Happy “New Rome” Day!
On this day (May 11th) in 330 AD, Emperor Constantine established "New Rome" in Byzantium–later called Constantinople and later called and now known as Istanbul.
–’Reminds one of that They Might Be Giants version of the "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" song from their Flood album.
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night
…
So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can’t go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks
-from originally "Istanbul" 1953
Words by Jimmy Kennedy
Music by Nat Simon
