The story of Rum begins long before it was known by that name, long before its minarets and polls pierced the skyline, long before its hosts of soldiers thundered through its gates. The megacity we now associate with “ Rum ” — a name that in Islamic chronicles would come to mean the lands of Rome and latterly Byzantium has its roots in the small Greek colony of Byzantium, innovated on the edge of Europe and Asia, where mainlands, swell, and conglomerates would meet and disaccord. To understand Rum, one must first understand Byzantium, the seed from which it grew, and the strategic genius of its position that would ultimately make it the covetousness of the world.