THE WALLS ALONG THE SEA OF MARMORA.
The fortifications extending along the Sea of Marmora[883] from the
Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the southern extremity of the land walls
consisted of a single wall flanked, according to Bondelmontius, by 188
towers—a line of defence some five miles in length. Almost everywhere
along their course these fortifications stood close to the water’s edge,
making it almost impossible to land troops at their foot, and giving
them only the comparatively easy task of repelling an attack upon them
with ships.
[Illustration: Inscription in Honour Of Theodosius II. and the Prefect
Constantine. (_See page 46._)]
[Illustration: Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Theophilus. (_See
page 183._)]
[Illustration: Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Isaac Angelus. (_See
page 132._)]
What they had most reason to dread was the open sea upon whose margin
they stood, its ceaseless, unwearied sap and mine of their foundations,
and the furious assaults of its angry waves. This explains some
peculiarities noticeable in their construction. The line of their
course, for instance, was extremely irregular, turning in and out with
every bend of the shore, to present always as short and sharp a front as
possible to the waves that dashed against them. They were protected,
moreover, by a breakwater of loose boulders,[884] scattered in the sea
along their base. And the extent to which marble shafts were built, as
bonds, into the lower courses of the walls and towers was, doubtless,
another precaution adopted to maintain the stability of these
fortifications. A large portion of these walls is built in arches closed
on their outer face, and seems to be the work of a late age.
The walls had at least thirteen entrances.
The first gate, Top Kapoussi, a short distance to the south of the apex
of the promontory, was known as the Gate of St. Barbara (ἡ τῆς μάρτυρος
Βαρβάρας καλουμένη Πύλη),[885] after a church of that dedication in the
vicinity; the presence of a sanctuary consecrated to the patroness of
fire-arms at this point being explained by the fact that the Mangana, or
great military arsenal of the city, stood a little to the south of the
gate.
The gate was guarded also on the north-west, by the Church of St.
Demetrius, another military saint, and was therefore sometimes styled by
the Greeks, after the Turkish Conquest, the Gate of St. Demetrius.[886]
It was likewise known as the Eastern Gate,[887] owing to its position on
the eastern shore of the city.
Here, probably, stood one of the gates of old Byzantium; for when the
city was occupied by the Greeks under Xenophon, the Spartan admiral,
Anaxibius, escaped to the Acropolis by taking boat in the Golden Horn,
and rounding the promontory to the side facing Chalcedon.[888] The pier
in front of the gate was called the Pier of the Acropolis (ἡ τῆς
ἀκροπόλεως σκάλα);[889] and for the convenience of the boatmen and
sailors frequenting it, a chapel of St. Nicholas, their patron saint,
was attached to the Church of St. Barbara.[890]
According to the inscriptions[891] found upon the gate, it was included
in the repairs of the seaward walls in the reign of Theophilus. As
became its important position, it was a handsome portal, flanked, like
the Golden Gate, by two large towers of white marble,[892] and beside
it, if not in it, Nicephorus Phocas placed the beautiful gates which he
carried away from Tarsus as trophies of his Cilician campaigns.[893] On
two occasions it served as a triumphal entrance into the city, John
Comnenus using it for that purpose in 1126, to celebrate the capture of
Castamon;[894] and Manuel Comnenus in 1168, on his return from the
Hungarian War.[895] In 1816 the towers of the gate furnished material
for the Marble Kiosk which Sultan Mahmoud IV. erected in the
neighbourhood;[896] and in 1871 the gate disappeared during the
construction of the Roumelian railway.
Proceeding southwards from the Gate of St. Barbara, we reach the
entrance known as Deïrmen Kapoussi. It is clearly Byzantine, but its
Greek name is lost.
Between it and the Gate of St. Barbara must have stood the Mangana (τὰ
Μάγγανα),[897] or Arsenal, with its workshops, materials of war, and
library of books on military art. Its site is identified by the
statement of Nicetas Choniates,[898] that it faced the rocky islet off
the shore of Chrysopolis, on which the beacon tower Kiz Kalehssi, or
Leander’s Tower, is now built. For, according to that historian, Manuel
Comnenus, with the view of closing the Bosporus against naval attack
from the south, erected two towers between which he might suspend a
chain across the entrance of the straits; one of them, named Damalis and
Arcla (Δάμαλις, Ἄρκλα), being on the rock off Chrysopolis,[899] the
other, opposite to it, very close to the Monastery of Mangana.
The Tower of the Mangana was exceedingly strong, capable of withstanding
a siege by the whole city.[900] Hence, in the struggle between Apocaucus
and Cantacuzene, the former held it with great determination.
