Eyüp is a district of Istanbul that stretches from just west of the old city walls from the Golden Horn up to the Black Sea.
Eyüp was the site of a 5th century Byzantine monastery dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian. By the early 10th century, a settlement sprung up around the monastery. It was known as Kosmidion (Κοσμίδιον).
Kosmidion witnessed battles between Byzantine forces and Latin crusaders in July 1203; Catalan mercenaries capturing the monastery and fortifying it to use against the Geneose colony of Galata in 1303; and a fight between Musa Çelebi and Süleyman Çelebi during the Ottoman Interregnum in 1410.
After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the area was renamed Eyüp after Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad who died during the First Arab Siege of Constantinople from 674 to 678. Christians were forbidden from living there in 1581. The area contains an important Muslim shrine and mosque drawing pilgrims from all over the world. It’s also the burial place of many important Ottoman figures.
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