Byzantium

Byzantium
Byzantion
	Location of Byzantion, corresponding to the modern-day Fatih district of Istanbul
Alternative name	Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome")
Location	Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey
Region	Marmara Region
Coordinates	41°00′55″N 28°59′05″E / 41.01528°N 28.98472°E
Type	Ancient city
Part of	Roman Empire; Byzantine Empire; Latin Empire;
Area	6 km2 (2.3 sq mi) enclosed within Constantinian Walls 14 km2 (5.4 sq mi) enclosed within Theodosian Walls
History
Founded	667 BC
Cultures	Greek, Ancient Greek Latin Byzantine;

Byzantium (/bɪˈzæntiəm, -ʃəm/) or Byzantion (Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Thracian settlement and later a Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity which is known as Istanbul today. The Greek name Byzantion and its Latinization Byzantium continued to be used as a name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand year existence of the Byzantine Empire.^[1]^[2] 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.^[3]

^ Speake, Jennifer, ed. (2003). Literature of Travel and Exploration: A to F. p. 160. ISBN 9781579584252.
^ Kazhdan, A. P.; Epstein, Ann Wharton (February 1990). Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. University of California Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780520069626. Byzantion term remained used for Constantinople.
^ The Rise of the Greeks. Orion Publishing Group. 2012. p. 22. ISBN 978-1780222752.