''A city capable of absorbing everything,'' is how the famous French historian Maurice Aymard described Constantinople / Istanbul in the 1970s. HIST 570 is designed to take students through the first two thousand years of this many-layered history, starting with a modest colony established by the Greek polis of Megara, growing through a crucial choice made by Constantine early in the AD 4th century into ''New Rome'', then rising and ultimately falling, in 1453, with the fortunes of the Byzantine empire. A historical introduction on these and other key phases will be followed by in-depth lectures many of which will be delivered on site in the course of study trips to leading Byzantine locations and monuments. A minimum of two lecture hours per week will be complemented by additional seminar hours focusing on the primary sources available in translation, as well as comprehensive readings in the available secondary literature. For the possibility of taking ''History of a City I'' as an undergraduate course, subject to appropriately adjusted requirements, see HIST 370.
