For the city in the late Roman and the Eastern Roman or Byzantine periods (330–1453), see Constantinople. For the Ottoman and modern city (after 1453), see Istanbul. For the empire, see Byzantine Empire.

Byzantium (bih-ZAN-shee-uhm or bih-ZAN-tee-uhm; Greek: Βυζάντιον, Byzántion; Latin: BYZANTIVM) was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 657 BC and named after their king Byzas (Greek: Βύζας, Býzas, genitive Βύζαντος, Býzantos). The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion. The city was later renamed Nova Roma by Constantine the Great, but popularly called Constantinople and briefly became the imperial residence of the classical Roman Empire. Then subsequently the city was, for more than a thousand years, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks, becoming the capital of their empire, in 1453. The name of the city was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930 following the establishment of modern Turkey.

History[link]

O: Head of Alexander the Great with Amun's horns.	R: Seated Athena holding Nike with wreath, BAΣIΛEΩΣ / ΛYΣIMAXOY; monogram (ΠΩΛYB) to left; BY below throne; trident in exergue
Silver tetradrachm struck in Byzantion 190 - ±100 BC. There were struck coins in the name of Lysimachus even nearly 200 years after his death.

The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. The traditional legend has it that Byzas from Megara (a town near Athens), founded Byzantium in 657 BC, when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. Byzas had consulted the Oracle at Delphi to ask where to make his new city. The Oracle told him to find it "opposite the blind." At the time, he did not know what this meant. But when he came upon the Bosporus he understood: on the opposite eastern shore was a Greek city, Chalcedon, whose founders were said to have overlooked the superior location only 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away. Byzas founded his city here on the European coast and named it Byzantion after himself. It was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Byzantion later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosporus on the Asiatic side.

After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD.^[1] Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound to Perinthos during the period of Septimius Severus. The location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in 330 AD, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself. (See Nova Roma.) After his death the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις or Konstantinoupolis) ('city of Constantine'). It remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which is called the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus point between two continents: Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic magnet. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city Istanbul (though not officially renamed until 1930) and it has remained Turkey's largest and most populous city, although Ankara is now the capital.

Emblem[link]

Though associated with the Sassanid Persians and with Mithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city into his empire),^[2] by the late Hellenistic or early Roman period, the star and crescent motif had been associated to some degree with Byzantium. For example, some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be a six-rayed star on the reverse. According to accounts which vary in some of the details, in 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip of Macedon. On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as a meteor, sometimes as the moon, and some accounts also mention the barking of dogs. However, the original accounts mention only a light in the sky, without specifying the moon.^[3] To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of Hecate lampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in the works of Hesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the tenth century lexicographer Suidas. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium, and Eustathius^{[disambiguation needed ]}.

Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were the crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance.^[4]

It is unclear how the symbol of a particular goddess (one of many)^[5] would have been transferred to the city itself. If the Byzantines adopted the crescent and star as a symbol of their city after the events of the mid 4th century BC, one is forced to wonder why they waited several hundred years before putting the symbol on only some of their coins.

Later, under the Romans, cities in the empire often continued to issue their own coinage. "Of the many themes that were used on local coinage, celestial and astral symbols often appeared, mostly stars or crescent moons."^[6] The wide variety of these issues, and the varying explanations for the significance of the star and crescent on Roman coinage precludes their discussion here. It is, however, apparent that by the time of the Romans, coins featuring a star or crescent in some combination were not at all rare.

Notable people[link]

• Homerus, tragedian, lived in the early 3rd century BC
• Philo, engineer, lived ca. 280 BC–ca. 220 BC
• Epigenes of Byzantium, astrologer, lived in the 3rd–2nd century BC
• Justinian, 483-565 AD, and Theodora, 500-548 AD, rulers of Byzantium at its peak of influence.

See also[link]

• Constantinople details the history of the city before the Turkish conquest of 1453.
• Istanbul details the history of the city from 1453 on, and describes the modern city.
• Sarayburnu is the geographic location of ancient Byzantium.

