CHAPTER XIII. THE SEAWARD WALLS.

Owing to the unique maritime position occupied by Constantinople, the defence of the shores of the capital was a matter of secondary importance. So long as the Empire retained the command of the sea, a city accessible by water only through the narrow defiles of the Hellespont and the Bosporus had little reason to apprehend a naval attack.

This immunity was, it is true, seriously affected when the Saracens and the Republics of Italy became great sea-powers. Still, even then, the situation of the city rendered an assault with ships an extremely difficult operation. The northern shore of the city could be put beyond the reach of the enemy by a chain extended across the narrow entrance of the Golden Horn; while the currents that swept the Marmora shore were ready to carry a fleet out to sea, or to hurl it against the rocks. According to Ville-Hardouin, [618] it was the dread of those currents that, in 1204, deterred the Venetian fleet, under Dandolo, from attacking the walls beside the Sea of Marmora, after the failure of the attempt upon the fortifications along the Golden Horn.

Other natural allies to withstand a naval attack were, moreover, found in the violent storms to which the waters around the city are liable. Such a storm discomfited the great Saracen fleet in the siege of 718. [619] In 825, a tempest compelled Thomas, the rival of Michael II., to withdraw his ships from action; [620] while in 865 a storm destroyed the first Russian flotilla that entered the Bosporus. [621] In the long history of the Byzantine Empire there is only one instance of a successful naval assault upon Constantinople, the gallant capture of the city in 1204 by the Venetians. That victory, however, was due as much to the feeble spirit exhibited by the defenders, notwithstanding the advantages of their position, as to the bravery and skill of the assailants.

But though the seaward walls did not possess the military consequence of the land walls, they are interesting on account of their connection with important political events, and, above all, for their intimate association with the commercial activity of the greatest emporium of trade during the Middle Ages.

The history of the construction of these walls has already been noticed incidentally, when tracing the gradual expansion of the city. [622] In the days of Byzantium they proceeded, we have seen, from the Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the Neorium, on the Golden Horn; and to the point subsequently called Topi, on the Sea of Marmora. Under Constantine the Great they were carried to the Church of St. Antony Harmatius, on the northern side of the city; and to the Church of St. Æmilianus, on the southern. In 439, Theodosius II. prolonged the lines to meet the extremities of the land wall at Blachernæ, on the one hand, and the Golden Gate, on the other.

The history of the repair of these walls from time to time is a long one. For while comparatively secure from injury by the accidents of war, they were liable to be rudely shaken by earthquakes, like other public buildings of the city, while their proximity to the sea exposed them in a special manner to damage by damp and storm.

During the earlier days of the Empire, indeed, when the Imperial navy ruled the sea, and no hostile fleet dared approach the city, the condition of these fortifications was often neglected; but as the sea-power of the Empire decayed, and that of other nations grew stronger, the defences along the shores of the city assumed greater interest, and their maintenance in proper order became one of the principal cares of the State.

The earthquake of 447, so ruinous to the new land wall of Anthemius, injured also the seaward walls, especially the portion beside the Sea of Marmora. As an inscription over Yeni Kapou [623] —the gate at the eastern end of Vlanga Bostan—proclaimed, the damage was repaired by the Prefect Constantine when he restored the other fortifications of the city which had suffered from that terrible earthquake. [624]

There is no record of repairs for the next two hundred and fifty years. But the state of these walls could not have been altogether unsatisfactory during that period, for they were prepared to withstand two fleets which threatened the southern side of the city in the seventh century: first, when the ships of Heraclius came, in 610, to overthrow the tyranny of the infamous Phocas; and again, when the Saracens besieged Constantinople from 673-678.

With the accession of Tiberius Apsimarus the shore defences entered upon a new era of their history. Admiral of the Imperial fleet in the Ægean when the Saracens marched victoriously from the banks of the Nile to the Atlantic, and alive to the power of the enemy upon the sea, as well as upon land, he was in a position to appreciate the necessity of being ready to repel attack at every point. Hence, upon his return to Constantinople, he ordered the walls of the capital, which had for some time been grossly neglected, to be put into a state of defence. [625] Some eight years later, however, Anastasius II. found it expedient to attend to the seaward walls again, [626] in view of the formidable preparations made by the Saracens for their second attack upon the capital of Eastern Christendom; and so effective was the work done, that, in the great crisis of 718, the city defied a fleet of 1200 vessels.

