The History of Constantinople

Season 2 Episode 1: The First-Called at the Bosphorus (38 AD to 52 AD).

Before it was an imperial capital, Byzantium was a small city of harbors, tolls, and passing ships — useful, quiet, and easy to overlook. This episode follows a fragile tradition rooted in whispered stories and lamplit rooms, tracing the arrival of a wandering figure, the slow formation of an unseen community, and the power of memory in a place that left almost no records of itself. Moving between silence and belief, empire and obscurity, we explore how a forgotten city begins to imagine a past — just as Rome starts, ever so slightly, to take notice.

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠.

Gavin Luke / Crucial Calculations / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.

Gavin Luke / Inner Spaces / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠.

Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen / Of Sober Mind / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Silver Maple / Av Jord Till Jord / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Anthony Earls / Ancient Dream / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Season 1 Episode 17 (Season Finale)

As Rome rises and the ancient Mediterranean is reshaped, every road seems to draw closer to one narrow strait. In this episode, the city weaves its way through Galatian invasions, bitter trade wars, and the expanding reach of Roman power — not by force, but by foresight. While empires clash and old orders collapse, Byzantium listens, adapts, and survives at the crossroads of a world in motion. This season-finale closes one era of the city’s life, just as the paths of history begin converging toward something far larger still.

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠.

Gavin Luke / Crucial Calculations / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.

Gavin Luke / Inner Spaces / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠.

Hampus Naeselius / The Thin Line / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Anthony Earls / Ancient Dream / courtesy of ⁠⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

S1E16 - Alexander the Great and the Diadochi (338 BC to 300 BC)

In this episode, Byzantion stands at the edge of a world being violently reborn. Alexander rises like a storm from the West, only to vanish at the height of his power, leaving behind an empire that splinters into hungry, circling heirs. As armies sweep across Asia Minor and fleets tighten around the straits, the little city on the Bosporus learns to navigate a landscape shaped by ambition, betrayal, and the fading glow of heroic myth. It is an age of giants and wolves — and Byzantion, caught in their shadows, must once again find a way to endure.

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of ⁠⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.

Gavin Luke / Crucial Calculations / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠.

Gavin Luke / Inner Spaces / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.

Hampus Naeselius / The Thin Line / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠⁠.

S1E15 - The Rise of Macedon (404 BC to 338 BC)

This episode follows Byzantion through an age when the Greek world was cracking under its own rivalries and a new power was rising in the north. As alliances fray, empires falter, and a relentless Macedonian king reshapes the balance of the Aegean, Byzantion finds itself once again at the hinge of history — resisting, surviving, and watching the old order collapse around it. From the shadows of failed leagues to the thunder of armies gathering beyond the Thracian hills, the city stands on the Bosphorus as the last light of the classical world flickers — and a far greater storm gathers on the horizon.

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠.

Gavin Luke / Crucial Calculations / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

Hampus Naeselius / The Thin Line / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.

S1E14 - The Aegean Tug-of-War (478 BC to 404 BC)

In this episode, Byzantion stands on the knife-edge, a glittering prize caught in the long, grinding duel between Athens and Sparta. From 478 to 404 BC, fleets thunder up the Bosphorus, rebellions flare in the streets, and the city’s gates swing open to new masters with unnerving regularity. Athenians fortify the harbors; Spartans march through the breaches; and all the while, the people of Byzantion endure the tightening vise of two superpowers fighting for the soul of the Aegean. By the war’s bitter end, the Spartan banner rises again above the walls—but as the smoke of victory drifts over the Golden Horn, a new and unsettling question hangs in the air: how long before the next great power comes knocking at Byzantion’s gates?

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of ⁠www.epidemicsound.com⁠.

Hampus Naeselius / The Thin Line / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com⁠⁠.