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Why Did Constantine Build a New Rome on the Bosporus? - Constantine's New Capital: Geography, Power, and Manufactured Antiquity | Sleepy Facts About History
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In 324 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine stood on the shore of the Bosporus, having just secured sole rule over an empire that stretched from Britain to the Euphrates. Instead of returning to the ancient capital to govern, he decided to build an entirely new metropolis on a rocky peninsula that had been contested for a thousand years. This episode explores why a new capital was necessary at that moment and how the site of Byzantion transformed into what Constantine called New Rome.
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