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ISTANBUL INFORMATION
ALL ABOUT ISTANBUL
The
city of Istanbul has had many
names throughout its history,
depending on the culture,
language, and religion of its
rulers.
Byzantium,
Constantinople,
Stamboul. and
Tsarigrad are
examples that may still be found
in active use in certain
countries.
Among others, it has
been called New Rome or
Second Rome,
since the
Roman
Emperor
Constantine the Great
founded it on the site of the
ancient Greek city of
Byzantium
as a second, and decidedly
Christian, capital of the
Roman
Empire,
in contrast to the still largely
pagan
Rome. It has also
been nicknamed
"The City on
Seven Hills" because the
historic peninsula, the oldest
part of the city, was
built by
Constantine on seven hills to
match the seven hills of Rome.
The hills are
represented in the
city's coat of arms with seven
mosques,
one at the top of each hill.
Another old nickname of Istanbul
is Vasileousa Polis (Queen
of Cities), which rose
from
its importance and wealth
throughout the
Middle
Ages
With the Turkish
Postal Service Law of March 28,
1930, the Turkish authorities
officially
requested foreigners
to cease referring to the city
with their traditional
non-Turkish.
names (such as
Constantinople, Tsarigrad, etc.). and to adopt Istanbul as the
sole name
also in their own
languages. Letters or packages
sent to "Constantinople" instead.
of "Istanbul" were no longer
delivered by Turkey's
PTT,
which contributed to the
eventual
worldwide adoption of
the new name Similarly, letters
or packages that were sent to
"Smyrna" instead of
Izmir,
"Angora" instead of
Ankara
"Trebizond" instead of
Trabzon,
and other ancient city names
were no longer delivered; a
measure which forced the quick
worldwide recognition of the
modern Turkish names of every
prominent city in the
country.
