Imprint
- W&N
- W&N
Turkey, Prose: non-fiction, European history, Asian history, Archaeology
The SUNDAY TIMES-bestselling biography of one of the world's greatest cities - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve' GUARDIAN
'Richly entertaining and impeccably researched' Peter Frankopan
Istanbul has always been a place where stories and histories collide and crackle, where the idea is as potent as the historical fact. From the Qu'ran to Shakespeare, this city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, and overspills its boundaries - real and imagined. Standing as the gateway between the East and West, it has served as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin and Ottoman Empires. For much of its history it was known simply as The City, but, as Bettany Hughes reveals, Istanbul is not just a city, but a story.
In this epic new biography, Hughes takes us on a dazzling historical journey through the many incarnations of one of the world's greatest cities. As the longest-lived political entity in Europe, over the last 6,000 years Istanbul has absorbed a mosaic of micro-cities and cultures all gathering around the core. At the latest count archaeologists have measured forty-two human habitation layers. Phoenicians, Genoese, Venetians, Jews, Vikings, Azeris all called a patch of this earth their home. Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, this captivating portrait of the momentous life of Istanbul is visceral, immediate and scholarly narrative history at its finest.
More books by Bettany Hughes
Praise for Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities
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Life-filled and life-affirming history, steeped in romance and written with verve - GUARDIAN
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A scholarly narrative, but Hughes isn't averse to heating it up with the salacious stories that dot the city's past - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
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Richly entertaining and impeccably researched - OBSERVER
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With a broadcaster's delight, Bettany Hughes ... reconstructs Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul as living, breathing landscapes - SUNDAY TIMES
Bettany Hughes
Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. Her previous books include Venus and Aphrodite: History of a Goddess (shortlisted for the Runciman Award), Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities (a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Runciman Award), The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens And The Search For The Good Life (a New York Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Writers Guild award) and Helen Of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore, and. All her books have been translated into multiple languages. She has made many documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, PBS, National Geographic, ABC and the Discovery and History channels. Bettany has been a Professor at the New College of Humanities and Research Fellow at King's College London. She has been honoured with numerous awards including the Medlicott Medal for services to history, Europe's Cultural Heritage Prize and an OBE for services to History.
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