Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557)

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Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557)

Incredible “Ship Graveyard” Discovered In Black Sea Features 2,500 Years Of Perfectly Preserved Ships

A shipwreck lover’s dream has been discovered in the azure waters of the Black Sea: around 60 wrecks, from the Byzantine era to the 19th century, revealing 2,500 years of maritime history.

Described as a “ship graveyard” due to the sheer numbers, the plethora of ships found is not only incredible but some of them are in astonishingly good shape too.

The three-year project, Black Sea MAP, from the University of Southampton’s Centre for Maritime Archeology and funded by the EEF, is one of the largest marine archeological projects ever staged, and to begin with it wasn’t even searching for ships.

Researchers set out to complete geophysical surveys of the Black Sea to study the effects of climate change and how it had changed the environment along the Bulgarian coast. However, they found a whole lot more in this submerged world.

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The earliest ship they found dates to the 4-5th century, and they go right through the Roman Empire, 10th-century Byzantine, and the Ottoman Empire, covering a period of 2,500 years and offering fascinating insight into seafaring routes and traditions.  

Researchers have called the discovery “unrivaled”, the ships’ locations revealing ancient patterns of trade, warfare, and communication as well as confirming structural ship design and features that could only have been guessed at or glimpsed in drawings before now.

‘‘We have never seen anything like this before,” said Dr Kroum Batchvarov, from the University of Connecticut, in an emailed statement. “This is history in the making unfolding before us.”

The researchers used remotely operated vehicles (ROV) with high-resolution 3D cameras as well as high-def cameras, a laser scanner, lights, and geophysical equipment to survey the seabed. 

Luckily, below around 150 meters (492 feet), the Black Sea is anoxic, meaning the organisms that usually feast on anything organic cannot survive because there is little light or oxygen, so many of the ships are in surprisingly excellent condition.

“There's one medieval trading vessel where the towers on the bow and stern are pretty much still there,” Ed Parker, CEO of Black Sea MAP, said. 

“It's as if you are looking at a ship in a movie, with ropes still on the deck and carvings in the wood."

Despite the excitement garnered by such a find, the team is keeping the locations of the ships secret to protect them while they study them. It wasn’t that long ago that the earliest human skeleton in the Americas was discovered by amateur divers, only for them to put it on social media and by the time excited scientists turned up it had been stolen. 

Luckily, these researchers had a television crew, one who has previously worked on the BBC's incredible David Attenborough-led Blue Planet, follow them through the three-year project. The incredible findings will be coming to a TV near you soon. 

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Incredible “Ship Graveyard” Discovered In Black Sea Features 2,500 Years Of Perfectly Preserved Ships

2,350-year-old goods unearthed in Patara reveal ancient way of life

Excavations conducted in the ancient city of Patara in Antalya province have revealed more than 200 objects, including a bronze mirror frame, forks, bowls and coins, giving hints about the daily practices of the civilization that lived in the ancient city.

More than 200 utensils that are 2,350 years old, including a bronze mirror frame and a fork, have been unearthed in the ancient city of Patara, located in the Kaş district of Antalya province.

The excavation works in Patara started in 1988 and are being continued by the head of Akdeniz University's Archaeology Department Prof. Havva Işık and her team. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Işık said Patara is one of the most important ancient cities of the Mediterranean region.

Implying that Patara was the prophecy center of Apollo, the god of art, music, sun, poem and fire in mythological sources, Işık said Saint Nicholas, who is an important figure in the Christian world, was also born there, and he created his teachings in Myra.

She added that they have focused on the area around the Nero Hamam this year, and the excavation works in the basilica and Tepecik Acropolis in the heart of the city are ongoing.

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"Tepecik Acropolis, which is the most important area of the excavations, houses the earliest settlement. This is why the most important findings have been found there," Işık said.

She indicated that they are trying to reveal the Hellenistic and classical period with the findings there.

Noting that they discovered many interesting artifacts in the excavations of the Tepecik acropolis, Işık said more than 200 works have been found in a construction site that was demolished because of an earthquake or fire.

The goods, which have been found together in the same area including meal bowls, weights, sculptures and coins, are in good shape.

