0:00:04 > 0:00:06Every holy city has a founding myth.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10Istanbul's story begins with the legend
0:00:10 > 0:00:14of a sea voyage by a Greek King named Byzas,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17son of the sea god Poseidon,
0:00:17 > 0:00:20who was said to have arrived here for the first time
0:00:20 > 0:00:23over two and half thousand years ago.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27King Byzas went to see the Delphic Oracle
0:00:27 > 0:00:32and the Oracle told him, "You will build a great city opposite the blind."
0:00:32 > 0:00:36He was bewildered and mystified by this Delphic utterance.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38But anyway, he set sail
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and he only understood its meaning
0:00:40 > 0:00:44when he sailed right down here into the Golden Horn,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48for on one side he saw a Greek settlement
0:00:48 > 0:00:52and on the other side he saw the perfect strategic position
0:00:52 > 0:00:57for a great city but with no city built there.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00He understood immediately that they must have been blind
0:01:00 > 0:01:02to build it in the wrong place.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05He went to the right place and he started to build.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Byzas gave his name to the city he founded
0:01:10 > 0:01:15and the empire it ultimately became - Byzantium.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Here a metropolis was built which would itself become a legend -
0:01:21 > 0:01:25the bridge of continents, the battleground of faiths.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28And along with Jerusalem and Rome,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32one of the greatest holy cities in the world.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36For 26 centuries this is the view that you saw
0:01:36 > 0:01:38when you arrived at this famous city.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42This is how you caught your first glimpse of its palaces,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44its churches, its temples.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Conquerors and pilgrims,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51traders and travellers came here for its power,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54its holiness and its pleasure.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00No wonder they called it the city of the world's desire.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Today, Istanbul's skyline is defined
0:02:07 > 0:02:11by the minarets of the Muslims who've made this city their own.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13MUEZZIN CALLING
0:02:13 > 0:02:15The air is filled with the calls to prayer
0:02:15 > 0:02:18for a mainly Islamic population.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25But this is only the latest manifestation
0:02:25 > 0:02:29of this multi-dimensional, ever-changing city.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33Before them, the temples and churches of Greek, Roman and Christian gods
0:02:33 > 0:02:36dominated these streets.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38It was in Constantinople
0:02:38 > 0:02:43that the Virgin Mary was said to have defended the city on the ramparts.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48It was here that the Muslim armies burst into the Christian city.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51These are the streets that have been the battleground
0:02:51 > 0:02:54for some of the fiercest political and religious conflicts
0:02:54 > 0:02:56of the last two millennia.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Istanbul has been the focus of passion
0:03:02 > 0:03:05for the believers of two world religions.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10And I've come here with the questions of both historian and traveller -
0:03:10 > 0:03:13to examine the fabric of a place
0:03:13 > 0:03:16which has been the sacred imperial capital of two empires -
0:03:16 > 0:03:20one Islamic, one Christian -
0:03:20 > 0:03:25and yet started out as little more than a humble fishing village.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30In this series, I want to find out just how Byzantium became
0:03:30 > 0:03:34the very definition of heaven-blessed legitimacy,
0:03:34 > 0:03:38when it began with no claims at all to divine favour.
0:03:56 > 0:03:57Since its founding,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Istanbul has been a city with many different identities.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08And with each one has come a different name.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11First it was called Byzantium
0:04:11 > 0:04:13and then it was renamed Constantinople,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16after the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19And now it's Turkish, it's Istanbul.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21But whatever you call it,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25it's still the same utterly extraordinary place.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35And if you walk around Istanbul today,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38it's this most recent phase of the city's history
0:04:38 > 0:04:43that takes centre stage - its mosques, its minarets.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53But if you look a little more closely,
0:04:53 > 0:04:55sometimes in rather surprising places,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59you can begin to glimpse this city's forgotten past.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05All over Istanbul, its earliest history lies in ruins.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Every now and then, a broken pillar or a crumbling wall
0:05:09 > 0:05:11will give a hint of a lost world.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21Many of the earliest remains date back to the 4th century AD,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23when it was a Roman city.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29But to get a glimpse of the people who first lived here,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34you have to get below the surface - quite literally.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Under one of Istanbul's busiest streets,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51is one of its greatest treasures -
0:05:51 > 0:05:56a cavernous underworld known as the Basilica Cistern,
0:05:56 > 0:06:03a place which gives us a fascinating insight into this city's Greek origins.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15As a historian, as a traveller, I take a delight
0:06:15 > 0:06:20in the secret lives of cities, in the hidden world under the streets,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24where there are gems that explain so much.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26This is definitely one of them.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28There is an underground Istanbul.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32It's full of hundreds of water cisterns
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and this is the largest of them.
0:06:34 > 0:06:41It was built in 537AD by one of the greatest of the Byzantine emperors, Justinian.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44He wanted to make the city impregnable against siege
0:06:44 > 0:06:47and for that it needed a water supply.
0:06:47 > 0:06:48And this is it
0:06:48 > 0:06:52but as you can see, Justinian never did anything by halves!
