The tip of the Golden Horn
These things earned the eastern capital the nickname "Queen of Cities".
What are magnificent buildings like the Haggai Sophia, the Hippodrome and palaces?
This is the year the Justinian and Theodora rose to power as Emperor and Empress.
What is 527?
This good and honest merchant had a vision in 610 that laid the foundation for a new religion.
Who is Mohammed?
Many luxuries traded across Arabia and the Islamic caliphate, but not this one.
What is wine?
This sea lies between the Arabian pennisula and Egypt.
What is the Red Sea?
Wealth flowed into the city from sales of exclusive purple dye and trade from this ancient highway.
What is the Silk Road?
Who was Theodora?
Residents of this city conspired to assassinate the prophet, but eventually capitulated after their idols were destroyed.
This public academy and library preserved ancient knowledge and promoted learning.
What is the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom)?
It has been known as Persia for far longer than it's been known by this name.
What is Iran?
Some things never change, like these two power-holders.
What are the Emperor and the Senate?
Never satisfied with letting things fall apart, this was Justinian's number one priority at Emperor.
What is restoring the glory of Rome?
This is the most sacred shrine in all of Islam and devotees still make pilgrimages to walk around it.
What is the Kaaba?
Considered back water barbarians by the cosmopolitan eastern Romans, societies here at far less wealth and far fewer resources than Islamic civilizations.
What is Europe?
The Danube River ends here, in this body of water that gives Russia a warm-water port.
What is the Black Sea?
This capital of the Byzantine Empire was strategically located near the mouth of the Danube River to defend against Germanic invasions, and on the Syrian frontier to monitor Persian activity in the east.
What is Constantinople?
Reclaiming lost Roman territory, monumental architecture projects and this legal namesake were how the Emperor reclaimed the glory of Rome.
What is The Justinian Code?
When he hears of the plot to kill him, he makes this quick escape to Medina in 622.
What is the Hejira or Flight to Medina?
This city in central Iraq became the richest city in the world during the Islamic Golden Age because of its high trade volume.
What is Baghdad?
Dating back to biblical times, this tiny country was established on May 10, 1948 and lies on the eastern side of the Mediterranean.
What is Israel?
The use of this language was the most noteworthy difference between the "new" Rome and the "old" Rome.
What is Greek?
This general reclaimed northern Africa and Italy for the eastern empire, and slaughtered 30,000 people in the Hippodrome during the Nike Revolt.
Who is Belasarius?
By 650, Islam had spread across the known world as far west as Spain and as far east as this country.
What is India?
Islamic cultures are credited with developing castles, domes and this mathematical system that discovers the unknown.
What is Algebra?
This narrow waterway in the western Mediterranean has an Arabic namesake dating back to the Islamic expansion.
What is the Strait of Gibraltar?