Status
Available
Publication
London ; New York : Viking, c1996.
Description
With the emphasis on its colourful and tempestuous daily life, John Freely tells the story of the city from its foundation as Byzantium, through is life as Constantinople, to its renaming as Istanbul.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Finja2502
Great history of the city of Byzanz / Constantinople / Istanbul, and while learning a lot about the history of the city itself, it is also a great run through the history of the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empire. Engaging read, especially in the parts about all the intrigues in the Sultanat... x
Very nice is also the explanations about the sights in the city that still can be visited today. It is definitely no guidebook to the city, but after having read it onceI certainly knows much more about what Can be seen and visited in Istanbul.
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killed y, then z became sultan... unfortunately, it is almost impossible to keep track of the many names, but it is still a great overview. Very nice is also the explanations about the sights in the city that still can be visited today. It is definitely no guidebook to the city, but after having read it onceI certainly knows much more about what Can be seen and visited in Istanbul.
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LibraryThing member john.cooper
This isn't the first book you should read about Istanbul. Yes, it gives you an amazing one-volume overview of the city's history from the 7th century BC to the 20th century AD—Istanbul's history is arguably richer than Rome's, and what else but amazing could such a history be?—but Freely's
If, like me, you are fascinated by old monuments and wonder about the circumstances of their creation, the eighty-page appendix listing the major buildings and wonders surviving in modern Istanbul is the most notable part of the book, and the part that I will return to before returning to Istanbul.
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determination not to leave a single emperor or sultan unmentioned gives the book an unfortunate resemblance to the Bible's books of Kings, with their endless variations on "In the twenty-third year of King Joash son of Ahaziah of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria; he reigned seventeen years..." Yes, there are memorable anecdotes and astounding facts, but the fact remains that we've got 300 pages of rulers given a page or two each, leaving little room for substantial discussion of anything else. The value of this book is its compact comprehensiveness, not its readability.If, like me, you are fascinated by old monuments and wonder about the circumstances of their creation, the eighty-page appendix listing the major buildings and wonders surviving in modern Istanbul is the most notable part of the book, and the part that I will return to before returning to Istanbul.
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