Medieval Quest

(Hagia Sophia Cathedral now a mosque, in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey)

The Byzantine Empire began in 330 CE.  In 395 CE, Theodosum I divided the Roman Empire and put his son Arcadius in charge of the Eastern Empire and his son Honorius in charge of the Western Empire. The Western Empire did not have the wealth that the Eastern Empire had.  For that reason and because of poor management by a number of successive emperors the Western Empire could not financially stand on its own. The ancient Greek  city of Byzantium was chosen to be the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire.   The city of Byzantium was renamed Constantinople for the Emperor Constantine I.   The Western Empire fell in 376 CE, but the Eastern empire lasted for more than 1000 more years, until in was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.  What are the strategic, economic and geographic benfits of the location of Constantinople?