0:06:54 > 0:06:57It's an extraordinary feat of engineering.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00Constructed by 7,000 Roman slaves,
0:07:00 > 0:07:0612 rows of 28 columns stretch away in every direction.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11But as well as being an important Roman site,
0:07:11 > 0:07:18there are also traces here of the city's even more ancient Greek, pagan past.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Right at the back, tucked away from immediate view,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28are two gargantuan carved heads.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35This is Medusa,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39one of the most seductive but terrifying characters of Greek mythology,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43one of the Gorgon sisters, famed for her beauty.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46And she was in love with Perseus, the son of the Zeus.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48But so was the goddess Athene,
0:07:48 > 0:07:53who jealously devised a most terrible punishment for her rival.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Her hair was turned to snakes and her gaze would turn a man to stone.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Perseus chopped off her head
0:08:01 > 0:08:05and used it as his own personal weapon of mass destruction,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07to destroy his enemies.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11Now, there might be a reason she's here like this.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16Medusa's head was often used to ward off evil spirits
0:08:16 > 0:08:21and she was deliberately placed sideways or upside down
0:08:21 > 0:08:24because you didn't want to risk catching her gaze.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26She might turn you to stone.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36No-one knows exactly where these macabre heads originally came from.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39But it's clear from their haphazard positioning
0:08:39 > 0:08:43that they weren't specially crafted for this cistern.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48And on further inspection, it's not just them.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52If you look closely at these pillars
0:08:52 > 0:08:56you'll see that actually none of them are the same.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01And in many cases, the bases, the capitals, don't even match.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06And that's because the builders of this place took bits and pieces
0:09:06 > 0:09:10from different epochs of the city's earlier history.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Now, there are Roman parts
0:09:12 > 0:09:17but there are also, most interestingly, Greek parts
0:09:17 > 0:09:21and that's exciting because these are the last vestiges
0:09:21 > 0:09:25of the original Greek town of Byzantium.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30The diversity of all the pieces
0:09:30 > 0:09:33that make up this beautiful cistern
0:09:33 > 0:09:37is a wonderful illustration of the origins of this city.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44It shows how a spectacular world capital like this was crafted
0:09:44 > 0:09:46from early and obscure beginnings,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48by borrowing, commandeering
0:09:48 > 0:09:54and stealing the stones and stories of earlier towns and empires.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01And in its earliest incarnation, this city was far from being sacred.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09For its first millennium, Byzantium was just a fishing port
0:10:09 > 0:10:12founded by Greek traders.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14And rather than being renowned for its holiness,
0:10:14 > 0:10:20this was a place famed for its drunken and licentious inhabitants.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The Byzantines were notorious in the ancient world
0:10:25 > 0:10:29for their hard drinking and easy-going morals.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33"They're besotted with drink," wrote one shocked traveller.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39And worse than that, "they rent out their own marriage bed-chambers with their wives still in them."
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Perhaps an early version of a Byzantine bed and breakfast.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50A traveller to Greek Byzantium in the 7th century BC
0:10:50 > 0:10:54could never have imagined that this sleazy port would one day become
0:10:54 > 0:10:58one of the pre-eminent Christian cities in the world.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01So what changed?
0:11:02 > 0:11:09Well, in the first century BC, this part of the world had fallen under Roman control.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13And in 196AD, Byzantium backed the wrong side
0:11:13 > 0:11:15in a Roman civil war
0:11:15 > 0:11:18and was taken by the Emperor Septimus Severus
0:11:18 > 0:11:20after a bloody siege.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Septimus rebuilt it as a Roman town.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32And Byzantium would probably have remained an affluent Greek fishing port
0:11:32 > 0:11:34had it not been for the accession of an emperor
0:11:34 > 0:11:37who was probably the most influential ruler in world history.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44He left Rome and made Byzantium his world capital and holy city.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53On 11th May 330AD,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55these streets were feverish with excitement.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Everybody in Byzantium was rushing to the Hippodrome,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04the entertainment centre of the city.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09The Emperor Constantine was in town for a spectacular celebration.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16This was their final destination. The Hippodrome.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20430 metres long and 120 metres wide.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It's hard to imagine how impressive this once was
0:12:27 > 0:12:31but I'm standing in Constantine's new Hippodrome,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34a vast oval stadium
0:12:34 > 0:12:37with a track around the centre for chariot racing.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39High, tiered stands,
0:12:39 > 0:12:44big enough to hold 100,000 baying fans.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48Down there, Constantine sat in the Imperial Box
0:12:48 > 0:12:50linked to the Imperial Palace
0:12:50 > 0:12:55and he'd imported huge, new obelisks to stand in the middle,
0:12:55 > 0:12:57ready for this special occasion.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06Constantine was dedicating the old town of Byzantium to a new god
0:13:06 > 0:13:08and what a dedication ceremony it was -
0:13:08 > 0:13:10a magnificent procession,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15in which the imperial statues of deified emperors were held aloft,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18as they made their way round the packed stadium.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24This was the moment that marked a whole new era for Byzantium,
0:13:24 > 0:13:30in which the city would no longer be on the periphery of world history.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32It would be dramatically reinvented
0:13:32 > 0:13:36as the imperial capital of the entire Roman Empire.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44And all at the whim of one extraordinary man Constantine,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47a blunt-faced but visionary warlord
0:13:47 > 0:13:51who hailed this metropolis as his "new Rome".
0:13:53 > 0:13:54It was a daring move.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58After a thousand years of grandeur, triumph and sanctity,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Constantine was turning his back on Rome
0:14:00 > 0:14:05and betting everything on a faraway Greek fishing port.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16So why had this emperor made such a geographical switch?
0:14:19 > 0:14:22Constantine was a pragmatic power broker
0:14:22 > 0:14:26and he had good strategic reasons to make Byzantium his new base.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32The thriving heart of the Roman Empire was now in the east,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35far from Rome, and its chief enemy was Persia,
0:14:35 > 0:14:41so Byzantium, straddling Europe and Asia, was perfectly placed
0:14:41 > 0:14:43to rule both.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47But that wasn't the only reason.
0:14:51 > 0:14:5320 years before this dedication ceremony,
0:14:53 > 0:14:59Constantine had experienced a dramatic conversion to Christianity,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03in the midst of a civil war to control the Western Empire.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08The night before the decisive battle for the city of Rome,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12he had a vision of a Christian sign in the sky
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and the words, "by this sign thou shalt conquer",
0:15:15 > 0:15:19and when he did conquer, he embraced Christianity.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22It was a decision that would change world history.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29The traditional view is that Constantine wanted to create
0:15:29 > 0:15:33a pure, Christian metropolis, untainted by paganism,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35totally unlike Rome.
