Constantinople - 3D Timelapse - 680 BC to AD 1453 [8:34]

YouTube ^ | October 15, 2026 | How Cities Grew

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] This is an illustrative historical reconstruction: architectural details, scales and historical urban extents are approximate, and population figures are estimates. This one took a very long time to make. The scene was far too big for my own computer, so I spent several hundred dollars renting GPUs to render it. Thank you so much for watching! If you enjoyed it, a like and a subscribe would mean a lot to me. [/snip] 

Constantinople - 3D Timelapse - 680 BC to AD 1453 | 8:34 
How Cities Grew | 2.21K subscribers | 521,011 views | October 15, 2026

[SunkenCiv]

Chapters 
0:00 Thracian coast and Greek Byzantion (680 BC) 
0:27 Byzantium under Rome 
0:47 Constantine's New Rome (324-330) 
1:32 Theodosian Walls and the earthquake of 447 
2:13 Age of Justinian: Hagia Sophia (532-537) 
2:58 Middle Byzantine city 
3:37 Fourth Crusade: the fires of 1203-1204 
4:01 Latin occupation (1204-1261) 
4:19 Palaiologan revival (1261) 
5:45 The siege of 1453 
7:27 Fall of Constantinople and the Ottoman era

[SunkenCiv]

This Constantinople is toylike compared with the one you posted:

• Evolution of Rome | Fixed-Camera Timelapse: The Colosseum Valley [10/24/2026]

[dayglored]

Fascinating, thanks!!

[george76]

Constantinople was occupied by the Western powers from 1918 to 1923. - a shame they did not return it to Greece..

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3849574/posts

[marktwain]

Yes, a shame indeed.

[Cincinnatus.45-70]

Wonderful! Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure!

[Socon-Econ]

Maybe we can work out a trade with the Muslims — they get Gaza back in return for Constantinople, both of which were lost in wars started by Muslims.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

I’ve watched this a couple times and its interesting. They have them for other cities too like Alexandria and Rome. My interest in history as a kid started with a fascination with Constantinople. Moreso than any other city in the world, it was the center of trade, conflict, culture, a civilizational crossroad. So unique. Its a shame that these videos and accounts end with the fall because the interesting history spans through the Ottoman era too. At least until the Ottomans because the “Sick Man of Europe.” The Ottoman court in Constantinople had just as much intrigue as any Roman court, which is understandable since the Ottomans viewed themselves as the inheritors of the Roman tradition more so than as jihadis expanding Islam. Constantinople underwent a renaissance under the Ottomans.

[SunkenCiv]

One thing that was perhaps a holdover from the Turks’ Central Asian origin was, the ends of dynasties were often bloodbaths, the entire former ruling family was annihilated. Or so I’ve heard.

The “Engineering an Empire” episode about the Byzantines is worth watching.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878375/

bad ripped version on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77aw_Sw3Oa0

There’s also a non-work-safe (language) text page about Basil the Bulgar Slayer:

https://www.badassoftheweek.com/basil