Note on the Locality where the Ancient Harbour Wall, discovered in 1819, was found.

The Patriarch Constantius, our sole informant on the subject, refers to this discovery twice; first, in his work on Ancient and Modern Constantinople (Κωνσταντινιὰς Παλαιὰ τε καὶ Νεωτέρα), published in 1844; secondly, in a letter, dated April 12, 1852, which is found in the collection of his minor works (Συγγραφαὶ αἱ Ἐλάσσωνες), and which was addressed to Mr. Scarlatus Byzantius, upon the publication of that gentleman’s work on the history and antiquities of the city. In that letter the patriarch corrects several mistakes made in his own work on the same subject, and gives additional information on other points.

The earlier reference to the discovery is brief, and when viewed in the light of the later statements, altogether misleading. It occurs in the paragraph upon Koum Kapoussi, the ancient Gate of Kontoscalion (English translation, p. 21; Greek original, p. 30). After expressing the opinion that the Neorion of the Kontoscalion stood at that gate, and quoting the description which Pachymeres gives of the wall around the harbour, the reverend author adds: “A portion of this circular enclosure appeared in 1819, consisting of three layers of very large stones placed one upon the other” (Ἕν μέρος δὲ τούτου τοῦ κυκλικοῦ περιφράγματος τοῦ λιμένος ἀνεφάνη τῷ 1819 ἔτει, συνιστάμενον ἐκ τριῶν θέσεων παμμεγίστων ἀλλεπαλλήλων πετρῶν).

There can be but one meaning to this language, namely, that the enclosure referred to stood beside the harbour at Koum Kapoussi. But the difficulty with this language has always been how to make it coincide with the facts in the case. For, as already intimated, the enclosure around the harbour at Koum Kapoussi is almost intact, and consists of the ordinary walls of the city at their usual elevation. There has never been room at that point for another enclosure such as the patriarch describes. But his later, and, fortunately, fuller statements (Συγγραφαὶ αἱ Ἐλάσσωνες, pp. 443, 444) make the matter clear, although, at the same time, they convict the patriarch of inaccuracy in his first statement, so far as the locality of the discovery is concerned. According to the patriarch’s letter, the locality in question was not at Koum Kapoussi, but between that gate and the gate Yeni Kapou of Vlanga, and nearer to the latter entrance than to the former. This fact is confirmed by the additional indication that the discovery was made in a Turkish quarter; for the only Turkish quarter near the shore between Kadriga Limani, on the east of Koum Kapoussi, and Daoud Pasha Kapoussi, on the west of Vlanga, is the quarter of Tulbenkdji Djamissi near Yeni Kapou. But to render all doubt as to the situation of the locality impossible, the route taken to reach it is minutely described; the patriarch and his friends passed first through Kadriga Limani and the parishes of St. Kyriakè and St. Elpis; then they went beyond Koum Kapoussi itself, and, keeping within the line of the walls, proceeded to the neighbourhood of the gate of Yeni Kapou at Vlanga, where the wall had come to light. These particulars are, indeed, at variance with the statement found in Ancient and Modern Constantinople, but as they constitute the patriarch’s clearest and fullest declarations on the point at issue, and are made in a letter correcting mistakes in his former work, they have been adopted as his most authoritative statements. The subject being important and the patriarch’s letter but little known, the passages bearing most directly upon the question are here appended: Περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν Προποντίδα λιμένος, περὶ οὗ σημειοῦμεν ἐν τῷ ἡμετέρῳ Συγγράμματι, τοῦ παρὰ Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Παλαιολόγου κατασκευασθέντος, αὐτὸς κεῖται ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τῆς Πύλης Κοντοσκαλίου (Κοὺμ-καπουσοῦ) καὶ τῆς τοῦ Γενὶ-καπουσοῦ τῆς Βλάγκας, καὶ ὑπῆρχε, διὰ τὸ ἀσφαλέστερον, ἔνδον τῶν παραλίων τειχῶν κατεσκευασμενος. ... Ἀλλ᾽ ὅλου τοῦ μέρους, ἐν ᾦ ὁ τοῦ Παλαιολόγου ἔκειτο, κατοικουμενου ὑπὸ Ὀθωμανῶν, κατὰ τὸ 1819 ἔτος πυρπολυθέντος, ἀνεφάνη τὸ τοῦ λιμένος τούτου κυκλικὸν περίφραγμα, κατὰ τὸν Παχυμέρην, γεγυρωμένον ἐκ τριῶν ἀλλεπαλλήλως τεθειμένων μεγάλων πετρῶν, εἰργασμένων ὡς πλακῶν, ἐχουσῶν μῆκος μὲν τριῶν πήχεων, εὖρος δὲ δύω, καὶ βάθος ἡμίσειαν, τῶν μὲν δύω κάτωθεν ἀλλεπαλλήλων πλακῶν ἐκ πετρῶν τοῦ Βοσπόρου, λευκομελανοχρόων, τῆς δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν τρίτης σειρᾶς καὶ ἀνωτέρας, ἐκ μαρμάρων ἰσομέτρων Προκονησίων. He then refers to the order received from the Government to investigate the discovery, and mentions the persons who accompanied him on that errand; after which he continues thus: Διήλθομεν δὲ τὸ Κάτεργα-λιμὰν, τὰς ἐνορίας Ἁγίας Κυριακῆς καὶ Ἐλπίδος, παρήλθομεν τὸ Κοὺμ-καπουσοῦ, καὶ προεχωρήσαμεν ἔχοντες ἀριστερόθεν τὰ παράλια τείχη ἔνδοθεν, ἐγγὺς τῆς Πύλης Γενὶ-καπουσοῦ τῆς Βλάγκας, ὅπου εἴδομεν τὸ ἐκ πετρῶν καὶ μαρμάρων κυκλοτερὲς περίφραγμα, ἐκτεινόμενον ὑποκάτω ἑνὸς τεφρωθέντος Τζαμίου, ἑνὸς μεγάλου Ὀθωμανικοῦ οἴκου καὶ περαιτέρω. Καὶ παραυτίκα ἐγνώκαμεν ὅτι τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἐστι, κατὰ τὸν Παχυμέρην, τὸ πρὸς τὴν Βλάγκαν νεῦον τοῦ Κοντασκαλίου Νεώριον. Ὅλος ὁ τόπος ὁ περιέχων ποτὲ τὸ Νεώριον αὐτὸ, μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν ἐπληρώθη, ἐχερσώθη καὶ ὑψώθη τὸ ἔδαφος, κατοικούμενος ὑπὸ Ὀθωμανῶν· αἱ δὲ ἀραρυῖαι ἐκ σιδήρου πύλαι, δι᾽ ὦν εἰσέπλεεν ὁ στόλος ἐλλιμενιζόμενος, ἀπῳκοδομήθησαν.