To the rear of Deïrmen Kapoussi a hollow, now occupied by
market-gardens, indicates the site of the Kynegion, the amphitheatre
erected by Severus when he restored Byzantium.[901] A combat of wild
animals was held here as late as the reign of Justinian the Great, in
honour of his consulship.[902] Subsequently, the Kynegion became a place
of execution for important political offenders. There, Justinian II., on
his restoration to the throne, put his rivals, Leontius and Apsimarus,
to death, after subjecting them to public humiliation in the Hippodrome,
by resting his feet upon their necks, while he viewed the games.[903]
A little to the south of the Kynegion stood the Church and Monastery of
St. George at the Mangana (Μοναστήριον κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα Μάγγανα, ἐπ᾽
ὀνόματι τοῦ ἁγίου μεγάλου μάρτυρος Γεωργίου). It was an erection of
Constantine Monomachus,[904] and one of the most splendid and important
monasteries in the city. Its site is determined by the following
indications; the church was opposite Chrysopolis,[905] and near the
Mangana and the Kynegion;[906] it stood in the midst of meadows, and to
it were attached gardens and a hospital.[907] “There was,” says Clavijo,
the Spanish envoy, “before the entrance (of the church), a wide court
containing many gardens and houses; the church itself stood in the
middle of these gardens.”[908] Now, room for a church with such
surroundings existed only to the south of the Kynegion, where a
comparatively extensive plain is found; while the territory to the north
was contracted, and was, moreover, otherwise occupied. This conclusion
is corroborated by the statement of the Russian pilgrims that the
Monastery of the Mangana lay to the _west_ of the Church of St.
Saviour.[909] That church, we shall find, stood at Indjili Kiosk.[910]
Hence, a building to the west of that point would be on the plain above
indicated.
From the Church of St. George mediæval writers derived the name of Braz
Saint George for the Sea of Marmora and the Hellespont.[911] The Emperor
John Cantacuzene, upon his abdication, was for some time a monk in the
Monastery of Mangana, under the name Joasaph (Ἰωάσαφ), until he withdrew
to the deeper seclusion of the Monastery of Batopedi, on Mount
Athos.[912]
The next gate, Demir Kapoussi, is a Turkish erection that may have
replaced an older entrance.[913]
A little further south, arched buttresses, forming the substructures on
which the villa known as Indjili Kiosk, in the Seraglio grounds, once
stood, are seen built against the walls. Through these buttresses the
water of a Holy Spring within the city was, until recently, conducted to
the outer side of the walls, and thus rendered accessible to the
Christians of the Greek Orthodox Church, who sought the benefit of its
healing virtues. This was the Holy Spring of the Church of St. Saviour,
celebrated as a fountain of health long before the Turkish Conquest.
“Tout cet endroit ressemble la piscine de Salomon qui est à Jérusalem!”
exclaims one of the Russian pilgrims, who visited the shrine during the
period of the Palæologi.[914]
Its identity cannot be disputed. For the memory of the fact that the
Church of St. Saviour stood at this point has been preserved by the
annual pilgrimages made to the spot, on the Festival of the
Transfiguration, from the time of the Turkish Conquest until the year
1821, when the privilege of frequenting the spring was withdrawn, on
account of the political events of the day. Such popular customs afford
strong evidence.
The first writer who refers to the church and spring after 1453 is
Gyllius,[915] who, speaking of the water-gates in the walls around the
Seraglio, describes the position of Demir Kapoussi thus: “The fourth
gate (counting from Yali Kiosk Kapoussi) faces south-east (solis exortum
spectat hibernum), and is not far from the ruins of the church dedicated
to Christ, for the remains of which, found built in the wall, the Greeks
show much reverence, by visiting them in great crowds.” Thevenot[916]
and Grelot[917] give a long account of the animated scene witnessed here
on the Festival of the Transfiguration, in their day. The Sultan himself
would sometimes come to Indjili Kiosk to be entertained by the spectacle
presented on that occasion, particularly by seeing sick persons buried
up to the neck in the sand on the seashore, as a method of cure. Hammer
writes to the same effect, but supposed the spring to be the Hagiasma of
the Virgin, and thought it marked the site of the Church of the
Theotokos Hodegetria, which was in this vicinity, and to which also a
Holy Spring was attached.[918] But this opinion, adopted also by
Labarte,[919] is opposed to all the evidence upon the subject.
Finally, there is the testimony of the Patriarch Constantius, already
alluded to, that from 1453 to 1821 the Hagiasma at Indjili Kiosk was
annually frequented on the 6th of August, as the Holy Well associated
with the Church of St. Saviour: “The Greeks still revered, until a few
years ago, as a matter of tradition, the Hagiasma of the Saviour, which
was under Indjili Kiosk.”[920]
In striking agreement with this evidence since the Turkish Conquest, are
the accounts given regarding the Church of St. Saviour by writers
previous to that event. According to them, the church was in the
neighbourhood of the Church of St. George Mangana, and to the east of
that sanctuary; it stood close to the sea, immediately behind the city
walls; its Holy Spring was enclosed within the walls, and yet could be
reached from without; in front of the walls through which the sacred
stream flowed, was a beach of sand endowed with healing properties.[921]
Nothing can be more conclusive.
This identification is of the greatest importance for the topographical
reconstruction of the quarters of Byzantine Constantinople along the
eastern shore of the promontory, for, with that church as a fixed point,
it becomes comparatively easy to determine the positions of other noted
buildings in the neighbourhood.
