Timeline of Byzantium- Constantinople- Istanbul

	Byzantium was founded by Greeks in about 600 B.C. at the entrance to the Bosporous and Black Sea.
	In 73 A.D. Byzantium was incorporated into the Roman empire.
	Ca. 200 A.D. the Hippodrome was constructed as a copy of the Circus Maximus in Rome. It was 380 by 190 meters and held 100, 000 spectators.

	Founded in the year 324 by emperor Constantine.
	The city burned in the year 532.
	It was first attacked by Vikings in 860
	In 980 emperor Basil II founded the Varangian Guard as a single unit of his army.
	Conquered for the first time by crusaders from 1204-1261. The city never fully recovered from this.
	The Sultan Mehmet II, ruler of the Ottoman empire, conquered the city in 1453.
	The city was the capital until 1923.

The city's name was changed to Istanbul in 1930.

- 14. august 2004 -