In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire

A view from beyond the Golden Horn of what, in ancient times, was the Greek city of Byzantium. It was here, in AD 324, that the emperor Constantine arrived to found a new capital. With becoming modesty, he christened it “The City of Constantine”: Constantinople. The waters around the city, it was said, adorned it “like a garland.” (Tom Holland)