The siege began in April 1453:at sea, a Muslim squadron of more than 300 ships blocked the strait; on land, a mass of nearly 100,000 men, equipped with considerable artillery. Many irregulars undoubtedly came:a whole tradition attributes to Muhammad himself the designation of Constantinople as the most glorious object of Islam. Opposite, about 6,000 defenders. The resistance is all the more fierce because, having refused the proposed surrender, they can only wait for death or slavery, except in isolated cases of clemency from the sultan. Thousands of Turkish soldiers die in the fighting. The sultan sets May 29 for the final assault, which begins in the early hours of the morning. A serious injury puts the brave Giustiniani out of action:it is the signal for panic. Therefore, all is lost. The basileus dies in battle. The looting, granted by Mehmed to his troops, lasts three days. Thousands of people seek refuge in the Hagia Sophia, a legend saying that an angel would come and drive the Turks away as they approached it. The victors seize this crowd and lead them into slavery. Inevitable scenes of rape, ransacking and vandalism occur:works of art, invaluable libraries disappear. In the evening, the sultan enters and goes first to Hagia Sophia where he attends the prayer of the Muslims for the first time. The melancholy inspired by the realization of dreams seizes him at the sight of this devastated city; a witness hears him reciting these verses of a Persian poet:“The spider fills the office of porter in front of the vaulted rooms of Chosroes, the owl plays the music of the guards in the palace of Afrasiyab. »
We are heading to Los Millares in the province of Almería , one of the most important archaeological sites in Europe, among those that emerged in the so-called European Chalcolithic, that is, the beginning of the Metal Age. Not only to get to know him a little better, but to try to show how a new hi