View source for Byzas

{{Short description|Greek mythical character, founder of Byzantium}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Byzas
| image = Coinage with Byzas 2nd 3rd century CE.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = Coinage with idealized depiction of Byzas, the legendary founder of [[Byzantium]], around the time of Emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] (161–180).
| god_of = 
| abode = 
| symbol = 
| consort = 
| parents = [[Keroessa]] or [[Semystra (nymph)|Semystra]] and [[Poseidon]]
| siblings = 
| children = 
| mount = 
| Roman_equivalent = 
| birth_place = [[Megara]]
}}
{{Greek mythology sidebar}}

'''Byzas''' ([[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]]: Βύζας, ''Býzas'') was the legendary founder of [[Byzantium]] (Ancient Greek: Βυζάντιον, ''Byzántion''), the city later known as [[Constantinople]] and then [[Istanbul]].

==Background==
The legendary history of the founding of [[Byzantium]] as recorded by later Byzantine authors is most fully preserved in the ''[[Patria of Constantinople]]'' by 6th century writer [[Hesychius of Miletus]]. The ''Patria'' recorded multiple versions of the city's [[founding myth]]. Hesychius' preferred account says the city received its name from [[Io (mythology)|Io]], daughter of the [[Argive]] king, who was raped by [[Inachus]] and then transformed into a cow. [[Zeus]] had fallen in love with Io, and in a jealous fit, [[Hera]] sent a [[Gadfly (mythology)|gadfly]] to drive Io from one place to another in torment until she arrived in [[Thrace]], giving birth to [[Ceroessa]], the mother of Byzas by [[Poseidon]], for whom the Golden Horn was named ''Ceras''. One tradition holds that the city was founded by the [[Argives]] who received an [[oracle at Delphi]] with reference to the [[Golden Horn]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Russell |first1=Thomas |title=Byzantium and the Bosporus a historical study, from the seventh century BC until the foundation of Constantinople |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=43–44}}</ref> Another claims [[Megarians]] (led by Byzas) are the founders, and yet another says Byzas is the son of a local nymph, [[Semystra (nymph)|Semystra]].<ref>[http://www.mediterra.org/wp-content/uploads/Byzantion-A-Foundation-Legend-from-Myth-into-History-.pdf Byzantion: A Foundation Legend, from Myth into History, p. 40]</ref><ref>Hesych., Mil.Patr.C5 (FGH IV 147).</ref><ref>[https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02435580/document Anca Dan. The Europeans Shores of the Bosporus. I∆ΥMA MEIZOOΣ EΛΛHIΣMOΥ. Eγκυκλoπαιδϵια M ϵιζoνoς Eλληνισμoυ, Kωνσταντ ινoυπoλη, 2008. ffhal-02435580f, p. 4]</ref>

==Founder of Byzantium==
During the 7th century BC, the Greek city-states were expanding and establishing new colonies. The Dorian city-state of Megara, near Athens, was also searching for sites to set up yet another colony. After asking the oracle of Delphi, the Megarean king Nisos sent his son Byzas in search of "the land opposite the city of the blind".

When Byzas arrived to where the [[Sea of Marmara]] meets the [[Bosporus]], on the border of [[Europe]] and [[Asia]], he realized the meaning of the oracle. On the Asian shore, opposite to where he was, a colony, [[Chalcedon]], had already been established. Byzas decided that Chalcedon was the prophesied 'city of the blind', as it had not taken advantage of the European shore.

To build his new city, he selected the European shore of the south end of Bosporos and gave the new city his name, Byzantion.
Later, Byzas married Fidalea, daughter of king Varvizos (or Varvisios) of Thrace. The inhabitants of ancient Byzantion considered Byzas as their founder ([[Oikistes]]) and, according to ancient sources, honoured him by raising a statue of Byzas and his wife, Fidalea, in a noticeable place in the city.

The ancients had a very good understanding of the advantages that Byzantion had over Chalcedon, as the colony of Byzantion commanded the entrance to two seas, the entrance to both the Black Sea, through Sea of Bosporos, and the Aegean Sea, through the Sea of Marmaras (Propontis was its ancient name).

Apart from the story of the Pythian oracle of Apollonian Delphi, as described by the Greek geographer and historian [[Strabo]] (63 BC - 23 AD) and by the Roman historian [[Tacitus]] (1st century AD), there are other versions of the maxim referring to the "blind people". The Greek historian [[Herodotos]] (5th century BC) wrote that when the Persian general [[Megabazus]] arrived at Byzantium, he called the people of Chalcedon blind because although they had a choice of sites, they chose the worse one.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*A.A.Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, Univ. Of Wisconsin Press, Vol.I, p.&nbsp;57, 58
*Afrodite Kamaras, EHW, 2008, Byzas (URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=10948>)
*Alexander Kazhdan, The Oxford Dictionary Of Byzantium, Oxford Un.Press, print publication 1991, online version 2005, Vol.I, entry "Byzantion"
*Herodotos, Ιστορίαι, Histories, Book D, 6.33
*Strabo, Γεωγραφικά, Geography, 7.6
*Procopios, Περί Κτισμάτων, De aedificiis, Α.5

[[Category:Ancient Megarians]]
[[Category:Children of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological city founders]]