Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christian empire, successor to ancient Greece and Rome. During most of the Middle Ages Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city. Constantinople was officially renamed Istanbul in 1930. Roman Emperor Constantine I transfered the capital of the empire from Nicomedia (in Anatolia) to Byzantium on the Bosphorus, which was renamed Constantinople. | 