Byzanz

Byzanz, in German usage, refers to Byzantium and, more broadly, to the Byzantine Empire. The term can denote the ancient city Byzantion, the site on the eastern side of the Bosporus opposite Chalcedon, founded in the mid-7th century BCE by Megarian colonists. Byzantion grew into a powerful mercantile and strategic center, controlling access between the Black Sea and the Aegean.

In 330 CE, the Roman Emperor Constantine I refounded the city as Constantinople and made it the capital of the Roman Empire. After the permanent division of the empire, it became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, later known as the Byzantine Empire. For centuries, Constantinople remained a major political, military, and cultural hub, as well as a focal point for Orthodox Christianity, with the Patriarch of Constantinople as its spiritual leader. The city housed monumental architecture such as Hagia Sophia and served as a center of art, scholarship, and law, including the continuation of Roman law and Greek learning.

The empire endured after periods of crisis, including the Latin occupation of 1204–1261, until the Ottoman capture of the city in 1453, after which it became Istanbul. Its legacy includes influence on Christian theology, medieval law, and the preservation and transmission of classical Greek and Roman knowledge to later Europe. The name Byzanz is primarily used in German-language sources to refer to Byzantium and the Byzantine Empire.