By means of that landmark, for example, the situation of the Church of
St. George Mangana can, we have seen, be fixed.[922] It enables us also
to settle, without prolonged discussion, the question raised by the
extensive ruins discovered behind Indjili Kiosk, when the ground was
cleared, in 1871, for the construction of the Roumelian railroad. The
walls of an edifice 322 feet long by 53 feet wide, were then brought to
view, and among the _débris_ marble pillars and capitals were found in
such numbers, as to prove that the building to which they belonged had
been one of considerable importance.[923] Because some of the capitals
seemed ornamented with the heads of bulls and lions, Dr. Paspates came
to the conclusion that the ruins were the remains of the celebrated
Palace of the Bucoleon.[924] On the other hand, Dr. Mordtmann thinks
that here was the site of the Imperial residence, known as the Palace of
Mangana,[925] an erection of Basil I.[926]
That the latter opinion is the correct one may be proved by means of the
fact that the Church of St. Saviour stood at Indjili Kiosk. In the first
place, the Palace of Mangana was near the Church of St. George
Mangana—so near that the destruction of that palace by Isaac Angelus, to
obtain material for edifices of his own construction, was viewed as an
act of sacrilege committed against the property of the great saint.[927]
But the Church of St. George Mangana, we have found, lay a short
distance to the west of the Church of St. Saviour,[928] near the site of
Indjili Kiosk. Consequently the remains of a palace near that kiosk must
be those of the Palace of Mangana. This conclusion agrees, furthermore,
with the fact that the Mangana, which gave name to the palace, was in
this vicinity.[929] It is also consistent with the circumstance that the
Palace of Mangana was noted for its coolness,[930] as would be
characteristic of a residence in the position of Indjili Kiosk, which is
exposed to the north wind that sweeps down the Bosporus from the Black
Sea.
Thus, also, the site of the Church of St. Lazarus can be approximately
determined. From the order in which the churches visited by the Deacon
Zosimus[931] between St. Sophia and St. George Mangana are mentioned, it
is clear that the Church of St. Lazarus lay to the south of the Church
of St. Saviour, and consequently somewhere between Indjili Kiosk and the
Seraglio Lighthouse. The identification is important; for near the
Church of St. Lazarus was found the tier of seats, known as the Topi,
which marked the southern extremity of the walls of old Byzantium on the
side of the Sea of Marmora.[932]
Thus, also, the eastern limit of the grounds of the palace erected by
Constantine the Great is determined. “The Triclinia erected by
Constantine the Great,” says Codinus,[933] “reached to that point,”
_i.e._ the Topi. Furthermore, the Tzycanisterion, or polo-ground,
attached to the Great Palace, extended, we are told, as far as the
neighbourhood of the Church of St. Lazarus and the Topi.[934] Dr.
Paspates is therefore mistaken in making the palace grounds reach to
within a short distance of the Seraglio Point.
Near the Topi likewise stood the Thermæ Arcadianæ,[935] constructed by
the Emperor Arcadius, and one of the finest ornaments of the capital.
There, also, was a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael, ἐν
Ἀρκαδιαναῖς.[936]
In this neighbourhood, moreover, must have stood the Atrium of Justinian
the Great,[937] a favourite public resort towards sunset, when the
eastern side of the city was in shade, to admire the magnificent display
of colour then reflected on the Sea of Marmora and the Asiatic coast and
mountains. It was built of white marble and adorned with statuary, among
which the statue of the Empress Theodora, upon a pillar of porphyry, was
specially remarkable.[938]
Still further south of the Church of St. Saviour rose one of the most
venerated shrines in Constantinople, the Church of the Theotokos
Hodegetria (τῶν Ὁδηγῶν) founded by the Empress Pulcheria, and
reconstructed by Michael III.[939] It boasted of a Holy Well famed for
marvellous cures,[940] and of an Icon of the Virgin, attributed to St.
Luke, which was regarded as the palladium of the city and the leader
(Ὁδηγητρία) of the hosts of the Empire to victory. Generals on leaving
the city to engage in war paid their devotions at this shrine, and the
sacred picture had the first place of honour in a triumphal procession,
taking precedence of the emperor himself.[941] In view of the siege of
the city by Branas, in the reign of Isaac Angelus, the Icon was carried
round the fortifications;[942] while in 1453 it was placed in the Church
of the Chora, not far from the Gate of Charisius, to support the
defence. There, upon the capture of the city, it was found by the Turks,
and cut to pieces.[943]
According to the Russian pilgrims, the Church of the Hodegetria was
situated to the south of St. George Mangana, and to the east of St.
Sophia, on the right of the street conducting from the cathedral to the
sea.[944] These indications support the opinion of Dr. Mordtmann[945]
that the position of the church is marked by a neglected Hagiasma in the
large vegetable garden at the south-eastern corner of the Seraglio
grounds.
Two small gates in the city walls were respectively named after the two
churches just mentioned, one being styled the Postern of St. Lazarus
(τοῦ αγίου Λαζάρου πυλίς),[946] the other the Small Gate of the
Hodegetria (ἡ μίκρα πύλη τῆς Ὁδηγητρίας).[947] They must have stood to
the south of Indjili Kiosk; and, in fact, at the distance of some 145
paces from that point the marble frames of two small gateways are seen
built in the wall. On the lintel of the one more to the south is a
cross, and on two slabs built into the inner side of the gateway are the
words, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that entering into them I
may worship the Lord.”[948] Two similar gates are seen still further
south, one on either side of the second tower beyond Indjili Kiosk.
