Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BYZANTIUM

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 912 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BYZANTIUM , an See also:

ancient See also:Greek See also:city on the shores of the See also:Bosporus, occupying the most easterly of the seven hills on which See also:modern See also:Constantinople stands. It was said to have been founded by Megarians and Argives under Byzas about 657 B.C., but the See also:original See also:settlement having been destroyed in the reign of See also:Darius See also:Hystaspes by the See also:satrap Otanes, it was recolonized by the Spartan See also:Pausanias, who wrested it from the Medes after the See also:battle of See also:Plataea (479 B.c.)—a circumstance which led several ancient chroniclers to ascribe its See also:foundation to him. Its situation, said to have been fixed by the Delphic See also:oracle, was remarkable for beauty and See also:security. It had See also:complete See also:control over the Euxine See also:grain-See also:trade; the See also:absence of tides and the See also:depth of its See also:harbour rendered its quays accessible to vessels of large See also:burden; while the See also:tunny and other See also:fisheries were so lucrative that the curved inlet near which it stood became known as the See also:Golden See also:Horn. The greatest hindrance to its prosperity was the See also:miscellaneous See also:character of the See also:population, partly Lacedaemonian and partly Athenian, who flocked to it under Pausanias. It was thus a subject of dispute between these states, and was alternately in the See also:possession of each, till it See also:fell into the hands of the Macedonians. From the same cause arose the violent See also:intestine See also:con-tests which ended in the See also:establishment of a See also:rude and turbulent See also:democracy. About seven years after its second colonization, the Athenian See also:Cimon wrested it from the Lacedaemonians; but in 440 B.C. it returned to its former See also:allegiance. See also:Alcibiades, after a severe See also:blockade (408 B.c.), gained possession of the city through the treachery of the Athenian party; in 405 B.C. it was retaken by See also:Lysander and placed under a Spartan harmost. It was under the Lacedaemonian See also:power when the Ten Thousand, exasperated by the conduct of the See also:governor, made themselves masters of the city, and would have pillaged it had they not been dissuaded by the eloquence of See also:Xenophon. In 390 B.C. See also:Thrasybulus, with the assistance of Heracleides and Archebius, expelled the Lacedaemonian See also:oligarchy, and restored democracy and the Athenian See also:influence.

After having withstood an See also:

attempt under See also:Epaminondas to restore it to the Lacedaemonians, Byzantium joined with See also:Rhodes, See also:Chios, See also:Cos, and See also:Mausolus, See also:king of See also:Caria, in throwing off the yoke of See also:Athens, but soon after sought Athenian assistance when See also:Philip of Macedon, having overrun See also:Thrace, advanced against it. The Athenians under See also:Chares suffered a severe defeat from Amyntas, the Macedonian See also:admiral, but in the following See also:year gained a decisive victory under See also:Phocion and compelled Philip to raise the See also:siege. The deliverance of the besieged from a surprise, by means of a flash of See also:light which revealed the advancing masses of the Macedonian See also:army, has rendered this siege memorable. As a memorial of the miraculous interference, the Byzantines erected an See also:altar to See also:Torch-bearing See also:Hecate, and stampeda See also:crescent on their coins, a See also:device which is retained by the See also:Turks to this See also:day. They also granted the Athenians extraordinary privileges, and erected a See also:monument in See also:honour of the event in a public See also:part of the city. During the reign of See also:Alexander Byzantium was compelled to acknowledge the Macedonian supremacy; after the decay of the Macedonian power it regained its See also:independence, but suffered from the repeated incursions of the Scythians. The losses which they sustained by See also:land roused the Byzantines to indemnify themselves on the vessels which still crowded the harbour, and the merchantmen which cleared the straits; but this had the effect of provoking a See also:war with the neighbouring See also:naval See also:powers. The See also:exchequer being drained by the See also:payment of io,000 pieces of See also:gold to buy off the Gauls who had invaded their territories about 279 B.C., and by the See also:imposition of an See also:annual See also:tribute which was ultimately raised to 8o talents, they were compelled to exact a See also:toll on all the See also:ships which passed the Bosporus—a measure which the Rhodians resented and avenged by a war, wherein the Byzantines were defeated. After the See also:retreat of the Gauls Byzantium rendered considerable services to See also:Rome in the contests with Philip II., See also:Antiochus and See also:Mithradates. During the first years of its See also:alliance with Rome it held the See also:rank of a See also:free confederate city; but, having sought See also:arbitration on some of its domestic disputes, it was subjected to the imperial See also:jurisdiction, and gradually stripped of its privileges, until reduced to the status of an See also:ordinary See also:Roman See also:colony. In recollection of its former services, the See also:emperor See also:Claudius remitted the heavy tribute which had been imposed on it; but the last remnant of its independence was taken away by See also:Vespasian, who, in See also:answer to a remonstrance from See also:Apollonius of Tyana, taunted the inhabitants with having " forgotten to be free." During the See also:civil See also:wars it espoused the party of Pescennius See also:Niger; and though skilfully defended by the engineer Periscus, it was besieged and taken (A.D. 196) by See also:Severus, who destroyed the city, demolished the famous See also:wall, which was built of massive stones so closely riveted together as to appear one See also:block, put the See also:principal in-habitants to the See also:sword and subjected the See also:remainder to the Perinthians.

