<P> Roma Caput Mundi is a Latin phrase taken to mean "Rome capital of the world" (literally: "head of the world"; see capital, capitol). It originates out of a classical European understanding of the known world: Europe, North Africa, and Southwest Asia . </P> <P> The influence of Rome in the ancient world began to grow around the 2nd century BC as the Republic expanded across Southern Europe and North Africa . For the next five centuries, Rome would govern much of the known world (of traditional Greco - Roman geography). The cultural influence of the local language of Rome (Latin) as well as Roman art, architecture, law, religion and philosophy was immense . The city of Rome adopted as its nickname Caput Mundi, attributing this to its perception of an enduring power of Ancient Rome and the Roman Catholic Church . </P> <P> Constantinople was built as the second Rome by Emperor Constantine in 330 AD . </P> <P> The Byzantine Empire lasted for over a thousand years with the center always at Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was centered in the capitals of Nicaea, Trebizond, and Arta . The city was seen as the "Capital of the World" because of its prime trading position in the center of the medieval world . This privileged position continued even as the capital of the Ottoman Empire . The city was also the center of half of the Christian world as the seat of the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox church . Napoleon Bonaparte is quoted as saying, "If the Earth were a single state, Constantinople would be its capital ." Today, the city's name is Istanbul . </P>

If the earth were a single state constantinople would be its capital