Beneath and in the midst of the modern metropolis of Istanbul lie the remnants of another city, called Constantinople. For over a thousand years, from May 11, 330 to May 29, 1453, it was the cultural and spiritual capital of Christendom. Throughout the Middle Ages the city that its inhabitants also called New Rome served as a living bridge to the civilizations of Classical Greece and Rome, transmitting their intellectual riches to both the West and...