What is the reality of the Ottoman harems and how did they function in the Ottoman Empire? Dr Susan Gilbert looks at the western perception of the role of the harem as the heart of the Ottoman Empire and a political institution. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Lee Rogerson on the Royal Ottoman Harem in the 17th century. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Grace McKenzie-McHarg on the imperial harem in the 16th century. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

David Spurr on Janissaries in the 15th Century. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Andrew McIlroy on Russian travellers to Constantinople. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Simon Armstrong on the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

It is the 29 May 1453. Constantinople has been under siege for nearly 2 months. Defenders and besiegers alike are exhausted. Inside the city walls Emperor Constantine XI has 10,000 defenders valiantly protecting their city. Dr Adrian Jones on the fall of Constantinople. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

David Spurr on Ottoman historian Mustafa Naima. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Lucy Morgan Dewhurst-Philips on Süleyman the Magnificent. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Madelyn Baldwin on the Süleymaniye Cami mosque in Istanbul. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Now that you're familiar with Istanbul, Adrian Jones places it in a wider perspective - in terms of Byzantine past, Roman past, a Roman city and an ancient Greek city. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Adrian Jones gives the history of the Divan Yolu, Divan the "Road to the Imperial Council," was once the imperial road from Constantinople to Rome. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

Adrian Jones explains the circle of equity - the notion of a model of society as a circle in which authority depends on military, which depends on society, and continues in a circle. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

The city of Constantinople was a conflicted city, on one side Asia, the other side Europe. Adrian Jones examines how Constantinople saw itself, and how it was depicted in maps. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.

The Ottoman Empire is one of the great multi-national empires in European and medieval history. It begins in the beginning of the 14th century with the capture of Constantinople, the last capital of the great Roman Empire. Copyright 2014 Adrian Jones / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.