0:15:36 > 0:15:42And for that he chose Byzantium, and he called it Constantinopolis,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44the city of Constantine.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52He's remembered as one of the greatest heroes of Christian history,
0:15:52 > 0:15:57the saintly ruler whose conversion transformed a minor sect
0:15:57 > 0:15:59into the dominant faith in the West.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Or at least, that's how the story usually goes.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08But here in the city he made his own,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10there are intriguing clues
0:16:10 > 0:16:16which suggest a more surprising view of this emperor and his motives.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27This is one of Istanbul's most majestic mosques
0:16:27 > 0:16:30but in the 4th century this whole area was dominated
0:16:30 > 0:16:34by the greatest Christian monument in Constantinople.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Dedicated to the Holy Apostles,
0:16:38 > 0:16:44it was built by Constantine in readiness for his own death.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49I'm meeting historian and archaeologist Jonathan Bardill,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52who believes it gives us a fascinating insight
0:16:52 > 0:16:55into Constantine's real convictions.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Jonathan, what stood here originally?
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Well, this site consisted of two buildings -
0:17:01 > 0:17:04the church, a cruciform church,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08and Constantine's mausoleum,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11a circular building with a dome on the top.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14On the inside of the mausoleum around the edge
0:17:14 > 0:17:15were a number of niches
0:17:15 > 0:17:20and those niches contained tombs for the 12 Apostles.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24So presumably Constantine had the intention of gathering
0:17:24 > 0:17:26the relics of the Apostles to put inside.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30What does this tell us about Constantine himself?
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Well, the striking thing about it is
0:17:33 > 0:17:36that bang in the middle of the tombs of the 12 Apostles,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Constantine placed a 13th tomb
0:17:40 > 0:17:43and that was his own sarcophagus.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Some scholars have suggested
0:17:45 > 0:17:48that what Constantine was trying to say by doing that
0:17:48 > 0:17:51is that he was the 13th Apostle.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55I think he was trying to say something much more radical.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00It's this mysterious 13th sarcophagus that may hold the key
0:18:00 > 0:18:05to the emperor's true and possibly heretical beliefs.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11But there has been much controversy about its exact location.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Some claim it's one of these vast sarcophagi
0:18:19 > 0:18:21now outside the Istanbul Museum,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25which once contained the remains of Byzantine emperors.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28But Jonathan thinks it's somewhere else entirely.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37This building stands on the site
0:18:37 > 0:18:42of what was the oldest church in Istanbul, built by Constantine,
0:18:42 > 0:18:44and dedicated to Holy Peace.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51And hidden away in its neglected courtyard may lie the answer.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58So this is what I think is the last resting place of Constantine the Great.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01That's exciting. Now, tell me why you think that?
0:19:01 > 0:19:03Well, a number of reasons.
0:19:03 > 0:19:04The first one is that if you look,
0:19:04 > 0:19:09- you can see that there are holes drilled into the sarcophagus.- Yeah.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14Well, we know that Constantine's sarcophagus was covered
0:19:14 > 0:19:18with a splendid cover interwoven with gold,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20according to one author.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Now, I suspect that what these holes are are places for brackets
0:19:24 > 0:19:29in which a curtain of woven material could have been attached.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33But what I think is really the clincher is round the corner.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36If we look at the gable end of the sarcophagus
0:19:36 > 0:19:37you can see this symbol
0:19:37 > 0:19:41and the best way to explain it, in my mind,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44is that it actually represents Constantine's standard,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47the standard that we know he took into battle
0:19:47 > 0:19:52that was based on the cross, with the Chi Rho monogram,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56the symbol of Jesus Christ, in a wreath on the top.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59So what does that mean?
0:19:59 > 0:20:00Well, you have to remember
0:20:00 > 0:20:05that this sarcophagus was in the middle of the relics of the 12 Apostles.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09I don't think Constantine was claiming to be a 13th apostle.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11I think he was claiming to be Jesus Christ.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Wow! That's quite a claim.
0:20:13 > 0:20:19It is, but perhaps not so extraordinary in the context of late emperors,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22many of whom thought they were close to being divinities.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28But clearly some people thought this was a particularly blasphemous claim.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32And we know that because it seems that Constantius, his son,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35actually reorganised the burial site
0:20:35 > 0:20:39to make sure that Constantine was no longer in the middle of the Apostles.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43He clearly felt that the claim was much too great
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and too close to heresy - he had to change it.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51It's a controversial theory.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Constantine was baptised on his deathbed,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56confirming his Christian faith.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59He clearly believed in the Christian God.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02But perhaps he was still very much part
0:21:02 > 0:21:07of the pagan world of deified emperors in which he grew up.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Whatever the idiosyncrasies of Constantine's personal beliefs,
0:21:12 > 0:21:17his embrace of Christianity had changed the city's fortunes forever.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22In life, he'd created the Christian city of Constantinople.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24In death, by choosing to be buried here,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26he was making a powerful statement
0:21:26 > 0:21:29about how important the city had become.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36But Constantinople's meteoric rise to power was not unchallenged.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48This might now be the political heart of the empire
0:21:48 > 0:21:50and home to its emperors,
0:21:50 > 0:21:54but in terms of its status as pre-eminent sacred city,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Constantinople had powerful rivals.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Syria had
0:22:02 > 0:22:05far stronger claims to holiness.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And it was here, on the site of Constantine's Church of Holy Peace,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12that in the summer of 381AD,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17a fight to consolidate this city's sacred power and status played out.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24When a general named Theodosius, a devout Christian, was elected emperor,
0:22:24 > 0:22:30he was determined to impose Christianity as the state religion -
0:22:30 > 0:22:32one faith, one empire.
