B Y Z 



anJ wa? reduced to the coadition of a mere village ; fo 

 tliat it was fubjet^cd tO(rctlicr with its territory to the 

 jurif.hdion of tiie Pcriiitliiaiis who iiifi.lciuly abuYtd their 

 porttr. Its fortifications were totally difmantltd ; and thus 

 Severus dcpiivcd liie empire of one of its Ihonircil bul- 

 w.irks, which kept all Thrace in awe, and commanded 

 Alia and the Euxine fea. " I faw it," fays Dion Caffius, 

 " in fucli a Hate of ruin and defolation as woiild have made any 

 one tlii ik it ha<l been conquered, not by Romans, but by 

 barbarians." The emperor, at the requell: of his infant fon, 

 Caracalla, mitigated fome part of its punifliment, rebuilt a 

 confiderabic part of it, calling it " Anlonia" from the 

 furname of Antonius, afTumed by hi« fon : hut never rellored 

 it to its ancient privileges, nor reverfcd tlie order by which 

 it was fubjtc\.d to the Perinthians ; for we find by ecclc- 

 fiaftical hillory, that till the time when Conllaiitine rebuilt 

 Byzantium and gave it his name, the bilhop of this city 

 acknowledged the bi(hop of Pciinthus, or Hci-aclca, for 

 his metropolitan. In the year 262, the tyrant'Gallienus 

 exercifcd cruel vengeance on Byzantium for reafons which 

 are not particularly fpecilicd ; but the Byzantines having 

 fonne ground for millrufling him, at Krft lhi:t their gates 

 againil liim ; but afterwards admitting him upon his 

 promife of moderation and clemtticy, he bafely broke 

 his word, an d caufcd both the gartifon and inhabitants to 

 be malfacred ; fo that at the time when TrebcUius Puliio 

 wrote, there was not an ancient family in Byzantium, 

 except fuch whofe accidental abfence, occafioned' either by 

 bullnefs or pltafure.or by their beinjj employed in the armies, 

 had preferved fome remains. On occafion of the war be- 

 tween Licinius and Maximin, Byzantium was btfieged and 

 taken by the latter; but it was foon after recovered by 

 Licinius. But in 324 Licinius was defeated by Conftan- 

 tme the Great, firll at Adrianople and then at Chalcedon : 

 and the cities of Byxantium and Chalcedon opened their 

 gates to the conqueror. In the year J30, Conilantinc re- 

 lolved to enlarge the ancient city of Byzantium, and to make 

 It the iecond, if not the firll, city of the Roman empire. Ac- 

 cordingly he began by extending its walls from fea to fea ; 

 and while fome of the workmen were employed in rearing 

 them, others were employed in raifing a great number of 

 ftately buildings, and, among the reft, a palace equal in mag- 

 m^cence and extent to that of Rome. As he defigned to 

 lix his own court there, and was defirous that the fucceeding 

 emperors (hould follow his example, and honour his new city 

 with their ordinary refidence, he fpared neither coil nor la- 

 bour to render it both beautiful and convenient. Wirh this 

 view, he built a capitol and amphitheatre, formed a circus 

 maximus, feveral forums, porticos, and public baths ; and di- 

 vided the whole city into 14 regions, fecuririg the inhabitants 

 by many whoiefome laws, and granting them great privileoes 

 and immunities. By thefe means, Byzantium became, in a 

 Jhort tim-, one of the mod flourilhing and populous cities of 

 the empire ; whole families flocking thither from all parts, 

 trpecially from Pontus, Thrace, and Afia. Conftantine pub- 

 lifhed an ediit, importing that fuch as had lands in thofe 

 countries Ihould not be able to difpofe of them, nor even 

 leave them at their deaths to their heirs, unlefs they had a 

 houfe in his new city. The common people were enticed 

 thither from the moft diftant provinces, and even from Rome 

 itielt, by the emperor's donations, and the great quantity of 

 corn.oil, and when, which was daily diftributed among them. 

