The vast majority of travel guides presents the settlement from the confl uence of Bosphorus with
the Marmara Sea, yesterday Constantinople, today Istanbul, as the place where Asia and Europe are
kissing surrounded by the overwhelming sunsets of the Golden Horn. The author presents Büyükada,
Islands of Princes, an archipelago consisting of nine islands, places full of history, located at
distances of 10 to 23 km towards south-east of the Bosphorus. Islands are part of the Asian Istanbul.
Today, only four of the nine islands of the archipelago (Burgaz, Kınalı, Heiybeli, Büyükada)
are inhabited throughout the year and have daily connections to Istanbul by ferry, while the other
fi ve islands, of much smaller size, are almost deserted. History of Byzantium made this archipelago
of nine islands one of the most tragic places of the ancient world. Léon Gustave Schlumberger,
French historian and archaeologist, foreign honorary member (1906) of the Romanian Academy,
said about the archipelago that no corner of the world is richer in lamentable disasters and heartbreaking
lessons about vanity and greatness of men.
Keywords: Constantinople, Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, Istanbul, Büyükada, Islands of Princes,
history of Byzantium

RĂZVAN IONESCU