"This house is a think tank for us. These works are important since they provide information about the Hellenistic period. They bring important information about daily life," Işık indicated.

Noting that the earthenware baby bottle, bronze mirror frame and iron fork were important findings, vice head of the Patara excavations associate professor Şevket Aktaş said, "We think these findings belong to an important figure. We have found more than 200 household goods together. They date back to 2,350 years ago. We date them at the end of the Hellenistic period and the beginning of the Classical period. We generally discover broken pieces in excavations. However, it was so exciting that we have found them simultaneously and in preserved shape."

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Explaining that the baby bottle was used for fluids like milk, Aktaş implied the importance of these findings to understand the family structure of the period.

Starting from the bronze mirror frame, he also commented that these goods possibly belong to someone rich because ordinary people from this period didn't use mirrors.

In order to show the importance of the findings to get information about the daily life of the period, Aktaş gave the example of weaving looms. Many weaving looms dating back to 350 B.C. have also been found in the excavations but their wooden parts were unable to last over the years.

Additionally, in Patara, the parliament building of the Lycian League, which is accepted as the first democratic parliament of the world, was opened to tourism after reparation by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 2011.

2,350-year-old goods unearthed in Patara reveal ancient way of life

11th century church ruins found in Balıkesir

Ruins of a church dating back 800 years have been unearthed at the ancient city of Adramytteion in the northwestern Turkish province of Balıkesir’s Burhaniye district.

The find comes just two weeks before the end of this year’s seasonal works.

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Murat Özgen, the director of the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Northern Aegean Research and Application Center, said excavations at Adramytteion have been continuing since 2012.

“This year excavations have continued in a field on the Ören Hill, which we call ‘Region C.’ A big church was found during excavations between 2000 and 2006, dating back to the 11th century. During the works two years ago we found the apse of the church. We already knew there was destruction in the 11th century.

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The latest church we have found confirms this knowledge as it was destroyed. Now we have two weeks to finish the works here. Our reconstruction plan for protection has also been approved,” Özgen said.

11th century church ruins found in Balıkesir

Polish archaeologists discover latrines and valuable ornaments in ancient Marea, Egypt

Stone latrines, a ring and a bracelet are the most interesting discoveries made by a team of Kraków archaeologists in the ruins of a huge basilica dating back 1.5 thousand years in Marea, northern Egypt.

Marea was a city near ancient Alexandria. It is known that it functioned in the Roman and Byzantine periods, but the researchers have not yet established when exactly it was founded. The town was famous, among other things, for its fine wines distributed in the Mediterranean basin.

Seal-ring with an image of a saint. Photo by D. Majchrzak

The importance of Marea as a key port is demonstrated by four long piers, the longest of which measures over 120 meters and was built with solid stone blocks joined with waterproof mortar.

Excavations in the ruins of the Byzantine basilica have been conducted by Polish archaeologists since 2003. "This is the second largest known structure of this type in Egypt" told PAP head of the mission, Dr. Krzysztof Babraj. 

The artefacts discovered inside come from the late V to the early VIII century, from the time of the city's greatest splendour.

During the last research season, the researchers found a room with stone latrines. According to the researchers, they come from the times when masses were celebrated in the temple.

Bracelet with apotropaic symbol. Photo by D. Majchrzak

"We believe that they were available to the believers - from the inside of the basilica, and to the pilgrims - from the outer walls of the building" - said Dr. Babraj. According to the scientist, the discovery is not a surprise for researchers, because the latrines were a standard facility in ancient churches. there probably were separate rooms for women and separate for men.

"Interestingly, the priest had a private latrine in one of the side chapels of the basilica" - added the archaeologist.

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Other elements discovered by Polish researchers also indicate that the basilica was partly self-sufficient - including a few meters deep well located between the two naves of the church.

In the rooms adjacent to the latrines, archaeologists discovered spectacular artefacts made of metal. The first is a bronze ring with a visible figure of a saint. "There were no similar finds in northern Egypt until now" - said Dr. Babraj.

Scientists assume that the ring belonged to a bishop, who used it to stamp his correspondence. This type of ring imprint was equivalent to a signature.

During the last research season archaeologists also discovered a small bracelet that had been worn on the hand. Its diameter indicates that it was used by a child, researchers believe. "It was an apotropaic object, its purpose was to deter evil" - added Dr. Babraj.

