In 657 BCE, a prince from the Greek city-state of Megara, located southwest of Athens, named Byzas, prepared to lead his people to establish a colony on the coast of Asia Minor. To choose an ideal location, he consulted the oracle at Delphi and received a cryptic answer: "Build your city opposite the land of the blind."
At first, Byzas did not understand the oracle's meaning. However, when his ship arrived at Chalcedon on the eastern shore of the Bosporus Strait, he suddenly grasped the oracle's intent. The geographical position of Chalcedon was so poor—it failed to see the advantages of the nearby Golden Horn. It seemed like only blind men would have built a city in such a location. Consequently, Byzas established his colony directly across from Chalcedon and named it Byzantium.
