CONSTANTINOPLE UNIVERSITY

Constantinople University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	425 A.D.
City	Constantinople
Founder	Emperor Theodosius II
Where	Capitolium Costantinopolis (capital of the Eastern Roman Empire)
Originary subjects	pandidacterium , phylosophy , rhetoric , Roman law

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	NOWADAYS
State	Turkey
Name	Phanar Greek Orthodox College (ex-Imperial University of Constantinople, Πανδιδακτήριον τῆς Μαγναύρας)
Seates	Palace Hall of Magnaura
Degree programs	classical phylology , law , Ortodox Christianity , phylosophy , rhetoric , pedagogy
Library	Imperial Library of Constantinople
Collegium	NO
Alumni
Famous teachers	Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople , S.Cyril , Maximus the Confessor , Michael Psellos , Athanasios of Emesa , John Argyropoulos , Theodore Prodromos , Eustathius of Thessalonica , Maximos Planudes, Nikephoros Gregoras , Manuel Chrysoloras , Theoklitos Farmakidis , Ignatios , Eugenio Vulgaris , Matthaios Kamariotis , Zigomalas senior and junior , Theofilos Koridaleus , Aleksandros Mavrokordatos , Konstantin Kumas
Famous scholars	Anthemius of Tralles , John Italos , Manuel Moschopoulos , Eustratius of Nicaea , Theoderic 'said the Great' , Simeon I Czar of Bulgaria , Béla III King of Hungary , Empresses Anna Komnene and Irene , Basilios Bessarion , John of Biclaro , George the Hagiorite , Arethas of Caesarea , Yorgi Efendi , Krisostomo I Athens , Stafan Deltas , Dimitri Cantemir , Aristotelis Kourtidis , Basilius Antoniades , Dimitar Makedosnky , Stavros Vutiras
Awards

Constantinople University is probably the oldest of Europe, if not considering the ancient Athens Academy. The Pandidakterion refounded in 1046 A.D. is generally recognized as a 'university' in that it was, like modern ones, an institution of higher learning with chairs in many fields of study, even if some scholars have argued it was not because it lacked the corporative structure of the medieval universities of Western Europe, which used the Latin term universitas magistrorum et scholarium for the communities of masters and students that came to define the institutional character of the European universities. Nonetheless, the Dictionnaire encyclopédique du Moyen Âge also identifies the Pandidakterion founded in 425 A.D. as an 'university institution'.

Byzantine society on the whole was an educated one: a primary education was widely available, sometimes even at village level and uniquely in that era for both sexes and female participation in culture was high. Scholarship was fostered not only in Constantinople civitas but also in institutions operated in such major cities of the Roman Empire as Antioch and Alexandria. The original school Pandidakterion was founded in 425 a.D. by Emperor Theodosius II in the Capitolium of Constantinople, with 31 chairs: 10 each for Greek and Latin grammar; 2 for law; 1 for philosophy; 8 chairs for rhetoric, with 5 taught in Greek and 3 in Latin. The sole purpose of the Pandidakterion was to educate civil servants for the administration of the state.

The main content of higher education for most students was rhetoric, philosophy and law with the aim of producing competent and learned personnel to staff the bureaucratic postings of roman state and church. In this sense the university was the secular equivalent of the Theological Schools and the Constantinople University maintained an active philosophical tradition of Platonism and Aristotelianism, with the former being the longest unbroken Platonic school running for close to two millennia until the XV century A.D.. Rhetoric was the most important and difficult topic studied in the Byzantine Empire education system, forming a basis for citizens to attain public office in the imperial service, or posts of authority within the Church. Along with the dominance of Byzantine intellectual life by imperial patronage came imperial scrutiny of the higher schools' curriculum and staff. In the 7th and 8th centuries, Byzantine life went through a difficult period: continued Arab pressure from South and of Slavs, Bulgars and Avars at North led to dramatic economic decline and transformation of Constantinople civitas.

But higher education continued to receive some official funding, the details of which are not well known to scholars, and it is assumed the quality of the education was probably lower than before. With improving stability in the 9th century, when Macedoni dinasty ruled and could defeat and redefines political relations with Bulgars, Slavs and Rus' all involved in the 'Byzantine Commonwealth', came measures to improve the quality of higher education. In 863 A.D. chairs of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy (which included mathematics, astronomy, and music) were founded and given a permanent location in the imperial Great Palace of Constantinople: those chairs continued to receive official state support for the next century and a half, after which the Church assumed the leading role in providing higher education. During the 12th century the Patriarchal School was the leading center of education which included men of letters such as Theodore Prodromos and Eustathius of Thessaloniki. From Constantinople University started the evangelization of Eastern Europe, where S.Cyril teached (and probably invented the cyrillic alphabet...) while Simeon I Czar of Bulgaria, Béla III King of Hungary and the empresses Anna Komnene and Irene were students.

The School of Magnaura was founded in the IX century A.D. but did not last very long and two centuries after a new schools of philosophy and law were established at the Capitol School. The period of decline began with the latin crusade of 1204 A.D., although the Constantinople University survived as a non-secular institution under Church management even if the statal support for higher education ended, while the government in exile in Nicaea gave some support to individual private teachers. After the Byzantine Empire restoration, attempts were made to restore the old system but it never fully recovered and most teaching fell to private teachers and professions, some of whose included the diplomat and monk Maximos Planudes, the historian Nikephoros Gregoras and the man of letters Manuel Chrysoloras, who taught in Florence and influenced the early Italian Humanism on Greek studies in XIV century A.D.. In XV century A.D. following the Fall of Constantinople, many more teachers from the City would follow in Chrysoloras' footsteps.

Under the Sultanat of Turks the Constantinople University was refounded as the Phanar Greek Orthodox College, but the primary university of the city became a madrasa (now Istanbul University), established by Sultan Mehmet II following the conquest of the city. Both of these institutions are still operational today: Matthaios Kamariotis, lecturer of the university, became the first director of Phanar Greek Orthodox College or Phanar Roman Orthodox Lyceum (Turkish: Özel Fener Rum Lisesi), which was established in 1454 A.D., known in Greek as the Great School of the Nation and Patriarchal Academy of Constantinople (trad. Greek: Μεγάλη του Γένους Σχολή, Megáli toú Genous Scholí), the oldest surviving and most prestigious Greek Orthodox school in Istanbul (Turkey).

Established in its current form by the Patriarch Gennadius Scholarius, the Phanar Greek Orthodox College soon became the school of the prominent Greek (Phanariotes) and other Orthodox families in the Ottoman Turks Sultanat and many ministers, as well as Wallachian and Moldavian princes appointed by the Ottoman state, such as Dimitrie Cantemir graduated from it. The teaching given were on theology, philosophy ancient and contemporary, classical philology and literature. Among teachers there were many famous writers and researchers as Zigomalas senior and junior, Theofilos Koridaleus, Aleksandros Mavrokordatos, Evgenios Vulgaris e Konstantin Kumas, known in the whole world. After 1860 A.D. it became a liceum known among the locals with nicknames such as 'The Red Castle' and 'The Red School'. Despite its function as a school, the building is often referred to as 'the 5th largest castle in Europe' because of its castle-like shape: the current school building is located near the Church of St. George in the neighborhood of Fener (Phanar in Greek), which is the seat of the Patriarchate of Istanbul and its large dome at the top of the building is used as an observatory for astronomy classes and has a large antique telescope inside.

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