0:22:32 > 0:22:37But first he had to settle the raging controversy
0:22:37 > 0:22:41that threatened to tear apart all of Christendom -
0:22:41 > 0:22:44was Christ man or was he God?
0:22:48 > 0:22:50So he called a council.
0:22:50 > 0:22:54But as the bishops gathered from across the empire,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Theodosius faced a major obstacle.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Although political power now lay in Constantinople, the new Rome,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06an imperial capital,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09religious decisions were still very much the prerogative
0:23:09 > 0:23:10of the old Rome.
0:23:10 > 0:23:17To avoid his orders being challenged by the Western Papacy at every turn,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22Theodosius needed to concentrate secular and sacred power in one place
0:23:22 > 0:23:28and to do that, he needed to elevate Constantinople's holy status,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31so it could challenge Rome's sacred authority.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35But that wasn't going to be easy.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The city was in thrall to a heresy.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45It was the work of a charismatic Egyptian priest named Arius,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48whose ideas struck at the heart of the Christian faith.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53He passionately denied the divinity of Christ,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57claiming instead that Jesus was a mere human.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01For early Christians, this was a matter of life and death.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06If Arius was right and Jesus was just human,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09then his death wouldn't be enough to save us from our sins.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14To do that, Jesus had to be both human and divine.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18Those were the stakes - salvation or damnation.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Arius's beliefs sent shockwaves through the church
0:24:24 > 0:24:26and he was condemned as a heretic.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29He came to a rather messy end.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33While walking through the streets in the centre of Constantinople,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Arius was taken short, and to his horror,
0:24:35 > 0:24:40his intestines, liver and spleen haemorrhaged out
0:24:40 > 0:24:42in a heretical splurge.
0:24:42 > 0:24:48His enemies might well say that this faecal end was no more than a just comment
0:24:48 > 0:24:51on his appalling ideas.
0:24:53 > 0:24:54But his ideas didn't die with him.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58They spread like wildfire across the Christian world.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03Theodosius was determined to crush this heresy once and for all.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06First he sacked the Arian Bishop of Constantinople
0:25:06 > 0:25:10and then the Council condemned Arianism,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13affirming that Jesus was both God and man.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20With Constantinople free of heresy,
0:25:20 > 0:25:25the way was clear for Theodosius to turn his attention to the city's promotion.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34Theodosius persuade the Council to vote Constantinople up the hierarchy
0:25:34 > 0:25:36of Christian cities,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41so that now it would be second only to Rome itself.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47The Bishop of Constantinople, it declared, shall have
0:25:47 > 0:25:52the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome
0:25:52 > 0:25:57because Constantinople is the new Rome.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06This was the moment that Constantinople's status
0:26:06 > 0:26:09as one of the world's most important holy cities was confirmed,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12challenging even Rome's pre-eminence
0:26:12 > 0:26:16as the centre of power in the Christian world.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22Unsurprisingly, it wasn't popular.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Many people still regarded Constantinople as an old Greek fishing port
0:26:26 > 0:26:29with barely 50 years of Christian history.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34While Antioch, Alexandria and, of course, Rome had been founded
0:26:34 > 0:26:36by Jesus's own disciples.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41They had far more distinguished Christian histories than Constantinople.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Papal representatives weren't even present at the conference,
0:26:45 > 0:26:50so Rome received news of Constantinople's promotion by letter,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52which it rejected outright.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Alexandria voted against it
0:26:54 > 0:26:58and the Bishop of Antioch couldn't have made his view clearer.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01He dropped dead in the middle of the conference.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08As the bishops dispersed, Theodosius had achieved his aim -
0:27:08 > 0:27:12to centralise secular and religious power in one place.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But Constantinople's supremacy would be frequently contested
0:27:18 > 0:27:20during the next 800 years
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and provoke rivalries and tensions with other Christian cities
0:27:24 > 0:27:26that would never heal.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34In the wake of the Council of Constantinople,
0:27:34 > 0:27:38the emperors could now promote a state Christianity -
0:27:38 > 0:27:43one empire, one God, all ruled from one capital.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Constantinople itself had been officially proclaimed a holy city.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53Just like Rome.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Well, not quite.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59While Rome had St Peter's
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and Jerusalem had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Constantinople still lacked the sort of sacred landmark
0:28:05 > 0:28:07that defines a city.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14It was to take an imperial couple of soaring ambition,
0:28:14 > 0:28:20whose reign was a story of vanity, revolution and sexual scandal,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25to raise the church that still dominates this city - Hagia Sophia.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36The Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora
0:28:36 > 0:28:39came to power in the early 6th century.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42And tucked away down this quiet back street is
0:28:42 > 0:28:44one of the first churches they commissioned.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Nicknamed Little Hagia Sophia because of its similarities
0:28:50 > 0:28:54to their much grander masterpiece,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58it gives us a fascinating insight into the unique fusion
0:28:58 > 0:29:06of holiness, power and prestige that is peculiarly Byzantine.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10In the 16th century, the building was turned into a mosque
0:29:10 > 0:29:12and since its conversion,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15much of the original decoration has disappeared
0:29:15 > 0:29:18but there are still glimpses of how it once looked.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Look at these columns here - at the top of them is a circular stamp
0:29:26 > 0:29:32and that is actually the imperial monogram of Justinian and Theodora.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36But even more exciting, though very hard to see,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39is the Greek inscription around this colonnade
0:29:39 > 0:29:44which tells us a lot about how this particular Emperor and Empress
0:29:44 > 0:29:46wanted to portray themselves,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48wanted to be remembered by history.