This overthrow of Byzantium was a See also:

great loss to the See also:empire, since it might have served as a See also:protection against the Goths, who afterwards sailed past it into the Mediterranean. Severus afterwards relented, and, rebuilding a large portion of the See also:town, gave it the name of See also:Augusta Antonina. He ornamented the city with See also:baths, and surrounded the See also:hippodrome with porticos; but it was not till the See also:time of See also:Caracalla that it was restored to its former See also:political privileges. It had scarcely begun to recover its former position when, through the capricious resentment of See also:Gallienus, the inhabitants were once more put to the sword and the town was pillaged. From this disaster the inhabitants recovered so far as to be able to give an effectual check to an invasion of the Goths in the reign of Claudius II., and the fortifications were greatly strengthened during the civil wars which followed the See also:abdication of See also:Diocletian. See also:Licinius, after his defeat before See also:Adrianople, retired to Byzantium, where he was besieged by See also:Constantine, and compelled to surrender (A.D. 323-324). To check the inroads of the barbarians on the See also:north of the See also:Black See also:Sea, Diocletian had resolved to See also:transfer his See also:capital to See also:Nicomedia; but Constantine, struck with the advantages which the situation of Byzantium presented, resolved to build a new city there on the site of the old and transfer the seat of See also:government to it. The new capital was inaugurated with See also:special ceremonies, A.D. 330. (See CONSTANTINOPLE.) The ancient historians invariably See also:note the profligacy of the inhabitants of Byzantium. They are described as an idle, depraved See also:people, spending their time for the most part in loitering about the harbour, or carousing over the See also:fine See also:wine of Maronea.

In war they trembled at the See also:

sound of a See also:trumpet, in See also:peace they quaked before the shouting of their own demagogues; and during the See also:assault of Philip II. they could only. be prevailed on to See also:man the walls by the savour of extempore See also:cook-shops distributed along the ramparts. The modern Greeks attribute the introduction of See also:Christianity into Byzantium to St See also:Andrew; it certainly had some hold there in the time of Severus. C The third See also:letter in the Latin See also:alphabet and its descendants corresponds in position and in origin to the Greek See also:Gamma (P, y), which in its turn is borrowed from the third See also:symbol of the Phoenician alphabet (Heb. Gimel). The earliest Semitic records give its See also:form as 4 or more frequently X or A. The form A is found in the earliest See also:inscriptions of See also:Crete, See also:Attica, See also:Naxos and some other of the Ionic islands. In Argolis and See also:Euboea especially a form with legs of unequal length is found t . From this it is easy to pass to the most widely spread Greek form, the ordinary r. In See also:Corinth, however, and its colony Corcyra, in Ozolian Locris and See also:Elis, a form < inclined at a different See also:angle is found. From this form the transition is See also:simple to the rounded C, which is generally found in the same localities as the pointed form, but is more widely spread, occurring in See also:Arcadia and on Chalcidian vases of the 6th See also:century B.C., in Rhodes and See also:Megara with their colonies in See also:Sicily. In all these cases the sound represented was a hard G (as in See also:gig). The rounded form was probably that taken over by the See also:Romans and with the value of G.

