The Voyvoda Street Istanbul Lectures host Prof. Nevra Necipoğlu this month with a presentation entitled, "The Capital of an Empire in Decline: A Socio-Political Portrait of Istanbul during the Last Centuries of Byzantium," in which she evaluates both positive and negative developments in the city, starting with the Fourth Crusade and the sack of Constantinople, to its conquest by the Ottomans nearly two centuries later. Within this context, she will also question the validity of an approach stressing mainly the "decline" aspect of the Byzantine Empire in this period. The lecture will be held at the Ottoman Bank Museum on Wednesday, November 8, at 6:30 p.m.

"Istanbul, or as it was then known, Konstantinopolis, capital of the Byzantine Empire and one of the most magnificent cities of the medieval world, set the stage for important political and socio-economic events between the 13th and the 15th centuries," says Necipoğlu. "In this lecture, I will address both the positive and negative aspects of the changes and transformations that took place in the Byzantine capital during this period in which the empire had already entered its phase of decline. Starting with the ravages left from the Fourth Crusade, I will consider the population and social structure of the city, its commercial activities, its power struggles and the political and religious rifts among its populations, over the nearly two-century span stretching from 1261 to 1453."

The Istanbul lectures are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. and center on the topic, "The Three Eras of Istanbul: Byzantine, Ottoman, and Republican."

Prof. Nevra Necipoğlu After graduating from the Department of History and Economics at Wellesley College in 1982, Necipoğlu completed her Master's and Ph.D. on Byzantine History at Harvard University, between 1982 and 1990. She then joined the faculty of the History Department at Boğaziçi University where she became associate professor in 1994, full professor in 2002, and currently teaches. Necipoğlu has earned a number of awards and research grants from the University of Paris 1 (Sorbonne), Boğaziçi University, Harvard and Wellesley College. Her research interests focus on the socio-economic history of the late Byzantine Empire, Turco-Byzantine relations, and Istanbul in Byzantine times and she has contributed two books, numerous articles and conference papers, as well as encyclopedia sections on these topics. Since 2001, in addition to being a founding member and the general secretary of the Turkish National Committee for Byzantine Studies, Necipoğlu is a member of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies and of the History Foundation (Turkey).

Voyvoda Street Istanbul Lectures "The Capital of an Empire in Decline: A Socio-Political Portrait of Istanbul during the Last Centuries of Byzantium" Prof. Nevra Necipoğlu Wednesday, November 8, 2006 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Free admission The Ottoman Bank Museum Bankalar (Voyvoda) Caddesi 35/37 (0212) 334 22 70