These four entrances must have belonged to some of the numerous churches
which were situated, according to the Russian pilgrims, in this part of
the city. One of them, doubtless, represents the Postern of St. Lazarus,
while another may claim to be the Small Gate of the Hodegetria.
The Postern of St. Lazarus is mentioned in history on the occasion of
the sudden appearance, in 1269, of seventy-five Venetian galleys in the
offing.[949] As soon as the fleet was sighted, all the gates of the city
were closed, with the exception of this postern; and from it envoys were
despatched in a boat to ascertain the object of the expedition. The
public anxiety was relieved, when it was found that the Venetians had
come to settle disputes with the Genoese at Galata and not to molest the
capital.
According to Ducas[950] it was through the Gate of the Hodegetria that
John VI. Palæologus penetrated, in 1355, into the city to overthrow John
Cantacuzene. The voyage of the conspirators from Tenedos had been
accomplished in rough weather; and it was dark and stormy when they
arrived before Constantinople. As their force consisted of but two
galleys, with 2000 men, the assailants could hope to enter the city only
by stratagem. Approaching, therefore, the Gate of the Hodegetria, they
proceeded to hurl empty oil-jars against the walls, and to rend the air
with loud cries of distress. The startled sentinels, imagining it was a
case of shipwreck, and touched by appeals to their humanity and by
promises of a share in the rich cargo of oil reported to be on board the
galleys, opened the gate and rushed to the rescue. When they discovered
their mistake, it was too late. They were promptly overpowered and
killed, and the Italian adventurers seized the gate, mounted the
adjoining towers, and raised the cry in favour of Palæologus.
It was at the Gate of the Hodegetria, probably, that Bardas, in 866,
embarked to conduct an expedition against the Saracens in Crete, after
invoking the aid of the Virgin Hodegetria.[951] Here, the troops sent by
Alexius III. to suppress the insurrection under John the Fat landed to
gain the Great Palace, which the rebel leader was occupying.[952] The
gate appears in the last siege, as a point blockaded by the Turkish
fleet which invested the walls along the Sea of Marmora.[953]
In the recess of the shore immediately beyond the Seraglio Lighthouse,
where the coast bends westwards, are two gates, known, respectively, as
Balouk Haneh Kapoussi and Ahour Kapoussi. The former, the Gate of the
Fish House, obtained its name from the circumstance that it led to the
quarters of the fishermen in the service of the Turkish Court; the
latter was styled the Stable Gate, because it conducted to the Sultan’s
Mews.
The Patriarch Constantius[954] identified Balouk Haneh Kapoussi with the
Postern of Michael the Protovestarius, mentioned once in Byzantine
history. That was the gate by which Constantine Ducas, in 913, entered
the city to join the conspirators who sought to place him upon the
throne instead of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, then a minor under the
tutelage of his uncle and colleague, Alexander.[955] The fact that
Constantine Ducas reached the gate by sea without being immediately
discovered, and that he was then able to reach the Hippodrome quickly,
is in favour of the view that the entrance stood upon the Sea of
Marmora. But if, as seems probable, the entrance at Balouk Haneh
Kapoussi was within the limits of the Great Palace, it cannot be the
Parapylis of Michael Protovestarius; for that postern did not conduct
Ducas into the grounds of the Imperial residence, but to the private
house of his father-in-law Gregoras, without the palace precincts.
Possibly one of the small gates between the Lighthouse and Indjili Kiosk
represents the postern.
The ancient name of Ahour Kapoussi is not known. The Patriarch
Constantius,[956] it is true, identifies it with the Gate of the
Hodegetria. But the Gate of the Hodegetria was remarkable for its small
size, and stood outside the enclosure of the Great Palace; whereas Ahour
Kapoussi was within the palace grounds, and is of ordinary dimensions.
Equally erroneous is the view of Labarte[957] that the recess in the
shore at this point marks the site of the Port of the Bucoleon, the
harbour attached to the Imperial palace. Doubtless, the small bay before
Ahour Kapoussi, as its position implies, served the convenience of the
Byzantine Court, but it was not the Port of Bucoleon strictly so called.
That harbour, we shall find, lay further west at Tchatlady Kapou, the
gate next in order.
The splendid marble stables erected by Michael III. at the
Tzycanisterion[958] were in this vicinity. May this gate not have been
at their service? It would not be strange if the Sultan’s Mews were
built upon the site of the Mews of his Byzantine predecessors.
Passing next to Tchatlady Kapou (the Broken or Cracked Gate), we reach
the entrance attached, as already intimated, to the Imperial Port of the
Bucoleon. Its Byzantine name has not been preserved, but in the time of
Gyllius[959] it was called the Gate of the Lion (Porta Leonis), after
the marble figure of a lion near the entrance. Upon the maps of
Constantinople, made in the sixteenth century, it is styled “Porta liona
della riva.” Leunclavius names it the Gate of the Bears (Πόρτα ταῖς
Ἀρκούδαις), a designation derived, doubtless, from the figures of bears
which once adorned the adjoining quay.[960]
Some authorities[961] have identified the entrance with the Sidhera
Porta (the Iron Gate), which stood on this side of the city. But this is
a mistake. The Iron Gate opened on the Harbour of Sophia,[962] and was
near the Church of St. Thomas Amantiou;[963] and both these points were
to the west of Tchatlady Kapou. Therefore Tchatlady Kapou itself cannot
have been the Iron Gate.
