Constantine the Great

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus, Emperor of Rome 306-337 CE. died of natural causes at the age of 65. Last of the great "Roman Emperors." He is famous for shoring up much of the strength of the Empire, accepting Christianity as the leading religion of the Empire and moving the capital further East to what he called "New Rome" (Constantinople). The acceptance of the growth and power of the Christian Religion was to have enormous Social ramifications for the history of Europe and the rest of the World. While the choice of his new capital, closer to the Eastern threats to the Empire as well as its greatest wealth, would lay the foundations for the survival (through the as yet unborn Eastern Roman Empire) of Roman technology and knowledge well into the 15th century.

The city of Constantine, Constantinople (Modern Day Istanbul), ancient Greek city of Byzantium, rebuilt (circa 330 CE) with a new name and destiny as the new capital of the Roman Empire. Protected on three sides by the sea and on land by the greatest city walls ever constructed, Constantinople would rule first the Roman World and then the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire) for more than a thousand years, until its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 CE.