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In A.D. 330, the first Christian ruler
of the Roman empire, Constantine
the Great, transferred the imperial capital from
Rome to the former Byzantion, a small town that he enlarged
and renamed Constantinople (the polis—or city—of
Constantine). There, at the juncture of Europe and Asia, where
the overland trade routes of the East meet the sea routes
of the Mediterranean, the emperor believed he could best protect
the valuable Roman provinces in Egypt, the Holy Land, Syria,
and the Balkans. Christianity was made the official state
religion and the state played a dual role as the voice of
Christian orthodoxy and as a political superpower. The empire
called Byzantium lasted more than 1,100 years—from the
founding of its capital, Constantinople (modern Istanbul,
Turkey) in 330 to the conquest of the city by the Ottoman
Turks in 1453.
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