Constantine rebuilt the old Greek town of Byzantium as a second Rome and dedicated it on 11 May 330. As Constantinople, and later Istanbul, it was a capital for nearly 1,600 years.
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In the Bible · c. AD 95 (by tradition) · Patmos, in the Aegean Sea
John on Patmos
On the small island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor, John sees the visions written in the book of Revelation.
Mark 16:1–8
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb. They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’” So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone.At the same time in the world
In 313 the Roman emperors allowed Christians to worship freely, and in 330 Constantine dedicated his new capital, Constantinople. Eusebius writes that Constantine ordered fifty Bibles on fine parchment for its churches; whether Sinaiticus or Vaticanus was one of them is debated. Here is the world of the mid-4th century AD.
Greece and RomeA new Rome on the Bosporus11 May AD 330
IndiaSamudraguptareigned c. AD 335–375
Samudragupta extended the Gupta Empire across northern India; an inscription on a pillar at Prayagraj lists the kings he defeated. His gold coins show him playing a stringed instrument, the veena.
ElsewhereAksum turns to the crossc. AD 330–350
In the highlands of today’s Ethiopia and Eritrea, King Ezana of Aksum adopted Christianity, taught by Frumentius, a Syrian Greek from Tyre. The coins of Aksum changed from the old crescent and disc to the cross.
ChinaThe Orchid PavilionAD 353
At a spring gathering by the Orchid Pavilion in 353, the calligrapher Wang Xizhi wrote a short preface to his friends’ poems. Copies of it became the most admired model of Chinese handwriting; the original is lost.
The AmericasKings of Tikalfrom AD 292
At Tikal in the forests of Guatemala, Maya kings raised temples and set up stone monuments dated in the Long Count calendar; the oldest found there, Stela 29, is from AD 292.
Eastern Europe and the steppeA Gothic alphabetc. AD 350
Wulfila, a bishop of the Goths on the lower Danube, made an alphabet for the Gothic language and translated the Bible into it — the oldest long text in any Germanic language. Part of it survives in the Silver Codex, now in Uppsala.
ElsewhereKeyhole tombs of Japanc. AD 250–538
In Japan, rulers were buried under huge keyhole-shaped mounds, the kofun, ringed by moats and clay figures. The largest, near today’s Osaka, is almost 500 meters long.
