Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/675

 ConsfauitUi; w flao in the Notit Imp. Roman, under the Dux BloaopgtamiM. Evagrios (J7. E, i.) en- titles SophraDiQa KtffyfrraKripaiofy *ZvurK6iwov, and in the list of the bishops who sabscribed the Council of Chaloedon, he is called Bishop of Constantinopolis in the province of Osrhoeoe. ItappeantohaTebtnne other names, as AnttnunopoUs and Maximianopolis, in the fourth centoiy, to have been nearlj detftrojed by an earthquake, but to have been rebuilt bj Con- stantinns. (Chron. Edess. ap. Asseman. BibiL Or, L p. 395; Makla, CAroik ziL p. 312.) [V.] CONSTA'NTIA iCwKkmcea), a place in the M W. of Gallia, which Ainmianus (xt. 11) calls Castra Constantiik In the Notitia the Civitas Constantia is mentioned as being in Lugdunenats Secunda. A local tradiUon asngns the foundaticm of this place to Constantins Chlorus, the &ther of Constantine. Ammianns says that the Sequana {Seme) enters the sea near Constantia; but hb geography of GalUa is Tery inexact. The name of the Pagus Constantinus is the origin of the name C6Umtm, which in the ante-ievolntionary geography of France designated the peninsula in which CofOanoea is situated. [G.L.] CONSTANTU CYPBI. [Sai^amis.] CONSTA'NTIA PHOENICIAE. [Aittara. DUS.] CONSTAirrU'KA(K»r(mvTiaM£:Jro««eR<29e), a town in Moesia, on the coast of tlie Euxine, south- east CONSTANTINO´POLIS, the capital of the Lower Empire, and founded by Constantine the Great on the site of the ancient Byzantium.

Byzantium (: Eth., Byzantius: Adj. , , , , ). The foundation of this city was ascribed to the Megarians in B.C. 667, a few years later than its neighbour Chalcedon (Euseb. Chron.; Clinton, F.H. vol. i. p. 194) on the site of a town called Lygos (Plin. iv. 18; Auson. Clar. Urb. 13.). In B.C. 628 a second colony was sent out from Megaris under Zeuxippus. (Lydus de Mag. Rom. iii. 70; Clinton, F. H. vol. i. p. 208.) The transmission of the worship of Hera (whose temple both here and at Argos was on the citadel), and the traditions concerning lo confirm the general assertion of Hesychius of Miletus that the Argives had a share in the foundation of the city. (Müller, Dor. vol. i. p. 133. trans.) Byzantium was situated at the apex of the triangle which faces the shores of Asia, and meets the waters of the Thracian Bosporus. The oracle of Apollo which commanded the colonists to build their new city opposite to the land of the blind, alluding to the superiority of the site of Byzantium to that of Chalcedon (Herod. iv. 144; Strab. vii. p. 320; Tac. Ann. xii. 63) did not compromise the infallibility of the Pythoness by its advice. Few cities could boast so magnificent a position: commanding the two opposite shores of Europe and Asia, it united the advantages of security and great facilities for trade, with the choicest gifts of nature, and the most strikingly picturesque scenery. (Polyb. iv. 39; Zosim. ii. 30.) On the S. it was bathed by the waters of the Propontis, on the N. by those of the Golden Horn. The river Lycus poured into this arm of the Bosporus a perpetual stream of fresh water, which cleansed the bottom, and afforded a retreat for the periodical shoals of fish,especially of the Pelamys kind, which come down from the Palus Macotis, and round by the E. and S. coast of the Euxine into the channel (Strab. l. c.). This fishery employed and supported a large number of the poorer class of freemen. (Arist. Pol. iv. 4. § 1.) The fish was salted and became an article of considerable traffic, and the harbour obtained its epithet of golden from the riches derived from this source. (Plin. ix. 20.) The port, which is about 7 miles in length, was both secure, and capacious; and as the tide is scarcely felt, the constant depth of the water allowed vessels to land their goods conveniently, as the largest ships might rest their heads against the houses, while their sterns float in the water. (Procop. de Aed. i. 5.) As the key of the Euxine and the Aegean no vessel could pass from the one sea to the other without the leave of the people of Byzantium, who gained a considerable revenue from the duties they levied on the corn-ships which passed in and out from the Euxine. (Polyb. iv. 38.)

In the reign of Dareius Hystaspis, Byzantium was taken by Otanes, general of the forces on the coast of Thrace. (Herod. v. 26.) Afterwards, it sided with the Ionians in their revolt (Herod. v. 103), but on the arrival of the Phoenician fleet the inhabitants, without even waiting for it, fled to Mesambria. (Herod. vi. 33.) Pausanias, after the battle of Plataea, wrested it from the Medes. (Thuc. i. 94.) And hence Justin (ix. 1. § 3) calls him the founder of Byzantium. After an interval of 7 years Cimon obtained it for the Athenians. (Diod. xi. 60; Plut. Cim. 5; Thuc. i. 131.) In 440, the Byzantines joined the Samians and revolted from Athens, but afterwards submitted. (Thuc. i. 117.) In 416, in common with the Chalcedonians, they made an expedition into Bithynia, and perpetrated great cruelties. (Diod. xii. 82.) In 408, Byzantium was besieged by the united forces of the Athenians under Alcibiades, a wall of circumvallation was drawn around it, and various attacks made by missiles and battering engines. These had no effect upon the Lacedaemonian garrison; but when the blockade was strictly kept up, and the population were dying of hunger, in the absence of Clearchus the Spartan commander, Cydon and a Byzantine party opened the gates by night and admitted the Athenians into the wide inner square called the Thrakion. Favourable terms were granted to the town, which was replaced in its condition of a dependent ally upon Athens. (Xen. Hell. i. 3. 15—22; Diod. xiii. 67; Plut. Alc. 31; Frontin. iii. 2. § 3; Polyaen. i. 48. § 2.) In 405, after the battle of Aegos-Potami, Lysander recaptured Byzantium, and placed Sthenelaus there as "harmost" with a garrison (Xen. Hell. ii. 2. 2). It was under the power of the Lacedaemonians when the Ten Thousand made their retreat; in consequence of the fraud and harsh dealing of the Admiral Anaxibius, the soldiers were exasperated, became masters of the town, and Byzantium would have been sacked had it not been for the energy and eloquence of Xenophon. (Anab. vii. i. §§ 5—32.) In 390, Thrasybulus changed the government of Byzantium, which was already in alliance with Athens, from an oligarchy into a democracy, and sold the tenths of the merchant vessels sailing out of the Euxine. (Xen. Hell. iv. 8. §§ 25—27.) In 363, Epaminondas visited Byzantium, drove off Laches with the Athenian squadron, and prevailed upon several of the allies of Athens to declare in his favour. (Isocr. Orat. v. Philip. 53; Diod. xv. 79.)