Mese (Constantinople)
The Mese ( Greek ἡ Μέση [Ὀδός] , i Mése [Odós] , dt. Mittelstrasse ) was the main street through the Byzantine Constantinople and processional route of the Byzantine emperors.
description
The Mese was laid out on the orders of Constantine the Great and began on Milion in front of Augustaion at the Great Palace and turned south. The fair was 25 meters wide and lined with colonnades with shops. It led past the hippodrome and the palaces of Lausos and Antiochus and after about 600 meters ended in the Forum of Constantine with the Senate . In this area, the street was also called Regia ( Greek ἡ Ῥηγία , German imperial street ) because it led to the processional route from the palace to the forum of the city's founder.
The road led from the Forum of Constantine to the Forum of Theodosius . Halfway one was Esplanade ( macros Embolos ) with a tetrapylon that the name Anemodoulion wore ( "servant of the Winds"). Shortly after the Theodosius Forum, the road came to Amastrianum and Philadelphion . Up to this point the actual fair went on. Here it was divided into a northwest and a southwest branch. The northwest route led past the Apostle Church and the Aetius cistern to the Charisius gate of the Theodosian wall . The southwest route led via the Forum Bovis and the Arcadius Forum to the Golden Gate of the Theodosian Wall. There the Mese became the Via Egnatia . As an eastern continuation of the Via Appia , it led to Rome .
The Mese was the route followed by imperial processions through the city, at least until the Comnenian period . When a victorious emperor made his triumphant entry, he entered the city through the Golden Gate and followed the Mese to the Grand Palace, while cheering crowds lined the street.
To this day, the street defines the districts of Istanbul's old town. The Divan Yolu leads to the Column of Constantine , where the Forum of Constantine was once located. From here the Yeniçeriler Caddesi follows to the Beyazıt Mosque and is then called Ordu Caddesi . At this point the former Mese divided. Although there is no longer a direct connection today, the northwest branch of the road can also be seen. The Fevzi Paşa Caddesi leads out of town to the Charisius Gate. The southwestern route also no longer has a direct connection, but is still recognizable in the city map as a route to the Golden Gate.
The Mese was a busy shopping street with hundreds of shops on either side. Silver and coppersmiths, bakeries and textile traders offered their goods.
literature
- Cyril Mango : The Triumphal Way of Constantinople and the Golden Gate . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers , No. 54, 2000, p. 173
- Nevra Necipoğlu: Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography and Everyday Life . Brill, Leiden 2001 ISBN 90-04-11625-7
- Albrecht Berger: Streets and Public Spaces in Constantinople . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers , Vol. 54 (2000), pp. 161-172
- Maurice Cerasi: The Urban and Architectural Evolution of the Istanbul Di̇vanyolu: Urban Aesthetics and Ideology in Ottoman Town Building . In: Muqarnas . Vol. 22 (2005), pp. 189-232
- Sarah Bassett: The Topography of Triumph in Late-Antique Constantinople . In: Fabian Goldbeck, Johannes Wienand (Hrsg.): The Roman triumph in principle and late antiquity . De Gruyter, Boston / Berlin 2016, pp. 511–554
- Marlia Mundell Mango: The porticoed street at Constantinople . In: Nevra Necipoğlu: Byzantine Constantinople. Monuments, topography and everyday life . Brill, Leiden 2001, pp. 29-51
Individual evidence
- ^ Marlia Mundell Mango: The Commercial Map of Constantinople . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . Vol. 54 (2000), p. 197
- ^ Marlia Mundell Mango: The Commercial Map of Constantinople . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . Vol. 54 (2000), pp. 189-207
Coordinates: 41 ° 0 ′ 30.2 ″ N , 28 ° 58 ′ 16.7 ″ E