Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis (Author: Adamnan of Iona)

Chapter/toc 2

CONCERNING THE FOUNDATION OF THAT CITY

Concerning its foundation the following tradition is related by the
25] citizens as proclaimed by their ancestors. The emperor Constantine (they say) collected a countless horde of men and unlimited money from every quarter, practically impoverishing all nations, and began to build a city under his own name on the Asiatic side, that is in Cilicia, beyond the sea which is the boundary in that area between Asia and Europe.
30] Now one night, when throughout the whole camp the huge armies of workers were asleep in their tents, all kinds of tools which the artisans of

p.109

the various trades were wont to use were suddenly removed in some unknown way. Early in the morning several worried and harried workers complained to the emperor Constantine himself about the sudden and unexplained disappearance, and the king then asked them saying: ‘Have
5] you heard whether anything else was taken from the camp?’ ‘Nothing’, they say, ‘except all the working tools.’ Thereupon the king gave orders saying: ‘Go quickly, traverse and search all the places bordering on the sea on the other side and on this. And if you find the tools in any quarter, guard them there meantime and do not bring them back here, but have
10] some of your number come back to me so that I may know exactly about the discovery.’ When they heard this the workmen obeyed the king's behest, and going forth as they were bidden, they searched the area bordering on the sea on both sides, and, lo, on the European side, beyond the sea, they found the heap of tools gathered into one place between
15] two seas. Upon the discovery some were sent back to the king and they told him the tools had been found in that place. On learning this the king immediately ordered the trumpeters to sound their instruments throughout the whole circuit of the camp, and he ordered the army to move saying: ‘Let us go forth from here to build a city in the place
20] divinely indicated to us.’ And simultaneously setting ships in readiness, he made the crossing with the whole army to the place where the tools had been found, realizing that by transporting the tools God was indicating the place prepared for him. Straightaway he founded a city there which is called Constantinople, a name formed by combining his own
25] name with the word for city in Greek, in such wise that the name of the founder comprises the first part of the composition. Let this suffice as a description of the site and foundation of that royal city.