Alexander Van Millingen — Byzantine Constantinople — THE WALLS ALONG THE SEA OF MARMORA.

CHAPTER XVI. THE WALLS ALONG THE SEA OF MARMORA.

The fortifications extending along the Sea of Marmora [884] from the Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the southern extremity of the land walls consisted of a single wall flanked, according to Bondelmontius, by 188 towers—a line of defence some five miles in length. Almost everywhere along their course these fortifications stood close to the water’s edge, making it almost impossible to land troops at their foot, and giving them only the comparatively easy task of repelling an attack upon them with ships.

Inscription in Honour Of Theodosius II. and the Prefect Constantine.

Inscription in Honour Of Theodosius II. and the Prefect Constantine. (See page 46 .)

Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Theophilus.

Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Theophilus. (See page 183 .)

Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Isaac Angelus.

Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Isaac Angelus. (See page 132 .)

What they had most reason to dread was the open sea upon whose margin they stood, its ceaseless, unwearied sap and mine of their foundations, and the furious assaults of its angry waves. This explains some peculiarities noticeable in their construction. The line of their course, for instance, was extremely irregular, turning in and out with every bend of the shore, to present always as short and sharp a front as possible to the waves that dashed against them. They were protected, moreover, by a breakwater of loose boulders, [885] scattered in the sea along their base. And the extent to which marble shafts were built, as bonds, into the lower courses of the walls and towers was, doubtless, another precaution adopted to maintain the stability of these fortifications. A large portion of these walls is built in arches closed on their outer face, and seems to be the work of a late age.

The walls had at least thirteen entrances.

The first gate, Top Kapoussi, a short distance to the south of the apex of the promontory, was known as the Gate of St. Barbara (ἡ τῆς μάρτυρος Βαρβάρας καλουμένη Πύλη), [886] after a church of that dedication in the vicinity; the presence of a sanctuary consecrated to the patroness of fire-arms at this point being explained by the fact that the Mangana, or great military arsenal of the city, stood a little to the south of the gate.

The gate was guarded also on the north-west, by the Church of St. Demetrius, another military saint, and was therefore sometimes styled by the Greeks, after the Turkish Conquest, the Gate of St. Demetrius. [887] It was likewise known as the Eastern Gate, [888] owing to its position on the eastern shore of the city.

Here, probably, stood one of the gates of old Byzantium; for when the city was occupied by the Greeks under Xenophon, the Spartan admiral, Anaxibius, escaped to the Acropolis by taking boat in the Golden Horn, and rounding the promontory to the side facing Chalcedon. [889] The pier in front of the gate was called the Pier of the Acropolis (ἡ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως σκάλα); [890] and for the convenience of the boatmen and sailors frequenting it, a chapel of St. Nicholas, their patron saint, was attached to the Church of St. Barbara. [891]

According to the inscriptions [892] found upon the gate, it was included in the repairs of the seaward walls in the reign of Theophilus. As became its important position, it was a handsome portal, flanked, like the Golden Gate, by two large towers of white marble, [893] and beside it, if not in it, Nicephorus Phocas placed the beautiful gates which he carried away from Tarsus as trophies of his Cilician campaigns. [894] On two occasions it served as a triumphal entrance into the city, John Comnenus using it for that purpose in 1126, to celebrate the capture of Castamon; [895] and Manuel Comnenus in 1168, on his return from the Hungarian War. [896] In 1816 the towers of the gate furnished material for the Marble Kiosk which Sultan Mahmoud IV. erected in the neighbourhood; [897] and in 1871 the gate disappeared during the construction of the Roumelian railway.

Proceeding southwards from the Gate of St. Barbara, we reach the entrance known as Deïrmen Kapoussi. It is clearly Byzantine, but its Greek name is lost.

Between it and the Gate of St. Barbara must have stood the Mangana (τὰ Μάγγανα), [898] or Arsenal, with its workshops, materials of war, and library of books on military art. Its site is identified by the statement of Nicetas Choniates, [899] that it faced the rocky islet off the shore of Chrysopolis, on which the beacon tower Kiz Kalehssi, or Leander’s Tower, is now built. For, according to that historian, Manuel Comnenus, with the view of closing the Bosporus against naval attack from the south, erected two towers between which he might suspend a chain across the entrance of the straits; one of them, named Damalis and Arcla (Δάμαλις, Ἄρκλα), being on the rock off Chrysopolis, [900] the other, opposite to it, very close to the Monastery of Mangana.

