Byzantium
Greeks from Megara planted a colony here in the 7th century BC — and the name they gave it eventually became the word for an entire empire.
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Byzantium remained primarily Greek-speaking from its Megarian colonial founding until the Ottoman conquest in 1453. The term "Byzantine Empire" wasn't even coined until 1555 — by historian Hieronymus Wolf — more than a century after the empire had already fallen. The city's name encodes a pre-Greek Thracian layer too: an earlier settlement called Lygos occupied this site before the Greeks arrived, recorded by Pliny the Elder.
What to look for
- The founding legend of Byzas, the Greek king and leader of the Megarian colonists credited as Oikistes (colony founder), whose name likely derives from a Thracian word meaning 'he-goat'
- Byzantine gold coins known as bezants — named 'Byzantius' from the 9th century, the word traveled through French and Italian into English trade by the 12th century
- The ghost of Lygos, the earlier Thracian settlement on this site, mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History
The source covers ancient history and etymology only; on-the-ground visitor logistics (hours, transport, entry fees) are not drawn from this extract.
Byzantium is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Istanbul, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Istanbul pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Istanbul
- Hagia SophiaCompleted in 537, it held the title of world's largest church for over 500 years — then a mosque, a museum, and a mosque again.
- Constantinople (Istanbul)One peninsula that served as the throne of four empires for sixteen centuries straight.
- Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)Ahmed I placed it directly opposite Hagia Sophia in 1609 and gave it six minarets — a deliberate challenge to the city's greatest building.
- Topkapı PalaceFor nearly four centuries, the sultans who ruled the Ottoman Empire lived and governed from here — until the court finally moved to Dolmabahçe in 1856.
- Rams Park (Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex)Galatasaray's 53,978-seat fortress on the European side of Istanbul — and the second most eco-friendly stadium on the planet.
- Süleymaniye MosqueMimar Sinan's largest Ottoman-era mosque in Istanbul, built for a sultan who ruled most of the Islamic world — and the view across the Golden Horn from the Third Hill makes that claim feel real.