 But however defirous the emperor was to fee his n?w city 

 filled with people, yet he did not choofe it fltould be inha- 

 bited by any but Chriftians, and therefore he ordered all the 

 •do s to be pnlled down, and their temples to be confecrated 

 10 the true God. He built, befides, an incredible number 



B Z O 



of churches, and caufed croffes to be erefted in all the' 

 fquarcsand public placef. ^Vhcn moft of the buildings were 

 finidied, the emperor on the nth of May, in the year 3^0, 

 the 25th of his reign, caufed this city, by a very lolemii de- 

 dication, to be confecrated, according to Cedrenus, to the 

 Virgin Mary; but, according to Eufebius, to the God of 

 Martyrs It was on this occafion, that Conftantine Itvled 

 the new city after his own name, "Con(lantinop!e,"or the'citv 

 of Conftantine, and h'kewifc " fecond," or as others will have 

 it, " New Rome." A.t the fame time he put it on an equa- 

 lity with ancient Rome, -granting it the fame rights, immu' 

 nities, and privilege?, that were euji.yed by that metropolis 

 He eftahhft)td a lenate, and other i^-agiftrates, with a power 

 and luitho'ity equal to that of the Ron.an fcnate, and de- 

 clared " New Rome" the metropolis of the eaft, as " Old* 

 Rome" was of the- weft. Conftantine having acconrnhfticd 

 this great wor.ti, according to feme in five, according to 

 others in two years, fixed his refidence in the new city and 

 never more returned to Rome. The removal of the I'mpe 

 nal feat from Rome to Conftantii.ople haopcned in the year 

 of the Chrilban sra 3,50, the 25ih of Conltantine's rei<rn 

 and Ii2b after the foundation of Rome. Anc Un Hul 

 vols. xiu. XIV. Crevier's Roman Emperor, vols, viii ' ix x' 

 Gibbon's Rom. Emp. vol. in. p. 1 &c. See Constan't,! 



NOPLE. 



BYZIA, VizA, V.s£, in Geography, a mean town of 

 1 urkey in Europe, in Romania, whch was anciently the re. 

 fidence of the kings of Thrace, and which has ttiU a Greek 

 bilhop. It ,s fituated in a fangiakftiip of the fame name, 

 which extends caftward from the foot of mount Hsmus 

 to the lea of Mannara. Sec Bizya 



BYZO. See Bizu. 



BYZONE. See EizoNE. 



BZOVIUS or BzowsKi, Abraham, in Biography, air 

 induftnous and voluminous writer, was born in Poland in 

 1567, and having ftudled at Cracow, entered into the order 

 ofDommicans. He afterwards read leftures in philofophy 

 at Milan, and in divinity at Bologna. On his return to Po- 

 land, he taught and preached with great applaufe, and be- 

 came principal of a college belonging to his order; to the 

 aggrandizement of which he very much contributed, by the 

 erefting of churches and convents, by furniftiing their libra- 

 ries and by reforming their conftitutions. On his fettlement 

 at Rome, he became librarian to the duke of Braccianno; and 

 having compiled "An Abridgement of Ecclefiaftical Hif- 

 tory taken chiefly from the annals of Baronius, he was in- 

 duced to engage in the continuation of that work, and with 

 VaticT Th^'"^' r""' '^Sned to him by the pope in the 

 l^lTh J ^'^^^'"•k .'commencing in iigS, where Baronius 

 had left off, was continued to his own times, and comprifed 

 m 12 volumes, folio, of which 9 have been printed: viz 8 at 



W rh^rf -Tr i"" '° '^^°' ^'"^ ^^^5th at Rome in 1672. 

 With a fp.nt fimilar to that of his predecefTor he arrogates 

 plenary power to the papal fee, and manifefts the zeal of a 

 credulous and partial advocate rather than the fidelity of an 

 hiftorian By his abufe of the emperor Lewis of Bavlria, he 

 excited the inaignation and remonftrances of the duke of 

 Bavaria, a delcendant of the fame houfe, who obliged him to 

 make a pubhc retractation. He alfo offended the pfancSs 

 by his reproaches ot Scotus, the " fubtle doftor," and Tv' 

 other a«s of hoftihty : and he likewife gave great offence to 

 the Jefuits. His work is, upon the whole,^httle efteemed 

 x>zovius wrote 3 volumes of the lives of the popes and . 

 ^reat number of other works, v.hich are com'ple^te y fu'k 

 nto oblivion. Having quitted the Vatican, he retired to 

 ge Don^nican convent of Minerva, and died here in 16,7! 



