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45-618: The square dates back to ancient Byzantium , before its conversion into an imperial capital by Constantine the Great . When Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) rebuilt the city, he erected a large square surrounded by porticoes , hence named the Tetrastoon ("four stoas "). In the center of the square stood a column with a statue of the god Helios . In the 320s, Constantine adorned his chosen new capital with many new monumental buildings. His activities included new structures around

90-664: A name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand-year existence of the Eastern Roman Empire , which was commonly referred to by the former name of that city, the Byzantine Empire . Byzantium was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC and remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453. The etymology of Byzantium

135-422: A common response." In what seemed to be an attempt to distance themselves from the massacre, the three brothers proceeded to print coins of Theodora , whom their murdered relatives had been descended from. Most of the coins were generated at Constantine II's capital, Trier , indicating that he was the one responsible for designing and producing the coinage at the start, as well as convincing his brothers to do

180-551: A failed invasion of Italy in 340. Constans subsequently took control of Constantine's territories, with the latter being subjected to damnatio memoriae . Born in Arles in 316, Constantine II was the second son of the Roman emperor Constantine I , and the eldest with his wife Fausta , the daughter of the emperor Maximian . On 1 March 317, he was made caesar at Serdica . After accompanying his father on his campaign against

225-410: A number of troops to confront him, and Constantine was killed in an ambush near Aquileia . Constans then took control of his brother's realm, whose inhabitants seem to have been largely unaffected by their change in ruler. After his death, Constantine was subjected to damnatio memoriae . Constans issued legislation repealing Constantine's acts shortly after his death, where the deceased emperor

270-662: A rectangular shape 85 m long and 60–65 m wide. Enclosed on all sides, the Augustaion was entered in its western and southern side, respectively through the Melete and Pinsos Gates, from the Mesē , the city's main thoroughfare. Directly outside the square stood the Milion , the mile marker from which all distances in the Empire were measured. To its north, the Augustaion was bounded by

315-757: Is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thracian origin. It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat". Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek king Byzas , the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. The name Lygos for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlier Thracian settlement, is mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History . Byzántios, plural Byzántioi ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιος, Βυζάντιοι , Latin : Byzantius ; adjective

360-668: The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae of ca. 425. 41°00′29″N 28°58′44″E  /  41.008°N 28.979°E  / 41.008; 28.979 Byzantium Latin Byzantium ( / b ɪ ˈ z æ n t i ə m , - ʃ ə m / ) or Byzantion ( Ancient Greek : Βυζάντιον ) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name Byzantion and its Latinization Byzantium continued to be used as

405-574: The Hagia Sophia cathedral and the Patriarchal palace ( Patriarcheion ), to its east by one of the two Senate houses of the city, built by Constantine or Julian (r. 360–363) and rebuilt by Justinian with a porch of six great columns adorning its front. Next to the Senate, at the southeastern corner stood the monumental Chalkē Gate , the entrance to the imperial palace precinct , while to

450-536: The Sarmatians in 323, he was commemorated on coinage produced to recognize the ensuing victory. Constantine II usually resided with his father until 328, when his own court was installed at Trier . An inscription dated to 328–330 records the title of Alamannicus , indicating that his generals won a victory over the Alamanni . His military career continued when Constantine I made him field commander during

495-514: The Tetrastoon , while the Augustaion was likely carved out of its eastern part at that time, and named after a Porphyry column supporting a statue of his mother, the Augusta Helena . The Augustaion was rebuilt in 459 under Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474), and again in the 530s, after being destroyed in the Nika riot , by Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). In its original form, the square

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540-582: The 16th century. The square itself was paved with marble, as discovered in excavations, and featured a number of statues, aside from the already-mentioned statue of the Augusta Helena. The 8th to 9th-century Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai record a statue of Constantine himself, standing on a column and flanked by statues of his three sons, Constantine II (r. 337–340), Constans (r. 337–350) and Constantius II (r. 337–361), to which were later added statues of Licinius (r. 308–324) and of Julian. In

585-521: The 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be an eight-rayed star on the reverse. According to accounts which vary in some of the details, in 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip of Macedon . On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but

630-729: The 332 winter campaign against the Goths . As a result of his leadership, the military operation concluded with 100,000 Goths reportedly slain and the surrender of the ruler Ariaric . Festival games were initiated in Rome to celebrate the caesar 's role in the successful military campaigns, in a public advertisement of his capability to rule. He was married prior to 336, although his wife's identity remains unknown. While Constantine I had intended for his sons to rule together with their cousins Dalmatius and Hannibalianus , soon after his death in May 337

675-527: The Empress' ire and his subsequent deposition and exile. The statue's base was discovered in 1848 and is now located in the garden of the Hagia Sophia. Following Justinian's rebuilding, the square's main feature was a tall column erected in 543 in the western end of the square to commemorate his victories. It was topped by an equestrian statue of Justinian himself, reusing parts of Theodosius' statue, and