In the spring of 764 an unusual occurrence shook the walls about the point of the Acropolis. The preceding winter had been one of Arctic severity. If the figures of Theophanes may be trusted, the sea along the northern and western shores of the Euxine was frozen to a distance of one hundred miles from land, and to a depth of sixty feet; and upon this foundation of solid ice a mass of snow forty-five feet high accumulated. As soon as the breath of spring liberated the frost-bound waters, a long procession of ice-floes came filing down the Bosporus, on their way to the southern seas. They came in such numbers that they packed in the narrow channel, and formed an ice-pile at the opening into the Sea of Marmora, extending from the Palace of Hiereia (Fener Bagtchessi) to the city, and from Chrysopolis to Galata, and as far as Mamas at the head of the Golden Horn. [627]

At length the ice divided again, and as its several parts swayed in the swollen currents, one huge iceberg came dashing against the pier at the point of the Acropolis. Another, larger, followed, and hurled itself against the adjacent wall with a violence which shook the whole neighbourhood. The monstrous mass was broken by the concussion in three fragments, still so large that they overtopped the city bulwarks and invested the apex of the promontory from the Mangana to the Port Bosporus, overawing the city, and crushing, it would appear, the fortifications.

Extensive repairs of these walls were commenced in the reign of Michael II., and completed by his son Theophilus on a scale which amounted to a work of reconstruction. [628] Under the former emperor the rebel Thomas had besieged the city and forced the chain across the entrance of the Golden Horn, proving, for the first time, that even the fortifications in that quarter might be attacked by a bold enemy. The Saracens, moreover, displaying new vigour, had taken Sicily and Crete, and in 829 defeated the Imperial fleet in the Ægean. Accordingly, it is not strange that Theophilus ordered the old ramparts along the shores of the city to be replaced by loftier and stronger fortifications, and that in the execution of the undertaking he spared no labour or expense. “The gold coins of the realm,” says the chronicler, “were spent as freely as if worthless pebbles.” [629]

The satisfaction of Theophilus with the result was displayed in the extraordinary number of the inscriptions which he placed upon the new walls and towers, to commemorate his work. No other emperor has inscribed his name upon the walls so frequently. And the fortifications he erected endured, with but little change, to the last days of the Empire, and bear his stamp even in their ruin.

Of the inscriptions referred to, the following are found on the walls along the Sea of Marmora:

On the curtain-wall immediately to the north of Deïrmen Kapoussi, in one long line of sixty feet, is the legend:

ΣΕ ΧΡΙΣΤΕ ΤΕΙΧΟΣΑΡΡ; ΑΓΕ ΣΚΕΚΤΗΜΙΕΝΟΣ ΑΝΑΖ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟ ΣΕΥΣΕΒΗ ΣΑΥΤΟ ΚΡΑΤΩΡΗΓΕΙΡΕ ΤΟΥΤΟΤΕΙ ΧΟΣΕΚΙΒΑΘΡΩΝΝΕΩΝ· ΟΠΕΡ ΦΥΛΑΤ ΤΕΤΩΚΡ ΑΤΕΙΣΟΥΠΑΝ ΤΑΝΑΞΚΔΕΙΞΟ ΝΑΥΤΟΜΕ ΧΡΙΣΑΙΩΝΩΝΤΕΛΗΟΣΑΣ ΕΙΣΤΟ ΝΑΚΛΟΝΗΤΟΝΕΣ Τ

“Possessing Thee, O Christ, a Wall that cannot be broken, Theophilus, King and pious Emperor, erected this wall upon new foundations: which (wall), Lord of All, guard with Thy might, and display to the end of time standing unshaken and unmoved.”

These words read like a dedication prayer for the preservation of the whole line of the fortifications erected by Theophilus.

On the first tower to the south of Deïrmen Kapoussi are the words:

† ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΥ ΠΙΣΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΧΩ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ.

ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ †

“Tower of Theophilus, faithful and great King and Emperor in Christ.”

Above the legend is a slab, with the Cross and the battle-cry of the Empire, “Jesus Christ conquers.”

ΙΣ | ΧΡ

———|—————

ΝΙ | ΚΑ

A similar inscription stands on the second tower south of the gate:

† ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΥ ΕΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΩ ΑΥΤΟΚΑΤΟΡΟΣ † [630]

“Tower of Theophilus, Emperor in Christ.”

