The Church of Saint Polyeuktos
The Church of Saint Polyeuktos was one of the most beautiful and influential buildings in Byzantine Constantinople. It was built to showcase the wealth and patronage of Anicia Juliana scion of the Theodosian dynasty. It may have been the direct inspiration for Justinian's Hagia Sophia. He was certainly determined to outshine it.
The building was then looted by Crusaders and Ottomans alike - a testament to the outstanding craftsmanship of its construction.
This video is part of a series - 'The History of Byzantium goes to Istanbul.' In 2018 the listeners of the podcast funded a Kickstarter to send me to Istanbul. I documented many of the surviving Byzantine sites and have made videos about them.
I am now able to offer tours to Istanbul (and beyond) for listeners of the podcast. Email me if you'd like to know more (thehistoryofbyzantium at gmail.com).
Video edited by / suhlefilm
For more information about Byzantine Constantinople visit www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/. It's a fantastic website providing breakdowns of the Byzantine buildings that can still be seen today and there you'll find most of the still images and sketches used in these videos.
'The History of Byzantium' is a podcast telling the story of the Roman Empire from 476 AD to 1453. The podcast home page is here thehistoryofbyzantium.com/ and you can support the show at / historyofbyzantium
#constantinople #justinian #hagia sophia #istanbul #byzantium #byzantine
Пікірлер: 13
Anicia Juliana would make such a good character in the hypothetical TV series about Justinian and Theodora. A whole subplot could be dedicated to Roman aristocrats competing to show whose phal... I mean church, is bigger and holier, while Procopius just trash talks everyone behind their backs.
Thanks Robin. There is SO much to be uncovered and analysed!
I love how the letters are carved in relief as opposed to inscribed. It's very impressive
Amazing videos. Thanks for the detailed info on these magnificent structures. As a Turk leaned more from your videos than anything I came across, amazing work.
@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much :-)
Excellent. Many thanks. I visited the Istanbul archaeological museum and thought it was the best of its type I have seen.
great video, really enjoyed it. I also would have a question, if there was a church in Constantinople for the holy widom (hagia sophia) and the holy peace (hagie irene) was there also one for the holy understanding or whatever the third of these trinity thing would be?
@TheHistoryofByzantiumPodcast
3 ай бұрын
Fantastic question which I don't have an answer for. I'm not aware of other churches in Constantinople dedicated to a concept or aspect of God. For more on Holy Wisdom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Wisdom
@lonelysoul296
3 ай бұрын
Hello, there used to be a Church of Hagia Dynamis in Constantinople, it was dedicated to the Divine Power of God in the 11th century. It was probably constructed very near the Neorion harbour. (source - Özgümüs, F. (2004) A Byzantine church at Sirkeci in Istanbul). Hope it helps.
How sad so much beauty lost forever and even more so that Crusaders could contribute to this tragedy in 1204 after which date Nothing more known till 1960 and construction of new highway Why in 10 century did they stop using Main Entrance? Why Left to collapse even before 1204? Sad that Byzantines themselves looting even before Crusaders ?None of this makes any sense since it was so beautifully decorated/ there must be another explanation? 8/14 Thank you for translation that survives? If only we could learn the original Greek Professor Charles Odahl to the rescue Please At School I had to learn whole passages of Julius Caesar Gallic Wars to pass my Latin O/level with highest grade 50 years ago How I wish Geek had also been an option so could have memorised these beautiful Greek Words Pleasing my much loved and hopefully Delightfully astonished Greek Speaking Stepfather from Cyprus Do you recommend author Faith L Justice Trilogy on Theodosian Empresses set in this time period just discovered today? Twilight Empress 2017 set in 410AD and Dawn Empress ?
the more I hear about this Justinian guy, the less likeable he seems... a sort of petty vindictive social climber.
@lonelysoul296
3 ай бұрын
people didn't like him either