Constantinople: The Heart Of Trade And Culture In The Byzantine Empire

The ancient city of Constantinople was once one of the wealthiest places on earth. The Byzantine Empire started in the fifth century C.E and continued until the tenth century. The center of this was Constantinople, currently known as Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople thrived as not only a political center, but also as the heart of trade and culture in the Byzantine Empire. The short distance that this city had to many of the other worldly powers at the time was the cause for the city becoming a trade and cultural enterprise. Constantinople was centrally located in the known world during its period of existence. This allowed people from throughout Europe and Asia the opportunity to visit the vastly wealthy city. One of these people was Rabbi …show more content…
Sophia, was an indicator of how important religion was to the culture of the city. The Rabbi continued to talk about the worshipping of the Pope of Rome within the city limits. This extended not only from the general people, but also to the emperor himself. George Acropolises explained how when hearing the prayers the emperor “. . . fell to his knees on the ground, and with him all those behind fell to their knees”. Even though this emperor himself was seen as being higher than the general people of Constantinople, the people’s faith held an even higher stance in their society. The expansion of Christianity throughout this region of the world in the second and third centuries shows how quickly cultures were able to spread through the movement of people from one society to the …show more content…
Constantinople, being in the center of the known world and being the next power subsequent to Rome, was where the merchants were planning on going to. The wealthy culture complete with gold and jewels was the perfect place for merchants to not only sell their products to anxious Byzantines, but also a perfect way to spread their own cultures. This is evident not only from the different religions that existed throughout the city of Constantinople, but also in the different materials that were sold. An example of this would be the silk that is mentioned by Benjamin of Tudela. Byzantium was the only other culture that was able to make silks that were as elaborate and fine as those made in China. The Byzantine empire, being almost halfway from Western Europe to China was close enough that it was said monks from the Byzantine Empire had snuck silkworms back with them after visiting the China. This skill was not only good for trade with other empires since they would no longer have to travel long distances to acquire the good, but also for the economy of the Byzantine empire. This not only increased the economy of Constantinople, but also altered the culture by adding new material for the clothing to be made out