Byzantium

(bi zans̸hē əm, -tē əm)

ancient city (founded 600? ) on the site of modern Istanbul: name changed to Constantinople, 330

See Byzantium in American Heritage Dictionary 4

  1. The Byzantine Empire.
  2. An ancient city of Thrace on the site of present-day Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded by the Greeks in the seventh century B.C. and taken by the Romans in A.D. 196. Constantine I ordered the rebuilding of the city in 330 and renamed it Constantinople.
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