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies : www.byzantium.ac.uk
• Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire, hyperlinked with notes and more resources, at Elpenor.
• Description of Byzantine monetary system - fifth century BC : History of money FAQs

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Neil Jordan
Jordan at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Neil Patrick Jordan (1950-02-25) 25 February 1950 (age 62) Sligo, Ireland
Occupation	Filmmaker/Novelist
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Brenda Rawn (2004–present)
Website
http://www.neiljordan.com/

Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award (Best Original Screenplay) for The Crying Game. He also won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival for The Butcher Boy.^[1]

Early life[link]

Jordan was born in County Sligo, the son of Angela (née O'Brien), a painter, and Michael Jordan, a professor.^[2] He was educated at St. Paul's College, Raheny. Of his religious background, Jordan said in a 1999 Salon interview: "I was brought up a Catholic and was quite religious at one stage in my life, when I was young. But it left me with no scars whatever; it just sort of vanished." He said about his current beliefs that "God is the greatest imaginary being of all time. Along with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, the invention of God is probably the greatest creation of human thought."^[3] Later, Jordan attended University College Dublin, where he studied Irish history and English literature.

Career[link]

When John Boorman was filming Excalibur in Ireland, he recruited Jordan as a script consultant, which led to his doing second unit work. His first feature Angel, a tale of a musician caught up in the Troubles, starred Stephen Rea who has subsequently appeared in almost all of Jordan's films to date.

As a writer/director, Jordan has a highly idiosyncratic body of work, ranging from mainstream hits like Interview with the Vampire to commercial failures like We're No Angels to a variety of more personal, low-budget arthouse pictures.

Neil Jordan at the German premiere of The Brave One, 2007.

Themes[link]

Unconventional sexual relationships are a recurring theme in Jordan's work, and he often finds a sympathetic side to characters audiences would traditionally consider deviant or downright horrifying. His film The Miracle, for instance, followed two characters who struggled to resist a strong, incestuous attraction, while The Crying Game made complicated, likable characters out of an IRA terrorist and a transgender woman. Interview with the Vampire, like the Anne Rice book it was based on, focused on the intense, intimate interpersonal relationship of two undead men who murder humans nightly (although the pair never have sex, they are clearly lovers of a sort), accompanied by an equally lusty vampire woman who is eternally trapped in the body of a little girl. While Lestat (Tom Cruise) is depicted in an attractive but villainous manner, his partner Louis (Brad Pitt) and the child vampire Claudia (Kirsten Dunst) are meant to capture the audience's sympathy despite their predatory nature.

In addition to the unusual sexuality of Jordan's films, he frequently returns to the Troubles of Northern Ireland. The Crying Game and Breakfast on Pluto both concern a transgender character (played by Jaye Davidson and Cillian Murphy, respectively), both concern the Troubles, and both feature frequent Jordan leading man Stephen Rea. The two films, however, are very different, with Crying Game a realistic thriller/romance and Breakfast on Pluto a much more episodic, stylized, darkly comic biography. Jordan also frequently tells stories about children or young people, such The Miracle and The Butcher Boy. While his pictures are most often grounded in reality, he occasionally directs more fantastic or dreamlike films, such as The Company of Wolves, High Spirits, Interview with the Vampire and In Dreams.

Hollywood[link]

Jordan with Alicja Bachleda-Curus and Colin Farrell at the Ondine premiere, 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

The critical success of Jordan's early pictures led him to Hollywood, where he directed High Spirits and We're No Angels; both were critical and financial disasters. He later returned home to make the more personal The Crying Game, which was nominated for six Academy Awards. Jordan won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film. Its unexpected success led him back to American studio filmmaking, where he directed Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles.

Neil Gaiman announced during his The Today Show appearance on 27 January 2009, that Neil Jordan would be directing the film of his Newbery Medal-winning book The Graveyard Book.

Neil Jordan wrote and directed Ondine (2009), starring Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda-Curuś

Neil Jordan's next feature is entitled Broken Dream and will feature Ben Kingsley and John Hurt ^[4] He will also direct an adaptation of the vampire play "Byzantium", starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Jordan lives in a house on Sorrento Terrace in Dalkey, which is a part of the larger town of Dún Laoghaire in Ireland.^[6]

Filmography[link]

• Angel (1982) - Also Writer
• The Company of Wolves (1984) - Also Writer
• Mona Lisa (1986) - Also Writer
• High Spirits (1988) - Also Writer
• We're No Angels (1989)
• The Miracle (1990) - Also Writer
• The Crying Game (1992) - Also Writer
• Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
• Michael Collins (1996) - Also Writer
• The Butcher Boy (1997) - Also Writer/Executive Producer
• The End of the Affair (1999) - Also Writer/Producer
• In Dreams (1999) - Also Writer
• The Good Thief (2002) - Also Writer/Executive Producer
• Breakfast on Pluto (2005) - Also Writer/Producer
• The Brave One (2007)
• Ondine (2009) - Also Writer/Producer
• The Borgias (TV Series) (2011) - TV Series: Also Writer/Executive Producer
• Byzantium (2012)

