Byzantium
（
Βυζάντιον). A celebrated city of Thrace, on the shore of
the Thracian Bosporus, called at a later period
Constantinopolis, and made the capital of the Eastern Empire of the Romans. It was
founded by a Dorian colony from Megara, or, rather, by a Megarian colony in conjunction with a
Thracian prince. For Byzas, whom the city acknowledged, and celebrated in a festival as its
founder, was, according to the legend, a son of Poseidon and Ceroëssa the daughter of
Io, and ruled over all the adjacent country. The early commerce of Megara was directed
principally to the shores of the Propontis, and this people had founded Chalcedon seventeen
years before Byzantium, and Selymbria even prior to Chalcedon (
Herod.iv.
144). When, however, their trade was extended still farther to the north, and had
reached the shores of the Euxine, the harbour of Chalcedon sank in importance, and a
commercial station was required on the opposite side of the strait. This station was
Byzantium. The appellation of “blind men” given to the Chalcedonians by
the Persian general Megabazus (
Herod.iv. 144), for having
overlooked the superior site where Byzantium was afterwards founded, does not therefore appear
to
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Map of Byzantium, or Constantinople.
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have been well merited. As long as Chalcedon was the northernmost point
reached by the commerce of Megara, its situation was preferable to any offered by the opposite
side of the Bosporus, because the current on this latter side runs down from the north more
strongly than it does on the side of Chalcedon, and the harbour of this city, therefore, is
more accessible to vessels coming from the south. On the other hand, Byzantium was far
superior to Chalcedon for the northern trade, since the current that set in strongly from the
Euxine carried vessels directly into the harbour of Byzantium, but prevented their approach to
Chalcedon in a straight course (Polyb. iv. 43). The harbour of Byzantium was peculiarly
favoured by nature, being deep, capacious, and sheltered from every storm. From its shape, and
the rich advantages thus connected with it, the harbour of Byzantium obtained the name of
Chrysoceras, or “the Golden Horn,” which was also applied to the
promontory or neck of land that contributed to form it. And yet, notwithstanding all these
advantages, Byzantium remained for a long time an inconsiderable town. The declining commerce
of Megara, and the character which Byzantium still sustained of being a half-barbarian place,
may serve to account for this.
At a subsequent period, the Milesians sent hither a strong colony, and so altered for the
better the aspect of things that they are regarded by some ancient writers as the founders of
the city itself. When, at a later day, the insurrection of the Asiatic Greeks had been crushed
by Darius, and the Persian fleet was reducing to obedience the Greek cities along the
Hellespont and the Propontis, the Byzantines, together with a body of Chalcedonians, would not
wait for the coming of the Persians, but, leaving their habitations, and fleeing to the
Euxine, built the city of Mesembria on the upper coast of Thrace (
Herod.vi. 33). The Persians destroyed the empty city, and no Byzantium for some time
thereafter existed. This will explain why Seylax, in his
Periplus, passed by
Byzantium in silence, while he mentions all the Grecian settlements in this quarter, and among
them even Mesembria itself.
Byzantium reappeared after the overthrow of Xerxes, some of the old inhabitants having
probably returned; and here Pausanias, the commander of the Grecian forces, took up his
quarters (B.C. 479). He gave the city a code of laws, and a government modelled, in some
degree, after the Spartan form, and hence he was regarded by some as the true founder of the
city. The Athenians succeeding to the hegemony, Byzantium fell under their control, and
received so many important additions from them that Ammianus Marcellinus, in a later age,
calls it an Attic colony (xxii. 8). The city, however, was a Doric one, in language, customs,
and laws, and remained so even after the Athenians had the control of it. The maintenance of
this military post became of great importance to the Greeks during their warfare with the
Persians in subsequent years, and this circumstance, together with the advantages of a
lucrative and now continually increasing commerce, gave Byzantium a high rank among Grecian
cities. After Athens and Sparta had weakened the power of each other by national rivalry, and
neither could lay claim to the empire of the sea, Byzantium became an independent city, and
turned its whole attention to commerce. Its strong situation enabled it, at a subsequent
period, to resist successfully the arms of Philip of Macedon; nor did Alexander, in his
eagerness to march into Asia, make any attempt upon the place. It preserved also a neutral
character under his successors. The great evil to which the city of Byzantium was exposed came
from the inland country, the Thracian tribes continually making incursions into the fertile
territory around the place, and carrying off more or less of the products of the fields. The
city suffered severely also from the Gauls, being compelled to pay a yearly tribute amounting
at least to eighty talents.
