ThePatria of Constantinople (Greek:Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως),[1] also regularly referred to by theLatin nameScriptores originum Constantinopolitarum ("writers on the origins of Constantinople"), are aByzantine collection of historical works on the history and monuments of the Byzantine imperial capital ofConstantinople (modernIstanbul,Turkey).[2]
Attributed in the past to the 14th-century writerGeorge Kodinos,[3] the collection in fact dates from earlier centuries: it was probably first compiled ca. 995 in the reign ofBasil II (r. 976–1025) and then revised and added to in the reign ofAlexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118).[4]
The collection contains:
From an archaeological point of view, thePatria are an invaluable record of the early history of Byzantium and the various monuments of Constantinople. However, their accounts must be examined with care, since they often mix facts with fiction and urban legends.[2] From a political point of view, thePatria are interesting because of their treatment of the Emperors, who are relatively absent from the account of the imperial city, and are largely confined to a role as "chronological indicators".[2]
To date, fivePersian manuscripts concerning the history ofHagia Sophia's Construction have been identified in manuscript collections of the world. Of these, one is housed at theUniversity of California Library, while the remaining four are preserved in theSüleymaniye Library in Istanbul. All five manuscripts are translations of the fourth section of the Patria ofConstantinople, which recounts the construction history of Hagia Sophia. No other format or version—aside from this translated text—has yet been discovered in Persian that narrates the history of this church.
Although all translators of these texts, during the process of translation, have—out of necessity—added their own remarks regarding the rationale behind translating the Greek original, other buildings and figures of Constantinople, and events following the city's conquest by the Ottoman army, and have to varying degrees rephrased the original, their sympathetic approach to the Patria’s content has led them to preserve the sanctifying narrative of the church’s construction found in the Greek source. None of the translators have contradicted or challenged this sacred portrayal.
Among the three translations examined in this book, only the names of Darvish Shams al-Din Qaramani (author and translator of the first treatise) and Ahmad ibn Ahmad Munshi Gilani (author and translator of the third treatise) can be identified. The author of the second treatise has refrained from mentioning his name.
Darvish Shams al-Din Qaramani translated the text into Persian in 1129 AH (1717 AD), having rendered it into Turkish one year earlier. The second treatise begins with a brief preface, most of which is devoted to the author’s motivation for composing the work. Within this preface, without naming himself, the author recounts a short anecdote about his acquaintance—through a friend—with the Turkish translation of the Patria of Constantinople. Thus, the identity and biography of the author of this treatise remain unknown. The third treatise was authored by Ahmad Munshi Gilani, about whom no information is found in the sources.[6]
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