Alexander Van Millingen — Byzantine Constantinople — THE FORTIFICATIONS ON THE NORTH-WESTERN SIDE OF THE CITY, BEFORE THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

CHAPTER VIII. THE FORTIFICATIONS ON THE NORTH-WESTERN SIDE OF THE CITY, BEFORE THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

At the Gate of the Xylokerkus, or the Kerko Porta, the Theodosian Walls come to an abrupt termination, and the line of defence from that point to the Golden Horn is continued by fortifications which, for the most part, did not exist before the seventh century. Along the greater portion of their course these bulwarks consisted of a single wall, without a moat; but at a short distance from the water, where they stand on level ground, they formed a double wall, which was at one time protected by a moat and constituted a citadel at the north-western angle of the city.

With the exception of that citadel’s outer wall, erected by Leo the Armenian, the defences from the Kerko Porta to the Golden Horn have usually been ascribed to the Emperor Heraclius. [449] But this opinion is at variance both with history, and with the striking diversity in construction exhibited by the various portions of the works. As a matter of fact, the fortifications extending from the Kerko Porta to the Golden Horn comprise walls that belong to, at least, three periods: the Wall of Heraclius, the Wall of Leo, and the Wall of Manuel Comnenus. [450] Curiously enough, the Wall of Manuel Comnenus, though latest in time, stands first in order of position, for it intervenes between the Theodosian Walls, on the one hand, and the Heraclian and Leonine Walls, on the other.

Here, therefore, a question presents itself which must be answered before proceeding to the study of the walls just mentioned. If the various portions of the fortifications between the Kerko Porta and the Golden Horn did not come, respectively, into existence until the seventh, ninth, and eleventh centuries, how was the north-western side of the city defended previous to the erection of those walls?

Two answers have been given to this important and very difficult question. Both agree in maintaining that the city was defended on the north-west by the prolongation of the Theodosian Walls; but they differ as regards the precise direction in which the walls were carried down to the Golden Horn.

One view is that the Theodosian Walls upon leaving the Kerko Porta turned north-eastwards, to follow the eastern spur of the Sixth Hill, [451] along a line terminating somewhere in the vicinity of Balat Kapoussi. [452] According to this view, the quarter of Blachernæ, which until 627 lay outside the city limits, [453] was the territory situated between the spur just mentioned and the line occupied eventually by the Walls of Comnenus and Heraclius.

The second view on the subject is that the two Theodosian Walls were carried northwards along the western spur of the Sixth Hill, and enclosed it on every side. On this supposition, the suburb of Blachernæ, with its celebrated Church of the Theotokos, without the fortifications, was the plain extending from the foot of the western spur of the Sixth Hill to the Golden Horn, the plain occupied now by the quarter of Aivan Serai. [454]

In support of the first opinion, there is the undoubted fact that the Theodosian Walls, as they approach the Kerko Porta, bend north-eastwards, so that if continued in that direction they would reach the Golden Horn near the Greek Church of St. Demetrius, to the west of Balat Kapoussi.

The opinion that the Theodosian Walls were carried to the foot of the western spur of the Sixth Hill rests upon the fact that traces of old fortifications enclosing that spur are still distinctly visible; while the Theodosian Moat is, moreover, continued towards Aivan Serai, until it is stopped by the Wall of Manuel, which runs transversely to it. [455]

The fortifications referred to are found mostly to the rear of the Comnenian Wall, but portions of them are seen also to the north of it.

One line of the fortifications proceeded from the Kerko Porta along the western flank of the spur, and joined the city walls a little to the south of the “Tower of Isaac Angelus;” another line ran from that gate along the eastern side of the spur to the fountain Tsinar Tchesmè in the quarter of Londja, a short distance to the south-east of the Holy Well which marks the site of the Church of Blachernæ; while a third wall, facing the Golden Horn, defended the northern side of the spur, and abutted against the city walls, very near the southern end of the Wall of Heraclius. [456] Within the acropolis formed by these works of defence, the Palace of Blachernæ and the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus were in due time erected.

Both answers to the question before us have much in their favour, and possibly the truth on the subject is to be found in their combination. Their respective values as rival theories will, perhaps, be more easily estimated, if we begin with the consideration of the second answer.

Balcony in the Southern Façade of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus.

