Constantinople
Also called: Byzantium · Topic: The Roman Empire · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "An Empire Across Three Continents"
Meaning
Constantinople was the second capital of the Roman Empire, founded by Constantine in 324 CE. It was built on the site of the older town of Byzantium, today's Istanbul, with the sea on three sides. It had its own senate. It became the centre of the eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire, which stayed united after the West broke up.
Example
From Constantinople, Justinian (527–65) won back Africa from the Vandals in 533. The city stayed the eastern capital until the Ottoman Turks captured it in 1453.
Don't confuse with
- Rome: Rome was the original capital in Italy. Constantinople was the new capital that Constantine built in the East.
Related concepts
- Diocletian
- Constantine
- Edict of Milan 313
- Christianisation of the Roman Empire
- Post-Roman kingdoms
- Byzantine empire
- Justinian
- Late antiquity
- Prophet Muhammad
- Hijra