Recent research shows that the liturgy was celebrated in the basilica until the 8th century.

"I think that this was not caused by the Arabs taking control of Egypt, but rather by the fact that the surrounding areas that had been used as crop fields were neglected. The locals stopped cleaning the channels that supplied sweet water from the lake" - explained Dr. Babraj. The researcher also pointed out that the basilica was not a construction masterpiece - after several hundred years of use the walls of the temple began to crack due to errors made by the builders.

"When the priests left the temple, from time to time it served as a temporary shelter for Bedouins, tribes living in the desert" - the researcher added.

Scientists believe in the near future they will determine the exact history of the temple. All because of a huge collection of Greek records concerning the functioning of the basilica, which Polish archaeologists have discovered in one of the rooms. Translation work is underway and it is already known that most of the documents were written by one person. These include information about the construction of the Marea basilica describing the work done, the workers, their functions and remuneration they received.

Excavations in Marea are conducted by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology UW and the Archaeological Museum of Krakow. Hélèn Zaleski has been supporting them financially for several years.

Polish archaeologists discover latrines and valuable ornaments in ancient Marea, Egypt

Using Evliya Çelebi's travelogue, excavation team discovers 1,000-year-old Turkish neighborhood

Excavation teams, using information from famed Ottoman explorer Evliya Çelebi's travel guide, are continuing work along one of Anatolia's longest underground water passageways in northeastern Turkey, unearthing the lost history of a millennium old Turkish neighborhood in the process.

Atatürk University-sponsored archaeological digs have been ongoing in the Mengücekliler district of northeastern Turkey's Erzincan for the past six years, especially around Kemah Castle, an area where early Turks migrated from Central Asia.

With assistance from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, significant historical monuments and remains have been unearthed throughout the excavations.

Among Anatolia's longest historical water tunnels, which stretch for about 350 meters between the Kemah castle and the Tanasur stream, a 1,000-year-old Turkish neighborhood has been one of the teams' major discoveries.

Dr. Hüseyin Yurttaş, head of Atatürk University's Art History department, told Anadolu Agency that a book entitled "Seyahatname" (Book of Travel) by Evliya Çelebi has been a guide to the excavation work.

Yurttaş said that according to Çelebi's book, there were 600 homes in the castle, as well as 11 houses of worship and 3 minarets.

"We have slightly departed from what Evliya Çelebi told us, and have started guiding that path ourselves. We discovered an approximately 1,000-year-old Turkish neighborhood through the excavations in Kemah."

The excavations have revealed that there were water tunnels in the upper Euphrates region, beginning from the Kemah Castle at a height of 1,053 meters above the sea level and moving to the Tanasur stream, down to a level of 50-60 meters, which indicates the water needs of past residents.

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Emphasizing that one of the most important historical features of Kemah Castle were these tunnels, Yurttaş continued, "These water passageways were built with vaults in place."

"The tunnels are the longest in Anatolia, and according to our measurements, the tunnels stretch to around 350 meters still today. Because they are in ruins, it is difficult to reach them, but they are most visible from Kemah Castle," he said.

An assistant in the excavation team, Muhammet Lütfü Kındığılı, also said that they had discovered the structure of a kiln, which alluded to the production of ceramic pieces belonging to the Byzantine period from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler, who voyaged through Ottoman territory and neighboring lands over a period of forty years in the 17th century. He recorded his commentary in a ten-volume travelogue called the "Seyahatname."

Born in Constantinople in 1611, Evliya was a devout Muslim opposed to fanaticism, who could recite the Quran from memory. He was employed as an entertainer to the Ottoman court, but eventually refused employment that would keep him from travelling.

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Using Evliya Çelebi's travelogue, excavation team discovers 1,000-year-old Turkish neighborhood

Scientists find languages not used since Dark Ages among ancient manuscripts recovered from monastery

Languages not seen since the Dark Ages have come to light after scientists used a new method to inspect a trove of ancient manuscripts found in a monastery in Egypt.

They turned up extremely rare tongues, including Caucasian Albanian, on documents they found in Saint Catherine’s monastery on the Sinai peninsula that date back 1,500 years.

