Istanbul has always been a place where stories collide with History, where the narrative is as powerful as the pure historical fact. From the Quran to Shakespeare, the city with three names - Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul - resonates as an idea and a place, surpassing its borders, both real and imaginary. The gateway between East and West, North and South, has served as the capital of the Late Roman Empire, the Byzantine, the Latin, and the Ottoman. For a long period of its existence, this cosmopolitan place was simply known as The City, but as Betany Hughes reveals, it is not just a city but a global history.

In this epic book, Hughes takes us on a captivating historical journey from the Neolithic era to the present, through the many incarnations of one of the greatest cities, exploring the ways in which its influence shaped the wider world. Hughes examines what it takes to become a city and tells the story not only of emperors, viziers, caliphs, and sultans, but also of the poor and voiceless, the women and men whose hopes and dreams reinvented Istanbul.

Based on meticulous research and data collected over a decade, as well as new archaeological findings, this is a fascinating portrait of a great city.