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Constantine chose to found his new capital at Byzantium because it was relatively near the place he defeated Licinius. However, according to the book I'm reading it wasn't a good place to found a large-scale city due to water supply problems.

So, what does he do? He takes advantage that Licinius and the other Tetrarchs had built up Nicomedia to some extent. He decides to appropriate the other Tetrarchs' work as his own (similar to what he did in Rome for Maxentius) and turn Nicomedia into Constantinople. In addition to using an existing city, he can flaunt the fact that he had overthrown the city's previous masters.

Constantine installs all of the monuments and buildings he put in Byzantium and soon Nicomedia grows by leaps and bounds to the sizes Byzantium achieved IOTL at the same time. How does history develop from there?
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