Byzantine front face fragment of slab sarcophagus

myminifactory

In 330 A.D., Constantine the Great, first Christian emperor of Rome (r. 306-337), moved the ancient imperial capital from Rome to Byzantion, a major port city located on Europe's easternmost edge, where east-west trade routes converged. The emperor renamed this historic city Constantinople, or "Constantine's City," in his own honor, and it was also known as the New Rome due to its new status as the Roman empire's capital. As a Christian, Greek-speaking state ruled from that city, which would later be called Byzantium by historians, its medieval citizens referred to themselves as Rhomaioi or Romans, proudly claiming their heritage as heirs of the ancient Roman empire.