Byzantium

(bĭ-zănˈshē-əm, -tē-əm)

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.