New Rome

New Rome (Nova Roma, Nea Roma) was a name given by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 330 to his new imperial capital at the city on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, also known as Byzantium until then, and as Kōnstantinoúpolis (Constantinople). The city is now known as Istanbul.

Constantine essentially rebuilt the city on a monumental scale, partly modelled after Rome. Names of this period included ἡ Νέα, δευτέρα Ῥώμη "the New, second Rome",^[1]^[2] Alma Roma Ἄλμα Ῥώμα, Βυζαντιάς Ῥώμη, ἑῴα Ῥώμη "Eastern Rome", and Roma Constantinopolitana.^[3]^: 354

The term "New Rome" lent itself to East–West polemics, especially in the context of the Great Schism, when it was used by Greek writers to stress the rivalry with (the original) Rome.

"New Rome" is also still part of the official title of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.^[4]

References

^ According to the Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, vol. 164 (Stuttgart 2005), column 442, there is no evidence for the tradition that Constantine officially dubbed the city "New Rome" (Nova Roma or Nea Rhome). Commemorative coins that were issued during the 330s already refer to the city as Constantinopolis (see, e.g., Michael Grant, The climax of Rome (London 1968), p. 133).
^ The 5th-century church historian Socrates of Constantinople writes in his Historia Ecclesiastica, 1:16 (c. 439) that the emperor named the city "Constantinople" while decreeing that it be designated a "second Rome" (‘Κωνσταντινούπολιν’ μετονομάσας, χρηματίζειν ‘δευτέραν Ῥώμην’ νόμῳ ἐκύρωσεν).
^ Georgacas, Demetrius John (1947). "The Names of Constantinople". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 78. The Johns Hopkins University Press: 347–67. doi:10.2307/283503. JSTOR 283503.
^ Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

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[1] According to the Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, vol. 164 (Stuttgart 2005), column 442, there is no evidence for the tradition that Constantine officially dubbed the city "New Rome" (Nova Roma or Nea Rhome). Commemorative coins that were issued during the 330s already refer to the city as Constantinopolis (see, e.g., Michael Grant, The climax of Rome (London 1968), p. 133).

[2] The 5th-century church historian Socrates of Constantinople writes in his Historia Ecclesiastica, 1:16 (c. 439) that the emperor named the city "Constantinople" while decreeing that it be designated a "second Rome" (‘Κωνσταντινούπολιν’ μετονομάσας, χρηματίζειν ‘δευτέραν Ῥώμην’ νόμῳ ἐκύρωσεν).

[Georgacas1947-3] Georgacas, Demetrius John (1947). "The Names of Constantinople". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 78. The Johns Hopkins University Press: 347–67. doi:10.2307/283503. JSTOR 283503.

[4] Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

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