Place · Aegean, Anatolia and Byzantium
Constantinople
Ancient names: Constantinopolis
The new Christian capital founded by Constantine (present-day Istanbul). The Pleiades point is derived from related places.
41.0066°N 28.9656°E · representative coordinate · approximate · Pleiades 520998 ↗
Statements linked to this place
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The major turning point came with Constantine the Great (324 to 337), founder of Constantinople. After a divine vision on the eve of a battle, he and nearly all his successors used legislation and the state to support Christianity and reduce the influence of the Jews. With the exception of Julian (361 to 363), Christianity would have imperial backing from the fourth century on.
Community: Jews of Istanbul, a multiethnic imperial community.
Istanbul counted roughly 12,000 Jewish residents in 1490 and more than 20,000 by 1688. After 1453 the sürgün policy transferred whole groups, including Jews, into Istanbul.