pickWow, that was a fantastic read in both subject matter and writing. Reading about the history leading up to a massive siege was almost as fascinating as being taken through the politics and tactics of the actual battles that happened over those 50+ days of siege at Constantinople.
“At the time of the first Arab siege of 669, a strange prophetic book had appeared, the so-called Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius.” Pg 186
“In the slashing, hacking confusion, the two leaders squared up to each other in single combat in front of their men.” Pg 162
“The obsession was linked to secrecy, learned young in the dangerous world of the Ottoman court, which made him keep plans close to himself until they were ripe.” Pg 145
“‘Battles on the sea are more dangerous and fierce than the battles by land, for on the sea there is no recoiling nor fleeing, there is no remedy but to fight and to abide fortune, and every man shows his prowess.‘ Jean Froissart, fourteenth-century French chronicler” Pg 123
“The Greek chroniclers struggled to convey what they saw, or even to find a vocabulary to describe the guns.” Pg 116
“During the winter of 1452, [Orban] set to the task of casting what was probably the largest cannon ever built. This painstaking and extraordinary process was described in detail by the Greek chronicler Kritovoulos.” Pg 91
“Booty was a raison d‘être” Pg 24
“Orthodox religion worked powerfully on the emotions of the people through the intense colors of its mosaics and icons, the mysterious beauty of its liturgy rising and falling in the darkness of lamplit churches...” Pg 18
“The Byzantines, who were heirs to the practical engineering skills of the Roman Empire, seem to have developed a technique for heating the mixture [for Greek Fire] in sealed bronze containers, pressurizing it by means of a hand pump, then emitting it through a nozzle, where it could be ignited by a flame.” Pg 13
“‘A red apple invites stones.‘ Turkish Proverb”. Pg 9
“To the Ottoman Turks of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries [the Theodosian wall] was ‘a bone in the throat of Allah‘.” Pg 1-2
After reading a bunch of fiction, I decided it was time to whip out this book about the fall of Constantinople.
As a Canadian abroad, I do sometimes get a little frustrated with being called American, but at least we‘re more similar than Scotland and Germany🤷♀️
When life gives you the wrong size of cannonballs...
I have a backlog of books to read, and I still picked this up at the thrift store. 🤷🏻♀️
Constantinople was what is now Istanbul (more or less), which is in #Turkey
😝
#emojinov @RealLifeReading
Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453 | 