This is shown by the permanent See also:

abbreviation of the proper names See also:Gaius and Gnaeus by C. and Cn. respectively. On the See also:early inscription discovered in the Roman See also:Forum in 1899 the letter occurs but once, in the form .) written from right to See also:left. The broad See also:lower end of the symbol is rather an accidental See also:pit in the See also:stone than an attempt at a diacritic mark—the word is regei, in all See also:probability the early See also:dative form of rex, " king." It is hard to decide why Latin adopted the g-symbol with the value of k, a letter which it possessed originally but dropped, except in such stereo-typed abbreviations as K. for the proper name Kaeso and Kai. for Calendae. There are at least two possibilities: (1) that in See also:Latium g and k were pronounced almost identically, as, e.g., in the See also:German of See also:Wurttemberg or in the See also:Celtic dialects, the difference consisting only in the greater See also:energy with which the k-sound is produced; (2) that the confusion is graphic, K being sometimes written ~ C, which was then regarded as two See also:separate symbols. A further peculiarity of the use of C in Latin is in the abbreviation for the See also:district Subura in See also:Roma and its See also:adjective Suburanus, which appears as SVC. Here C no doubt represents G, but there is no interchange between g and b in Latin. In other dialects of See also:Italy b is found representing an original voiced guttural (gw), which, however, is regularly replaced by v in Latin. As the district was full of traders, Subura may very well be an imported word, but the form with C must either go back to a See also:period before the disappearance of g before v or must come from some other See also:Italic See also:dialect. The symbol G was a new coinage in the 3rd century B.C. The See also:pronunciation of C throughout the period of classical Latin was that of an unvoiced guttural stop (k). In other dialects, however, it had been palatalized to a sibilant before i-sounds some time before the See also:Christian era; e.g. in the Umbrian facia-- Latin Jaciat. In Latin there is no See also:evidence for the interchange of c fvith a sibilant earlier than the 6th century A.D. in See also:south Italy and the 7th century A.D. in See also:Gaul (See also:Lindsay, Latin See also:Language, p.

88). This See also:

change has, however, taken See also:place in all See also:Romance See also:languages except Sardinian. In Anglo-Saxon c was adopted to represent the hard stop. After the See also:Norman See also:conquest many See also:English words were re-spelt under Norman influence. Thus Norman-See also:French spelt its palatalized c-sound (= tsh) with ch as in See also:cher and the English palatalized cild, &c. became See also:child, &c. In Provencal from the loth century, and in the See also:northern dialects of See also:France from the 13th century, this palatalized c (in different districts is and tsh) became a simple s. English also adopted the value of s for c in the 13th century before e, i and y. In some See also:foreign words like cicala the ch- (tsh) value is given to c. In the transliteration of foreign languages also it receives different values, having that of tsh in the transliteration of See also:Sanskrit and of is in various See also:Slavonic dialects. As a See also:numeral C denotes See also:loo. This use is borrowed from Latin, in which the symbol was originally 0 , a form of the Greek B. This, like the numeral symbols later identified with L and M, was thus utilized since it was not required as a letter, there being no sound in Latin corresponding to the Greek B.

Popular See also:

etymology identified the symbol with the initial letter of centum, " See also:hundred." (P.

End of Article: BYZANTIUM

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BYZANTINE ART 		[next]
C26H28014

Site © 2006 - Net Industries