Episode 11 - Founding of Byzantion (Later Constantinople) Part 2

In this episode, we turn from the act of Byzantion’s founding to the way that founding was remembered. Herodotus gives us the first glimpse, a passing mention that anchors the city in the wider story of Greek colonization. Later writers would add layers of detail—some sober, some fanciful—until the tale of Megarian settlers and Delphic oracles became part of a larger myth about destiny on the Bosphorus. Byzantine chroniclers, looking back from the vantage point of empire, recast the city’s origins as a providential beginning, while Renaissance scholars like Petrus Gyllius sifted through ruins and fragments to preserve what remained of the earliest traditions. By following this chain of memory, we’ll see how Byzantion’s birth was never just a single event, but a story retold and reshaped across the centuries.

Franz Gordon, Hanna Ekström, Anna Dager / Boxes of Memories / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

Gavin Luke / Crucial Calculations / courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

CHAPTERS:

Introduction (0:00)

Herodotus (3:45)

Polybius (9:04)

Diodorus Siculus (17:17)

Strabo (20:48)

Pliny the Elder (24:03)

Tacitus (27:16)

Dionysius of Byzantium (30:34)

Paulus Orosius (33:58)

John Malalas (36:23)

Stephanus of Byzantium (38:25)

Hesychius of Miletus (41:11)

Petrus Gyllius (47:47)

Recap (52:43)

Conclusion (56:30)