That the Harbour of Sophia lay in that direction is unquestionable, for
it stood at Kadriga Limani,[964] which is to the west of Tchatlady
Kapou. And that the same was true of the Church of St. Thomas is clear
from the fact that this sanctuary and the Church of SS. Sergius and
Bacchus marked, respectively, the western and eastern limits of the
ravages made beside the Sea of Marmora, by the great fire in the reign
of Leo I.[965] The Church of St. Thomas lay, therefore, to the west of
SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and, consequently, as the latter stands to the
west of Tchatlady Kapou, the former, also, must have occupied a similar
position.
[Illustration: Portion of Walls Beside the Sea of Marmora.]
In the city walls, a little to the west of Tchatlady Kapou, opposite the
beautiful Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, is a small postern, opened,
doubtless, for the use of the monastery attached to that church. Its
side-posts are shafts of marble, covered with a remarkable inscription,
and were evidently brought from some other building, when the postern
was constructed or repaired.
The inscription is a cento of verses, taken, with slight modifications,
from the Prophet Habakkuk and the Psalter, to form a pæan in honour of
the triumph of some emperor over his foes.
ΕΠΙΒΗΣΙ ΕΠΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΙΠΠΟΥΣ ΣΟΥ Κ. Η ΙΠΠΑΣΙΑ ΣΟΥ ΣΩ [ΤΗΡ] ΙΑ :[966] ΟΤΙ
Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΛΠΙΖΙ ΕΠΙ ΚΝ. ΕΝ ΤΩ ΕΛΕΙ ΤΟ [Υ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΥ ΟΥ ΜΗ]
SALEUΘΗ :[967] ΟΥΚ ΟΦΕΛΗΣΙ ΕΚΘΡΟΣ ΕΝ ΑΥΤΩ Κ. ΥΙΟΣ ΑΝΟΜΙΑΣ ΟΥ
ΠΡΟΣΘΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΚΩΣΙ ΕΑΥΤΟΝ :[968] ΑΙΝΩΝ ΕΠΙΚΑΛΙΣΕΤΟ [ΚΝ.] : ΕΚ ΤΩΝ
ΕΚΘΡΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΣΩΘΗΣΕΤΕ :[969] ΕΞΟΥΔΕΝΩΤΕ ΕΝΩΠΙΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΣ,
ΤΟΥΣ ΔΕ ΦΟΒΟΥ [ΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΚΝ.] ΔΟΞΑΣΙ.[970]
The next entrance, the Gate of Sophia (Πόρτα τῶν Σοφιῶν),[971] as its
name implies, was attached to the Harbour of Sophia. It was known also
as the Porta Sidhera (Πόρτα Σιδηρᾶ),[972] from the material of its
construction, and after the Turkish Conquest was designated Porta
Katerga Limani,[973] the Gate of the Harbour of the Galleys, from
κάτεργον, the Greek word for a galley.
The Porta Kontoscalion (τὸ δὲ λεγόμενον Κοντοσκάλιον ἡ Πόρτα)[974]
communicated with the Harbour of the Kontoscalion,[975] and stood at
Koum Kapoussi.
Next follows the gate Yeni Kapou, in the quarter of Vlanga. The Latin
inscription which was found over the gate[976] proves it to have been a
Byzantine entrance, but its ancient name has not been preserved. The
gate was beside the Harbour of Theodosius, or Eleutherius[977] (Vlanga
Bostan). Its Turkish name must allude to repairs made after 1453.
The next gate, Daoud Pasha Kapoussi, immediately to the west of Vlanga
Bostan, is the Gate of St. Æmilianus (ἡ Πόρτα τοῦ ἁγίου
Αἰμιλιανοῦ),[978] named so after a church of that dedication in the
vicinity. It is identified by its situation. On the one hand, the Gate
of St. Æmilianus was the westernmost entrance in the line of the
Constantinian Walls beside the Sea of Marmora.[979] It must, therefore,
have been a gate to the west of the old harbour at Vlanga Bostan, which,
under the name of the Harbour of Eleutherius, stood within the city of
Constantine.[980] On the other hand, it cannot have been a gate further
west than Daoud Pasha Kapoussi, for the two gates which pierce the city
wall in that direction can be identified with other gates, and were,
moreover, beyond the original bounds of Constantinople. Near the Gate of
St. Æmilianus stood the Church of St. Mary Rhabdou, venerated as the
shrine in which the rod of Moses was kept.[981]
The next gate retains its old name, Gate of Psamathia (Πόρτα τοῦ
Ψαμαθᾶ),[982] derived from the ancient quarter Psamathia (τοῦ Ψαμαθᾶ).
The name alludes to the sand thrown up on the beach here, as at Koum
Kapoussi (the Sand Gate).
