Skip to main content

This Day in History

Constantinople Becomes the Capital of the Roman Empire

On May 11th 330A.D. emperor Constantine I officially made the city of Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it Constantinople. He did this to bring the capital of the empire closer to the frontiers, yet within easy defense of her armies. Situated on trade routes between Asia and the west it quickly became a rich and flourishing center, though initially devoid of all of the decorum of the old capital. It would remain as the center of the empire until 1453 when the Ottoman Turks captured the city.

Comments

  1. Zho ZhoJuly 13, 2010 at 2:47 PM

    I love the story of Constantinople, the city that brought silk to Europe. Silk, that magic fibre, whose secret had only been known by Asia up until the time of Justinian, the second emperor of Constantinople. Then around AD 550, two Nestorian monks appeared at the Byzantine Emperor Justinian's court with silkworm eggs hidde in their hollow bamboo staves. Under their supervision the eggs hatched into worms, and the worms spun cocoons. Justinian was in the silk business at last. The Byzantine church and state created imperial workshops, monopolizing production and keeping the secret of sericulture to themselves. This was the reason for Constantinople's great wealth, and the lavish dress of the Byzantine court. Isn't that a wonderful story, I love it, so much of the wealth and power of previous empires was dictated by textiles, and who held their secrets. Actually I might do a post about this on my blog. Tee hee and away.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Olympe de la Tour D'AuvergneJuly 13, 2010 at 9:54 PM

    Hi Zho,

    I also have always loved that story, and it sounds like a great subject for a blog post!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Italian Renaissance Hairstyles

In keeping with my last post on Italian Renaissance costume I thought we would take a look at something we didn't touch much on; hairstyles. They were extremely varying; up and down, braided, netted, entwined with silks and ribbons, even pearls, and, of course, dyed, bleached, and curled. The only thing in somewhat short supply seems to be hats, and really who would want to cover up what you had spent so much time constructing? "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get the curls placed?!" 1544 Portrait of Laura da Pola by Lotto Occasionally a small cap, or scuffia, was worn either with side curls, or with most of the hair stuffed up underneathe:- 1490 portrait by Ghirlandaio 1502 Betrothal 1510 Portrait by Araldi Another notable hair decoration was the reta, or hairnet. Some of these were beaded, some woven in decorative patterns, and some left very simple. 1505-1508 Siena 1545 Lavinia Under and around these ornamentations, o...
1 comment
Read more

How Our Ancestors Slept

As someone who wakes up during the night feeling frustratingly refreshed...and then struggles to rise in the morning, I found this article to be a kind of vindication. Apparently the way we sleep has changed. For more information you can visit the link here .
8 comments
Read more

The De Berry Project- The Fabric and shoes

As I mentioned last time I am working on a version of the outfit to the left for an event coming up soon in July. I wanted something with a hat to shade my face, and not too hot since we are going to be outside in the middle of a Virginian summer. The fabric gods were not kind, when I went to my local fabric stores. There was really nothing in the right weight, color, pattern, fiber, or amount; especially the amount since I need about 8 yards for the undergown and 10 yards for the overdress. Part of the problem is that there are no waist seams, so each piece has to be cut from a long continuous length of material. Also, those sleeves are about four yards by themselves. I resigned myself to ordering online, which I hate doing because it's so hard to be sure of the color etc without seeing it in person, and by the time the fabric arrives often there just isn't time to send it back and get something else. I went first to an oldie, but a goodie; Thai silks. I knew they would...
Post a Comment
Read more