dedicated to the apostles of Jesus, was built to attribute holiness to the city.
The Mystery of the Column of Constantine
In Roman culture, where monumental columns were very important, the Forum of Constantine was also given a sacred meaning. Because, according to Christian historians, some sacred relics were placed under the column in the Forum of Constantine.
The wooden handle of the ax that allowed Noah to build his ship, the rock from which Moses gushed water, and a piece of the true cross on which Jesus was crucified were buried under the column. Of course, these claims are just rumors and their authenticity has not been proven. However, they still attribute mystery to the Column of Constantine.
The Column of Constantine, located right next to the Cemberlitas Tram Station in today’s Istanbul, is purple, the royal color during the Roman period. This rare color also adorned imperial robes and boots.
Between Paganism and Christianity
According to Christian historians and tradition, Emperor Constantine, who was considered a “Saint”, was a perfect Christian. However, when we examine the things Constantine did in depth, we see that he had his own unique understanding of religion.
Christianity, which had been suppressed by Roman emperors for years, was released with the Edict of Milan issued by Constantine and had just begun to spread to the masses in Roman lands.
In this period when religious lines were still unclear, we see that Constantine had a harmonizing approach. The emperor wanted to create a blend between the Roman people, who were still largely Pagan, and Christianity and tried to bring the two sides together.
The reflections of this transition period were hidden in the column in the Forum of Constantine. At the top of the column was a Statue of Apollo, believed to have been brought from Troy. This statue was of course a pagan symbol.
The head of the sun god Apollo was adorned with seven rays. Nails symbolizing the Passion of Christ were driven between the rays. In other words, the statue made references to both the past and the future of Rome.
Forum of Constantine in the Byzantine Era
Throughout the Byzantine period, the Forum of Constantine remained the largest square in the city. With the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Constantinople’s importance reached its peak. The Roman cult would be kept alive by the Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire), which was now the legal heir of ancient Rome.
The empire experienced its most glorious years during the reign of Emperor Justinian. However, the statue that witnessed the city’s best years was destroyed in a storm in 1104. A cross was placed here so that the top of the column would not remain empty.
Constantinople, despite its ups and downs, managed to remain the largest and richest city in the world until the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. During the Latin occupation between 1204 and 1261, the city’s most beautiful monuments were plundered.
Crusaders who set out from Europe in the early 1200s attacked Constantinople under the command of the “Doge of Venice” Enrico Dandolo and stole the most beautiful works in the city and took them to Venice, Italy.
In this incident that took place during the 4th Crusade, all of the gold, silver and bronze statues and icons in the city were stolen. Some of the works were washed to the bottom of the Mediterranean in sunken ships, while others were used to decorate historical structures in Venice.
The Crusaders who occupied the city in 1204 established a Latin Empire that would last until 1261. When the Byzantines took back their capital in 1261, the most beautiful churches, palaces and squares of the city were in ruins.
As a result, Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, could not overcome the destruction caused by the Crusades and never returned to its former glory. Magnificent structures such as the Forum of Constantine lost their former beauty.
The Forum of Constantine is now Cemberlitas
The Ottoman Principality, established in Anatolia in the 1300s, conquered all the lands around Constantinople within 150 years. Finally, in 1453, Constantinople fell and the city became the capital of the rising Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans preserved the city’s main street, the Mese, and the squares on it. The reason why the Column of Constantine is called Cemberlitas (column decorated with circles) is that iron clamps were nailed around the column, which was renovated during the Ottoman period.
The support clamps prevented the column from breaking apart due to earthquakes and ensured its survival to the present day. These support circles, which start from the base of the Column of Cemberlitas and go up to its top, gave their name to both the column and the district over time.
Conclusion
In this article, we talked about the Forum of Constantine, which has an important place in Istanbul’s history. The Forum of Constantine, one of the first structures of the Roman period, and the column in its center are today in the Cemberlitas district of Istanbul Old City.
Finally, in this article, I included the images I produced through ChatGPT. ChatGPT’s visual-producing extension called DALL-E is very useful in animating these historical writings.
I created the first three images in the article through DALL-E. I was able to get these outputs after giving detailed explanations to the artificial intelligence. Of course, when examined carefully, there are many historical errors in these images. On the other hand, they serve to support our imagination.
If you are interested in the history of Istanbul, you can find many articles related to these topics on the blog page of this site. For example, if you are interested in Byzantine structures in Istanbul, you can find my detailed article at this link.
Written by Serhat Engul
Leave a Reply