Which statement does not accurately describe why Constantine chose Byzantium as his new capital? A. The location was near fertile farmland where crops grew in abundance. B. The location made it easier to defend the empire. C. A network of caravan routes, seaways, and paved imperial highways linked the location to three continents. D. Great heroes such as Achilles and Hector had engaged in epic battles at that location.

The term "Byzantine" derives from Byzancio, an ancient Greek colony founded by a man named Byzas. Located in the European region of The Bosphorus (direct access between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean), the site of Byzantium was conceived at the beginning to serve as a point of transit and trade between Europe and Asia Minor. In the year 330 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine I, chose Byzantium as the site where the new Roman capital, Constantinople, would be erected. Five years earlier, at the Council of Nicaea, Constantine had established Christianity as the official religion of Rome (formerly considered a Jewish sect of obscure origin). The citizens of Constantinople and the rest of the Eastern Roman Empire, strongly identified themselves as Romans and Christians, although many of them spoke Greek and not Latin.