CHAPTER XVIII. THE HARBOURS ON THE SEA OF MARMORA—continued.

The New Harbour [1062] (Portus Novus), known also as the Harbour of Julian [1063] (Portus Divi Juliani: Λιμὴν τοῦ Ἰουλιανοῦ), and the Harbour of Sophia, [1064] or the Sophias [1065] (Λιμὴν τῆς Σοφίας, τῶν Σοφιῶν).

About 327 yards to the west of SS. Sergius and Bacchus traces are found of an ancient harbour extending inland to the foot of the steep slope above which the Hippodrome is situated. The Turkish name for the locality, Kadriga Limani, “the Harbour of the Galleys,” is in itself an indication of the presence of an old harbour at that point. When Gyllius visited Constantinople, the port was enclosed by walls and almost filled in, but still contained a pool of water, in which the women of the district washed their clothes, and at the bottom of which, it was reported, submerged triremes could sometimes be seen. [1066]

Here, as we shall immediately find, was the site of the harbour known by the three names Portus Novus, the Harbour of Julian, the Harbour of Sophia.

The harbour obtained its first name, when newly opened in the fourth century, to distinguish it from the earlier harbours of the city; while its other names were, respectively, bestowed in honour of the Emperor Julian, the constructor of the harbour, and of the Empress Sophia, who restored it when fallen into decay.

That these three names designated the same harbour can be proved, most briefly and directly, by showing first the identity of the Portus Novus with the Harbour of Sophia, and then the identity of the latter with the Harbour of Julian.

The former point is established by the fact that the Portus Novus and the Harbour of Sophia occupied the same position; both were situated on the southern side of the city, and at the foot of the steep slope descending from the Hippodrome towards the Sea of Marmora. [1067]

The evidence for the identity of the Harbour of Sophia with that of Julian rests upon express declarations to that effect. There is, first, the statement of Leo the Grammarian [1068] that the Emperor Justin II. built the Palace of Sophia at the Harbour of Julian, and having cleaned the latter, changed its name to the Harbour of Sophia. Then, we have two passages in which Theophanes [1069] takes particular care to explain that the Harbour of Julian went also by the name of Sophia. Furthermore, both names are used to designate the scene of the same events, and the position of the same buildings. For instance; whereas the Paschal Chronicle [1070] states that the final action in the struggle between Phocas and Heraclius took place in the Harbour of Julian, John of Antioch [1071] and Cedrenus [1072] say it occurred at the Harbour of Sophia. Again, while some authors [1073] put the Residence of Probus, the district of Maurus, and the Palace of Sophia, beside the Harbour of Julian, others [1074] place them beside the Harbour of Sophia.

That the harbour known under these different names was at Kadriga Limani admits of no doubt, seeing the Portus Novus and the Harbour of Sophia were, as already intimated, at the foot of the steep ascent below the Hippodrome, [1075] where Kadriga Limani is found. Or the same conclusion may be reached by another line of argument. The Portus Juliani (identical with the Portus Novus and the Harbour of Sophia) was a large harbour on the southern side of the city, [1076] and close to the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. [1077] It could not, however, have stood to the east of that church, for not only are all traces of such a harbour wanting in that direction, but no large harbour could possibly have been constructed there, on account of the character of the coast. The Portus Juliani, therefore, lay to the west of SS. Sergius and Bacchus. But it could have been very near that church (the other indication of its site), only if at Kadriga Limani.

The construction of the harbour was ordered by Julian during his stay of ten months in Constantinople, on his way to the scene of war in Persia. [1078] He likewise erected beside it, for the convenience of merchants and traders frequenting the harbour, a fine crescent-shaped portico styled, from its form, the Sigma (Σίγμα); [1079] and there, also, his statue stood until 535, when it fell in an earthquake, and was replaced by a cross. [1080] In promoting such public works, Julian was actuated not only by the dictates of enlightened policy, but also by the affection he cherished for the city of his birth. [1081]

After one hundred and fifty years, the harbour was so injured by the accumulation of the sand thrown up on this coast as to call for extensive repairs; and accordingly, at the order of Anastasius I., it was, in 509, dredged, and protected by a mole. [1082]

Nevertheless, further restoration was required sixty years later, in the reign of Justin II. The work was then executed under the superintendence of Narses and the Protovestarius Troilus, at the urgent solicitation of the Empress Sophia, whose sympathies had been greatly stirred by seeing, from her palace windows, ships in distress during a violent storm on the Sea of Marmora. It was in recognition of the empress’s interest in the matter that the harbour received her name, [1083] and was adorned with her statue, as well as with the statues of Justin II., her daughter Arabia, and Narses. [1084] Owing to the improvements made on the harbour at this time, the Marine Exchange of the city was transferred to it from the Neorion on the Golden Horn. [1085] The port continued in use to the end of the Empire, and also for some sixty years after the Turkish Conquest. The entrance (now closed) was between the two large towers immediately to the west of SS. Sergius and Bacchus.

With the harbour the following historical events are associated: Here the body of St. Chrysostom was landed, and placed for a time in the neighbouring Church of St. Thomas Amantiou, when brought from the land of his exile to be entombed in the Church of the Holy Apostles. [1086] In the riot of the Nika, the Residence of Probus, which stood beside the harbour, was first searched for arms, and then set on fire by the Factions. [1087] Here Phocas placed a division of the Green Faction, to prevent the landing of troops from the fleet of Heraclius; [1088] and hither the tyrant himself was dragged from his palace, thrown into a boat, and taken to Heraclius, in whose presence he was put to death. [1089] Here Leontius, upon his appointment as Governor of the Theme of Hellas, embarked to proceed to his post; but, at the instance of his friends, landed to head the revolution which overthrew Justinian II. [1090]

Several of the great fires to which Constantinople was so liable reached this harbour. Among them was the terrible conflagration in the reign of Leo the Great, which devastated the principal quarters of the city, from the Golden Horn to the Sea of Marmora. [1091] The equally destructive fire of 1203, which started with the burning, by the Crusaders, of the Saracen Mosque beside the Golden Horn, near Sirkedji Iskelessi, likewise swept across the city to this point. [1092] Other fires of minor importance occurred here in 561, 863, 887, and 956.

To the list of the noted buildings and districts near the Harbour of Julian, already mentioned, may be added the Residence of Bardas, father of Nicephorus Phocas; [1093] the Residence of Isaac Sevastocrator, which was converted by Isaac Angelus into a khan or hostelry (Pandocheion), with accommodation for one hundred men and as many horses; [1094] the Churches of St. Thekla; [1095] St. Thomas, Amantiou; [1096] the Archangel Michael, of Adda (τοῦ Ἀδδᾷ); [1097] St. Julian Perdix; and St. John the Forerunner, near the Residence of Probus. [1098]

Close to the Harbour of Sophia stood a tower known as the Bukanon, or the Trumpet (τὸ Βύκανον). [1099] It was so named, according to the Anonymus, [1100] both because trumpets were kept there, and because the tower itself, being hollow, resounded like a trumpet when struck by the waves. Whenever the Imperial fleet, the same writer adds, sailed from the city, it was customary for the ships to assemble before this tower and exchange musical salutes with it; a legend, which is probably a fanciful travesty of the simple fact that the tower was a station from which the movements of vessels were directed by trumpet signals.

If the order in which the Anonymus mentions the tower, between the SS. Sergius and Bacchus and the Harbour of Sophia, indicates its actual position, the Bukanon stood on the eastern side of the harbour.