If Istanbul is captured, given, conquered whatever should it be renamed byzantium or constantinople?
Βυζαντιον because it was its original greek name. Constantinopolis is the name given to the city built next to Βυζαντιον by Constantinus.
nah..i ll go For Constantinople,the City has this name from 324 A.D. Istanbul in greek means "Εις την Πολην" in english "In the City" And think the Turks didnt change the name until the 1900 around ,maybe i am wrong also see here Names of Istanbul http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Istanbul All the Greeks still call it Constantinople
Byzantium was another city, it's not important that Constantinus build his Constantinople over the former Byzantium, Const. was a completely new city, not an enlargement of Byz. The only reason that Byzantium is still used to name Constantinople and call the Roman Empire "Byzantine" is the hate, the ignorance and the envy of western historians, catholic prelates and politicians, from the eras of Charlemagne to today.
Well, here's an example, in my country, we call Munich München, just like the germans do. The greeks can call the city whatever they want, most likely Konstantinoupolis, Byzantium if they want, it really doesn't matter. The Italians can call it Constantinople because they are descendants of the romans etc. etc. And my country calls it Konstantinopel, so it all depends on country.
This is not a simple philological-linguistic problem, is a historical problem. Constantinople is called Byzantium not for linguistic reasons, but as contempt for what it represented the Empire.
2 votes for Constantinople
I agree with Konstantinos XI Palaiologos. Constantinopole represented something a bit different than Byzantium.
I vote Constantinopolis or Konstantinoupolis Mithridates right, Constantinople represented the greatness of Greco-Roman Culture and Civilization