Monks originally wrote their texts down on parchments which were later scrubbed off and used to write the Bible by future generations who spoke in more modern languages.

But a new technique developed by researchers allows them to see the original text hidden from the naked eye in a development hailed as “new golden age of discovery”.

Researchers took photographs of the material using different parts of the light spectrum and put the electronic images through a computer algorithm.

The method allows them to see the first writing laid down on the parchments, which at the time were highly valuable, before they were re-used in later years.

It comes as the chances of finding further ancient documents in St Catherine’s monastery comes under threat by Muslim extremists, including Isis, who are known to destroy Christian sites.

“The age of discovery is not over,” Michael Phelps from the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library in California told The Times.

“In the 20th century new manuscripts were discovered in caves. In the 21st century, we will apply new techniques to manuscripts that have been under our noses. We will recover lost voices from our history.”

The site beneath the mountain where God is said to have revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses has collected thousands of manuscripts since it was built in the 6th century.

“I don’t know of any library in the world that parallels it,” said Mr Phelps. “The monastery is an institution from the Roman Empire that continues operating according to its original mission.”

He added that although the site stored ancient knowledge for future generations the practice by monks of re-using parchments meant they were also to blame for erasing it.

“At some point the material the manuscript was on became more valuable than what was written on it,” Mr Phelps said. “So it was deemed worthy of being recycled.”

But scientists are now busy digging out the original texts found in the recent trove of manuscripts discovered in St Catherine’s, which was announced by the Ministry of Antiquities in Cairo.

The find includes the first-known copy of the gospels in Arabic and the earliest examples of known works from the Greek physician Hippocrates.

Scientists find languages not used since Dark Ages among ancient manuscripts recovered from monastery

Outside Jerusalem’s Old City, a once-in-a-lifetime find of ancient Greek inscription

During a salvage excavation ahead of telephone cable infrastructure placement, archaeologists uncover a rare intact 1,500-year-old mosaic from the dawn of the Christian empire.

An extremely rare ancient early Christian Greek inscription has been discovered about a kilometer north of Jerusalem’s Old City. The once-in-a-lifetime dream archaeological find was discovered by chance during infrastructure work for a phone cable.

The intact 1,500-year-old mosaic was uncovered in the flooring of what is thought to have been a pilgrim hostel during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Israel Antiquities Authority director of excavation David Gellman was supervising the salvage dig ahead of the placement of Partner communications cable infrastructure outside American Consulate buildings in East Jerusalem.

Gellman called the find “extremely exciting,” saying that “it’s not every day that one finds an inscription — a ‘direct letter’ from someone — from 1,500 years ago.”

The black-lettered mosaic inscription was discovered on a white tile floor during the last day of salvage work.

“The fact that the inscription survived is an archaeological miracle,” said Gellman.

Gellman, who has spent the past four years working on digs in Jerusalem, said with one more day left to his excavation permit, he had been unsure of any remarkable finds from the dig. The team was excavating an area approximately one meter below street level.

“The excavation in a relatively small area exposed ancient remains that were severely damaged by infrastructure groundwork over the last few decades. We were about to close the excavation when all of a sudden, a corner of the mosaic inscription peeked out between the pipes and cables,” he said.

“My heart leapt out of my chest,” the Toronto-born Gellman said on Wednesday at a press tour at the IAA’s Rockefeller Museum headquarters.

“Amazingly, it had not been damaged. Every archaeologist dreams of finding an inscription in their excavations, especially one so well preserved and almost entirely intact,” said Gellman. He said one area of the mosaic was slightly raised by a tree root growing beneath it, and a there are a few gaps of letters among the six-line inscription.

After three days of work on his extended excavation permit Gellman’s team uncovered, in addition to the mosaic, a few remnants of walls of the pilgrims’ hostel, pottery shards of bowls and other vessels, and three Byzantine coins dating from the 6th century.

The Greek inscription was deciphered by the Hebrew University’s Dr. Leah Di Segni, an expert on ancient Greek inscriptions.

The inscription reads, “In the time of our most pious emperor Flavius Justinian, also this entire building Constantine the most God-loving priest and abbot, established and raised, in the 14th indiction.”

