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When the angels the City did found
with water from the Holy Mount
and clay from Chios and tiles from Adrianoúpolis.
And when the angels had built the City
they stopped to rest and behold and admire it.
‘But what shall we call this place,
what name shall we give it ?’
‘The City of Constantinople, Constantine’s City’.

Translated by Michael Eleftheriou

Photo: Building a city. Miniature from the Chronicle of Ioannis Skylitzis, 2nd half of the 13th c., National Library, Madrid / Miletus Publications, Athens.

Όντεν εθεμελιώνανε

Όντεν τη θεμελιώνανε -
ε, οι γιαγγέλοι την Πόλη
’πού τ’ Άγιον όρος το νερό,

’πού τ’ Άγιον όρος το νερό, κι από τη Χιο το χώμα
κι από την Αντριανούπολη παίρνουν τα κεραμίδια.
Κι απίς την αποχτίσασι οι γιαγγέλοι την Πόλη,
στέκουν και σοντηρούν τηνε κι αποθαμάζουνέ τη.
Και πώς θα τηνε βγάλουμε, και πώς θα τηνε λέμε;
Πόλη Κωνσταντινούπολη, του Κωνσταντίνου Πόλη.

Φωτ. Χτίσιμο πόλης. Μικρογραφία απο το Χρονικό του Ιωάννη Σκυλίτζη, β΄μισό 13ου αιώνα. Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη Μαδρίτης/Εκδόσεις «Μίλητος», Αθήνα.

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Recording information

Studio recording, 2004.

Domna Samiou taped the song in Kabanós, Chania, sung by a group of men, in 1977.

Watch a different version of the song by Domna Samiou

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