''A city capable of absorbing everything,'' is how the famous French historian Maurice Aymard described Constantinople / Istanbul in the 1970s. HIST 370 is designed to take students through the first two thousand years of this many-layered history, starting with a modest colony established by the Greek polis of Megara, growing through a crucial choice made by Constantine early in the AD 4th century into ''New Rome'', then rising and ultimately falling, in 1453, with the fortunes of the Byzantine empire. A historical introduction on these and other key phases will be followed by in-depth lectures many of which will be delivered on site in the course of study trips to leading Byzantine locations and monuments. A minimum of two such lecture hours per week will be complemented by intensive discussion sessions. For the possibility of taking ''History of a City I'' as a graduate course, subject to additional readings as well as research and writing requirements, see HIST 570.