Di Segni believes it was written to commemorate the founding of the building — presumed to be a pilgrim hostel — by a priest named Constantine. The word “indiction,” said Di Segni, “is an ancient method of counting years, for taxation purposes. Based on historical sources, the mosaic can be dated to the year 550/551 CE.”

The new inscription is currently being treated and researched by conservation experts at the Israel Antiquities Authority’s mosaic workshop in Jerusalem.

The inscription was found on a road leading to the Damascus Gate, the main northern entrance to Jerusalem in the period surrounding the era of the charismatic emperor Justinian. Also known as Justinian the Great, the monarch was considered the “last Roman emperor” for his desire to revive the vast strength and greatness of the Roman empire. It was under Justinian that the Byzantine empire completed its conversion to Christianity.

According to Gellman, the foundation of the hostel by Justinian on the Damascus Road points to the importance of Jerusalem in the empire.

“Knowing that, it is no surprise that this area is rich with archaeological remains,” said Gellman. “In the Byzantine period, with the emergence of Christianity, churches, monasteries and hostels for pilgrims were built in the area north of the gate, and the area became one of the most important and active areas of the city.”

A similar mosaic was found in the 1970s during excavations of the Old City under the remains of the Nea Church, or new church, also founded by Justinian, in 543 CE. The church, dedicated to Jesus’s mother Mary, was a jewel of the Byzantine empire. It is now on exhibition in the Israel Museum.

According to the IAA, the abbot of the church was the same priest Constantine whose name appears in the newly discovered inscription. Gellman said that the inclusion of the priest Constantine in the newly found mosaic points to the influence of the priest, whom we now know was not only in charge of the Nea Church but also of the pilgrim complex uncovered by the IAA outside the walls of the city during salvage operations ahead of construction of new roads and a gas station over the past several dozen years.

Ancient Greek expert Di Segni concurred that the two mosaics are “fairly similar” in that they include mentions of both Justinian and Constantine.

“This new inscription helps us understand Justinian’s building projects in Jerusalem, especially the Nea Church,” said Di Segni. “The rare combination of archaeological finds and historical sources, woven together, is incredible to witness, and they throw important light on Jerusalem’s past.”

Uncovering this mosaic, said Gellman, is, “so far, the height of my career.”

Outside Jerusalem’s Old City, a once-in-a-lifetime find of ancient Greek inscription

Ancient glass bracelets found at newly-discovered necropolis near Plovdiv’s Small Basilica

Very well-preserved glass bracelets have been found in a grave in a recently-discovered necropolis near Plovdiv’s Small Basilica.

The necropolis was found about two weeks ago, Plovdiv Bulgarian-language news website podtepeto.com reported.

According to archaeologist Elena Bozhinova, who is working on the site of about 200 sq m, the finds at the site date from about the 11th to the 14th centuries.

The use of the site varied in the centuries long past. At one point, it was a cemetery, and at another, a residential neighbourhood.

Also found were remnants of a very large stone building, something exceptional for the Middle Ages and more usual for the Roman era in the ancient city. It is assumed to have been a building of significant importance. A stone wall in the middle of the site is believed to have been enclosed in the necropolis.

According to Bozhinova, the finding of the glass bracelets helped to date the entire necropolis.

Dating the necropolis was more accurate than basing the date on coins, “as the glass bracelets are fragile and break easily, while one coin may not change for 300 years,” Bozhinova said.

“We did not expect it from the mediaeval period, but from it we have literally all possible archaeological structures,” she said. This included a paved street, a fragement of an apse, a below-level dwelling, and an underground storage space of which only the stove remained.

At the site, work is now proceeding from the mediaeval period further down to antiquity.

The Small Basilica in Plovdiv was built in the second half of the fifth century CE. The remnants were found in the 1980s. After an extensive conservation and restoration project, funded by the America for Bulgaria Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Plovdiv Municipality, the site – protected and housed in a special structure – opened to the public in May 2014.

Source/Photography/Bibliography

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Ancient glass bracelets found at newly-discovered necropolis near Plovdiv’s Small Basilica

Broken wings, missing limbs and torn paintings - the hospital fixing more than 4,000 artworks damaged in last year's earthquakes in Italy.

