īyzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War. Though Achaemenid control of the city was never as stable as compared to other cities in Thrace, it was considered, alongside Sestos, to be one of the foremost Achaemenid ports on the European coast of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont. 522–486 BC), and was added to the administrative province of Skudra. The city was taken by the Persian Empire at the time of the Scythian campaign (513 BC) of King Darius I (r. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side. īyzantium was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Herodotus' dating was later favored by Constantine the Great, who celebrated Byzantium's 1000th anniversary between the years 333 and 334. 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). The date is usually given as 667 BC on the authority of Herodotus, who states the city was founded 17 years after Chalcedon. Tradition says that Byzas of Megara (a city-state near Athens) founded the city when he sailed northeast across the Aegean Sea. The origins of Byzantium are shrouded in legend. Byzantion struck coins in the name of Lysimachus nearly 200 years after his death. ![]() Silver tetradrachm struck in Byzantion c. R: Seated Athena holding Nike with wreath, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ monogram (ΠΩΛΥΒ) to left ΒΥ below throne trident in exergue O: Head of Alexander the Great with Amun's horns. Faustus of Byzantium was from a city of that name in Cilicia. Other places were historically known as Byzántion (Βυζάντιον) – a city in Libya mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium and another on the western coast of India referred to by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea in both cases the names were probably adaptations of names in local languages. As a term for the east Roman state as a whole, Byzantium was introduced by the historian Hieronymus 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. Later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire, whose capital was Constantinople. besanz), and relating to the coin, dates from the 12th century. The English usage, derived from Old French besan (pl. The name Byzantius and Byzantinus were applied from the 9th century to gold Byzantine coinage, reflected in the French besant ( d'or), Italian bisante, and English besant, byzant, or bezant. ![]() The Anglicization of Latin Byzantinus yielded "Byzantine", with 15th and 16th century forms including Byzantin, Bizantin(e), Bezantin(e), and Bysantin as well as Byzantian and Bizantian. Byzantinós ( Medieval Greek: Βυζαντινός, Latin: Byzantinus) denoted an inhabitant of the empire. ![]() (An ellipsis of Medieval Greek: Βυζάντιον κράτος, romanized: Byzántion krátos). ![]() In the Middle Ages, Byzántion was also a synecdoche for the eastern Roman Empire. īyzántios, plural Byzántioi ( Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιος, Βυζάντιοι, Latin: Byzantius adjective the same) referred to Byzantion's inhabitants, also used as an ethnonym for the people of the city and as a family name. The name Lygos for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlier Thracian settlement, is mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat". It has been suggested that the name is of Thracian origin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |