The New Mosque is backdropped by Istanbul’s skyline and the Bosporus, Thursday, July 9, 2015. It’s the former seat of the opulent Byzantine and Ottoman empires and is divided into European and Asian sides by the Bosphorus Strait, offering a wealth of history and stunning scenery. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
The Byzantium Empire was the longest lasting empire in the western world. It was inaugurated in 330 A.D. when Roman Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire from Rome to Byzantium, a deteriorated seventh century B.C. Greek city.
The decision to build the capital in Byzantium made military sense as it is situated on the Bosporus Strait, the crossroads connecting the eastern and western parts of the Empire. The Empire collapsed 1,123 years later in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered its capital (renamed Istanbul in 1930).
