An Account of the 1453 CE Ottoman Siege of Constantinople Interpreted Through a First Century BCE Jewish Text: How an Ancient Collection of Second Temple Period Poems Changed the Course of Western Civilization

On 29 May 1453 CE, the besieged Christian occupants of Constantinople — the capital of the Byzantine Empire and the last surviving portion of the former Roman Empire — knew the end was near when they heard 50,000-80,000 angry Ottoman soldiers, including 5,000 to 10,000 of the elite Janissaries — the Sultan’s shook troops — preparing to breach its walls after a 53-day siege. The 7,000-man army defending the city knew that all was lost. The 21-year-old Sultan Mehmet II — given the sobriquet “the Conqueror” for capturing the city — leveled the roads so his army could reach Constantinople’s walls unopposed, and carry the largest cannon ever constructed to demolish its centuries-old fortifica­tions. Many Christians trapped inside believed the ancient prophecies of their Empire’s demise and the arrival of the Antichrist were about to be fulfilled: two earthquakes, torrential rains, an eclipse of the moon, and a dense fog that led the besieged to believe the Divine Presence was concealing its departure from the city. Many residents and defenders lost hope and feared the inevitable onslaught. However, one cleric who survived the ensuing atrocities had a different explanation for the city’s fall, and the murder and suffering of much of its population — God had willed it. A collection of Second Temple Period Jewish poems from the first century BCE, he was convinced, had predicted the Ottoman con­quest of his city.