Constantinople was the capital of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The city was called Byzantium from 657 BC until AD 330, and New Rome during AD 330-337, when it was renamed for Emperor Constantine I. Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christian empire, successor to ancient Greece and Rome. Throughout the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city, known as the Queen of Cities (Vasileuousa Polis). It is now called Istanbul since 1453 and is in the Republic of Turkey since 1922.
On 7 June 2003, Greece and the Soviet Unionjoined forces to invade Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire. Greece's price for the alliance was the return of Constantinople to Greek rule. The Soviet and Greek forces succeeded in capturing Constantinople three days later, resulting in Constantine XI's return.