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The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire Jelena Bogdanović Iowa State University, [email protected]

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The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire Jelena Bogdanović Iowa State University, Jelenab@Iastate.Edu Architecture Publications Architecture 2016 The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire Jelena Bogdanović Iowa State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/arch_pubs Part of the Architectural History and Criticism Commons, and the Byzantine and Modern Greek Commons The ompc lete bibliographic information for this item can be found at http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ arch_pubs/76. For information on how to cite this item, please visit http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ howtocite.html. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Architecture at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Architecture Publications by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire Abstract Strategically located on a peninsula on the European side of the narrow Bosphorus strait that connects the Mediterranean and the Black Seas (by way also of the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles), Constantinople; the capital city of the medieval Roman Empire that we know as the Byzantine Empire (324-1453), was the largest and most thriving urban center in the Old World.1 The city was founded by the first Roman Emperor who embraced Christianity, Constantine I (d. 337), as the eponymous capital outside historically dominant urban centers and as the alternative to the city of Rome. This chapter outlines the physical production of the geopolitical landscape of Constantinople. By highlighting the critical elements of Constantinopolitan spatial configuration this essay questions how the geopolitical landscape of Constantinople was then emulated at alternative sites of authority, in related capital cities of emerging medieval states that adopted Byzantine cultural values and its Orthodox version of Christianity in medieval Bulgaria, Rus and Serbia. Disciplines Architectural History and Criticism | Byzantine and Modern Greek Comments This chapter is from Christie, Jessica Joyce, Jelena Bogdanović and Eulogio Guzmán, eds. Political Landscapes of Capital Cities (Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2016). Posted with permission. This book chapter is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/arch_pubs/76 Political Landscapes of Capital Cities EDITED BY Jessica Joyce Christie, Jelena Bogdanović, AND Eulogio Guzmán UNIVERSITY PRESS OF COLORADO Boulder © 2016 by University Press of Colorado Published by University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State University, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Regis University, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, Utah State University, and Western State Colorado University. ∞ This paper meets the requirements of the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). ISBN: 978-1-60732-468-3 (cloth) ISBN: 978-1-60732-469-0 (ebook) The University Press of Colorado gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Iowa State University Publication Endowment Fund toward the publication of this book. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Christie, Jessica Joyce, 1956- editor. | Bogdanović, Jelena, 1973- editor. | Guzmán, Eulogio, editor. Title: Political landscapes of capital cities / edited by Jessica Joyce Christie, Jelena Bogdanović, and Eulogio Guzmán. Description: Boulder : University Press of Colorado, 2016. | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015033569 | ISBN 9781607324683 (cloth) | ISBN 9781607324690 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Capitals (Cities) | Cities and towns, Ancient. | Space—Political aspects. | Landscape archaeology—Political aspects. | Political anthropology. Classification: LCC JF1900 .P65 2016 | DDC 306.209173/2—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015033569 Contents List of Illustrations vii Preface Jessica Joyce Christie, Jelena Bogdanović, and Eulogio Guzmán xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction: The SpatialT urn and Political Landscapes of Capital Cities Eulogio Guzmán, Jessica Joyce Christie, and Jelena Bogdanović 3 1. Akhenaten’s Amarna in New Kingdom Egypt: Relations of Landscape and Ideology Jessica Joyce Christie 25 2. “Memorials of the Ability of Them All”: Tetrarchic Displays in the Roman Forum’s Central Area Gregor Kalas 65 3. The Relational Spiritual Geopolitics of Constantinople, the Capital of the Byzantine Empire Jelena Bogdanović 97 4. Beyond the Ashes: The Making of Bangkok as the Capital City of Siam Melody Rod-ari 155 5. Monumental Perceptions of the Tiwanaku Landscape Alexei Vranich 181 6. The Inka Capital Cusco as the Model of an Imperial Cultural Landscape Jessica Joyce Christie 213 7. Making Landfall: Anchoring Authority in the Public and Private Political Sphere of the Basin of Mexico Eulogio Guzmán 249 8. Provincial Capital vs. Peasant Capital: A Subaltern Perspective on Urban Rise and Fall from Grace Anne Parmly Toxey 287 9. La Parola al Piccone: Demonstrations of Fascism at the Imperial Fora and the Mausoleum of Augustus Stephanie Zeier Pilat 319 10. Tehran: A Revolution in Making Talinn Grigor 347 Conclusions: Ontological Relations and the Spatial Politics of Capital Cities Jelena Bogdanović, Jessica Joyce Christie, and Eulogio Guzmán 377 List of Contributors 391 Index 393 vi coNTENTS 3 Strategically located on a peninsula on the European The Relational side of the narrow Bosphorus strait that connects the Spiritual Geopolitics of Mediterranean and the Black Seas (by way also of the Constantinople, the Capital Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles), Constantinople, of the Byzantine Empire the capital city of the medieval Roman Empire that we know as the Byzantine Empire (324–1453), was the larg- 1 est and most thriving urban center in the Old World. Jelena Bogdanović The city was founded by the first Roman Emperor who embraced Christianity, Constantine I (d. 337), as the eponymous capital outside historically dominant urban centers and as the alternative to the city of Rome. This chapter outlines the physical production of the geo- political landscape of Constantinople. By highlight- ing the critical elements of Constantinopolitan spatial configuration this essay questions how the geopoliti- cal landscape of Constantinople was then emulated at alternative sites of authority, in related capital cities of emerging medieval states that adopted Byzantine cul- tural values and its Orthodox version of Christianity — in medieval Bulgaria, Rus’, and Serbia (figure 3.1).2 Scholarly considerations of geopolitical landscapes often exclusively examine competing territorial orders at the expense of religious understanding of space.3 Because medieval societies were focused not only on major political and military events but also on religion, here, the geopolitical landscape is closely intertwined with geo-religious concepts of space. Constantinople was founded as the “New Rome,” yet it had its own urban development that embodied the long-lasting, DOI: 10.5876/9781607324690.c003 97 Figure 3.1. Late antique and medieval capital cities mentioned in the text. even if elusive, idea of the imperial Christian capital and, thus became a new prototype of a capital city in its own right. In this essay, the geopolitics of Constantinople is contextualized via experience, perception, and imagina- tion—the three major categories that Adam T. Smith uses in his model for the study of political landscapes.4 The spatial concepts associated with topog- raphy and faith-based developments were embodied in distinct architectural accomplishments, which confirmed their importance through ceremonies per- formed within the city, and provide a major platform for the study of the spiri- tual geopolitics of Constantinople. Such an understanding of Constantinople reduces the complexities of the actual city to the memorable image of it as the Christian capital, as a symbol of the Christian microcosm. A question is then posed about the mechanisms that expanded the city to the image of the Byzantine Empire within and beyond its geographical and historical bound- aries. Specific emphasis is placed on the role of a ruler as a leader but also as a perceived architect and planner, and divine authorities (the Christian God and the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God) as the perceived creators and des- ignators of these capital cities as actual places. THE CITY: REFRAMING THE GEOPOLITICAL LANDSCAPE AND ESTABLISHING A NEW PROTOTYPE Constantinople emerged as a new capital city after the institution of Tetrarchy (the governmental principle based on the co-equal rulership of four emperors), when each ruler literally needed a capital as the place of display of his reign.5 Through borrowing administrative, political, and civic references to the Roman Empire previously reserved only for the city of Rome, which embodied the archetypal capital city,6 each new capital gained Roman impe- rial authority. At the same time, Rome became the urban prototype that each new capital emulated. This novel concept ofT etrarchy introduced critical changes regarding the understanding of the capital city as a unique construct
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