0:29:52 > 0:29:53And from the words inscribed here,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57you'd think they were paragons of Christian godliness.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01The inscription reads,
0:30:01 > 0:30:05"the sceptred Justinian builds this splendid abode
0:30:05 > 0:30:07"for the servant of Christ."
0:30:09 > 0:30:14But it really heaps lavish praise on Theodora.
0:30:14 > 0:30:21"Theodora, the God-crowned, adorned with piety,
0:30:21 > 0:30:25"toils ceaselessly to nourish the destitute".
0:30:25 > 0:30:31This Theodora was clearly a paragon of Christian virtue.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38But the reality was more complicated.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Justinian and Theodora had spectacularly risen to power
0:30:42 > 0:30:47from backgrounds that were neither pious nor imperial.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Religious buildings have always projected the glory
0:30:53 > 0:30:55of the kings who built them.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Justinian and Theodora followed suit.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01But they did so more magnificently than anyone else.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05And they had good reasons to parade their piety.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09They both had histories they were keen to rewrite.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The main source for the lives of Justinian and Theodora
0:31:22 > 0:31:25are the books of a 6th-century writer, Procopius.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31And his work offers a far more lurid insight into their past.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38Procopius was one of the court historians of the Imperial couple
0:31:38 > 0:31:41and he wrote several books in praise of their glorious deeds.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45But he also wrote this The Secret History
0:31:45 > 0:31:48and it tells what he really thought of them.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52One has to approach it a bit like a Byzantine tabloid newspaper.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Probably about 75% of it is true.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00And it portrays Justinian as a knave and a poltroon,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03greedy, vindictive, and puny.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06But it really goes to town on Theodora.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10She was born a daughter of one of the Hippodrome's bear masters.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14As a teenager she became a burlesque showgirl.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18She was notorious for her erotic enthusiasm,
0:32:18 > 0:32:22taking on entire dinner parties of guests and, Procopius adds,
0:32:22 > 0:32:24all the servants.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31Roman law banned men of senatorial rank from marrying actresses
0:32:31 > 0:32:34but Justinian was so in love with Theodora
0:32:34 > 0:32:36that he had the law changed.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Their relationship was to last over 20 years.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44And when Theodora was reborn as Empress,
0:32:44 > 0:32:49she and her husband humourlessly and sanctimoniously embraced their role
0:32:49 > 0:32:53as sacred rulers of the entire Christian world.
0:32:54 > 0:32:56Theirs was a partnership that would endure
0:32:56 > 0:33:00some of the most deadly crises faced by any emperor.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06And the greatest battle they fought wasn't against a foreign power.
0:33:06 > 0:33:07It was against their own city.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11It started with a riot and it ended with a bloodbath
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and the building of the most splendid church
0:33:14 > 0:33:17in the entire Roman Empire.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19And it all unfolded right here.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32In 532 this was the site of a bloody rebellion
0:33:32 > 0:33:37that almost led to Justinian and Theodora's downfall,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40only five years after they'd claimed power.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47The main show at the Hippodrome was the chariot racing.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52There were two main teams, the Greens and the Blues,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55whose savage rivalry divided the city,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58and often broke out into open gang warfare.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Justinian sentenced some Blues and some Greens to death for murder.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08But in doing so, he united the two factions against him,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11an unpopular decision for an unpopular Emperor.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17That night at the Hippodrome, the Emperor was booed
0:34:17 > 0:34:20and the mob rose in open revolution.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29The rebels quickly seized control of the streets, hailed a new Emperor
0:34:29 > 0:34:33and set fire to the imperial district.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37In the chaos, Justinian was besieged in his palace.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43Justinian was about to flee but Theodora gave him courage.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47She said it was better to die in imperial purple
0:34:47 > 0:34:48than it was to live without it.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52Together, they summoned their favourite general, Belisarius,
0:34:52 > 0:34:57and he and his soldiers stormed the Hippodrome and killed 30,000 people.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03They were buried where they fell.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Justinian, the shrewdest of leaders,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19converted the tragedy into his own triumph.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Justinian regarded his victory over the rebels
0:35:24 > 0:35:27as evidence of divine providence,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30and out of the ashes, he started to raise the building
0:35:30 > 0:35:32that more than any other has come to define
0:35:32 > 0:35:36the sacred and imperial prestige of the city.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47It was, of course, Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Wisdom.
0:35:49 > 0:35:55And it was like nothing that Constantinople had ever seen before.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02The interior was studded with four acres of golden glass cubes.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06The columns were transported from Egypt and Ephesus.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10But its crowning glory was its incredible dome,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14curving 110 feet from east to west
0:36:14 > 0:36:18and soaring 180 feet above the marble floor.
0:36:20 > 0:36:22The historian Procopius marvelled
0:36:22 > 0:36:26that it "does not appear to rest upon a solid foundation
0:36:26 > 0:36:28"but to cover the place beneath
0:36:28 > 0:36:34"as though it were suspended from heaven by the fabled golden chain."
0:36:34 > 0:36:38This is utterly splendid and it really takes the breath away.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40But that was the point.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Size mattered to Justinian
0:36:42 > 0:36:44and when he commissioned his architect,
0:36:44 > 0:36:45he asked for two things.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49He wanted it to be huge and he wanted it to be unique
0:36:49 > 0:36:52and as you can see, he got both.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56You might say this is an example of megalomaniac gigantism
0:36:56 > 0:37:00but if so, it's the most successful example in world history.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03I think it's the most wonderful building in Europe.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05It's just lovely to be here.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07For the next 900 years,
0:37:07 > 0:37:12this was the supreme temple of Orthodox Christianity,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15and the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern church,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18the equivalent of the Pope in Rome.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23More than that, it was the largest religious building in the Christian world.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29The church was dedicated on 27th December 537
0:37:29 > 0:37:35and it was a clear statement of Justinian's renewed grip on power
0:37:35 > 0:37:39and on Constantinople's claim to rule the world.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Although his reign had started inauspiciously,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Justinian enjoyed astonishing success.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Rome and the Western Empire had long since fallen to the Barbarians.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57But he and Theodora had set out to recover
0:37:57 > 0:38:00the lost territories of the Roman Empire
0:38:00 > 0:38:05and they'd succeeded, even taking Rome itself.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10In the process, they created a Byzantine Empire
0:38:10 > 0:38:15Centred around his crown, his city, his Hagia Sofia,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Justinian believed that he had united Christendom
0:38:18 > 0:38:23as Universal Emperor and Jesus's regent on earth.
