The city, originally called Byzantium, has much older origins. Founded by the Greeks near the end of the 7th century BC, Byzantium was an important commercial city located at the south side of the Bosphorus, the strait which joins the Black Sea and the Aegean. We know very little about the ancient Greek city except that its acropolis was situated at the northwesternmost tip of the city; temples were dedicated to Apollo, Hera, Artemis and other divinities and there was also a theater. Byzantium entered an alliance with Rome in the later 2nd century AD but only firmly came under Romans control under Vespasian. Somewhat more is known about the city in the late 2nd century AD. During a brief period of civil war Byzantium sided with self-proclaimed emperor Pescennius Niger; unfortunately the city did not side with the victor of the civil war, Septimius Severus who punished the citizens, destroyed parts of the city, but then invested in a building campaign. At this point, new fortification walls were contructed as were an important thermal complex, the Baths of Zeuxippos. The hippodrome may have been constructed at this time or may have been reconstructed (we do not know the time of its foundation but it was certainly part of the Severan city). Byzantium was always important, but was not a metropolis like Alexandria, Carthage, Corinth or Rome.
Although we do not know the full details of the story, during a war against rival emperor Licinius, Constantine decided to monumentalize Byzantium. Thus, beginning in AD 324, Constantine invested heavily in this city. From what the limited sources tell us, he renovated many areas of the city, including the hippodrome, but also initiated massive building projects. He expanded the city four-fold with a new fortification wall; he monumentalized the main avenue, the Mese; one of the components of this new "triumphal way" was a forum (Forum of Constantine) which featured a massive porphyry column that still stands and a senate house; another monumental feature was the Milion (which indicated distances to other areas of the empire as if this city was the new umbilicus). Facing in one direction toward the Bosphorus and in the other direction onto the hippodrome, Constantine built an Imperial Palace (many scholars point out how the Imperial Palace in Rome faces onto the Circus Maximus...). One of the major components of the palace was a new church - after all Constantine was promoting Christianity - Hagia Sofia. Constantine's Hagia Sofia no longer exists, but followed a traditional basilican plan and probably resembled "old St. Peter's" in Rome (which he also commissioned). This "new Rome", Constantinople, was inauguated on May 11, 330 AD (just 20 days after the birthday of Rome on April 21....).
Scholars are still uncertain as to Constantine's intentions. Constantinople clearly became the capitial city of the late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire, but did Constantine intend even during his reign for this city to supercede Rome? One the one hand, Constantine invested quite heavily in Rome itself, commissioning a number of churches, the Baths of Constantine and two triumphal arches, including the famous Arch of Constantine. On the other hand, his new city had all the features of Rome - an imperial palace (that faced onto the hippodrome), a triumphal route and a forum with a senate house. We have to bear in mind that during this time in Roman history there was often more than one emperor and one of the administrative cities had been, until this time, Nicomedia, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Perhaps he intended to develop an imperial capital, not the new imperial capital. After his death in AD 337, an emperor would be based here and Constantinople was becoming more important than Rome (late Roman emperors when in Italy tended to reign from Milan or Ravenna). When Theodosius I assumed control of the Empire, he ruled from Constantinople. Did Constantine have the foresight to see that Rome would fall? In any event, Rome did indeed fall (in AD 476 following a period of increasing problems) and Constantinople would be the Mediterranean city during the Byzantine (until AD 1453) and Ottoman periods.
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