What words best describes the location of the Eastern Roman Empire's capital?

Answer 1

The word best which describes the location of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) is strategic.

Constantinople was on a promontory on the southern entrance of the Bosporus, a strait which separates Europe and Asia and which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea (via small sea in between the two called the Sea of Marmara). This placed Constantinople both on the land route between Europe and Asia and on the naval route between the Mediterranean and the Back Sea, giving her control over these two important routes. An inlet of the Bosporus on the city's northern shore (the Golden Horn) provided a very good harbour. It was this harbour which made the fortune of the city. Two ports were built in this inlet. Hence the strategic position.

The location on a promontory also made Constantinople easy to defend. The city was on a waterfront on thee of its sides, which made it difficult to attack them. Constantinople's location was also hilly, which made it easier to build strong fortifications to defend it land side.

The location of the city also had some disadvantages. The prevailing winds are north-easterly, and this often caused shipwrecks. Because of this two ports were built on the southern shore. One of these (the Harbour of Eleutherios later known as the Harbour of Theodosius) was discovered by archaeologists in 2004; 35 shipwrecks from the 7th to 10th centuries have also been found. Another disadvantage is that this area is often hit by earthquakes.

Constantinople was the capital of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Eastern and Western Roman Empire are term which has been coined by historians and which the Romans did not use. They only used one term: Roman Empire. The terms can give the wrong impression that the Roman Empire was divided and there were two empires. In actual fact, there was only one Roman Empire which was never split. East and west were administrative parts.