Constantinople

Of all the most important cities of Ancient Rome on the list, Constantinople is significant. It is also the only Roman-founded city that has since outgrown Rome. To serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire, Constantinople was established in 330 CE in the location of the former Byzantion. Its founder, Constantine the Great, choose the peninsula on the Bosphorus coast, a crucial route between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, as the ideal location for his new metropolis. Constantinople, which is where Europe and Asia converge, quickly developed into a bustling city.

Constantinople was a commercial hub of the Mediterranean thanks to its natural harbor, the Golden Horn, which controlled the important shipping routes and the overland trade. The city was renowned for its stunning architecture as well. Constantine wanted his city to exceed Rome, not just compete with it. The emperor started a construction binge. His efforts led to the construction of the Great Palace, which had gardens and courtyards, a Hippodrome that could hold 50,000 spectators, and The Mese, a broad main thoroughfare with colonnades that united the great fora. Water was stored in large subterranean cisterns by the aqueducts, which supplied the expanding population of the old Roman metropolis. Constantine moved monuments and statues from all around the empire into his bustling city in addition to erecting numerous new ones. His successors carried on the tradition of enhancing the city with brand-new architectural marvels, the most significant of which was the enormous church of Hagia Sophia, constructed in the sixth century under the reign of the emperor Justinian.

Constantinople was well-known for its richness, splendor, and exotic trading marketplaces for more than a thousand years. It served as the epicenter of the mighty Byzantine Empire, which gave all of the empire's people cause for pride. Visitors were so mesmerized by its churches that a Russian embassy decided to convert its citizens to Orthodoxy after witnessing the magnificence of Hagia Sophia. But because of its enormous riches, the "Queen of the Cities" became one of the most sought-after cities on earth. The city's formidable land walls, a massive bulwark broken only once in its history, repelled several attempts to conquer it. In addition, the Ottoman troops' conquest of Constantinople in 1453 signaled the end of the medieval Roman Empire and the destruction of the final ancient Roman city. Under its new rulers, Constantinople maintained its role as the capital and changed its name to Konstantinye, then to Istanbul.