With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula between the Balkans and Anatolia, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Istanbul has been associated with major political, religious and artistic events for more than 2,000 years. Its masterpieces include the ancient Hippodrome of Constantine, the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the 16th-century Süleymaniye Mosque.

The city establish by Byzas… Establishment of Istanbul…

As to the legend, Io who had been the daughter of the King of Argos, Inachos, had been a nun living in the Hera Temple of the Argos city. One day Zeus sees the outstandingly beautiful blue-eyed Io and falls in love with her at first sight. Here, the wife of Zeus becomes jealous as soon as she hears this. And Zeus trying to protect his lover from his wife’s rage turns Io into a white cow and swears to Hera that he never had any relation with this cow. Hera then forces him to give the cow to her. She takes Io the cow and puts Argos, the giant with the thousand eyes as a watcher near her. Zeus trying to rescue his lover Io sends Hermes. And Hermes puts spell on Argos and kills it. Against this, Hera inflicts a housefly upon Io. The horsefly bites Io. Io getting mad with the pain runs from continent to another and cannot get rid of the horsefly. When she is escaping from the horsefly, she crosses the Boshporus (meaning “the cow passage”) and arrives in Haliç (the Golden Horn). After she crosses the Haliç, she gives birth to a girl and names her “Keroessa Keras” “meaning horn to the child”. Later, Keroessa marries the Poseidon, the god of the sea and gives birth to Byzas. Then Byzas establishes a city in where his mother gave birth to him in and the city is named Byzantium.