CHAPTER XIV. THE WALLS ALONG THE GOLDEN HORN.

The Harbour Fortifications guarded the northern side of the city, from the Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the terminus of the land walls at Blachernæ, and, excepting a small portion, consisted of a single wall, flanked, according to Bondelmontius, by a hundred and ten towers. [657]

To accommodate the commerce and traffic of the city, the wall was built, for the most part, at a short distance from the water; but the strip of ground thus left without the fortifications was even narrower in ancient times than it is at present, much of the land outside the wall having been made by recent deposits of earth and rubbish. This explains how the Venetian fleet, in 1203 and 1204, was able to approach so near the ramparts that troops standing on the flying bridges attached to the ships’ yards came to close quarters with the defenders on the walls. Indeed, in one case, at least, such a bridge spanned the distance between ship and tower, and permitted the assailants to cross over and seize the latter. [658] At the actual distance, however, of the wall from the water, such a feat would be impossible, except in the vicinity of the Seraglio Point, which was not the quarter attacked by the Venetians.