Million Stone in Istanbul
Million Stone in Istanbul is a marble column halfway in the pit on the tramway near the entrance door of the Basilica Cistern, northwest of Sultanahmet Square. This marble milk marked “0 point”, the center of the world, for a period of history. This stone, called the Milliarium Aureum, the Golden Milestone, and known as the “Million”, was the starting point for the whole world.
A starting point would be marked in the center of the capital in the Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. All roads spread across the country were indicated by these distance stones and their distance from the center. The distance of the other cities of the country to the capital was calculated in this way.
The Million Monument was considered the beginning of the Roman roads. It was also considered as the point where the 0th meridian passes, based on time measurements. Until the meridian passing through Greenwich Observatory in England in 1884 was accepted as the starting meridian, Istanbul Million Stone was accepted as the starting point by the whole world. Starting from Istanbul Million Stone, it is known that time, distance and direction calculations are made according to this point.
Distances of Istanbul Million Stone to some world cities:
Ankara – …………453 km
Izmir – …………….484 km
Sofia – …………….468 km
Antalya – ………..708 km
Athens – …………764 km
Kayseri – …………766 km
Belgrade – ………812 km
Adana – …………..926 km
Trabzon – ……..1062 km
Sarajevo – ……..1084 km
Budapest – ……1295 km
Diyarbakir – …..1328 km
Rome – …………..1377 km
Damascus -……1488 km
Vienna – …………1498 km
Van – ………………1532 km
Berlin – …………..1740 km
Baku – …………….1756 km
Moscow – ………1757 km
Nicosia – ………..1846 km
Tehran – …………2040 km
Baghdad – ……..2065 km
Paris -………………2258 km
Mecca – …………..2407 km
London – …………2502 km
Cairo – ……………..4348 km
Tashkent -………..4588 km
Islamabad -……..4895 km Delhi – ……………..5710 km
Beijing – …………..7063 km
Hong Kong -……8012 km
New York – ………8088 km
Toronto – ………….8194 km
Washington – …..8415 km
Tokyo – ……………..8954 km
Havana – …………..9984 km
Buenos Aires – .12258 km
Sydney – …………14951 km
