Byzantium

Byzantium, city of antiquity, founded about 660 bc as a Greek colony. It stood on the European side of the Bosporus and occupied part of the site of modern İstanbul. With its excellent harbour (later called the Golden Horn), strategic location between the Black and Mediterranean seas, and abundant fishing grounds, Byzantium soon became a leading port and distribution centre, especially noted for its grain trade. The Persian forces of Darius I destroyed Byzantium in the early 5th century bc. It was rebuilt by the Spartans in 479 bc, and during the next 100 years Athens repeatedly disputed Spartan control of the city. The Athenian general Alcibiades captured it in 409 bc, but four years later the Athenians were expelled by an expedition under the Spartan general Lysander. Byzantium fell to Athens again in 390 bc. In an alliance with the Greek islands of Khios, Rhodes, and Kos, as well as Kariá, a Persian satrapy (province), the city waged a successful struggle for independence in 357 bc. In 341-340 bc Athens rallied to defend the city, then under siege by Philip II of Macedonia. During the reign (336-323 bc) of Philip's son Alexander the Great, Byzantium was forced to recognize Macedonian suzerainty; under his successors, however, it regained independence. The city was subsequently attacked by the Scythians, and in 279 bc the Celts, having overrun neighbouring Thrace, imposed tribute on the city. To secure funds, the Byzantines levied a toll on ships passing through the Bosporus, thus leading to war with Rhodes.

The Byzantines supported Rome in the war (191-188 bc) against the Syrian king Antiochus III. In return for this help and for additional aid given during the Mithridatic Wars (88-65 bc), the Romans recognized Byzantium as an allied free city. It was subsequently subjected to Roman imperial control, however, and forced to pay tribute until the reign ( ad 41-54) of Emperor Claudius I. In the civil war (194) between the Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus and the military leader Pescennius Niger, Byzantium sided with Niger. Severus captured Byzantium in 196, revoked its privileges, and razed its walls. In 324 Constantine the Great defeated his coemperor Licinius near Byzantium and in 326 began rebuilding the city as a new imperial capital. The city was inaugurated in 330 when it was renamed Constantinople after its founder. As the sole capital of the Byzantine Empire from 395 to its fall in 1453, Constantinople was one of the largest and richest cities in Christendom during the Middle Ages.