Broken wings, missing limbs and torn paintings - the hospital fixing more than 4,000 artworks damaged in last year's earthquakes in Italy.

Broken wings, missing limbs and torn paintings - the hospital fixing more than 4,000 artworks damaged in last year's earthquakes in Italy.

Ancient Church Resurrected In Ghostly Wire Mesh

A destroyed basilica at the Santa Maria Maggiore di Siponto church in Puglia resurrected In Ghostly Wire Mesh by  artist Edoardo Tresoldi.

The permanent installation -- made from transparent metal wiring -- marks the opening of a new archaeological park beside an existing church.

Built in three months, the €3.5 million ($3.96 million) structure corresponds to the original size of the Paleo-Christian basilica that once stood on the site.

Tresoldi, who conceived similar works for last year's Secret Garden Party and Milan Fashion Week, describes his installation as 'a return of this great building as if it was part of the histo.

Ancient Church Resurrected In Ghostly Wire Mesh

Byzantium

Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον Byzántion) was an ancient Greek colony on the site that later became Constantinople, and later still Istanbul. Byzantium was colonised by the Greeks from Megara in c. 657 BC.

Byzantion name is of ancient greek origins, derived from the legendary king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city.

Coinage with idealized depiction of Byzas, founder of Byzantium. Struck in Byzantium, Thrace, around the time of Marcus Aurelius (161–180 CE).

The form Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name. Much later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire, the "Byzantine" Empire, whose capital Constantinople stood on the site of ancient Byzantium. This usage was introduced only in 1555 by the historian Hieronymus Wolf, a century after the empire had ceased to exist. During the time of the empire, the term Byzantium was restricted to just the city, rather than the empire it ruled.

History

The European side (at Seraglio Point) featured only two fishing settlements: Lygos and Semistra. The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. The traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara (a city-state near Athens) founded Byzantium in 667 BC when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. The tradition tells that Byzas, son of King Nisos (Νίσος), planned to found a colony of the Dorian Greek city of Megara. Byzas consulted the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, which instructed Byzas to settle opposite the "Land of the Blind". Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location where the Golden Horn, a great natural harbour, meets the Bosphorus and flows into the Sea of Marmara, opposite Chalcedon (modern day Kadıköy). He adjudged the Chalcedonians blind not to have recognized the advantages the land on the European side of the Bosphorus had over the Asiatic side. In 667 BC he founded Byzantium at their location, thus fulfilling the oracle's requirement. Cape Moda in Chalcedon was the first location which the Greek settlers from Megara chose to colonize in 685 BC, prior to colonizing Byzantion on the European side of the Bosphorus under the command of King Byzas in 667 BC.

AR tetradrachm struck in Byzantion 150-100 BC in the name of Lysimachos obverse:Head of the deified Alexander the Great right; reverse: Athena Nikephoros seated left ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ monogram (ΠΩΛΥΒ) to left; ΒΥ below throne trident in exergue references: Dewing 1361, Müller 204. weight:16,87g diameter: 35-32mm

It was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side.

Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian war. As part of Sparta's strategy for cutting off grain supplies to Athens, Sparta took the city in 411 BC. The Athenian military later took the city in 408 BC.

After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself. (See Nova Roma.) After his death the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoupolis, "city of Constantine").

An amphora containing a treasure of 1,202 6th century Byzantine bronze coins

This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city "Istanbul" (although it was not officially renamed until 1930); the name derives from "eis-tin-polin" (Greek: "to-the-city"). To this day it remains the largest and most populous city in Turkey, although Ankara is now the national capital.

Emblem

By the late Hellenistic or early Roman period (1st century BC), the star and crescent motif was associated to some degree with Byzantium; even though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Mithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city into his empire).

Some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be an eight-rayed star on the reverse. According to accounts which vary in some of the details, in 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip of Macedon. On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as a meteor, sometimes as the moon, and some accounts also mention the barking of dogs. However, the original accounts mention only a light in the sky, without specifying the moon. To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of Hecate lampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in the works of Hesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the tenth century lexicographer Suidas. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium, and Eustathius.

Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were the crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance.