Narli Kapoussi (the Pomegranate Gate), the succeeding entrance,
accommodated the quarter around the celebrated Church and Monastery of
St. John the Baptist, known as the Studion, because founded, in 463, by
Studius, a patrician from Rome. The gate is never mentioned by name, but
is clearly referred to by Constantine Porphyrogenitus[983] in his
account of the Imperial visit paid, annually, to the Studion on the 29th
of August, in commemoration of the martyrdom of the Baptist. On that
occasion it was usual for the emperor to come from the Great Palace by
water, in his state barge, and to land at this gate, where he was
received by the abbot and monks of the monastery, and conducted to the
services of the day.
On the cliff outside the gate is an Armenian Chapel of St. John the
Baptist, which Dr. Paspates[984] thinks belonged originally to the
Studion.
The excavations made in laying out the public garden beside the city
walls west of the Gas Works at Yedi Koulè, brought to light
substructures of an ancient edifice, in the construction of which bricks
stamped with the monogram of Basil I. and with a portion of the name
Diomed were employed. The ruins marked, undoubtedly, the site of the
Church and Monastery of St. Diomed, upon whose steps Basil flung himself
to sleep the evening he entered the city, a poor homeless adventurer
from Macedonia, in search of fortune. The kindness shown to the stranger
by the abbot of the House was never forgotten; and when Basil reached
the throne he rebuilt the church and the monastery on a more extensive
scale, and enriched them with ample endowments.[985] The large number of
pillars strewn upon the adjoining beach belonged, probably, to the
church.
Somewhere in the neighbourhood was the prison, known as the Prison of
St. Diomed. In it, Pope Martin I. was detained by the Emperor Constans
in 654;[986] and there Maria, the wife of Manuel Comnenus and mother of
Alexius II., was confined by the infamous Andronicus Comnenus.[987]
The last tower in this line of fortifications, situated on a small
promontory commanding a wide view of the Sea of Marmora, is a very
striking and picturesque object. It has four stories, and is constructed
mostly of large blocks of marble. To it was attached a two-storied
building, forming, with the tower, a small château or castle at this
point. Only the foundations of the western and northern walls of the
building are left, but the eastern wall, pierced by two tiers of small
windows, and ornamented with string-courses, stands almost intact. The
castle must have been the residence of some superior military officer.
Here, some think, was the Prison of St. Diomed. In the recess of the
shore immediately beyond the tower was a small postern for the use of
the garrison at this point.
* * * * *
One cannot bring this account of the Walls of Constantinople to a close
without calling to mind, again, the splendid part they played in the
history of the world. To them the Queen of Cities, as her sons loved to
call her, owed her long life, and her noble opportunity to advance the
higher welfare of mankind. How great her services in that respect have
been, we are coming to recognize more clearly, through a better
acquaintance with her achievements, and a fairer judgment upon her
faults. The city which preserved Greek learning, maintained Roman
justice, sounded the depths of religious thought, and gave to Art new
forms of beauty, was no mean city, and had reason to be proud of her
record.
[Illustration: Chateau and Marble Tower Near The Western Extremity of
the Walls Beside the Sea of Marmora.]
But never was she so grand as in her attitude towards the barbarous
tribes and Oriental peoples which threatened her existence, and sought
to render European civilization impossible. Some of her foes—the Goths
and the great Slavic race—she not only fought, but also gathered within
the pale of civilized Christendom. With others, like the Huns, Persians,
Saracens, Turks, she waged a relentless warfare, often achieving signal
triumphs, sometimes worsted in the struggle, always contesting every
inch of her ground, retarding for a thousand years the day of her fall,
perishing sword in hand, and giving Western Europe, meantime, scope to
become worthy to take from her dying hands the banner of the world’s
hope. This is service similar to that which has earned for Ancient
Greece men’s eternal gratitude, and has made Marathon, Thermopylæ,
Salamis, Platæa, names which will never die.
Among the monuments brought by Constantine from various parts of the
Empire to adorn his city was the serpent column which had stood for
eight centuries before the shrine of Delphi, inscribed with the names of
the Greek States whose valour on the field of Platæa hurled the Persian
out of Greece. In placing that column in the Hippodrome of New Rome, did
he divine the mission of the new capital? It was Greece transferring to
the city founded on the banks of the Bosporus the championship of the
world’s best life. And as we look backwards upon the tremendous conflict
between barbarism and civilization, which forms the very core of
Byzantine history, we see that nowhere could that venerable monument
have been placed more appropriately, and that if the name of the City of
Constantine were inscribed upon it no dishonour would be cast upon the
names already there, and only justice would be done to the Empire which
assumed their task and emulated their renown.
But the shield of the city in that long heroic contest were the Walls
whose history we have reviewed.
Footnote 884:
See Map of Byzantine Constantinople.
Footnote 885:
Mentioned by the Anonymus, iii. p. 61; Nicetas Chon., p. 169;
Cantacuzene, iv. p. 221.
Footnote 886:
Anonymus, iii. p. 61; Cantacuzene, iv. p. 232 ; Pachymeres, vol. i. p.
270.
Footnote 887:
Gyllius, _De Top. CP._, i. c. xxi.
Footnote 888:
Nicetas Chon., p. 205, ἀπὸ τῆς ἑῴας πύλης, ἥτις ἀνέῳγε κατὰ τὴν
ἀκρόπολιν. Cf. _Ibid._, p. 26; Pachymeres, vol. i. p. 270.
Footnote 889:
Anabasis, vii. c. i. See above, p. 5.
