In his 1915 travelogue, "Constantinople and Istanbul Old and New," H.G. Dwight writes, "Constantinople is a compromise, therefore, and not always a successful one, between north and south." In this instance, Dwight speaks of the jarring weather in the city, which blends the climate of regions to the north and south.

H.G.Dwight在1915年的旅行日志《新旧之下的君士坦丁堡和伊斯坦布尔》中写道，“君士坦丁堡是南北方间的一种妥协，因此君士坦丁堡并非始终是成功的象征。”在这里，Dwight提到了这座城市不协调的天气。这里融合了北方和南方的气候。

Yet, his statement also serves as an apt representation of the history of Constantinople (presently known as Istanbul), which is a city that stands as a centuries-long compromise — a melting pot — of peoples, religions and cultures.

然而，他的说法也算是对君士坦丁堡（现在的伊斯坦布尔）历史的一种恰当说明。这是一座数百年来一直妥协的城市，这里是一个关于人、宗教和文化的大熔炉。

From the Greeks to the Romans

从希腊人到罗马人

Way back in the time before the common era (C.E.), Constantinople was the ancient capital of the Byzantine empire, though it was known at the time as Byzantium. Byzas the Megarian gave the region its name in 700 B.C.E., and a small settlement of Greeks lived there until 300 B.C.E.

在公历纪元前的很久以前，君士坦丁堡是拜占庭帝国的首都，然而当时它的名字还是拜占庭。来自墨伽拉的拜占斯（Byzas the Megarian）在公元前700年给这个城市取名拜占庭。当时，少数希腊人一直居住在这里，直到公元前300年。

common era ：公历纪元

In 330 C.E., Roman emperor Constantine I declared Byzantium to be the 'New Rome.' The settlement transformed into the major center of Constantinople, named after its new Roman conqueror. The ancient Byzantium thrived under Roman rule for more than 1,000 years, even as other parts of the Roman Empire collapsed.

公元330年，罗马皇帝君士坦丁一世宣布拜占庭为新罗马。定居地也因此变成了君士坦丁堡（以新罗马征服者的名字命名）的重要中心。在罗马的统治下，即使是在罗马帝国其他部分分崩离析的情况下，古代拜占庭还是繁荣发展了1000多年。

"Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It moved from Rome in the 4th-5th centuries of the Common Era (C.E.). That was the formal foundation of the city [under] Emperor Constantine," says Cornell Fleischer. Fleischer is the Kanunî Süleyman professor of Ottoman and modern Turkish studies in Near Eastern languages and civilizations at The University of Chicago.

“君士坦丁堡是东罗马帝国的首都。它在公元第4到5世纪从罗马脱离。这就为这座由君士坦丁皇帝所统治的城市奠定了基础，”Cornell Fleischer说。Fleischer是芝加哥大学近东语言和文明中奥斯曼和现代土耳其研究教授。

According to Fleischer, Venetian rulers attempted to conquer the city through a Christian crusade, and were briefly successful, ruling over the area from 1204-1260 C.E. But, otherwise, the empire remained in the hands of the Romans, serving as the empire's central seat of power until the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

根据Fleischer的介绍，威尼斯的统治者们企图通过十字军东征征服这座城市。他们获得了短暂的胜利并在公元1204年到1260年统治这一地区。但是，除此之外，帝国仍然处在罗马人的手中。在奥斯曼帝国于1453年征服这里之前，这里是帝国的中央权力中心。

The Ottoman Conquest

奥斯曼的征服

But how did Constantinople fall into the hands of the Ottoman Empire? According to Fleischer, the Ottoman "polity" was one of many principalities in the Balkans and northwestern Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, in what is modern-day Turkey).

那么，君士坦丁堡是如何落入奥斯曼帝国的手中的呢？根据Fleischer的介绍，奥斯曼“政体”是巴尔干半岛和安那托力亚西北部（也被称为小亚细亚，位于现在的土耳其境内）诸多公国中的一个。

Polity：政体，政治组织，政治形态

"The Ottoman principality was the one that was the closest — the closest in a number of senses — to Constantinople, to the center of empire. And conquest of the city had been a dream of sorts for a very long time," says Fleischer. "Indeed, there are traditions of the Prophet Muhammad that referred to the conquest of the city — the conquest of Rome — as one of the events that will usher in the culmination of the end of history or the end of times, whatever that might be."

“奥斯曼公国是在诸多方面最接近君士坦丁堡，即帝国中心的一个公国。在很长时间以来，征服这座城市一直是奥斯曼公国的梦想，”Fleischer说。“确实，根据奥斯曼公国的传统，先知默罕默德提到征服这座城市-征服罗马并将其作为若干迎接历史或时代终结高潮的事件之一，不管那可能是什么。”

There had been numerous attempted sieges of Constantinople starting in the late 1300s, but none had succeeded. But, finally, Sultan Mehmed II toppled the city after a 55-day siege. His army bombarded the city's defenses by both land and sea until the seat of the Byzantine Empire crumbled May 29, 1453.

