Genoa and Venice
a historical detour...
05.04.2007
So if you haven't figured it out yet, there's a story I'm interested in. It's the story of Constantinople, one of the greatest cities in history and its relationship to cities such as Genoa and Venice.
Constantinople fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks. It was not necessarily a sudden event. The Byzantine Empire had been in decline for several hundred years and was crippled in particular by the sack of the city in 1204 and also the black death in the 1300's. For hundreds of years before, Genoa and Venice had quarters in the city where the housed their ships, wares and merchants. Venice was modeled after Constantinople, the church, the imperial culture, almost everything. St Marks is modeled after Haghia Sophia in modern day Istanbul and was designed by a Greek architect.
The riches in the Middle East and the Black Sea led to riches elsewhere, namely the Silk Road to China. The reason we know about the Silk Road is because a man by the name of Marco Polo from Venice was imprisoned between one of the bloody battles between Venetian and Genoese merchants in the Black Sea around the 13th century or 14th?
Where Marco Polo was imprisoned in Genoa.
Genoa and Venice lost a lot of ships, men and money fighting trading wars with each other.
Venice has Saint Marks, Genoa has Saint Matthews, Venice is on the East Coast, Genoa is on the West Coast, well I think you get the picture. The patron saint was so important to the Venetians, that they stole the body of St Mark from Alexandria Egypt and surrounded the body in pigs so the Muslims would not detect it. Having a Saint was the equivalent of divine power and Venice used this power to the hilt especially in the 1200's when they diverted the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople where they murdered, pillaged and plundered their way through the entire city. St Marks in Venice today is full of treasures from the Eastern city and much of church is covered in gold, undoubtedly recycled from much of the gold in Constantinople. It was not until recently that John Paul II had some of the relics returned from the Vatican to the Eastern Orthodox church.
All this to say that with the power of the Turks rising in the East in the 12-1400's the Greek Byzantine Empire was at the mercy of not only the Turks but also power hungry merchants from Venice and Genoa. This also culminated in an epic 2 month battle in April and May of 1453, the city of Constantinople which had withstood attacks over 20 times from Attila the Hun, Arab Muslims and others would have its ultimate test. Brave soldiers from Venice and Genoa each fought side by side with Greek soldiers though most of the West fled the scene and did not defend the city. The Venetian Senate met for months about whether to send aid to the sieged city, and they were still meeting when the city fell.- suspiciously lethargic response.
A small plaza in Genoa off the beaten path and almost forgotten about today is named after one of the bravest generals in history, Giuliani Giustiani. A statue in Athens by the Metropolitan church of Constantine XI Paleologus stands as a monument to the brave stance he took at the breach in the wall in Constantinople. He was last seen fighting side by side with his men in the breach of the city's wall. Before the siege started a phrase is still remembered. "ELATE NA THN PARETAI" ("COME AND TAKE HER") is what Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Paleologus said to the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II upon his demand to surrender Constantinople.
As I travel toward the end of my trip, to that once great city, you will see the gap in the wall where the city fell with the last emperor fighting bravely.
History sidetrack!!!
Posted by iaremia 11:21 AM Comments (0)
