Byzantine-Empire.com

The Psalter of Basil II: Famous image of Basil II, Constantinople, 11th century.
Click Here to Learn why Basil II was the Greatest Byzantine Emperor.

Why should you study Byzantine History?

Why was the Byzantine Empire called New Rome

Constantinople, Capital of the New Rome.
An Artist’s impression of Constantinople, the New Rome.

The history of the Roman Empire has many twists and turns that make it a roller coaster ride. In some empires, nothing seems to happen except in a few areas, but not with the Roman Empire. There was always something happening and with the transition from Paganism to Christianity, a whole new era was about to begin.

When the Emperor Constantine chose the Greek city of Byzantium as the capital of the new Roman Empire, there was a couple new names for it. One was the official name, Constantinople. Another name was New Rome or Nova Roma in Latin. Constantinople was the name that stuck in the official sense, but New Rome would be a name that would continue to get attention by scholars.

The New Rome

Constantinople was attempted to get away from the old style of Roman governance. While Rome had been the capital of Roman culture for a millennium, Constantine knew it was time to move the capital to fulfill several objectives.

  1. There needed to be a better way to defend the frontiers of the Empire.
  2. The Roman Senatorial Class was being surpassed by provincial senators who were not from Italy.
  3. Constantine wanted a capital which was easier to defend from invaders and barbarians.
  4. The Roman state was becoming authoritarian and Constantinople fit better with the culture of the East.
  5. Constantinople was in a great location for the purposes of trade with the East, while Rome was more isolated as wealth started moving East in the Empire.

Such a list is not all exhaustive but represents the most important reasons why Constantine made the choice to move the capital of the Empire.

It was a regeneration of the old Rome without the baggage of the old senatorial class. There were also many practical reasons that were discussed above for why the capital was moved to Constantinople. This was an epochal change which showed that the Pagan culture of Rome was changing towards a Christian culture.

Constantinople was representing those ideas of being new and Roman at the same time.

The city had these similarities with Rome in spite of its more Eastern and Christian culture.

  1. The city was founded on seven hills just like Rome.
  2. Constantinople had a senate with its own senatorial class who were given grain to come settle in the city in the Eastern Empire.
  3. The city was governed by an Urban Prefect, just like in city of Rome.
  4. The City had a central forum, just like in Ancient Rome.
  5. The poor of the city were given free grain which was shipped from Alexandria in the early era of the Byzantine Empire.

As you can clearly see this was a city that was emulating the Old Rome in many ways. The main change was in the religion and morality of the people inside the Empire.

New Rome was a fusion of both old and the new. The Old was the Pagan Past. The New was now representing the Christian Present. It was this fusion of state of church in this New Roman Empire that began under Emperor Constantine.