Footnote 890:
Theophanes, p. 671; Cedrenus, vol. ii. p. 12.
Footnote 891:
Pachymeres, _ut supra_.
Footnote 892:
See above, p. 184.
Footnote 893:
Nicephorus Greg., xvii. p. 860.
Footnote 894:
Cedrenus, vol. ii. p. 363.
Footnote 895:
Nicetas Chon., p. 26.
Footnote 896:
_Ibid._, p. 205.
Footnote 897:
Patriarch Constantius, _Ancient and Modern Consple._, p. 23.
Footnote 898:
Anonymus, ii. p. 26; Glycas, p. 468.
Footnote 899:
Page 268, Ὁ ἀντίπορθμος οὖτος πύργος τῆς τῶν Μαγγάνων ἄγχιστα
δεδομημένος μονῆς.
Footnote 900:
The rock is associated with the history of Byzantium. Upon it Chares,
admiral of the Athenian fleet, sent to aid Byzantium against Philip of
Macedon, erected a pillar surmounted by the figure of a heifer as a
monument to the memory of his wife, Damalis, who had accompanied him
on the expedition, and died at Chrysopolis. Hence that suburb and the
rock were sometimes called Damalis. A palace of the Byzantine emperors
at Damalis was named Scutarion (Nicetas Chon., p. 280; Ville-Hardouin,
c. lxix.). It was noted for its pleasant air and quiet. Cf. Gyllius,
_De Bosporo Thracio_, iii. c. ix.
Footnote 901:
Cantacuzene, iii. pp. 438, 495, 541.
Footnote 902:
_Paschal Chron._, p. 495; _Notitia, ad Reg. II._ See above, p. 13.
Footnote 903:
Marcellinus Comes.
Footnote 904:
Theophanes, p. 574. For other executions under Constantine Copronymus,
see Theophanes, pp. 647, 677, 683.
Footnote 905:
Zonaras, xvii. p. 55.
Footnote 906:
Nicetas Chon., p. 268.
Footnote 907:
Zonaras, _ut supra_.
Footnote 908:
M. Attaliota, p. 48.
Footnote 909:
_Constantinople, ses Sanctuaires el ses reliques, au commencement du
XV. Siècle_. Traduit par Bruun, Odessa, 1883.
Footnote 910:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, pp. 162.
Footnote 911:
See below, pp. 253, 254.
Footnote 912:
Ville-Hardouin, cs. xxv.-xxvii.; _William of Tyre_, lib. xx. c. xxiv.
Footnote 913:
Cantacuzene, iv. pp. 307, 308.
Footnote 914:
Large chambers and galleries are found in the body of the portion of
the wall between this gate and a short distance beyond Indjili Kiosk.
One gallery measures 123-½ feet long by 21 feet wide; one of the
chambers is 52-½ feet by 51 feet.
Footnote 915:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, p. 119.
Footnote 916:
Gyllius, _De Top. CP._, i. c. vii.
Footnote 917:
_Relation d’un Voyage fait au Levant_, c. xviii. (1665).
Footnote 918:
_Relation d’un Voyage de Constantinople_, p. 83 (1670).
Footnote 919:
_Constantinopolis und der Bosporos_, vol. i. p. 238.
Footnote 920:
_Le Palais Impérial de Constantinople et ses Abords_, p. 99.
Footnote 921:
_Ancient and Modern Consple._, p. 26; cf. Scarlatus Byzantius, vol. i.
p. 181.
Footnote 922:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, pp. 119, 202, 231.
Footnote 923:
See above, p. 252.
Footnote 924:
For a description of the ruins, see Dr. Paspates, pp. 106-109.
Footnote 925:
_Ibid._, p. 107.
Footnote 926:
Page 52. As to the opinion of Paspates that the heads on the capitals
found among the ruins represented lions and bulls, Dr. Mordtmann
remarks, “explication qui n’a point été admise par ses
contradicteurs.”
Footnote 927:
Theophanes Cont., p. 337.
Footnote 928:
Nicetas Chon., p. 581.
Footnote 929:
See above, p. 252.
Footnote 930:
See above, p. 250.
Footnote 931:
Anna Comn., xv. pp. 372, 377.
Footnote 932:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, pp. 201, 202: “Non loin de ce couvent
(Hodegetria, proceeding towards the Seraglio Point) sont deux autres,
celui de Lazare le Ressuscité, où ses reliques et (celles de) sa sœur
Marie sont incrustées dans une colonne; et secondement celui de
Lazare, évêque de Galassie.”
Footnote 933:
Codinus, pp. 25, 79. Can the Topi have been remains of one of the
theatres erected by Severus in Byzantium?
Footnote 934:
Page 79.
Footnote 935:
Leo Gram., p. 273, Εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Λάζαρον, εἰς τὸ καταβάσιον τοῦ
Τζυκανιστηρίου: p. 274, εἰς τοὺς λεγομένους Τόπους. Cf. Theophanes
Cont., pp. 859, 860.
Footnote 936:
Procopius, _De Æd._, i. c. xi.
Footnote 937:
Codinus, p. 33; Suidas, _ad vocem_ στήλη.
Footnote 938:
Procopius, _De Æd._, i. c. xi.