0:38:25 > 0:38:26But it wasn't to last.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34In 548 the Empress Theodora died and Justinian never recovered.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36He reigned for another 20 years
0:38:36 > 0:38:40but it would have been better if he'd died with her.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44The Persians invaded, Slavs and Huns marauded.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46The treasury was empty.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49And earthquakes cracked the dome of his beloved St Sophia.
0:38:52 > 0:38:58Overall, the Empire was overstretched and the Emperor was old and hated.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07The Emperor died aged 83, having reigned for more than 38 years,
0:39:07 > 0:39:12and was laid to rest in Constantine's Church of the Holy Apostles,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14next to Theodora.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Justinian's reign was judged rather harshly by contemporaries.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23"He caused nothing but noise and troubles," said one,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25"and he should be judged in hell."
0:39:25 > 0:39:29But in truth, he had made this city the envy of the world.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32As one Russian visitor later put it,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35"You do not know if you are in heaven or on earth.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40"For on earth there is surely no such splendour and beauty
0:39:40 > 0:39:44"and we have not words to describe this.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49"We know only that here God dwells among men."
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Justinian had continued to realise Constantine's vision
0:39:55 > 0:39:58of Constantinople as the new Rome.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01He built more than 40 churches
0:40:01 > 0:40:04and the city now had its own St Peter's.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11But it still lacked the very thing
0:40:11 > 0:40:15that gave Rome its claim to be the pre-eminent holy city.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Its own protector and saint.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23St Peter's was built over the final resting place
0:40:23 > 0:40:27of the bones of Saint Peter himself, Jesus's closest disciple,
0:40:27 > 0:40:31and it based its sacred legitimacy on that.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Constantinople had an amazing collection of relics
0:40:33 > 0:40:36but it just couldn't top Rome.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44It took a desperate and unprecedented crisis
0:40:44 > 0:40:46in the early 7th century
0:40:46 > 0:40:48to finally deliver a heavenly guardian
0:40:48 > 0:40:54the city could call its own.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59And it was no mere Apostle. It was the Mother of God herself.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06After Justinian, the Empire almost fell apart.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Generals seized power in bloody coups,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14mobs rioted, and the entire East fell to the Persians.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22But in 626, Constantinople faced its most deadly threat.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26A coordinated assault
0:41:26 > 0:41:29that would first have been glimpsed from the Roman walls
0:41:29 > 0:41:32that stretch right across Istanbul's land boundary.
0:41:35 > 0:41:41For the Byzantines manning these very walls on 29th July 626,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45it must have seemed like every nightmare had come true.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48For they faced not one besieging army but three,
0:41:48 > 0:41:52by both land and by sea.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Before them here, they faced the Avars,
0:41:54 > 0:41:59a vast horde of ferocious horsemen from the Eurasian steppes.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05Over there, the glistening breast plates of the magnificent cavalry of Persia.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10But most alarmingly of all, here on the Golden Horn,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12the water was dark
0:42:12 > 0:42:16with the ships of the shaggy-haired Slavs from the north.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18It must have seemed as if the whole world
0:42:18 > 0:42:21had come to destroy Constantinople.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27For those trapped inside, it must have been truly terrifying.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34As the battle began, catapults hurled rocks.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Siege towers were deployed
0:42:37 > 0:42:41and siege engines smashed against the walls.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46The city's water supply was cut off as the enemy destroyed the aqueduct.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51And off the coast the Slav fleet began its approach.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57For ten days the Byzantine capital faced formidable attack.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Constantinople was surely doomed.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Their best general, the heroic Emperor Heraclius, wasn't even in the city
0:43:06 > 0:43:10he was far in the east, fighting the Persians.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13It must have seemed as if there was no way out.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17The General and the Orthodox Patriarch,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21to whom Heraclius had delegated power in his absence,
0:43:21 > 0:43:23took control.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27In desperation, General Bonus launched the Byzantine fleet
0:43:27 > 0:43:30to stop the advance on the water,
0:43:30 > 0:43:36whilst on land the Patriarch Sergios began a petitioning of the divine.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41HE SINGS
0:43:41 > 0:43:43The Patriarch led the desperate people
0:43:43 > 0:43:45in procession around the walls,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49holding icons of Christ chanting hymns,
0:43:49 > 0:43:51and begging for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55Only she could save the city.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And what happened next did indeed appear miraculous.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Eyewitness accounts suggest that the Patriarch's prayers were answered.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18The Khan of the Avars was amazed to see a woman on the ramparts,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21leading the defence of the city.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25But it wasn't just any woman, it was the Virgin Mary herself
0:44:25 > 0:44:29and she'd come to save Constantinople.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Against the odds, the Byzantine navy defeated the Slavs,
0:44:36 > 0:44:39whose fleet was scattered by a storm.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43The Avars and the Persians retreated.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48And all over the city shrines dedicated to the Virgin Mary sprang up,
0:44:48 > 0:44:52celebrating her role as guarantor of imperial victory.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00Constantinople now had a protector to rival Rome's.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05But the glory of Heraclius' dynasty was short-lived
0:45:05 > 0:45:08and stained by his depraved and incompetent descendants.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14And the most monstrous was Justinian II...