Fragmentary inscriptions to the same effect are seen on the third, sixth, seventh, and ninth towers south of Deïrmen Kapoussi.

In addition to these inscriptions, copies of others which have disappeared are preserved by Von Hammer, in the appendix to his work, Constantinopolis und Bosporos. [631]

The Gate of St. Barbara (Top Kapoussi) bore the inscription:

ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΣ ... ΕΚΑΙΝΙΣΑΣ ΠΟΛΙΝ.

“Theophilus ... having renovated the city.”

This inscription was repeated on the wall adjoining the gate. And on the two towers which flanked the gate was the customary legend which marked the work of Theophilus:

ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΘΕΟΦΙΛΟΥ ΕΝ ΧΩ ΑΥΤΟΚΑΤΟΡΟΣ

According to the same author, [632] a similar inscription was found in the vicinity of the Seven Towers, as well as an inscription in honour of Theophilus and his son, Michael III., who, though a mere child, had been appointed his Imperial colleague.

According to Aristarki Bey and Canon Curtis, [633] two other inscriptions in honour of Theophilus and Michael occurred also on two towers in the immediate vicinity of Top Kapoussi. All these inscriptions indicate the great extent of the repairs executed by Theophilus; the last three give, moreover, the approximate date of one portion of the work, Michael III. being the associate of his father from 839-842.

Inscription in Honour of the Emperor Michael III.

Inscription in Honour of the Emperor Michael III.

Upon the fortifications along the Golden Horn some twenty inscriptions in honour of Theophilus have been noted, similar to those found on the fortifications beside the Sea of Marmora, but they have for the most part disappeared in the destruction of the walls, from time to time, in carrying out city improvements. The most important to recall are the legends in which the name Michael was associated with that of Theophilus. In two instances the former name preceded the latter; while in five instances the latter name preceded the former. The only satisfactory explanation of this variation is that in the first case the Michael intended was Michael II., the father of Theophilus; and that in the second case the allusion was to Michael III., the son of Theophilus. Hence it appears that the restoration of the seaward walls was commenced in the reign of Michael II., soon after the appointment of Theophilus as his colleague, in 825.

Immediately to the north of the ruins of Indjili Kiosk, beside the Sea of Marmora, three inscribed slabs were, until recently, found built into the city wall. As the legend was mutilated, its full meaning cannot be determined, but it seemed to commemorate the restoration of a portion of the wall by Michael III., under the superintendence of his maternal uncle, the famous Bardas, the commander of the body-guard known as the Scholai (αἱ Σχολαί, οἱ Σχολάριοι).

First Slab.

ΩΝΚΡΑΤΑΙΩΣΔΕΣΠΟΣΑΝΤΩΝΤΟΥΣ

ΠΤΩΣΜΙΧΑΗΛΟΔΕΣΠΟΤΗΣ ΔΙΑΒΑΡ

Second Slab.

ΙΔΕΝΟΣΠΡΟΣΥΠΣΟΣΗΕΥΚΟΣΙΙΙΑΙΙΤΟ

ΩΝΣΧΟ ΩΝΔΩΜΕΣΤΙΚΟΥΗ ΙΡΕΤΕΡ

Third Slab.

ΗΘΕΝΕΙΣΓΗΝΤΕΙΧΟΣΕΞΕΓΕΡΚΟΤΟ

ΝΟΝΩΡΑΕΙΣΜΑΤΗΠΟΛΕΙ ☩ [634]

An inscription on a tower at the eastern side of the entrance to the old harbour at Koum Kapoussi (Kontoscalion) commemorated repairs by Leo the Wise and his brother and colleague Alexander:

† ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ Κ ΑΛΕΞΑΝ †

The first tower west of Ahour Kapoussi was rebuilt by Basil II. in 1024, after its overthrow by storms. It bears the inscription:

ΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΘΑΛΛΑΣΣΗΣ ΘΡΑΥΣΜΟΣ ΕΝ ΜΑΚΡΩ ΧΡΟΝΩ

ΚΛΥΔΩΝΙ ΠΟΛΛΩ ΚΑΙ ΣΦΟΔΡΩ ΡΗΓΝΥΜΕΝΗΣ ΠΕΣΕΙΝ

ΚΑΤΑΝΑΝΚΑΣΕ ΠΥΡΓΟΝ ΕΚ ΒΑΘΡΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΟΣ

ΗΓΕΙΡΕΝ ΕΥΣΕΒΗΣ ΑΝΑΞ ΕΤΟΥΣ ϚΘΛΒ

“In the year 1024, Basil, the pious Sovereign, erected from the foundations, this tower, which the dashing of the sea, shattering it for a long time with many and violent waves, compelled to fall.”