720-432: The Roman territories among themselves. Constantine received Gaul , Britannia and Hispania . Unlike his younger brothers, he gained little from Dalmatius's removal. Constantine was evidently left unsatisfied with the results of their meeting, seemingly believing that his age granted him some sort of seniority in the imperial college and, by extension, control over the dominion of his youngest brother Constans , who

765-816: The Romans';), had ceased to exist. Other places were historically known as Byzántion (Βυζάντιον) – a city in Libya mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium and another on the western coast of India referred to by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ; in both cases the names were probably adaptations of names in local languages. Faustus of Byzantium was from a city of that name in Cilicia . The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. Tradition says that Byzas of Megara (a city-state near Athens ) founded

810-486: The army murdered several of their male relatives, including Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, on the orders of Constantine II's younger brother Constantius II . Although Constantine himself appears to not have been directly involved, Burgess observed from numismatic evidence that he and his brothers "not only seem not to have fully accepted the legitimacy of Dalmatius and viewed him as an interloper, but also appear to have communicated with one another on this point and agreed on

855-559: The city in 411 BC, to bring the Athenians into submission. The Athenian military later retook the city in 408 BC, when the Spartans had withdrawn following their settlement. After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus , the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in AD 196. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It

900-647: The city itself, but it seems likely to have been an effect of being credited with the intervention against Philip and the subsequent honors. This was a common process in ancient Greece, as in Athens where the city was named after Athena in honor of such an intervention in time of war. Cities in the Roman Empire often continued to issue their own coinage. "Of the many themes that were used on local coinage, celestial and astral symbols often appeared, mostly stars or crescent moons." The wide variety of these issues, and

945-494: The city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoupolis , "city of Constantine"). This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre and for centuries formed the capital of the Byzantine Empire , which decorated the city with numerous monuments, some still standing today. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled

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990-459: The city when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea . The date is usually given as 667 BC on the authority of Herodotus , who states the city was founded 17 years after Chalcedon . Eusebius , who wrote almost 800 years later, dates the founding of Chalcedon to 685/4 BC, but he also dates the founding of Byzantium to 656 BC (or a few years earlier depending on the edition). Herodotus' dating

1035-496: The city". To this day it remains the largest and most populous city in Turkey , although Ankara is now the national capital. By the late Hellenistic or early Roman period (1st century BC), the star and crescent motif was associated to some degree with Byzantium; even though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Mithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city into his empire ). Some Byzantine coins of

1080-651: The coin, dates from the 12th century. Later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire , whose capital was Constantinople. As a term for the east Roman state as a whole, Byzantium was introduced by the historian Hieronymus Wolf only in 1555, a century after the last remnants of the empire, whose inhabitants continued to refer to their polity as the Roman Empire ( Medieval Greek : Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων , romanized :  Basileía tōn Rhōmaíōn , lit.   'empire of

1125-491: The crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance. This contradicts claims that only the symbol of the crescent was meant to symbolize Hecate, whereas the star was only added later in order to symbolize the Virgin Mary, as Constantine I is said to have rededicated the city to her in the year 330. It is unclear precisely how the symbol Hecate/Artemis, one of many goddesses would have been transferred to

1170-573: The eastern part of Constantinople, which in the early and middle Byzantine periods constituted the administrative, religious and ceremonial center of the city. The square was a rectangular open space, enclosed within a colonnaded porticoes ( peristyla in Latin, in English peristyles ), probably first added in the 459 rebuilding and restored by Justinian. Its exact dimensions are impossible to determine nowadays; Rodolphe Guilland suggested that it had

1215-440: The emperor Constantine I , he was proclaimed caesar by his father shortly after his birth. He was associated with military victories over the Sarmatians , Alamanni and Goths during his career, for which he was granted a number of victory titles. He held the consulship four times – in 320, 321, 324, and 329. Constantine I had arranged for his sons to share power with their cousins Dalmatius and Hannibalianus , but this

1260-623: The empire. The Anglicization of Latin Byzantinus yielded "Byzantine", with 15th and 16th century forms including Byzantin , Bizantin(e) , Bezantin(e) , and Bysantin as well as Byzantian and Bizantian . The name Byzantius and Byzantinus were applied from the 9th century to gold Byzantine coinage , reflected in the French besant ( d'or ), Italian bisante , and English besant , byzant , or bezant . The English usage, derived from Old French besan (pl. besanz ), and relating to

1305-539: The late 13th century, following the recovery of the city from the Latin Empire , the square and its adjacent buildings seem to have been the property of the Hagia Sophia. By the early 15th century however, the Italian traveller Cristoforo Buondelmonti reported that the square lay in ruins, and by the time of Pierre Gilles ' sojourn in the 1540s, only the fragments of seven columns remained. The Augustaion lay in

1350-598: The major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea . On May 29, 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks , and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire . The Turks called the city "Istanbul" (although it was not officially renamed until 1930); the name derives from the Greek phrase "στην πόλη", which means "to

1395-458: The reign of Theodosius the Great (r. 379–395), the ensemble was replaced by a silver equestrian statue of the emperor, standing on a column, and again flanked at ground level by statues of his sons, Arcadius (r. 383–408) and Honorius (r. 393–423). A bronze statue of Aelia Eudoxia on a column also stood on the square. The noise and pagan rituals that accompanied the statue's inauguration were criticized by Patriarch John Chrysostom , provoking

