History

What is now called Asian Istanbul was probably inhabited by people as early as 3000 BC. Eventually, in the 7th century, Greek colonists led by King  Byzas established the colony of Byzantium, the Greek name for a city on the Bosphorus . Byzas chose the spot after consulting an oracle of Delphi who told him to settle across from the "land of the blind ones." Indeed, Byzas concluded, earlier settlers must have been deprived of their sight to have overlooked this superb location at the mouth of the Bosphorus strait. This proved an auspicious decision by Byzas, as history has shown Istanbul's location important far beyond what these early Greek settlers might possibly have conceived. Byzas gave his name to the city: Byzantium.

In the early 100's BC, it became part of the Roman Empire and in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium capital of the entire Roman Empire. From that point on, the city was known as Constantinople.

Constantine the Great

In 324 A.D., after a long and bloody battle, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great defeated his final rival Licinius in the hills near Byzantium. Being a noble-hearted conqueror, Constantine spared the treacherous Licinius's life. This victory had repercussions that were to affect the city's development enormously. First, Constantine adopted Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Second, he chose Byzantium as his new Christian capital. Although, there is scholarly debate on how " Christian " Constantine's rule actually was, as some scholars believe that he continued to pay heed to mythological divinities and pagan ceremonies. This was a major shift, as the former capital of the Roman Empire had been Rome, the center of Pagan worship.

The city was officially dedicated as "New Rome" in 330 AD; it soon was unofficially christened Constantinople. The emperor shocked his courtiers by marking much greater boundaries than they expected around what had been the rather provincial Byzantine , so that soon it had quadrupled in size. Asked why he did so, he responded that he was following an invisible, presumably angelic guide.

With his typical energy, Constantine not only enlarged but also strengthened and beautified the city. For the next ten years, he looked toward the moral, political, and economic welfare of the citizens of his Empire and designated his sons as future rulers. When he was about to march against the Persian army in May of 337, he suddenly became ill and died, shortly after being baptized.

Constantine certainly earned the "Great" after his name. The history of the world was set on a new course when he made Christianity - which until that time had suffered bloody persecution - the state religion. This was hardly an imperative move since Christians were by far the minority at the time. Thus Constantine's decision depended less on general conditions at the time than on his own personal consideration. In 325 he assembled and attended the Council at Nicea where the Nicene Creed was formulated. It remains one of the basics of Christianity . Constantine was not only the first Christian Emperor, but he was the greatest of all Roman Emperors.

Mythology

In Greek mythology , Byzas was a son of Poseidon by Keroessa . Zeus fell in love with Io , the daughter of Inachus , King of the City of Argos and God of the River of Argos. The King of the Gods temporarily transformed his beloved daughter into a heifer in order to protect her from the wrath of his wife, Hera , Queen of the Gods. In her wanderings Io crossed the Bosphorus , giving the strait its name ( boos-foros , which is Greek for cow-ford ). After reassuming her original form, she gave birth to a girl, Keroessa . Later, Keroessa bore the son of Poseidon , grandson of Gaea ( Mother Earth ) and Uranus ( Father Sky ), son of Cronus , elder brother of Zeus and sovereign deity of all waters from the Pillars of Hercules to the Hellespont . Keroessa 's son, Byzas the Magerian , in time became the founder of Byzantium and named the Golden Horn ( Greek ???s??e?a? Khrysokeras or Chrysoceras ) after his mother. Some sources say that Byzas was brought up by the naiad Byzia and married Phidaleia, daughter of King Barbyzos