Editing Constantinople (section)

=== 324–337: The refoundation as Constantinople ===
[[File:Irenekirken.jpg|thumb|left|A simple cross: example of iconoclast art in the [[Hagia Irene]] Church in Istanbul]]

[[File:Constantine I Hagia Sophia.jpg|right|thumb|Emperor [[Constantine I]] presents a representation of the city of Constantinople as tribute to an enthroned Mary and Christ Child in this church mosaic. [[Hagia Sophia]], {{circa|1000}}.]]
[[File:Urbs Roma, commemorative coin of Constantinople.jpg|alt=Commemorative Ancient Coin of Constantinople|thumb|Another coin struck by Constantine I in 330–333 to commemorate the foundation of Constantinople and to also reaffirm Rome as the traditional centre of the Roman Empire]]
[[File:Constantinopolis coin.jpg|right|thumb|[[Coin]] struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople]]

Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Having restored the unity of the Empire, and, being in the course of major governmental reforms as well as of [[Constantine I and Christianity|sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church]], he was well aware that Rome was an unsatisfactory capital. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, and it offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians. Yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the right place: a place where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the [[Danube]] or the [[Euphrates]] frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the Empire.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Constantinople |encyclopedia=World History Encyclopedia |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Constantinople/ |last=Wasson |first=D. L. |date=9 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628145601/https://www.worldhistory.org/Constantinople/ |archive-date=2021-06-28}}</ref>

Constantinople was built over six years, and consecrated on 11 May 330.<ref name="ODB" /><ref>Commemorative coins that were issued during the 330s already refer to the city as ''Constantinopolis'' (see, e.g., Michael Grant, ''The climax of Rome'' (London 1968), p. 133), or "Constantine's City". According to the ''Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum'', vol. 164 (Stuttgart 2005), column 442, there is no evidence for the tradition that Constantine officially dubbed the city "New Rome" (''Nova Roma''). It is possible that the Emperor called the city "Second Rome" ({{langx|grc|Δευτέρα Ῥώμη|Deutera Rhōmē|label=none}}) by official decree, as reported by the 5th-century church historian [[Socrates of Constantinople]]: See [[Names of Constantinople]].</ref> Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis.<ref>A description can be found in the [[Notitia urbis Constantinopolitanae]].</ref> Yet, at first, Constantine's new Rome did not have all the dignities of old Rome. It possessed a [[proconsul]], rather than an [[urban prefect]]. It had no [[praetors]], [[tribunes]], or [[quaestors]]. Although it did have senators, they held the title ''clarus'', not ''[[clarissimus]]'', like those of Rome. It also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts, or other public works. The new programme of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors, and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. In similar fashion, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in [[Diocese of Asia|Asiana]] and [[Diocese of Pontus|Pontica]] and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to the citizens. At the time, the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.<ref>Socrates II.13, cited by J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, p. 74.</ref>
[[File:Istanbul_Hagia_Irene_IMG_8067_1920.jpg|thumb|280px|left|[[Hagia Irene]] is a Greek [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] located in the outer courtyard of [[Topkapı Palace]] in Istanbul. It is one of the few churches in [[Istanbul]] that has not been converted into a mosque.]]

Constantine laid out a new square at the centre of old Byzantium, naming it the [[Augustaion|Augustaeum]]. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the [[Great Palace of Constantinople|Great Palace]] of the Emperor with its imposing entrance, the [[Chalke]], and its ceremonial suite known as the [[Daphne Palace|Palace of Daphne]]. Nearby was the vast [[Hippodrome of Constantinople|Hippodrome]] for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the famed [[Baths of Zeuxippus]]. At the western entrance to the Augustaeum was the [[Milion]], a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Roman Empire.

From the Augustaeum led a great street, the [[Mese (Constantinople)|Mese]], lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the [[Praetorium]] or law-court. Then it passed through the oval [[Forum of Constantine]] where there was a second Senate-house and a [[Column of Constantine|high column]] with a statue of Constantine himself in the guise of [[Helios]], crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking toward the rising sun. From there, the Mese passed on and through the [[Forum Tauri]] and then the [[Forum Bovis]], and finally up the Seventh Hill (or Xerolophus) and through to the Golden Gate in the [[Wall of Constantine (Constantinople)|Constantinian Wall]]. After the construction of the [[Theodosian Walls]] in the early 5th century, it was extended to the new [[Golden Gate (Constantinople)|Golden Gate]], reaching a total length of seven [[Roman mile]]s.<ref>J B Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire, p. 75. ''et seqq''.</ref> After the construction of the Theodosian Walls, Constantinople consisted of an area approximately the size of Old Rome within the Aurelian walls, or some 1,400 ha.{{sfn|Bogdanović|2016|pp=100}}