jan 1, 667 BC - 667 B.C.E. Founding of Byzantium

Description:

The "Histories" by the Greek historian Herodotus is a collection of books written around 430 BC.

In Book 4, Melpomene, at passage 144 it goes on to say "This Megabazos uttered one saying whereby he left of himself an imperishable memory with the peoples of Hellespont: for being once at Byzantion he heard that the men of Chalcedon had settled in that region seventeen years before the Byzantians, and having heard it he said that those of Chalcedon at that time chanced to be blind; for assuredly they would not have chosen the worse place, when they might have settled in that which was better, if they had not been blind."

The city of Chalcedon was said to be built around 684 BC directly opposite to where the city of Byzantium would be founded 17 years later.

The "Histories" is significant because the date for the founding of the city of Byzantium as 667 BC is usually attributed to an excerpt from the collection and serves as the date for the beginning of the city of Byzantium that would eventually become the most influential and powerful city in the world in the subsequent centuries.

Citations

Primary Source:
Herodotus, et al. The Histories. London, Penguin Books, 2003.

Secondary Source:
“Chalcedon | Ancient City, Turkey.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/place/Chalcedon.

‌CAPTION: A fragment of a page from the "Histories" by Herodotus.

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