Founded c. 660 b.c. as Byzantium, it was renamed Constantinople in a.d. 330 by Constantine the Great, who made it the capital of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.

• 于公元前660年建时称作拜占庭，公元330年由君士坦丁大帝改名为君士坦丁堡，他把它定为东罗马帝国的首都，或君士坦丁帝国。