One of the most interesting incidents of the siege of 1453, reflecting credit both upon the conqueror and the conquered, was associated with “the towers of Basil, Leo, and Alexius” (τῶν πύργων τῶν λεγομένων Βασιλείου, Λέοντος, καὶ Ἀλεξίου). Although the Turkish troops were in command of the city, the defenders of those towers—the crew of a ship from Crete—refused to surrender, preferring to perish rather than to be reduced to slavery. The stand they made was reported to the Sultan, and he was so impressed by the heroism of the men that he offered, if they would submit, to allow them to leave the city with all the honours of war. The generous terms were accepted, though with great reluctance, and the brave men returned home in their own vessel, and with all their possessions. [635] Dr. Paspates [636] suggests that the tower connected with this incident was the tower bearing the inscription in honour of Leo and Alexander.

The tower at the foot of the landing below Narli Kapoussi was repaired, according to the inscription upon it, by Manuel Comnenus.

“Restored by Manuel Comnenus, the Christ-loving King, Porphyrogenitus, and Emperor of the Romans, in the year 1164.”

“Restored by Manuel Comnenus, the Christ-loving King, Porphyrogenitus, and Emperor of the Romans, in the year 1164.”

According to Cinnamus, [637] the Emperor Manuel Comnenus repaired the city walls, wherever necessary. [638]

Upon the restoration of the Greek Empire in 1261 the condition of the seaward walls became a matter of graver importance than it had been at any previous period in the history of the city. For, until the rise of the Ottoman power, the enemies whom Constantinople had then most reason to fear were the maritime States of Western Europe, with their formidable fleets.

The loss of the city by the Latins put a new strain upon the relations between the East and the West. It provoked more intense political antagonism, keener commercial rivalries, and a fanatical religious hatred, which all the attempts to unite the Churches of divided Christendom only fanned into fiercer flames. Nor was the situation improved when Michael Palæologus established the Genoese at Galata. A hostile power was then planted at the very gates of the capital; a foreign fleet commanded the Golden Horn; occasions for misunderstandings were multiplied; and selfish intriguers were at hand to foment the domestic quarrels of the Empire, and involve it in disputes with the rivals of Genoa. “The Roman Empire,” as Gibbon observes, “might soon have sunk into a province of Genoa, if the Republic had not been checked by the ruin of her freedom and naval power.”

The earliest concern of Michael Palæologus, therefore, after the recovery of the city, was to put the fortifications in a condition to repel the expected attempt of the Latins to regain the place. [639] Having no time to lose, and as lime and stone were difficult to procure, the emperor was satisfied, at first, with heightening the walls, especially those near the sea, by the erection upon the summit, of great wooden screens, covered with hide to render them fire-proof. In this way he raised the walls some seven feet. [640]

But later in his reign he conceived the ambitious idea of making the walls along the shores of the city, like the land walls, a double line of bulwarks. [641] The new fortifications, however, cannot have been a piece of solid work, for no traces of them have survived. [642]

Coat-Of-Arms of Andronicus Ii. Palæologus.

Coat-Of-Arms of Andronicus Ii. Palæologus. [643]

Repairs were again executed upon the seaward walls when Andronicus II. undertook the general restoration of the fortifications of the city. [644] Until recently a slab bearing the monogram and coat-of-arms of that emperor, a lion rampant, crowned and holding an upright sword, was to be seen on a tower of the wall surrounding the ancient harbour at Koum Kapoussi.

So far, at least, as the wall beside the Sea of Marmora was concerned, the work of Andronicus II. was soon injured. For on the very eve of his death, on the 12th of February, 1332, a furious storm from the south burst upon the fortifications beside that sea. The waves leaped over the battlements, opened breaches in the wall, forced the gates, and rushed in like a hostile army to devastate every quarter they could overwhelm. [645]

Although the fact is not recorded, the damage done on that occasion must have been repaired by Andronicus III.

Occasion for attending to the state of the seaward fortifications, especially along the Golden Horn, was again given, in the course of the conflicts between Cantacuzene and the Genoese of Galata.

