., _Ivoires_ (Paris, 1896); O. Dalton, _Catalogue
of Early Christian Antiquities...of the British Museum_ (1901); A. van
Millingen, _Byzantine Constantinople_ (1899); Salzenberg, _Altchristliche
Baudenkmaler_ &c. (Berlin, 1854); A. Choisy, _L'Art de batir chez les
Byzantins_ (Paris, 1875); Couchand, _Eglises byzantines en Grece_; Ongania,
_Basilica di S. Marco_; Texier and Pullan, _L'Architecture b. 73_ (1864);
Lethaby and Swainson, _Sancta Sophia, Constantinople_ (1894); Schultz and
Barnsley, _The Monastery of St Luke_, &c. (1890); L. de Beylie,
_L'Habitation byz._ (Paris, 1903). For Syria: M. de Voguee,
_L'Architecture...dans la Syrie centrale_ (Paris, 1866-1877); H.C. Butler,
_Architecture and other Arts_, &c. (New York, 1904). For Egypt: W.E. Crum,
_Coptic Monuments_ (Cairo, 1902); A. Gayet, _L'Art Copte_ (Paris, 1902);
A.J. Butler, _Ancient Coptic Churches_. For North Africa: S. Csell, _Les
Monuments antiques de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1901). For Italy: A. Venturi,
_Storia dell' arte Italiana_ (Milan, 1901); G. Rivoira, _Le Origini della
architettura Lombarda_ (Rome, 1901); C. Errard and A. Gayet, _L'Art
byzantin_, &c. (Paris,1903).

(W. R. L.)

[1] For Byzantine literature see GREEK LITERATURE: _Byzantine_.

BYZANTIUM, an ancient Greek city on the shores of the Bosporus, occupying
the most easterly of the seven hills on which modern Constantinople stands.
It was said to have been founded by Megarians and Argives under Byzas about
657 B.C., but the original settlement having been destroyed in the reign of
Darius Hystaspes by the satrap Otanes, it was recolonized by the Spartan
Pausanias, who wrested it from the Medes after the battle of Plataea (479
B.C.)--a circumstance which led several ancient chroniclers to ascribe its
foundation to him. Its situation, said to have been fixed by the Delphic
oracle, was remarkable for beauty and security. It had complete control
over the Euxine grain-trade; the absence of tides and the depth of its
harbour rendered its quays accessible to vessels of large burden; while the
tunny and other fisheries were so lucrative that the curved inlet near
which it stood became known as the Golden Horn. The greatest hindrance to
its prosperity was the miscellaneous character of the population, partly
Lacedaemonian and partly Athenian, who flocked to it under Pausanias. It
was thus a subject of dispute between these states, and was alternately in
the possession of each, till it fell into the hands