1) A thread on Constantinople, inaugurated by Constantine I #OTD 11 May 330.

After his final victory over his last remaining imperial rivial Licinius in 324, Constantine chose the city of Byzantium (founded by Megara in the 7th c. BCE) as the site for a new imperial residence.

2) There are still a lot of misconceptions about this decision of Constantine. It used to be seen as the creation of a new capital, or even more drastically the transfer of the Roman imperial government from Rome to this new city as a new Christian capital. None of this is true.

3) Before Constantine a generation already had experienced a new form of 'Mehrkaisertum' ( = the rule of many emperors). Even after Constantine's supremacy, he still opted to have sons join him as junior partners in imperial rule. Yet constitutionally there was only _one empire_

4) No matter whether there were 4, 3, or 2 emperors, the majority of them throughout the fourth century usually resided in cities close to the frontier (Trier close to the Rhine, Antioch close to Mesopotamia). Yet there were often on the move. As a result there was _no capital_

5) Put in another way: the capital was simply there where the emperor happened to reside. In the third century, the Empire had been rocked by many crises which required a different type of rule: call it that of a mobile supreme commander. Rome was too far away and ill suited.

6) Rome was never abandoned as the spiritual and cultural foundation of the empire, even though most fourth century emperors rarely visited it. So where do we place Constantine's expansion and reconstruction of Byzantium in all this?

7) Constantine both followed precedents by his predecessors (the "Tetrarchs") yet also liked to recast things in his own visions. Emperors had already resided nearby in Sirmium, Thessalonici or Nicomedia. Yet Byzantium was strategically far better suited on the crossroads of...

8) both the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, but also between two important frontiers: the lower Danube where various Gothic polities had emerged, and further to the East Persia. It is now we should see what Constantine envisioned with the city, and what actually happened.

9) He transferred/robbed various cities of monumental art to beautify the new imperial residences. It was certainly a space where Christiany would have a clear stamp on the landscape. Yet there was also still space for the traditional temples. This was not a religious tabula rasa

10) Constantine certainly liked "his new city". To the best of my knowledge, from the moment the city was inaugurated he never returned to the West. Yet that is still a far cry from making it the new Eastern capital, never mind the entire empire. The moments before his death...

11) ... reveal the contemporary dynamics. Constantine had planned an invasion of Persia, yet died before it kicked off. Persia did not sit by passively and retaliated. As a result his son Constantius II who took over the Levant, spent most of the next 13 years in Antioch.

12) The same happened with the emperors Julian and Valens. It was only after the death of Theodosius I (395) that Eastern emperors stopped residing in other cities and we can truly start calling it 'the eastern capital'. So was Constantinople just any another imperial residence?

13) There are a few indications that the city of Constantine had a significance no other city besides Rome had. E.g. it got a senate that was massively expanded under Constantius II! Yet that had as much to do with contemporary politics, since he faced a western usurper who had..

14) Toppled the dynasty of his father in the west and was supported by the Roman senate. Also, most fourth century emperors were buried in Constantinople! Even one who had reigned exclusively in the west such as Valentinian I (364-375).

15) To sum up: Constantinople was a favourite city of Constantine when he founded it, yet used by most fourth century emperors as one of several imperial residences. It had a few perks, but it only became an eastern capital after 395. From then on it's also a truly Christian city

16) (The picture shows the personification of Constantinople on a fifth century ivory diptych)