0:45:15 > 0:45:19..notorious for his sadism, degeneracy and extortion,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22as well as his rows with Rome.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25In 795 he was overthrown
0:45:25 > 0:45:30and his punishment typifies the merciless politics and elaborate cruelty
0:45:30 > 0:45:34that was coming to define Byzantine rule.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38And it was in a part of the Hippodrome
0:45:38 > 0:45:42few ever get to see, directly below the stadium,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46that Justinian's hideous punishment began.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49I'm especially excited to see this
0:45:49 > 0:45:51because this is the Sphendone,
0:45:51 > 0:45:55in effect, backstage at the chariot racing under the Hippodrome.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59The Hippodrome was so enormous that it had a large substructure
0:45:59 > 0:46:04where they used to marshal the charioteers and the horses
0:46:04 > 0:46:08before they went out into the stadium to race and die.
0:46:08 > 0:46:14But this place also had an especially dark and gruesome role in Byzantine life,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and that's why I'm especially enthralled to see what it's like.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26Wow! What a place!
0:46:30 > 0:46:33This labyrinth of passages snakes beneath the arena
0:46:33 > 0:46:37where Justinian II was led in chains.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43He was about to endure one of those horrible punishments
0:46:43 > 0:46:48that really epitomised the vicious and labyrinthine nature of politics
0:46:48 > 0:46:52that today we describe with one word - Byzantine.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57First he had his nose cut off, sliced through.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59And that is a practice known in Greek as rhinokepia.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04And then he had his tongue amputated elinguation it's called.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09Now, Byzantine emperors were meant to be physically perfect
0:47:09 > 0:47:11and so the idea here was
0:47:11 > 0:47:15that Justinian II should never be allowed to reign again.
0:47:19 > 0:47:25He was banished but like a villain in a horror film, he just kept coming back.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28In 705 he returned to power.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30Now known as Emperor Slit-Nose,
0:47:30 > 0:47:36he wore a golden mask to hide his deformity.
0:47:36 > 0:47:40He needed an interpreter to translate his tongueless gruntings
0:47:40 > 0:47:43and once again, he reigned with terror.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49And it wasn't long before he was again absolutely hated.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52He was overthrown and this time they took no chances.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56He didn't just lose his nose, he lost his head, too.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06After Justinian's comeback, fallen emperors no longer lost their noses or tongues.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09From now on, they were either blinded or killed.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14And as Constantinople's resources were squandered
0:48:14 > 0:48:17on grotesque emperors and palace coups,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20the Byzantines were losing their empire
0:48:20 > 0:48:22to a dynamic new force
0:48:22 > 0:48:26that would threaten the very existence, not just of the city,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29but of Christendom itself.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34MUEZZIN CALLING
0:48:35 > 0:48:38The armies of the new revelation of Islam,
0:48:38 > 0:48:41commanded by Mohammed's successors,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43burst out of the Arabian peninsula
0:48:43 > 0:48:46and invaded the Byzantine Middle East.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50By 638 they'd taken Jerusalem and most of the Eastern Roman Empire.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55In 717 they were at the gates of Constantinople in massive force
0:48:55 > 0:48:58and settled down to besiege the city.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07The Byzantines measured divine favour by success in war,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11so the energetic gallop of the Arab armies raised difficult questions.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14Was the city cursed?
0:49:14 > 0:49:19Had the Christian God forsaken them to back the followers of Mohammed?
0:49:19 > 0:49:22And if so, why?
0:49:22 > 0:49:27Twice the Byzantines managed to survive sieges of the city
0:49:27 > 0:49:29but for how long?
0:49:30 > 0:49:33It had been a close-run thing
0:49:33 > 0:49:36and for one emperor in particular, Leo III, too close.
0:49:38 > 0:49:44He saw imperial military weakness as a sign of God's displeasure
0:49:44 > 0:49:50and a symptom of the people's passion for holy images - icons.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Bizarre as it may seem,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57the battle of the icons would be the most rabid and vicious controversy
0:49:57 > 0:50:02in the entire history of an empire obsessed with religion.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11In modern Istanbul,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14only a tiny surviving pocket
0:50:14 > 0:50:17of the Eastern Orthodox Christians who once dominated Constantinople
0:50:17 > 0:50:20still live and worship here.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26Once the city was almost entirely Christian
0:50:26 > 0:50:30and they now make up less than 1% of its population.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35This is their Patriarchal church
0:50:35 > 0:50:38an 18th-century building dedicated to St George.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44They may no longer rule this city
0:50:44 > 0:50:46but their ancient rituals still reverberate
0:50:46 > 0:50:50with echoes of the religious conflicts of the Byzantine Christian world.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57It was a world where believers were renowned for their devotion to icons -
0:50:57 > 0:51:00holy images usually painted onto wood
0:51:00 > 0:51:03and showing Jesus, Mary or the saints.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07But they weren't just pictures.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11For Byzantines they were sacred and powerful in their own right.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13They were windows onto the divine.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Their veneration is still a defining part
0:51:23 > 0:51:27of this mystical Orthodox tradition.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Every Orthodox church has an icon screen
0:51:30 > 0:51:33separating the nave from the altar.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40The images are processed and kissed by the holy Patriarch
0:51:40 > 0:51:42and the faithful follow suit.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48But in 726, Leo III decided
0:51:48 > 0:51:52the veneration of these holy objects had gone too far.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Their cult had reached fever pitch proportions -
0:51:58 > 0:52:00they were credited with healings
0:52:00 > 0:52:03and people scraped off their paint, drinking it like medicine.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09In some cases, icons even served as godparents at baptisms.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15For Leo and his like-minded bishops,
0:52:15 > 0:52:20the issue was whether such extreme veneration was acceptable to God.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26After all, the second of the Ten Commandments clearly stated
0:52:26 > 0:52:28that graven images shouldn't be worshipped.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33The empire's military losses to the Muslims
0:52:33 > 0:52:36who banned all use of images in their worship -
0:52:36 > 0:52:39led Leo to a controversial conclusion.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Perhaps it was the intense attachment to these icons
0:52:45 > 0:52:48that was causing the empire's defeats.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54Leo ordered the destruction of all the holy images
0:52:54 > 0:52:58and the punishment of anyone who refused to obey him.
