Byzantium

bi-zan' shi-um, a Greek city on the Bosporus. Constantine the Great enlarged it greatly, changed its name to Constantinople, and made it the capital of the Roman Empire (324 A. D.). At the division of the Roman Empire Byzantium became the seat of the Eastern, the Greek, and the Byzantine Empire, as it was variously called. The term Byzantine occurs frequently in connection with the churches, the art, literature, emperors, and the government of the East. Byzantine art is noted for an oriental luxuriance and coloring. In architecture the principal feature of note is the success with which round domes are supported on square bases, as in the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople and in the Cathedral of St. Mark at Venice. See Constantinople