The rise of the empire begins with an order. A new imperial residence is to be built. Even bigger, even more impressive than Rome. Prominent experts in the field of ancient history relate the impact of this portentous decision. Their suspense-filled accounts correspond to the dramatic images of the fall of Rome and the rise of Constantinople. Thus emerges the dramatic history of an empire, the importance of which has over time sunk into oblivion.
The Byzantinian Empire continues from where Rome left off. From Constantinople, the new Rome, the emperor reigns over an empire that stretches from Spain via Mesopotamia and the steppes of Asia to Egypt. Greedy Venetians and unscrupulous crusaders bring ruin upon the realm. Yet Constantinople recovers from the pillage as well as from the plague. The end comes with the invention of firearms. In 1453 cannons destroy the biggest city wall of the ancient world. The Byzantinian Empire survived for more than a thousand years. From the middle of the first millennium to the 15th century. Today, Constantinople is Turkish and called Istanbul.
