1. Location – Name

The most popular name of the settlement during Antiquity was “Hestiai”, deriving either from a local temple dedicated to Hestia (Greek Goddess of Hearth and Home) or from the lime kilns operating in the area. During the Byzantine period, the district was known as Chora ton Asomaton (Land of the Bodiless) or Michaelion, because of a local church dedicated to Archangel Michael. The name “Anaplous” is also attributed to the area. After the Fall of Constantinople around the middle of the 15^th century, people started referring to the district as Arnavutköy, meaning “Albanian village”, because of the translocation of Albanians there during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, after his victory over the army of Skanderbeg. From the mid-19^th century, the name “Mega Revma” (Great Stream) began to prevail, a name originating from the stream, also known as Devilstream, which descends from the Black Sea and changes direction at this particular area of Bosporus.¹

Scarlatus Byzantius describes the Mega Revma district as follows: “If nature designated certain select places for residence, few of them in the world may contest precedence of the Mega Revma Cape. Because, aside of its other advantages, which this cape shares with the other areas of Bosporus, its view is unparalleled; by the shore one can see before one’s eyes all the small boats sailing Bosporus or being tugged; one can also enjoy the view from the opposite Asian shore, which is some 5 minutes away, all the beauty of the green hills of Kandylli and Vanli, and, during those calm and enchanting nights of May we hear nightingales singing from both shores, alternating in producing melodies, like musicians contesting on a theatre stage.”²

2. Population of Arnavutköy before the 19th century

According to Evliya Çelebi, there were 1,000 households belonging to Greeks and Jews in Mega Revma during the 17^th century. Muslim presence was scarce in the area, hence the absence of mosques. According to the same writer, the majority of Greeks inhabiting the area were “Lazoi”, meaning Pontic Greecs,³ which is also mentioned by Scarlatus Byzantius, who refers to a Lazoi settlement.⁴ Most of the Jews deserted the area after a great fire in 1887 and moved to Neochori (Yeniköy). Some time after that, Muslims started settling in Arnavutköy as well.⁵ From the 18^th century onwards, Armenians also reside in the area, most of them being “gemenetzides”, i.e. makers of a certain type of shoe with one sole.⁶

As mentioned before, the Conqueror translocated Albanians from Epirus (Arvanites or Arnauts) in the deserted village, as part of the forced deportations to repopulate Constantinople. Orthodox in religion, the Arnauts assimilated in the Greek community and later on blended with Greeks from the Aegean islands and Eastern Thrace. According to Gennadius, a substantial part of Greeks of Mega Revma originated from Aegean islands (such as Paros, Skiathos, Naxos, Andros, Tinos) and especially from Chios. Many hailed from Epirus, while some residents came from Thrace and the coast of the Sea of Marmara (Propontis).⁷

3. Foreign presence and financial support to the Orthodox community

Mega Revma was closely attached to the princes of Moldavia and Wallachia either directly or through the agency of kehagia kapı (representatives) they employed in the Grande Porte. The princes provided financial support to the Church and the communal schools. An important reason why Phanariots, Patriarchs and clergymen chose Mega Revma as their residential area was in order to protect themselves from cholera and the plague.⁸ So, from the mid-18^th century, new residents appear, the “vacationers”. Overpopulation, lack of hygiene and the plague epidemics made the air within the walls of Constantinople suffocating during the summer months. Consequently, Foreign ambassadors, Phanariots (such as the Ypsilantis, Mousouros, Mavrokordatos, Karatheodoris, Soutsos and Mavrogenis families), Turkish pashas, Armenian and Jewish merchants built country houses on the Bosporus shores, where they brought their luxurious way of living and refined tastes.

Attachment to Moldavia and Wallachia also attracted members of the Society of Friends (Filiki Etaireia). However, the events of 1821, the incidents in the Danubian Principalities and, following, the Greek Revolution, forced many notable Greeks to flee abroad.

4. Mega Revma from the 19th to the 20th century

4.1. Transportation – Professions

Until the middle of the 19^th century, the connection between Mega Revma and Constantinople was achieved only through boats and coaches. However, when regular maritime itineraries were introduced, Mega Revma was connected to Constantinople. Consequently, with the arrival of the steamboat and the institution of regular services, the area became incorporated to the urban plexus and evolved into a suburb. Much later, Mega Revma was linked to the centre of Constantinople through the Eminönü/Bebekstreet-car line.⁹

Locals in Mega Revma mainly occupied themselves with viniculture and fishing. From the early 19^th century, the cultivation of strawberries gradually replaced vineyards. The introduction of strawberries is attributed to the Ypsilantis famiy, which was tied to Mega Revma in many ways.¹⁰ The variety called “ottoman strawberry” was quite celebrated. The strawberry production in Mega Revma continued until the 1960s.¹¹

4.2. Population

Until the mid-19^th century, Muslims do not comprise a significant part of the village’s population. The first mosque of the area was only constructed in1832, possibly to meet the needs of the also newly-founded police department.¹²

According to Salname (Yearbook) data from 1912 5,973 Greeks, 493 Muslims, 342 Armenians, 32 Jews and 642 foreign nationals inhabited Mega Revma.¹³ Gennadius records that, while in the beginning of the 1920s the number of Greek residents exceeded 6,000, only half remained by the end of the 1940s.¹⁴ According to the patriarchal census of 1949, the Greek orthodox community of Mega Revma comprised of 567 families.¹⁵

4.3. Education – Societies

According to Gennadius of Heliopolis, the oldest record in communal archives with regard to schools dates back to 1752. In the school of “common letters” students were taught reading from scared texts and some writing. Until 1797, when the school building was constructed, no separate place for schooling existed.¹⁶

In the 1830s a monitorial school was founded in Mega Revma, which replaced the school of “common letters”.¹⁷ In the 1860s, a Greek school (later renamed urban school), a monitorial school and an all-girls school operated in Mega Revma.¹⁸

In 1902 a school building was constructed next to the church, which was exclusively used as an all-boys school until the population exchange. The communal all-girls school was housed in another building. After the population exchange, the all-boys school building was used as a mixed school for both boys and girls.¹⁹ According to Gennadius the number of students before the exchange reached 500.²⁰

According to data provided by Christophoros Chrestides, in 1955 the Mega Revma community, besides the six-grade elementary school and school soup-kitchen, also operated an educational association and a charitable society.²¹ The Greek community of Mega Revma declined, as did all the other Greek communities of Constantinople, especially after the mass flight of population post-1964. So, while during the 1963-1964 academic year 197 students were enrolled in the communal school, in 1995-1996 the number had diminished to just 8.

In 1880, the Charitable Society of Mega Revma was founded, members of which were both women and men, aiming to provide financial support to the more indigent people in the area.²²

4.4. Church and holy water sources