All Topics  
Byzas

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Byzas
 
 
  Topics Byzas Topic Home

In Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 legend, Byzas (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ???a?, ???a?ta?) was the eponymous founder of Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
 (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ?????t???), the city later known as Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . 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 Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 and Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
.

Founding of Byzantium
Byzas was a Greek
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
 colonist from the Dorian city of Megara
Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
, son of King Nisos
Nisos

In Greek mythology, Nisos was the King of Megara, and one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens.He was married to Abrota, and when she died, Nisos commanded that the Megarian women wear clothes like she had....
 (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ??s??), who consulted the oracle of Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
 at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. The oracle instructed Byzas to settle opposite from the "Land of the Blind". Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location opposite Chalcedon
Chalcedon

Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Anatolia, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of ?sk?dar . Today, in modern Turkish language, Chalcedon is called Kadik?y, and is a district of Istanbul, Turkey....
, where the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn
Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is an inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming a natural harbor....
 meet and flow into the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara

The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Byzas'
Start a new discussion about 'Byzas'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


In Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 legend, Byzas (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ???a?, ???a?ta?) was the eponymous founder of Byzantium
Byzantium

Byzantium was an Ancient Greece city, which was founded by Greeks colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas ....
 (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ?????t???), the city later known as Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . 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 Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 and Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
.

Founding of Byzantium


Byzas was a Greek
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
 colonist from the Dorian city of Megara
Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens....
, son of King Nisos
Nisos

In Greek mythology, Nisos was the King of Megara, and one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens.He was married to Abrota, and when she died, Nisos commanded that the Megarian women wear clothes like she had....
 (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ??s??), who consulted the oracle of Apollo
Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
 at Delphi
Delphi

Delphi is an archaeology site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. Delphi was the site of the Pythia, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python , a deity who lived there and protecte...
. The oracle instructed Byzas to settle opposite from the "Land of the Blind". Leading a group of Megarian colonists, Byzas found a location opposite Chalcedon
Chalcedon

Chalcedon was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Anatolia, almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of ?sk?dar . Today, in modern Turkish language, Chalcedon is called Kadik?y, and is a district of Istanbul, Turkey....
, where the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn
Golden Horn

The Golden Horn is an inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming a natural harbor....
 meet and flow into the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara

The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts....
. He determined the Chalcedonians must have been blind not to recognize the advantages the land on the Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an side of the Bosphorus had over the Asiatic side, and in 667 BC founded Byzantium on the European side, thus completing the oracle's quest.

Son of Poseidon


In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Byzas was a son of Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 by Keroessa
Keroessa

In Greek mythology, Keroessa was a nymph or Princess of Byzantium, on the Bosphorus Strait separating Europe and Asia. She was the daughter of Io and Zeus; and mother of Byzas the Megara, founder of Byzantium, with her uncle, Poseidon....
.

Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 fell in love with Io
Io (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Io was a priestess of Hera in Argos who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. Her mistress Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him....
, the daughter of Inachus
Inachus

In Greek mythology, Inachus personified the Inachus River, the modern Panitsa that drains the western margin of the Argolis. He was king of Argos ....
, King of Argos
Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
 and god of the river of Argos. Zeus temporarily transformed his mistress into a heifer in order to protect her from the wrath of his wife Hera
Hera

In the Twelve Olympians of classical Greek Mythology, Hera or Here was the wife and older sister of Zeus. Her chief function was as goddess of women and marriage....
. In her wanderings, Io crossed the Bosphorus, giving the strait its name (boos-foros, which is Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 for cow-ford). After reassuming her original form, she gave birth to a girl, Keroessa.

Keroessa later bore a son to Poseidon, elder brother of Zeus and lord of all waters from the Pillars of Hercules
Pillars of Hercules

The "Pillars of Hercules" was the phrase that was applied in classical antiquity to the promontory that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar....
 to the Hellespont
Hellespont

Hellespont was the ancient name of the narrow strait, now known by the modern European term 'Dardanelles'. It was so called from Helle , the daughter of Athamas, who was drowned here in the mythology of the Golden Fleece....
. This son, Byzas the Megarian, in time became the founder of Byzantium and named the Golden Horn (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ???s??e?a? (Khrysokeras or Chrysoceras) after his mother. Some sources say that Byzas was brought up by the naiad
Naiad

In Greek mythology, the Naiads or Naiades were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks.They are distinct from river gods, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolid....
 Byzia and married Phidaleia, daughter of King Barbyzos.