In 324 the Roman Emperor Constantine ordered the building of a new capital and administrative centre for the eastern Roman empire at the Greek settlement of Byzantium on the Bosphorus, the crossroads of Europe and Asia. The city was to be called “New Rome” but soon became known as Constantinopolis. Completion of the major works was formally celebrated on 11 May 330. Following the sack of Rome in 476 Constantinople would preserve Greco-Roman traditions and learning - notably law, Platonic philosophy and philology - for 1100 years until captured by the Ottoman Turks under Mohammed II in 1453. It would also become the cradle of Eastern (or Greek) Orthodox Christianity.
The Byzantine Empire reached its greatest extent under Justinian (527-65) when it controlled the entire eastern
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 September 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=152, accessed 23 November 2024.]