Ancient design of the star and crescent symbol as used in Byzantium in the 1st century BC

The star and crescent develops in the iconography of the Hellenistic period in Pontus, the Bosporan Kingdom, and notably Byzantium by the 2nd century BC. It is the conjoined representation of the crescent and a star, both of which constituent elements have a long prior history in the iconography of the Ancient Near East as representing either Sun and Moon, or Moon and Evening Star (or their divine personifications). Coins with crescent and star symbols represented separately have a longer history, with possible ties to older Mesopotamian iconography.

Depiction of the emblems of Ishtar (Venus), Sin (Moon), and Shamash (Sun) on a boundary stone of Meli-Shipak II (12th century BC)

The star or Sun is often shown within the arc of the crescent (also called star in crescent or star within crescent for disambiguation of depictions of a star and a crescent side by side); In numismatics in particular, the term crescent and pellet is used in cases where the star is simplified to a single dot.

Byzantine coin (1st century) with a bust of Artemis on the obverse and an eight-rayed star within a crescent on the reverse side.

In Byzantium, the symbol became associated its patron goddess Artemis-Hecate, and it is used as a representation of Moon goddesses (Selene-Luna or Artemis-Diana) in the Roman era. Ancient depictions of the symbol always show the crescent with horns pointing upward, and with the star (often with eight rays) placed inside the crescent. This arrangement is also found on Sassanid coins beginning in the 5th or 6th century.
Crescents appearing together with a star or stars are a common feature of Sumerian iconography, the crescent usually being associated with the moon god Sin (Nanna) and the star with Ishtar (Inanna, i.e. Venus), often placed alongside the sun disk of Shamash. In Late Bronze Age Canaan, star and crescent moon motifs are also found on Moabite name seals.
The Egyptian hieroglyphs representing "moon" () and "star" () appear in ligature, forming a star-and-crescent shape , as a determiner for the word for "month", ꜣbd.

A star and crescent symbol with the star shown in a sixteen-rayed "sunburst" design (3rd century BC)

The depiction of the crescent-and-star or "star inside crescent" as it would later develop in Bosporan Kingdom is difficult to trace to Mesopotamian art. Exceptionally, a combination of the crescent of Sin with the five-pointed star of Ishtar, with the star placed inside the crescent as in the later Hellenistic-era symbol, placed among numerous other symbols, is found in a boundary stone of Nebuchadnezzar I (12th century BC; found in Nippur by John Henry Haynes in 1896). An example of such an arrangement is also found in the (highly speculative) reconstruction of a fragmentary stele of Ur-Nammu (Third Dynasty of Ur) discovered in the 1920s.

Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontus (r. 120–63 BC) used an eight rayed star with a crescent moon as his emblem. McGing (1986) notes the association of the star and crescent with Mithradates VI, discussing its appearance on his coins, and its survival in the coins of the Bosporan Kingdom where "[t]he star and crescent appear on Pontic royal coins from the time of Mithradates III and seem to have had oriental significance as a dynastic badge of the Mithridatic family, or the arms of the country of Pontus." Several possible interpretations of the emblem have been proposed. In most of these, the "star" is taken to represent the Sun. The combination of the two symbols has been taken as representing Sun and Moon (and by extension Day and Night), the Zoroastrian Mah and Mithra,or deities arising from Greek-Anatolian-Iranian syncretism, the crescent representing Mēn Pharnakou (Μήν Φαρνακου, the local moon god) and the "star" (Sun) representing Ahuramazda (in interpretatio graeca called Zeus Stratios)

It is unclear precisely how the symbol Hecate/Artemis, one of many goddesses would have been transferred to the city itself, but it seems likely to have been an effect of being credited with the intervention against Philip and the subsequent honors. This was a common process in ancient Greece, as in Athens where the city was named after Athena in honor of such an intervention in time of war.

Later, under the Romans, cities in the empire often continued to issue their own coinage. "Of the many themes that were used on local coinage, celestial and astral symbols often appeared, mostly stars or crescent moons." The wide variety of these issues, and the varying explanations for the significance of the star and crescent on Roman coinage precludes their discussion here. It is, however, apparent that by the time of the Romans, coins featuring a star or crescent in some combination were not at all rare.

Source/Photography/Bibliography

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