Novels[link]

• Night in Tunisia (1976) – Short stories
• The Past (1980)
• The Dream of a Beast (1983)
• Sunrise with Sea Monster (1994)
• Shade (2005)
• Mistaken (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neil Jordan

• Neil Jordan's web site
• Neil Jordan at the Internet Movie Database
• Neil Jordan at AllRovi

v t e Recipients of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature Heno Magee (1976) Desmond Hogan (1977) Peter Sheridan (1978) Kate Cruise O'Brien (1979) Bernard Farrell (1980) Neil Jordan (1981) Medbh McGuckian / Special Prize: Seán Ó Tuama & Thomas Kinsella (1982) Dorothy Nelson (1983) Ronan Sheehan (1984) Frank McGuinness (1985) Paul Mercier (1986) Deirdre Madden (1987) Glenn Patterson (1988) Robert McLiam Wilson (1989) Mary Dorcey (1990) Anne Enright (1991) Hugo Hamilton (1992) Gerard Fanning (1993) Colum McCann (1994) Philip MacCann (1995) Mike McCormack (1996) Anne Haverty (1997) David Wheatley (1998) Mark O'Rowe (1999) Claire Keegan (2000) Keith Ridgway (2001) Caitríona O'Reilly (2002) Eugene O'Brien (2003) Claire Kilroy (2004) Nick Laird (2005) Philip Ó Ceallaigh (2006) Kevin Barry (2007) Leontia Flynn (2008) Kevin Power (2009) Leanne O'Sullivan (2010) Dan Rooney Oscar Wilde Centre

Saoirse Ronan
Ronan at 2008 City of Ember Belfast Premiere
Born	Saoirse Una Ronan[1] (1994-04-12) 12 April 1994 (age 18)[2] New York City, New York,[3] U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2003–present

Saoirse Una Ronan (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠiːɾˠʃə]; roughly SEER-shə; born 12 April 1994^[1]) is an Irish film actress. She began her career as a child and came to international prominence in 2007 after co-starring in the film Atonement, which gained her nominations for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.^[4][5][6][7]

Ronan has since appeared in several Hollywood films, including the children's Christmas story The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007), with Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson, the romantic comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007), the film adaptation of the science fantasy Young Adult novel City of Ember (2008), Death Defying Acts (2008), the war drama film The Way Back (2010) and Hanna (2011). She was awarded a Saturn Award and a second BAFTA Award nomination for her portrayal in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (2009).

Personal life[link]

Born in New York City, Ronan is the only child of Irish parents Paul and Monica Ronan – the former an actor^[8] – who were living in New York at the time.^[3] Her family is Catholic.^[9] She was raised in County Carlow, Ireland, having moved there when she was three years old.^[10] She is currently home schooled and lives in County Carlow.^[11][12] As a baby, she sometimes accompanied her father on the set when he was working on such films as The Devil's Own^[13] and Veronica Guerin (film).

Ronan supports the Irish Blue Cross, as the charity had reunited her with her runaway dog Sassie.^[14] On her name, she said, "'Seer-sha' is how Irish people pronounce my first name, but I would pronounce it 'Ser-sha,' like 'inertia'. It's Irish for 'freedom.' I recently found out that my middle name, Una, means 'unity' in Ireland. And I think my last name means 'seal.' So I’m a free, unified seal."^[1]

Career[link]

2003–2008[link]

She made her screen debut on Irish public service broadcaster RTÉ, in the 2003 primetime medical drama The Clinic and the 2004–2005 mini-serial Proof.^[15] During the same time, Ronan auditioned to play Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, a role she eventually lost out to Evanna Lynch.^[16]

Ronan in 2007.

