Knowledge
Tools

   Double-click on any word that you do not understand in the text to get its meaning from Cambridge Online Dictionaries. To see the Greek translation of the word, select the option "Greek" and then double-click on the word again. To return to the Cambridge Online Dictionaries select the option "English".
Select Greek translation or English meaning.


Constantinople


Agia Sophia in Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. It was captured and sacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and then re-captured by Nikean forces under the command of Michael VIII Paleologos in 1261. Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire finally fell to the Ottoman Empire in May 1453.

In Byzantine times the Greeks called Constantinople “i Poli” ("the City"), since it was the centre of the Greek world and for most of the Byzantine period the largest city in Europe. Thus the term "politiki kouzina". 

Check that you understand what these words mean in this document
To capture: to gain or win as if by force.
To sack: to steal all the valuable things and possibly destroy a building or city, usually during a war.

For further information visit:
Constantinople 
The story of Constantinople presentation