Footnote 939:
_Ibid._, _ut supra_.
Footnote 940:
Pachymeres, vol. i. p. 160; Codinus, p. 80.
Footnote 941:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, p. 229.
Footnote 942:
Genesius, iv. p. 103; Cantacuzene, iii. p. 607; Nicetas Chon., p. 26;
Pachymeres, _ut supra_.
Footnote 943:
Nicetas Chon., pp. 496, 497.
Footnote 944:
Ducas, p. 288.
Footnote 945:
_Itinéraires Russes en Orient_, p. 230, “Au nord du couvent
d’Odigitria, dans la direction de Mangana;” p. 229, “à l’est de Sainte
Sophie, dans la direction de la mer, à droite, s’élève un couvent
appelé Odigitria.”
Footnote 946:
Page 52.
Footnote 947:
Pachymeres, vol. ii. p. 238.
Footnote 948:
Ducas, pp. 41, 42, 283.
Footnote 949:
Psalm cxviii. 19. † ΑΝΥΞΑΤΑΙ ΜΟΙ ΠΥΛΑΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΩΣΥΝΗΣ ΙΝΑ ΕΙΣΕΛΘΩΝ ΕΝ
ΑΥΤΑΙΣ ΕΞΟΜΟΛΟΓΗΣΩΜΑΙ ΤΩ ΚΥΡΙΩ †. Cf. _Proceedings of Greek Literary
Syllogos of Consple._, vol. xvi., 1885; _Archæological Supplement_,
pp. 23, 24; cf. Mordtmann, p. 53.
Footnote 950:
Pachymeres, vol. ii. p. 238.
Footnote 951:
Ducas, pp. 41, 42; Cantacuzene (iv. p. 284) says that John Palæologus
took the city by surprise, entering the Harbour of the Heptascalon
during the night.
Footnote 952:
Genesius, iv. p. 103; Cedrenus, vol. ii. p. 179.
Footnote 953:
Nicetas Chon., p. 698.
Footnote 954:
Ducas, p. 283.
Footnote 955:
_Ancient and Modern Consple._, p. 23.
Footnote 956:
Leo Gramm., p. 289.
Footnote 957:
_Ancient and Modern Consple._, p. 23.
Footnote 958:
_Le Palais Impérial de Consple._, p. 207.
Footnote 959:
Anonymus, ii. p. 23.
Footnote 960:
_De Top. CP._, ii. c. xv.
Footnote 961:
_Pand. Hist. Turc._, s. 200, Πόρτα ταῖς Ἀρκούδες; Itinéraires Russes
en Orient, p. 235: “Sous la muraille au pied de la mer, se trouvent
des ours et des aurochs en pierre.”
Footnote 962:
Patriarch Constantius, _Ancient and Modern Consple._, p. 22.
Footnote 963:
Anonymus, iii. p. 46.
Footnote 964:
Cedrenus, vol. ii. p. 250. Symeon Magister (_De Leone Basilii Filio_,
c. i.) records a fire near the Harbour of Sophia and the Iron Gate,
which burned the Church of St. Thomas—a proof that these points stood
near one another.
Footnote 965:
See below, p. 290.
Footnote 966:
Cedrenus, vol. i. pp. 609-611; Zonaras, xiv. p. 1205.
Footnote 967:
Habakkuk iii. 8.
Footnote 968:
Psalm xxi. 7.
Footnote 969:
Psalm lxxxix. 22.
Footnote 970:
Psalm xviii. 3
Footnote 971:
Psalm xv. 4. Possibly the inscription commemorated the triumph of
Justinian over the Factions in 532.
Footnote 972:
Codinus, p. 101; Anonymus, iii. p. 45.
Footnote 973:
_Ibid._ _ut supra_; _ibid._, p. 46.
Footnote 974:
Leunclavius, _Pand. Hist. Turc._, s. 200.
Footnote 975:
Codinus, p. 109.
Footnote 976:
See below, p. 295.
Footnote 977:
See above, p. 180.
Footnote 978:
See below, p. 296.
Footnote 979:
_Paschal Chron._, p. 494; Codinus, pp. 102, 103.
Footnote 980:
Anonymus, i. p. 2; Codinus, p. 25. See above, p. 31.
Footnote 981:
_Ibid._, iii. p. 46; _ibid._, p. 49.
Footnote 982:
_Ibid._, iii. p. 49; _ibid._, pp. 102, 103.
Footnote 983:
Anonymus, iii. p. 48. The name appears also under the forms Ψαμάθεα
(Codinus, p. 109); τῶν Ὕψωμαθίων (Phrantzes, p. 253); τοῦ Ψωμαθέως
(Constant. Porphyr., _De Administratione Imperii_, c. 43). The quarter
boasted of a palace and gerocomion, ascribed to St. Helena (Anonymus,
_ut supra_), a monastery (Constant. Porphyr., _ut supra_), and the
Church of the Theotokos Peribleptos (Soulou Monastir).
Footnote 984:
_De Cer._, pp. 562, 563.
Footnote 985:
Page 349.
Footnote 986:
Theophanes Cont., p. 223.
Footnote 987:
See account of his treatment at Constantinople in his fifteenth
Epistle.
Footnote 988:
Nicetas Chon., p. 347.