After the departure of the Gauls it again became a flourishing place, but its most
prosperous period was during the Roman sway. It had thrown itself into the arms of the Romans
as early as the war against the younger Philip of Macedon, and enjoyed from that people not
only complete protection, but also many valuable commercial privileges. It was allowed,
more
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Coin of Byzantium.
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over, to lay a toll on all vessels passing through the straits—a thing
which had been attempted before without success—and this toll it shared with the
Romans. But the day of misfortune at length came. In the contest for the Empire between
Severus and Niger, Byzantium declared for the latter, and stood a siege in consequence which
continued long after Niger's overthrow and death. After three years of almost incredible
exertions the place surrendered to Severus. The few remaining inhabitants whom famine had
spared were sold as slaves, the city was razed to the ground, its territory given to
Perinthus, and a small village took the place of the great commercial emporium. Repenting soon
after of what he had done, Severus rebuilt Byzantium, and adorned it with numerous and
splendid buildings, which in a later age still bore his name; but it never recovered its
former rank until the days of Constantine. Constantine had no great affection for Rome as a
city, nor had the inhabitants any great regard for him. He felt the necessity, moreover, of
having the capital of the Empire in some more central quarter, from which the movements of the
German tribes on the one hand, and those of the Persians on the other, might be observed. He
long sought for such a locality, and believed at one time that he had found it in the
neighbourhood of the Sigaean promontory, on the coast of Troas. He had even commenced building
here when the superior advantages of Byzantium as a centre of empire attracted his attention,
and he finally resolved to make this the capital of the Roman world. For a monarchy possessing
the western portion of Asia and the largest part of Europe, together with the whole coast of
the Mediterranean Sea, nature herself seemed to have destined Byzantium as a capital.
Constantine's plan was carried into rapid execution (A.D. 330). The ancient city had
possessed a circuit of forty stadia, and covered merely two hills, one
close to the water, on which the Seraglio at present stands, and another adjoining it, and
extending towards the interior to what is now the
Besestan, or great market.
The new city, called Constantinopolis, or “City of Constantine,” was three
times as large, and covered four hills, together with part of a fifth, having a circuit of
somewhat less than fourteen geo
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St. Sophia, at Constantinople.
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graphical miles. Every effort was made to embellish this new capital of the Roman
world: the most splendid edifices were erected, including an imperial palace, numerous
residences for the chief officers of the court, churches, baths, a hippodrome; and inhabitants
were procured from every quarter. Its rapid increase called, from time to time, for a
corresponding enlargement of the city, until, in the reign of Theodosius II., when the
new walls were erected (the previous ones having been thrown down by an earthquake),
Constantinople attained to the size which it at present has. Chalcondylas supposes the walls
of the city to be 111 stadia in circumference; Gyllius, about 13 Italian miles; but, according
to the best modern plans of Constantinople, it is not less than 19,700 yards. The number of
gates is twentyeight—fourteen on the side of the port, seven towards the land, and
as many on the Propontis. The city is built on a triangular promontory, and the number of
hills which it covers is seven. Besides the name of Constantinopolis (
Κωνσταντίνου πόλις), this city had also the more imposing one of New Rome
(
Νέα Ῥώμη), which, however, gradually fell into disuse.
According to some, the peasants in the neighbourhood, while they repair to Constantinople, say
in corrupt Greek that they are going
es tam bolin (i.e.
ἐς τὰν πόλιν), “to the city,” whence has arisen
the Turkish name of the place, Stamboul. Constantinople was taken by the Turks under Mohammed
II. on the 29th of May, A.D. 1453. See
Byzantinum Imperium;
Constantinus.
