Constantinople - Its Many Historical Names

Lygos
Lygos was the first name of the city. It was founded by Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC and colonized by the Greeks in the 7th Century BC.

Byzantium
In AD 196 the city fell to the Roman Republic and was knows as Byzantium until 330.

Constantinople
In 330 it was renamed Constantinople and made the new capital of the Byzantine Empire which ended with the Muslim conquest in 1453.

İstanbul
Since 1923 Istanbul has been the sole official name of the city after the formation of the Republic of Turkey.