Note 2820 — Chapter VI
W. (William) Falconer translation
The ancient Byzantium, there are grounds for believing, was marked by the present walls of the Seraglio. The enlarged city was founded by the emperor Constantine, A. D. 328, who gave it his name, and made it the rival of Rome itself. It was taken from the Greeks in 1204, by the Venetians under Dandolo; retaken by the Greeks in 1261 under the emperor Michael Palæologus, and conquered by the Turks in 1453. The crescent found on some of the ancient Byzantine coins was adopted as a symbol by the Turks.