In 1348 the latter made a violent assault upon the northern side of the city, and, although failing to carry the walls, did much harm to the shipping, timber-stores, and houses near the water. [646]

Matters assumed a more serious aspect in 1351. A powerful fleet then sailed from Genoa, under the command of Doria, to attack Constantinople in support of certain claims put forth by the colony at Galata, and on its way up the Sea of Marmora, captured the fortified town of Heraclea. The event caused the greatest consternation in the capital, and, in view of the enemy’s approach, Cantacuzene promptly set the seaward walls in order, repairing them where ruined, raising their height, and ordering all houses before them to be removed. [647] He also carried the towers higher, by erecting, in the manner usual on such occasions, constructions of timber on their summits. And not satisfied with these precautions, he even excavated a deep moat in front of the Harbour Walls, all the way from the Gate Xylinè, at Aivan Serai, to the Gate of Eugenius (Yali Kiosk Kapoussi), near the Seraglio Point.

Bas-Relief, On The Tower East of Djubali Kapoussi, Representing The Three Hebrew Youths Cast Into The Fiery Furnace of Babylon, as Described in the Book Of Daniel.

Bas-Relief, On The Tower East of Djubali Kapoussi, Representing The Three Hebrew Youths Cast Into The Fiery Furnace of Babylon, as Described in the Book Of Daniel. [648]

A trace of these repairs is found in a slab on the tower immediately to the east of the gate Djubali Kapoussi, [649] bearing a lion rampant, and the name of Manuel Phakrasè Catacuzene (MANOΥΗA ΦAKRACΗ TOU KATAKOΥSΗNOΥ), who was Proto-strator under Cantacuzene, and distinguished himself by his conduct in the defence of Selivria, in 1341, and in the siege of Galata, ten years later. [650]

In 1434 the Harbour Walls called for some slight repair, in consequence of another Genoese attack upon them. An expedition which had been sent from Genoa to take the town of Kaffa, having failed in that object, returned to the Bosporus, and sought to compensate for defeat in the Crimea by nothing less than the capture of Constantinople itself. The bold attempt made with ships carrying 8000 troops, was repulsed, and the baffled fleet returned to Italy. But the Genoese of Galata determined to continue the struggle; and in the bombardment of the walls with cannon, destroyed several warehouses in the city, and a tower beside the Gate Basilikè. This attack, likewise, ended in failure, and the colony was compelled to pay an indemnity of a thousand pieces of gold, to make good the damage caused by the bombardment. [651]

Two inscriptions, preserved by Dr. A. D. Mordtmann [652] in his work on the last siege of the city, [653] are noteworthy as records of repairs made on the fortifications beside the Sea of Marmora, when Constantinople trembled before the Ottoman power. They are also interesting on account of the personages whom they commemorate as restorers of the walls.

One stood, somewhere, on the wall between Ahour Kapoussi and Tchatlady Kapou, and read:

ΛΟΥΚ

ΝΟΤΑΡΑΣ

ΔΙΕΡΜΗΝΕΥΤΟΥ

“Of Luke Notaras, the Interpreter.”

This was Lucas Notaras, who subsequently became Grand Duke, and was the most prominent citizen of Constantinople in the catastrophe of 1453. When he executed these repairs he held the office of interpreter, or dragoman, under the Emperor John VII. Palæologus, in carrying on negotiations with Sultan Murad. [654] The office had, naturally, come into existence owing to the frequent diplomatic intercourse between the Byzantine Government and foreigners, and was of great importance and distinction. In the reign of Manuel Palæeologus it had been held by Nicholas Notaras, the father of Lucas Notaras. [655]

The second inscription stood on a tower between Koum Kapoussi and Yeni Kapou. It commemorated repairs executed in 1448 at the expense of the celebrated George Brankovitch, Despot of Servia.

† ΑΝΕΚΕΝΙΣ

ΘΗΝ ΟΥΤΟΣ

Ο ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΚΑΙ

ΚΟΡΤΙΝΑ Υ

ΠΟ ΓΕΩΡΓΙ

ΟΥ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΟΥ

ΣΕΡΒΙΑΣ ... +

ΕΝ ΕΤΕΙ ϚϠ ΥϚ

“This tower and curtain-wall were restored by George, Despot of Servia; in the year 6956 (1448).”

It will be remembered that some of the funds furnished by the Servian king were employed in repairs on the land walls. [656]