Harbour of Eleutherius and Theodosius.

According to the Notitia, [1112] Constantinople possessed a harbour called Portus Theodosianus, in the Twelfth Region of the city. As that Region comprised within its limits the shore of the Sea of Marmora at the southern base of the Seventh Hill, the Harbour of Theodosius must have been found at Vlanga Bostan, where the basin of a very ancient harbour, now filled in and converted into market-gardens, is distinctly visible.

There can be little doubt that this harbour was also the one which went by the name Harbour of Eleutherius [1113] (ὁ λιμὴν τοῦ Ἐλευθερίου): for the district of Eleutherius, and the palace of that name, [1114] were situated in the valley leading from Vlanga Bostan to Ak Serai, and the Et Meidan. The harbour at Vlanga Bostan, moreover, corresponds to the description given of the Harbour of Eleutherius by the Anonymus, [1115] who speaks of it as a very ancient harbour, situated to the west of that of Sophia, and abandoned long before his time.

If this be so, then the name Harbour of Eleutherius was its earlier designation, and the port itself was the oldest on the side of the city towards the Sea of Marmora, its construction being ascribed to a certain Eleutherius, who was present at the foundation of Constantinople. [1116] Its antiquity is supported by the aspect of its remains, for the walls enclosing it on the north are the oldest portion of the fortifications of the city, and possibly belong to the time of Constantine the Great. Here the statue of Eleutherius was erected, in the appropriate equipment of an excavator, with a spade in his hand and a basket on his back. [1117]

Tower Guarding the Harbour of Eleutherius and Theodosius.

Tower Guarding the Harbour of Eleutherius and Theodosius. [1118]

From the fact that the harbour was called Portus Theodosianus, it is evident that it was improved by Theodosius I., to whom the city owed so many public works.

When precisely the harbour was filled in is a question not easily settled. The Anonymus declares, indeed, that this was done in the reign of Theodosius I., with the earth excavated in laying the foundations of the column of that emperor in the Forum of Taurus. [1119] But, had that been the case, the Notitia would scarcely have mentioned an abandoned harbour among the objects for which the Twelfth Region of the city was remarkable. What is certain is that the harbour was destroyed some time before the eleventh century; probably because the earth brought by the stream of the Lycus, which flows into the harbour, and the sand cast up by the sea, proved too troublesome for the maintenance of a sufficient depth of water.

The harbour measured 786 yards from east to west and 218 yards from south to north. Along its southern side, as well as along a portion of its side towards the east, it was protected by a mole twelve feet thick, carefully constructed of masonry, and extending from the Gate of St. Æmilianus (Daoud Pasha Kapoussi) eastwards for about 436 yards, and then northwards for 327 yards more. [1120] Upon the greater portion of the mole, walls were constructed for the military defence of the harbour.

The entrance was at the north-eastern end, between the head of the mole and the site of the Gate Yeni Kapou, the opening through which the Roumelian Railway now runs, and was guarded by a tower built at a short distance out in the sea. [1121]

Portion of the Wall Around the Harbour of Eleutherius and Theodosius.

Portion of the Wall Around the Harbour of Eleutherius and Theodosius. [1122]

As stated already, the adjacent quarter was called the quarter of Eleutherius (τὰ τοῦ Ἐλευθερίου). It is mentioned under that name in 1203, as the farthest point reached by the great fire which then devastated the city through the folly of the Crusaders. [1123] The present name of the quarter, Vlanga, appears first in the eleventh century, as the designation of the residence of Andronicus Comnenus in this part of the city (οἶκος ὅς τοῦ Βλάγγα ἐπικέκληται), [1124] and it is the name by which writers subsequent to the Restoration of the Greek Empire refer to the district. [1125]

In the vicinity stood the Palace of the Empress Irene, [1126] the unnatural mother of Constantine VI., in which Basil II. entertained the Legates of Pope Hadrian II. [1127]

The Church of St. Panteleemon, erected by Theodora the wife of Justinian the Great, on the site of her humble dwelling when a poor woman earning her bread by spinning wool [1128] and the district of Narses (τὰ Ναρσοῦ) [1129] were in this neighbourhood; so also was the district of Canicleius (τὰ Κανικλείου), where the emperor landed when proceeding to pay his annual visit to that church. [1130] The modern Greek church of St. Theodore, to the south of Boudroum Djamissi (Myrelaion), marks, Dr. Mordtmann [1131] suggests, the district of Claudius (τὰ Κλαυδίου).