Byzas

Coinage with idealized depiction of Byzas, founder of Byzantium. Struck in Byzantium, Thrace, around the time of Marcus Aurelius (161–180 AD).

In Greek mythology, Byzas (Greek: Βύζας) was the eponymous founder of Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον), the city later known as Constantinople and Istanbul.

Founding of Byzantium

What later became to be known as Byzantion was originally a trading settlement in Thrace, and its toparch and warden was Barbysios. When on his death bed, he called his daughter Phidalia, who, while her father was still alive built many buildings in the settlement and set up a tyche called Keroe, and told her to make a wall from sea to sea. After the death of her father Phidalia was married to Byzas, the King of Thrace. Byzas named the area after himself and ruled in the city.