0:53:06 > 0:53:11Reminders of the violence of what became known as iconoclasm can be found
0:53:11 > 0:53:14in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28What we have here are two stone icons,
0:53:28 > 0:53:30from the Church of St Polyeuctos,
0:53:30 > 0:53:34one of the most magnificent in Constantinople.
0:53:34 > 0:53:35And you can see immediately
0:53:35 > 0:53:39that the faces have been completely chiselled off.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42You can just about tell that this is the Virgin and Child,
0:53:42 > 0:53:44this is an Apostle.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47But otherwise the features are gone.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50And from looking at this you can just get a sense
0:53:50 > 0:53:54of the savage violence of iconoclasm.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Now, these are stone but if they were wooden icons they were burnt.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01If they were statues they were smashed.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04If they were fine mosaics they were plastered over.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09And it wasn't just images that suffered.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Those who defended their sacred icons
0:54:11 > 0:54:14had to endure even greater torment.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21Monks who refused to hand over their icons were taken to the Hippodrome,
0:54:21 > 0:54:23made to hold hands with harlots
0:54:23 > 0:54:28and then spat at by a baying iconoclasmic mob.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Monasteries were raided
0:54:30 > 0:54:32and churches who refused to hand over their images
0:54:32 > 0:54:34were attacked by the imperial police,
0:54:34 > 0:54:38where the resisting monks were put to the sword.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46The battle over holy images raged for an entire century
0:54:46 > 0:54:49with a ferocity that finally burnt itself out.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54And it was the icon lovers who prevailed.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02Their victory is commemorated here in Hagia Sophia,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05in spectacular works of religious art.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12And I'm meeting art historian Robin Cormack
0:55:12 > 0:55:16to learn more about what led to iconoclasm's demise.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19Robin, why did iconoclasm end?
0:55:19 > 0:55:21Well, when iconoclasm ended in the 840s,
0:55:21 > 0:55:23the political climate had changed.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26The Arabs had moved their capital to Baghdad,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28there was no longer a Muslim threat.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30The theological position had changed.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34The churchmen who had been opposed to images had all moved on.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39A new group came in, so there was an alignment of politics and the church
0:55:39 > 0:55:42to bring the icons back and they did it.
0:55:44 > 0:55:50On Easter Sunday 867, the triumph of the holy images was celebrated
0:55:50 > 0:55:56and Hagia Sophia was transformed by new and splendid mosaics,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00inaugurated in a magnificent service of thanksgiving.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05The great day of celebration after iconoclasm came
0:56:05 > 0:56:09with the unveiling of the Virgin and Child that we can see today.
0:56:11 > 0:56:12The Emperors were here.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15The public was here and the Patriarch gave a sermon
0:56:15 > 0:56:18pointing up into the apse there,
0:56:18 > 0:56:24and he said this is the beginning, the first day of Orthodoxy.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28And around the apse was the inscription,
0:56:28 > 0:56:32of which we can see the first words and the last words.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36And they said, "The images which the heretics cast down,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38"pious emperors restored again."
0:56:41 > 0:56:44It was a moment that altered the whole way
0:56:44 > 0:56:46in which this church spoke to its people.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50Symbolic crosses were replaced
0:56:50 > 0:56:54by glorious figurative images of the Christian story.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58And it wasn't just the building.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00The end of iconoclasm defined
0:57:00 > 0:57:04the whole nature of Eastern Orthodox worship.
0:57:05 > 0:57:10The Byzantine church became once more identified by images.
0:57:16 > 0:57:18Free of the wasteful frenzy of iconoclasm,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22the empire, led by a run of brilliant soldier emperors,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25recovered, expanded and thrived.
0:57:28 > 0:57:33But the conflict over holy images had caused lasting damage,
0:57:33 > 0:57:35not just to the icons of the city,
0:57:35 > 0:57:38but to the relationship between the Eastern and Western churches.
0:57:40 > 0:57:41Throughout the controversy,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45the Western church had fully defended the use of icons,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48contributing to an ever-deepening rift.
0:57:51 > 0:57:54Ever since Constantine had made it his new Rome,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57the two cities had been rivals.
0:57:57 > 0:58:02But for the last 50 years they'd been outright enemies.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04They disagreed on the powers of the Papacy
0:58:04 > 0:58:08and arcane questions of ritual and doctrine.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12And iconoclasm had just made things even worse.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19In 1054, matters came to a head.
0:58:19 > 0:58:23On July 16th, Papal legates burst into the service
0:58:23 > 0:58:24here in Saint Sophia
0:58:24 > 0:58:28and laid a sentence of excommunication right on the altar.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34Although no-one could've foreseen it,
0:58:34 > 0:58:40this would alter the course of Constantinople's future...
0:58:40 > 0:58:44and ultimately lead to catastrophe for this holy city.
0:58:49 > 0:58:53Seven centuries after Constantine's transformation
0:58:53 > 0:58:57of this holy city, Constantinople faces fresh onslaughts -
0:58:57 > 0:59:01from the Muslim Turks and from Rome.
0:59:03 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd