byzantium

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Byzantium
    n 1: an ancient city on the Bosporus founded by the Greeks; site
         of modern Istanbul; in 330 Constantine I rebuilt the city
         and called it Constantinople and made it his capital
    2: a continuation of the Roman Empire in the Middle East after
       its division in 395 [syn: {Byzantine Empire}, {Byzantium},
       {Eastern Roman Empire}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Byzantium \Byzantium\ prop. n.
   An ancient city on the Bosphorus founded by the Greeks. It
   was later renamed {Constaninople} in honor of the emperor
   Constantine, and renamed {Istanbul} by the Turks, which name
   it still retains.
   [WordNet 1.5]

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