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1440-471: The same) referred to Byzantion's inhabitants, also used as an ethnonym for the people of the city and as a family name. In the Middle Ages , Byzántion was also a synecdoche for the eastern Roman Empire . (An ellipsis of Medieval Greek : Βυζάντιον κράτος , romanized :  Byzántion krátos ). Byzantinós ( Medieval Greek : Βυζαντινός , Latin : Byzantinus ) denoted an inhabitant of

1485-454: The same. Woods considered it to suggest that he was more sympathetic to Theodora's memory than his brothers, possibly because his wife may have been a granddaughter of Theodora. In June 337, before he was named emperor, Constantine had already begun attempting to assert his seniority. He issued an order allowing the exiled bishop Athanasius to return to Alexandria , which was under the control of Constantius II, claiming to be carrying out

1530-577: The southwest stood the great Baths of Zeuxippus and the northern end of the Hippodrome . In the 7th century, probably under Patriarch Thomas I (r. 607–610) a big three-aisled basilica called the Thōmaitēs (Θωμαΐτης) was erected on the southeastern side of the square. It was a reception hall associated with the patriarchal residence, containing also the Patriarchate's library, and survived until

1575-513: The unfulfilled intentions of his father. While Constantine's motives remain unclear, suggested explanations include him truly believing in the bishop's innocence, him wanting to get rid of a religious nuisance, or him wanting to cause trouble for Constantius, who would oust Athanasius from Alexandria only two years later. The three brothers were not named as Augusti until 9 September 337, when they gathered together in Pannonia and divided

1620-467: The varying explanations for the significance of the star and crescent on Roman coinage precludes their discussion here. It is, however, apparent that by the time of the Romans, coins featuring a star or crescent in some combination were not at all rare. Constantine II (emperor) Constantine II ( Latin : Flavius Claudius Constantinus ; 316 – 340) was Roman emperor from 337 to 340. The son of

1665-486: The works of Hesychius of Miletus , who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I . His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the tenth century lexicographer Suidas . The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium , and Eustathius . Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were

1710-787: Was added to the administrative province of Skudra . Though Achaemenid control of the city was never as stable as compared to other cities in Thrace , it was considered, alongside Sestos , to be one of the foremost Achaemenid ports on the European coast of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont . Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War . As part of Sparta 's strategy for cutting off grain supplies to Athens during their siege of Athens, Sparta took control of

1755-532: Was bound to Perinthus during the period of Septimius Severus. After the war, Byzantium lost its city status and free city privileges, but Caracalla persuaded Severus to restore these rights. In appreciation, the Byzantines named Caracalla an archon of their city. The strategic and highly defensible (due to being surrounded by water on almost all sides) location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in AD 330, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself, known as Nova Roma . Later

1800-478: Was complemented by a group of three barbarian kings kneeling before it and offering tribute. It survived until the 16th century, when it was demolished by the Ottomans . ^   a:  Also found in the sources as: Αὐγουστέων or Αὐγουστεών , Augousteōn ; Αὐγουστίον , Augoustion ; Αὐγουστεῖον , Augousteion , and hence in the corrupted form Γουστεῖον , Gousteion . The name first appears in Latin in

1845-606: Was later favored by Constantine the Great , who celebrated Byzantium's 1,000th anniversary between the years 333 and 334. Byzantium was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea 's only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side. The city was taken by the Persian Empire at the time of the Scythian campaign (513 BC) of Emperor Darius I (r. 522–486 BC), and

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1890-595: Was not accepted by Constantine II and his brothers. As a result, Constantine II's brother Constantius II ordered the killings of numerous male relatives following Constantine I's death, including Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, thus eliminating any possible opponents to the succession of Constantine I's sons. Constantine II then ascended to the throne alongside his two younger brothers, ruling Gaul , Hispania , and Britain . However, his belief in his rights of primogeniture and attempts to exert them over his youngest brother Constans caused conflict, which ended with his death in

1935-417: Was open to the public and functioned as the city's food market ( agora ), but after Justinian's reconstruction, it became more of an enclosed courtyard where access was restricted. Byzantine writers from the 7th century on refer to it as explicitly as a court or forecourt ( αὐλή, αὐλαία, προαύλιον ) of the Hagia Sophia . Justinian's Augustaion survived mostly unchanged through the subsequent centuries. In

1980-598: Was still a teenager in 337. Even after campaigning successfully against the Alamanni in 338, Constantine continued to maintain his position. The Theodosian Code recorded his legislative intervention in Constans's territory through issuing an edict to the proconsul of Africa in 339. In April 340, Constantine launched an invasion into Italy to claim territory from Constans. Constans, at that time in Naissus , sent

2025-451: Was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as a meteor , sometimes as the moon, and some accounts also mention the barking of dogs. However, the original accounts mention only a bright light in the sky, without specifying the moon. To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of Hecate lampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in

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