尝试对君士坦丁堡进行围攻从1300年代后期开始，这种尝试进行了无数次，但没有一次获得成功。但是，经过55天的围攻后，默罕默德苏丹二世最终颠覆了这座城市。他的军队从陆地和海洋炸毁了这座城市的防御系统直到拜占庭帝国在于1453年5月29日分崩离析。

Siege：围攻、包围

Beyond Constantinople, the Ottomans had been steadily expanding their empire for decades, becoming a major world player in the process. "And the Ottomans had been pressing for several decades, and they had taken imperial territories in what had been the Balkans in particular — former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece. These areas were the cradle of what became the Ottoman empire."

除了君士坦丁堡，奥斯曼人在数十年来还在不断扩大他们的帝国并在这一过程中在全球扮演着重要的角色。“奥斯曼人在数十年来一直不断扩张，他们所占领的帝国领土就包括巴尔干半岛-前南斯拉夫、匈牙利、希腊。这些地方是奥斯曼帝国的发源地。”

Remaking the City

城市的重塑

The Byzantine Empire had been in severe decline at the time of its conquest in 1453. Even though Constantinople was one of the largest cities in the world, its population had seriously dwindled, according to Fleischer. Fleischer says that census records from the time determine Constantinople's population to have been 30,000 people shortly after the conquest.

1453年，在征服世界的时候，拜占庭帝国经历了数次衰退。据Fleischer介绍，尽管君士坦丁堡是世界上最大的城市之一，它的人口还是严重缩减了。Fleischer说，当时统计君士坦丁堡人口数量的人口普查记录显示，征服过后，君士坦丁堡的人口仅有3万人。

"After the conquest, repopulation and reconstructions were major priorities," says Fleischer. The population eventually rebounded to 400,000-500,000 people by the next century, he says.

“征服之后，重新补充人口以及重新建设是重中之重，”Fleischer说。到了下个世纪，人口最终重新反弹到40万-50万人。

One of the great rulers of Constantinople was Suleiman 'the Magnificent,' also commonly known as Suleiman 'the Lawgiver.' Suleiman's forefathers had done most of the heavy lifting of reconstructing Constantinople by ordering the creation of mosques, universities and hospitals.

苏莱曼大帝是君士坦丁堡最伟大的统治者之一，也被称为苏莱曼大帝‘立法者’。苏莱曼的祖先们通过下令建造清真寺、大学和医院而完成了绝大多数重建君士坦丁堡的繁重工作。 

"What Suleiman did was ... to build in a very distinctive architectural style imperial monuments in the form of mosques and schools and so forth throughout the territories [of the empire]," says Fleischer.

“苏莱曼在帝国境内建造了清真寺、学校等建筑风格独特的地标性建筑，”Fleischer说。

One of the mosques that Suleiman commissioned, was the Süleymaniye Mosque. Constructed by architect Mimar Sinan in the 1550s, the imperial mosque became a significant religious and educational center. The mosque still stands in Istanbul today as the one must-see relics from the Ottoman Empire.

苏莱曼下令建造的清真寺之一就是苏莱曼清真寺。这座清真寺由建筑师Mimar Sinan于16世纪50年代建造。此后，这座帝国的清真寺成为了伟大的宗教和教育中心。如今，这座清真寺仍旧位于伊斯坦布尔并成为不可错过的奥斯曼帝国遗址。

A Cultural, Religious and Commercial Hub

文化、宗教和商业中心

There is no specific date for when, exactly, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. There had been several centers of power in the Ottoman Empire, including Bursa, which became the "intellectual and spiritual capital of the enterprise by the 15th century," according to Fleischer. But, he says, "with the conquest of Constantinople and its reconstruction and the construction of imperial mosques and universities, the center, by the middle of the 16th century, really moved to Constantinople."

君士坦丁堡成为奥斯曼帝国首都的日期目前并不明确。奥斯曼帝国境内存在有数个权利中心，比如布尔萨（Bursa）。据Fleischer介绍，“到15世纪时，布尔萨成为帝国的知识和精神中心”。但是，他说，“随着君士坦丁堡被征服以及被重建-包括建设帝国清真寺和大学，到了16世纪中期，帝国的中心实际上已经转移至到了君士坦丁堡。”

Due to its significant geographic location at the crux of Europe and Asia, surrounded by both land and sea, Constantinople was well-positioned as not only a center of cultural and religious activity, but also as a commercial center.

由于位于欧亚交界处这一重要的地理位置并被陆地和大海所环绕，君士坦丁堡这一得天独厚的地理位置使其不仅成为文化和宗教活动中心，还成为了商业中心。

Constantinople formed a hub, or "expanded network of trade routes," says Fleischer. "And the trade routes were augmented by the construction of caravanserai, which were structures for long-distance traders, all the way from Iran to the borders of what is now known as Austria."

君士坦丁堡构成了一个中心，或者说“扩大的贸易路线网”，Fleischer说。商队客店的建设使得商业路线得以扩大。客店是专为长途贸易者建造的客店，其从伊朗一路延伸至如今奥地利的边境。

Augment：增强、扩大、增加

Caravanserai：（旧时亚洲和北非沙漠地区的）商队客店

Most notably, under the Ottoman Empire, a variety of religions and languages flourished, from Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians to Turkish-speaking Muslims. "The Ottomans weren't trying to convert everybody to Islam," says Fleischer. They saw themselves and presented themselves as protectors of all of the monotheistic religions of the world — meaning the Christians, the Jews, as well as the Muslims."

