History of Byzantium Tour with Robin Pierson & Serif Yenen
Byzantium was a buffer shielding medieval Europe from the empire-building Persians, Arabs, and Turks. It was a bridge between East and West. Byzantines were law makers, developed religious, political, and social practices vibrant to this day. They were masters of mosaics. They pictured Christ enthroned as the Pantocrator, Creator of Universe in the domes of many of their churches.
While Charlemagne, King of the Franks, could barely write his name, many Byzantine emperors were scholars. While men in the West for centuries tested guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused to severe pain, Justinian set scholars to compiling his famous Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law), the foundation of Roman Law in continental Europe today. Via the Code Napoléon, Byzantine precepts were transmitted to Latin America, Québec Province, and Louisiana, where they still hold sway.
Today, as we go back and investigate more, and in the course of recent construction projects, new discoveries are being made constantly, and long-lost traces of previous occupants of the city are being uncovered. History is being re-written.
In the company of Robin Pierson and Serif Yenen, you can discover many Byzantine monuments and artefacts, which have been standing in Istanbul for thousands of years.
History of Byzantium Tour
Come join us to discover the Roman and Byzantine monuments in the Old City of Istanbul (Constantinople), which is now called as the Historic Peninsula. Then we continue with the Ottoman Culture. We extend the tour to Cappadocia and Ephesus as well.
Cappadocia is the name of a large region covering many big cities in Central Anatolia. It is such a unique place with very interesting natural formations, underground cities, rock-cut churches. It does not look like a place on earth. Definitely, Cappadocia is a must-see place in the world.
Ephesus, one of the most important ancient cities in the world, is located on the Aegean coast. Excavations in Ephesus have been continuing for more than 100 years. The hightlights in the Ephesus area are the Celsus Library, Great Theater of Ephesus, Hadrian’s Temple, Virgin Mary’s House, Basilica of St. John, Artemis Temple and Ephesus Museum.
Rather than driving long-distances, we fly between Istanbul-Cappadocia, Cappadocia-Ephesus and Ephesus-Istanbul.
Robin Pierson is the author of ‘The History of Byzantium Podcast.’ He tells the story of the Roman Empire from 476 to 1453 AD. He says that “Byzantine history is fascinating, world changing and largely forgotten. Listen and discover who they were.” Robin is from London in the UK. His web site is the History of Byzantium ↗.