That the western spur of the Sixth Hill was a fortified position early in the history of the city can scarcely be disputed. It must have been so, to commence at the lowest date, before the erection of the Wall of the Emperor Manuel in the twelfth century; for it was to get clear of the fortifications on that spur that the Comnenian Wall describes the remarkable detour it makes in proceeding from the court of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus towards the Golden Horn, running out westwards for a considerable distance before taking a northerly course in the direction of the harbour. Then, there is reason to believe that the spur was fortified as early as the seventh century. This is implied in the accounts we have of the siege of Constantinople by the Avars in 627, when we hear of fortifications, named the Wall of Blachernæ, [457] the Pteron [458] or Proteichisma, [459] outside of which stood the Church of Blachernæ and the Church of St. Nicholas. [460]

Archway leading to the Gate of the Xylokerkus (Screen Tower). The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (From The West).

For these sanctuaries were situated precisely at the foot of the western spur of the Sixth Hill, the site of the former being marked by the Holy Well of Blachernæ at Aivan Serai, that of the latter by the Holy Well in the ground between the Wall of Heraclius and the Wall of Leo.

It is also in favour of the presence of fortifications on the spur in the seventh century to find that the historians of the Avar siege are silent as to any danger incurred by the Palace of Blachernæ, which stood on the spur, when the Church of St. Nicholas was burnt down, and when the Church of Blachernæ narrowly escaped the same fate. A similar silence is observed as to any advantage derived by the palace from the erection of the Wall of Heraclius, at the close of the war.

But the age of these fortifications may be carried back to a still earlier date than the seventh century; for, according to the Notitia, the Fourteenth Region of the city, which stood on the Sixth Hill, was defended by a wall of its own, proprio muro vallata, so as to appear a distinct town. [461] The fortifications on the Sixth Hill may therefore claim to have originally constituted the defences of that Region, and therefore to be as old, at least, as the reign of Theodosius II.

But although the origin of the fortifications around the western spur of the Sixth Hill may thus be carried so far back, it is a mistake to regard them as a structural prolongation of the Theodosian Walls. On the contrary, they are distinct and independent constructions. They proceed northwards, while the latter make for the north-east; so that the Wall of Anthemius, if produced, would stand to the east of the former, while the Wall of the Prefect Constantine under similar circumstances would cut them transversely. Furthermore, the outer wall, north of the Kerko Porta, is built almost at right angles against the wall of the Prefect Constantine, with a distinct line of junction, and stands so close to the Kerko Porta that the gate, what with the wall on one side and the tower screening the western façade of the Palace of Porphyrogenitus [462] upon the other, is almost crushed between them. Such a situation could never have been assigned to the gate, if the walls on either hand belonged to the same construction. It should also be added that the masonry of the walls around the spur is different from that in the Walls of Theodosius.

How the non-Theodosian character of the walls to the north of the Kerko Porta is to be accounted for admits of more than one explanation. It may be due to changes in works of Theodosian origin, or to the fact that they are works of an earlier period, [463] or to the fact that they are works of a later age. On the supposition that these fortifications defended originally the Fourteenth Region, the second explanation is the most probable, for the division of the city into Regions was anterior to Theodosius II., and there is every reason to believe that the isolated Fourteenth Region was a fortified suburb from the earliest period of its history. [464]

Accordingly, the second answer to the question how the north-western side of the city was defended before the erection of the Walls of Heraclius, Leo, and Manuel Comnenus, would have more in its favour if it maintained that the defence was effected by the junction of the Theodosian Walls with pre-existing fortifications around the western spur of the Sixth Hill. [465]

The chief difficulty attending this view is that the Notitia speaks of the Fourteenth Region as still an isolated suburb in the reign of Theodosius II. [466]

As regards the opinion that the Theodosian Walls proceeded from the Kerko Porta to the Golden Horn in a north-eastern course and reached the water between the Church of St. Demetrius and Balat Kapoussi, it has upon its side the patent fact that those walls, if produced according to their trend at the Kerko Porta, would certainly follow the line indicated. On this view, the walls around the western spur of the Sixth Hill were either the fortifications of the Fourteenth Region (modified), or walls built expressly to defend the Palace of Blachernæ, after the fifth century.

The trend of the walls at the Kerko Porta affords, unquestionably, a very strong argument for this view of the case. But the view is open to objections. The absence of all traces of the walls along the line indicated should, perhaps, not be pressed, as such works are apt to disappear when superseded. A more serious objection is that the Theodosian Moat does not follow the north-eastern course of the walls, but proceeds northwards, for a short distance, in the direction of Aivan Serai.

Furthermore, if the western spur of the Sixth Hill was already fortified when the Theodosian Walls were built, it is reasonable to suppose that the land defences of the city were completed by the simple expedient of uniting the new works with the old. Any other proceeding appears cumbrous and superfluous.

Still, after all is said, the information we have is so meagre, the changes made in the walls beside the Kerko Porta have manifestly been so numerous, that a decided judgment upon the point at issue does not seem warranted by the evidence at our command.