最值得注意的是，在奥斯曼帝国统治时期，各种宗教和语言，从讲希腊语的东正教基督徒到讲土耳其语的穆斯林，都得到了繁荣发展。“奥斯曼人并没有试图让所有人都皈依伊斯兰教，”Fleischer说。他们将自己看做是世界上所有一神论宗教--即基督教、犹太教和伊斯兰教的保护者。”

Monotheistic：一神论

As a result, Constantinople remained a majority non-Muslim area well into the 16th century. Instead of wholly dismantling pre-existing religious artifacts, the Ottoman Empire maintained them, retaining their architectural structures — such as large columns — even when converting them into churches and synagogues.

因此，到了16世纪，君士坦丁堡仍旧是一个绝大多数人口为非穆斯林的地区。除了将之前存在的人工宗教物品拆除外，即使是在将建筑物转变为教堂和犹太会堂时，奥斯曼帝国还是保留了所有的宗教建筑及其建筑结构，比如巨大的圆形石柱。

Artifact：人工制品

Column：圆形石柱

"The large symbolic churches were converted into mosques. This was normal practice, particularly in the 15th and 16th centuries, with the architecture being preserved, but modifications being made to allow for proper orientation for the direction of prayer and so on," says Fleischer.

“大型的具有象征意义的教堂被转变为清真寺。这在当时是普遍的做法，特别是在15和16世纪。建筑物被保留了下来，但是也会做一些调整，以使祷告能够朝着正确的方向等，”Fleischer说。

Overall, the Ottoman rule favored multiculturalism. "In the Ottoman case, their policy of rule was based on inclusivity and capacity to maintain and tolerate a great deal of diversity," according to Fleischer.

总体而言，奥斯曼的统治更青睐多文化主义。“拿奥斯曼帝国的统治来说，他们的统治政策以包容性为主并尽量保持和容忍各种多样性，”据Fleischer介绍。

Modern Istanbul Is a Multi-cultural City

现代的伊斯坦布尔是一个拥有多元文化的城市

Despite the changing of hands from the Byzantine to the Ottoman Empire, 'Constantinople' stayed in place as the formal name of the city until the early 20th century, when the last shreds of the Ottoman Empire crumbled and the Republic of Turkey began.

尽管统治者从拜占庭变为奥斯曼帝国，‘君士坦丁堡’仍然是这座城市的正式名称，直到20世纪初期，也就是当奥斯曼帝国最后的残留也崩塌殆尽且土耳其共和国诞生之际。

"The terminology of Constantinople in Arabic (Konstantiniye) was preserved. That was the official name of the place until the early 20th century when the empire was ended by the advent of the Republic," says Fleischer.

“君士坦丁堡的阿拉伯语被保留了下来。在20世纪初之前，也就是帝国被共和国的成立而取代时，这个名字一直都是正式的官方名称。”

After that point, the city became more formally known by the name 'Istanbul,' which derives from the Greek phrase, "Stanbulin," meaning "to the city." However, residents of the city had colloquially referred to the city as Istanbul for many years before the official name change, switching between Istanbul and Constantinople depending on the situation. Many residents called the old part of the city 'Stamboul' well into the 19th century.

此后，城市的正式名称逐渐转变为‘伊斯坦布尔’，这个词来自于希腊语“Stabulin”，表示“去这座城市”。然而，在正式更名之前的许多年前，城市居民都会通俗地将这座城市称为伊斯坦布尔，并根据情境在伊斯坦布尔和君士坦丁堡之间来回切换。许多居民称城市的旧城区为‘Stamboul’，直到19世纪。

Colloquially：白话、俗称

The city continues to appeal to tourists for its multi-cultural heritage and profusion of different religious architectural sites. However, the current government under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has favored a country largely intended for Turkish, Sunni Muslims, according to Fleischer.

凭借具有多文化特色的遗产和丰富的不同宗教建筑遗迹，这座城市吸引力众多的游客。然而，在土耳其总理埃尔多安 领导下的当今政府则更倾向于将这座城市变成土耳其人和穆斯林逊尼教派的城市。

The end result has "meant that the so-called minority populations, particularly the Christians and Jews, have shrunk substantially through emigration," says Fleischer. "I'm not sure that many people who live in greater metropolitan Istanbul today would recognize that Constantinople was the name of the place until sometime nearly within the reach of living memory."

最终的结果是“所谓的少数民族，特别是基督徒和犹太教徒的数量由于移民而大幅减少，”Fleischer说。“除了偶尔鲜活的记忆，我不知道还有多少如今居住在伊斯坦布尔这座大都市的人们能够记起君士坦丁堡曾经是这座城市的名字。”

minority populations：少数民族

来源：HOW STUFF WORKS   编辑&翻译：上海译锐翻译Susan