The Center of the World in Byzantium. Milion Stone
A few years ago Nasa had declared that the center of the world was Corum and it was a joke of course.
Now I'm really going to talk about a stone that has been declared the center of the world in ancient times ;
#istanbul #turkey #hagiasophia #milionstone #tourism
When I went to Istanbul last month, I saw a stonework at the front of the Basilica Cistern overlooking Hagia Sophia. Although I tried to read what this work is about in a hurry, I don't remember much . When I came back to Ankara, I did a research on this stone. The stone I mentioned was called "Milliona Stone." In this case, I guess that a few people have turned to look at this stone while passing by , so I give a historical background of it briefly:
"Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great (306-37) takes the Byzantium , where only five thousand people live, in 324 in order to make the capital of the Roman Empire and create a new city.
A large palace (the Imperial Palace), the Senate Palace, the Church of St. Irene, the Church of the Holy Apostles (today there is today the Fatih Mosque nearby ), the Hagia Sophia (could not finish building ), a Hippodrome of thirty-three thousand people, an aqueduct, a square decorated with statues bearing its name (Cemberlitas) built on behalf of his mother, a square called Augusteum was built and the city was adorned with antique works of art brought from all over the country ...
In 328, the chief architect Leontius opens an issue to the Emperor Constantine: "Your Majesty, I will have to point to another point. In our opinion , Byzantium must be made the center of the world. For this there is a stone that is considered sacred that was preserved in Jerusalem and touched by Jesus. Its name is Milion, it is appropriate to place this stone in front of the Hagia Sophia, which is in ruins and which we are building now, where the stone lies should be counted as the center of the world (0) and all distances should be measured from this point. If this happens, an office will be built right next to the stone, and the task of this office will be to sell the maps showing the distance and paths to the applicants from that point of view.If I need to give an example, the passengers and caravans going from Byzantium will come and buy the maps from here, for example, to Milan, Antakya. to Sirmium or Jerusalem they will know how many days they will go on to their destination. Thus Byzantium will become the center of the world .. "
To sum up, I especially recommend that our brothers and sisters and all foreigner who want to see Istanbul and do not know what this stone is, should pay attention to this stone while passing by. Istanbul is a living history and the only queen of all world cities ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milion
http://eastern-roman.blogspot.com/2012/06/million-stone.html
Here is exact location of this stone if you are interested in it.
