On the map of human existence, Istanbul throughout the age of empire represented the administrative power center. Rome, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire each took its place in history as a ring of civilization that formed around this center. To view history from this perspective means to read the story of humanity in its pages and, in a sense, to rediscover each time this dazzling star that shone in the skies of Anatolia, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. As mankind discovered Istanbul, it also