At the age of twelve, Ronan was asked to attend a casting call for Joe Wright's 2007 film adaptation of Ian McEwan's 2001 novel Atonement.^[17] She auditioned for and won the part of Briony Tallis, an aspiring 13-year-old novelist, who irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. Starring alongside Keira Knightley and James McAvoy, Wright grew more and more impressed with Ronan on-set, who declared her role a "fantastic part [to play]."^[17] Budgeted at US$30 million, the film became a financial and critical success, resulting in a worldwide box office total of US$130 million and various awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film, Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama, and an 2008 Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.^[18] Ronan herself received rave reviews for her performance, with Ty Burr of the Boston Globe calling her "remarkable [and] eccentric,"^[19] and was subsequently nominated for a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, ranking her among the youngest persons ever to be nominated for the latter.^[20]

Ronan's next film was Amy Heckerling's often-delayed romantic comedy film I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007). Initially shot in mid-to fall 2005 in Los Angeles and London, the film went straight-to-DVD in the United States and other major market territories after it had struggled to attract financing and several deals disintegrated during its post-production in spite of its budget of US$25 million.^[21] In the film, Ronan portrayed the character of Izzie Grossman, the pubescent daughter of a television show screenwriter, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who falls for a younger man (Paul Rudd), while Izzie falls in love for the first time herself. Upon its release, the independent project garnered generally lukewarm reviews, with Joe Leydon of Variety summing it as "a desperately unfunny mix of tepid showbiz satire and formulaic romantic comedy."^[22]

In 2008, Ronan starred in both Death Defying Acts and City of Ember. In Gillian Armstrong's supernatural romantic thriller Death Defying Acts, she played Benji McGarvie, the daughter of an impoverished and uneducated psychic, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who begins a passionate affair with legendary magician Harry Houdini at the height of his career. Ronan was awarded an Irish Film & Television Award for her performance.^[20] Released to a mixed reception,^[23] the film was not a success at the box office, barely grossing US$8.3 million worldwide.^[24] In Gil Kenan's City of Ember Ronan starred as Lina Mayfleet, a teenager who must save the people of the fictional underground city named Ember. The fantasy film, based on the 2003 novel by Jeanne DuPrau, received mixed reviews from critics,^[25] and grossed US$17 million worldwide, well below its US$55 million budget.^[26]

2009–present[link]

Ronan at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2009, Ronan appeared alongside Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones (2009), an adaptation of the same-titled book by Alice Sebold. In the film, Ronan plays 14-year-old Susie Salmon, who, after being murdered, watches from the "in-between" as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death. Ronan and her family were originally hesitant for Ronan to accept her role in the film because of its subject matter, but agreed after meeting with Jackson, who described her as "just amazing on-screen."^[27] The Lovely Bones was released to mainly mixed reviews from critics,^[28] who criticised the film's story and its message.^[29] Praised for the acting however, particularly of Ronan, whose performance Richard Corliss of Time commented as "magic,"^[29] the film garnered various accolades, winning Ronan a Critics' Choice Award, a Saturn Award and a second BAFTA Award nomination for her portrayal the following year.^[20]

In 2010's The Way Back, directed by Peter Weir, Ronan played the character of Irena, a Polish orphan, who joins a group of prisoners who escape from the gulag in Siberia in 1940 and attempt to make a 4,000 mile trek to India. Shot on location in Bulgaria, India and Morocco alongside Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell and Ed Harris,^[30] the war drama film received generally positive reviews,^[31] with The Telegraph calling it "a journey that feels awful and heroic and unfathomable – and one you’ll want to watch again."^[32] Her performance in the film garnered Ronan her fourth Irish Film & Television Award.^[20]

In 2011, Ronan starred in the title role of the action thriller film Hanna, which marked her reunion with Atonement director Joe Wright.^[13]

In November 2011, Ronan took part in a promotion for the Irish Film Institute Archive Preservation Fund, in which she was digitally edited into popular Irish films of the past, such as Once and My Left Foot, as well as documentary footage on the arrival of John F. Kennedy at Dublin Airport and the GAA All-Ireland finals.^[33]

As announced, Ronan will play a teen assassin in Geoffrey Fletcher's directing debut Violet & Daisy.^[34] In addition, she will star as Melanie Stryder in Andrew Niccol's film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel The Host,^[35][36] and appear in director Neil Jordan's adaptation of the play Byzantium.^[37] As reported, Ronan is in talks to play Daisy in the film adaptation of the 2004 novel How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.^[38]

Filmography[link]

Further reading[link]

• Cluain Dolcain: A Brief Note, Charles Doherty, in Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of Francis John Byrne, pp. 182–188, edited by Alfred P. Smyth, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2000. ISBN 978-1-85182-489-2

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saoirse Ronan

• Saoirse Ronan at the Internet Movie Database