According to the History of Solak-zade History of Istanbul Legends About the Foundation

Istanbul is one of the most archaic cities on the Earth. It has not only been an important trade center owing to its position at the juncture of the Asian and the European continents, but it also has symbolic meanings particularly for the Muslim and Christian worlds. Perhaps because of these symbolic meanings, it has been accepted as the most favorite city for centuries. It has always been an issue of concern how this city was founded, which has served as the capital of many empires for millenniums. Therefore, many historians in the past attempted to elucidate this issue in their writings by means of legends. The starring characters in many sources are the individuals such as the Prophet Suleiman, Byzas, and Yanko bin Madyan. Legends are also encountered in the history of Solak-zade about the foundation of Istanbul. In this study, it is attempted to make contributions to the legend variety concerning the foundation of Istanbul by adding the legends from the history of Solak-zade to the legends that are accepted as the basic doctrine. In this purpose, firstly the legends about foundation of the city in different sources are narrated, and second, the legends in the history of Solak-zade are simplified and presented as general evaluations and analyses. Lastly, the text transcript of the copy of relevant chapters of “Nevadirü？l-Vuk？” (numbered A.F. 15 in the Austria National Library) is added, which has been the basic source of the study