Istanbul

	The fall of Byzantium

Mehmet the Conqueror captured Byzantium in May, 1453, and thereby brought the Eastern Roman empire to an end. The story of those traumatic events forms part of the Diggings tour of Turkey as we go round the Theodosian Walls, cross the Golden Horn, and see the gate through which Mehmet entered the city.

This year, however, by pure serendipity, we returned from the tour to our hotel just in time to cross paths with the annual procession commemorating the ruse by which Mehmet gained control of the Golden Horn and thus cut Byzantium off from all hopes of succour from outside.

Lots of movement and lots of detail does not compress well, so the movie quality is not as good as in other films on our site. However I hope you will gain a flavour of this event and perhaps even want to go and see it yourself.

The "More info" link takes you to Amazon where you can purchase the excellent three volume history of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. I cannot recommend these books highly enough; they are well written, fast moving, highly reputable history, and even if you have no particular interest in the history of this city, I am confident that you will enjoy the story.

However if you want something lighter, may I recommend my film Tales of Byzantium which is available from the Diggings shop?