The etymology ofByzantium is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is ofThracian origin.[4] It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat".[5][6] Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek kingByzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city.[7] The nameLygos for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlierThracian settlement,[4] is mentioned byPliny the Elder in hisNatural History.[8]
Byzántios, pluralByzántioi (Ancient Greek:Βυζάντιος, Βυζάντιοι,Latin:Byzantius; adjective the same) referred to Byzantion's inhabitants, also used as anethnonym for the people of the city and as a family name.[5] In theMiddle Ages,Byzántion was also asynecdoche for theeastern Roman Empire. (Anellipsis ofMedieval Greek:Βυζάντιον κράτος,romanized: Byzántion krátos).[5]Byzantinós (Medieval Greek:Βυζαντινός,Latin:Byzantinus) denoted an inhabitant of the empire.[5] TheAnglicization of LatinByzantinus yielded "Byzantine", with 15th and 16th century forms includingByzantin,Bizantin(e),Bezantin(e), andBysantin as well asByzantian andBizantian.[9]
The nameByzantius andByzantinus were applied from the 9th century to goldByzantine coinage, reflected in the Frenchbesant (d'or), Italianbisante, and Englishbesant,byzant, orbezant.[5] The English usage, derived from Old Frenchbesan (pl.besanz), and relating to the coin, dates from the 12th century.[10]
Later, the nameByzantium became common in the West to refer to theEastern Roman Empire, whose capital was Constantinople. As a term for the east Roman state as a whole,Byzantium was introduced by the historianHieronymus 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 the Romans'), had ceased to exist.[11]
The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. Tradition says thatByzas ofMegara (a city-state nearAthens) founded the city when he sailed northeast across theAegean Sea. The date is usually given as 667 BC on the authority ofHerodotus, who states the city was founded 17 years afterChalcedon.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 was later favored byConstantine the Great, who celebrated Byzantium's 1,000th anniversary between the years 333 and 334.[12]
Byzantium was mainly a trading city due to its location at theBlack Sea's only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side.
The city was taken by thePersian Empire at the time of theScythian campaign (513 BC) of EmperorDarius I (r. 522–486 BC), and was added to the administrative province ofSkudra.[13] ThoughAchaemenid control of the city was never as stable as compared to other cities inThrace, it was considered, alongsideSestos, to be one of the foremost Achaemenid ports on the European coast of the Bosphorus and theHellespont.[13]
Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during thePeloponnesian War. As part ofSparta's strategy for cutting off grain supplies to Athens during their siege of Athens, Sparta took control of the city in 411 BC, to bring the Athenians into submission. TheAthenian military later retook the city in 408 BC, when the Spartans had withdrawn following their settlement.[14]
After siding withPescennius Niger against the victoriousSeptimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in AD 196.[15] Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound toPerinthus during the period of Septimius Severus.[16] After the war, Byzantium lost its city status and free city privileges, butCaracalla persuaded Severus to restore these rights. In appreciation, the Byzantines named Caracalla an archon of their city.[17] The strategic and highly defensible (due to being surrounded by water on almost all sides) location of Byzantium attractedRoman EmperorConstantine I who, in AD 330, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself, known asNova Roma. Later the city was calledConstantinople (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 theByzantine Empire, which decorated the city with numerous monuments, some still standing today. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from theMediterranean Sea to theBlack Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city was conquered by theOttoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, theOttoman 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 the city". To this day it remains the largest and most populous city inTurkey, althoughAnkara is now the national capital.
By the lateHellenistic or early Roman period (1st century BC), thestar and crescent motif was associated to some degree with Byzantium; even though it became more widely used as the royal emblem ofMithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city intohis empire).[18]
Some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BC and later show the head ofArtemis 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 theAthenians were under siege by the troops ofPhilip of Macedon. On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as ameteor, 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.[a][b] To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue ofHecatelampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in the works ofHesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time ofJustinian I. His works survive only in fragments preserved inPhotius and the tenth century lexicographerSuidas. The tale is also related byStephanus of Byzantium, andEustathius.
Devotion toHecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were the crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance.[21] 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.[22][23][24]
It is unclear precisely how the symbol Hecate/Artemis, one of many goddesses[c] would have been transferred to 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 inAthens where the city was named afterAthena in honor of such an intervention in time of war.
Cities in theRoman 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."[26] The wide variety of these issues, and 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.
^"In 340 BC, however, the Byzantines, with the aid of the Athenians, withstood a siege successfully, an occurrence the more remarkable as they were attacked by the greatest general of the age, Philip of Macedon. In the course of this beleaguerment, it is related, on a certain wet and moonless night the enemy attempted a surprise, but were foiled by reason of a bright light which, appearing suddenly in the heavens, startled all the dogs in the town and thus roused the garrison to a sense of their danger. To commemorate this timely phenomenon, which was attributed toHecate, they erected a public statue to that goddess [...]"[19]
^"If any goddess had a connection with the walls in Constantinople, it wasHecate.Hecate had a cult in Byzantium from the time of its founding. Like Byzas in one legend, she had her origins in Thrace. Since Hecate was the guardian of "liminal places," in Byzantium small temples in her honor were placed close to the gates of the city.Hecate's importance to Byzantium was above all as deity of protection. When Philip of Macedon was about to attack the city, according to the legend she alerted the townspeople with her ever-present torches, and with her pack of dogs, which served as her constant companions. Her mythic qualities thenceforth forever entered the fabric of Byzantine history. A statue known as the 'Lampadephoros' was erected on the hill above the Bosphorous to commemorateHecate's defensive aid."[20]
^"In 324 Byzantium had a number of operative cults to traditional gods and goddesses tied to its very foundation eight hundred years before. Rhea, called "the mother of the gods" by Zosimus, had a well-ensconced cult in Byzantium from its very foundation. [...] Devotion toHecate was especially favored by the Byzantines [...] Constantine would also have found Artemis-Selene and Aphrodite along with the banished Apollo Zeuxippus on the Acropolis in the old Greek section of the city. Other gods mentioned in the sources are Athena, Hera, Zeus, Hermes, and Demeter and Kore. Even evidence of Isis and Serapis appears from the Roman era on coins during the reign of Caracalla and from inscriptions."[25]
^abcdefgGeorgacas, Demetrius John (1947). "The Names of Constantinople".Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.78. The Johns Hopkins University Press:347–67.doi:10.2307/283503.JSTOR283503.
^Room, Adrian (2006).Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings of the Names for 6,600 Countries, Cities, Territories, Natural Features, and Historic Sites (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.ISBN978-0-7864-2248-7.
^Bertolazzi, Riccardo (2024). "The Severan Augustae as Mistresses of the World". In Hoffmann-Salz, Julia; Heil, Matthäus; Wienholz, Holger (eds.).The Eastern Roman Empire under the Severans: Old Connections, new Beginnings?.Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 242–243.ISBN978-3-647-30251-5.
^Traver, Andrew G. (2002) [2001].From Polis to Empire, the Ancient World, C. 800 B.C.-A.D. 500: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 257.ISBN9780313309427.
^Holmes, William Gordon (2003).The Age of Justinian and Theodora. pp. 5–6.
^Limberis, Vasiliki (1994).Divine Heiress. Routledge. pp. 126–127.
Harris, Jonathan,Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (Hambledon/Continuum, London, 2007).ISBN978-1-84725-179-4
Jeffreys, Elizabeth and Michael, and Moffatt, Ann,Byzantine Papers: Proceedings of the First Australian Byzantine Studies Conference, Canberra, 17–19 May 1978 (Australian National University, Canberra, 1979).