The Tower of the Mangana was exceedingly strong, capable of withstanding a siege by the whole city. [901] Hence, in the struggle between Apocaucus and Cantacuzene, the former held it with great determination.

To the rear of Deïrmen Kapoussi a hollow, now occupied by market-gardens, indicates the site of the Kynegion, the amphitheatre erected by Severus when he restored Byzantium. [902] A combat of wild animals was held here as late as the reign of Justinian the Great, in honour of his consulship. [903] Subsequently, the Kynegion became a place of execution for important political offenders. There, Justinian II., on his restoration to the throne, put his rivals, Leontius and Apsimarus, to death, after subjecting them to public humiliation in the Hippodrome, by resting his feet upon their necks, while he viewed the games. [904]

A little to the south of the Kynegion stood the Church and Monastery of St. George at the Mangana (Μοναστήριον κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα Μάγγανα, ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τοῦ ἁγίου μεγάλου μάρτυρος Γεωργίου). It was an erection of Constantine Monomachus, [905] and one of the most splendid and important monasteries in the city. Its site is determined by the following indications; the church was opposite Chrysopolis, [906] and near the Mangana and the Kynegion; [907] it stood in the midst of meadows, and to it were attached gardens and a hospital. [908] “There was,” says Clavijo, the Spanish envoy, “before the entrance (of the church), a wide court containing many gardens and houses; the church itself stood in the middle of these gardens.” [909] Now, room for a church with such surroundings existed only to the south of the Kynegion, where a comparatively extensive plain is found; while the territory to the north was contracted, and was, moreover, otherwise occupied. This conclusion is corroborated by the statement of the Russian pilgrims that the Monastery of the Mangana lay to the west of the Church of St. Saviour. [910] That church, we shall find, stood at Indjili Kiosk. [911] Hence, a building to the west of that point would be on the plain above indicated.

From the Church of St. George mediæval writers derived the name of Braz Saint George for the Sea of Marmora and the Hellespont. [912] The Emperor John Cantacuzene, upon his abdication, was for some time a monk in the Monastery of Mangana, under the name Joasaph (Ἰωάσαφ), until he withdrew to the deeper seclusion of the Monastery of Batopedi, on Mount Athos. [913]

The next gate, Demir Kapoussi, is a Turkish erection that may have replaced an older entrance. [914]

A little further south, arched buttresses, forming the substructures on which the villa known as Indjili Kiosk, in the Seraglio grounds, once stood, are seen built against the walls. Through these buttresses the water of a Holy Spring within the city was, until recently, conducted to the outer side of the walls, and thus rendered accessible to the Christians of the Greek Orthodox Church, who sought the benefit of its healing virtues. This was the Holy Spring of the Church of St. Saviour, celebrated as a fountain of health long before the Turkish Conquest. “Tout cet endroit ressemble la piscine de Salomon qui est à Jérusalem!” exclaims one of the Russian pilgrims, who visited the shrine during the period of the Palæologi. [915]

Its identity cannot be disputed. For the memory of the fact that the Church of St. Saviour stood at this point has been preserved by the annual pilgrimages made to the spot, on the Festival of the Transfiguration, from the time of the Turkish Conquest until the year 1821, when the privilege of frequenting the spring was withdrawn, on account of the political events of the day. Such popular customs afford strong evidence.

The first writer who refers to the church and spring after 1453 is Gyllius, [916] who, speaking of the water-gates in the walls around the Seraglio, describes the position of Demir Kapoussi thus: “The fourth gate (counting from Yali Kiosk Kapoussi) faces south-east (solis exortum spectat hibernum), and is not far from the ruins of the church dedicated to Christ, for the remains of which, found built in the wall, the Greeks show much reverence, by visiting them in great crowds.” Thevenot [917] and Grelot [918] give a long account of the animated scene witnessed here on the Festival of the Transfiguration, in their day. The Sultan himself would sometimes come to Indjili Kiosk to be entertained by the spectacle presented on that occasion, particularly by seeing sick persons buried up to the neck in the sand on the seashore, as a method of cure. Hammer writes to the same effect, but supposed the spring to be the Hagiasma of the Virgin, and thought it marked the site of the Church of the Theotokos Hodegetria, which was in this vicinity, and to which also a Holy Spring was attached. [919] But this opinion, adopted also by Labarte, [920] is opposed to all the evidence upon the subject.

Finally, there is the testimony of the Patriarch Constantius, already alluded to, that from 1453 to 1821 the Hagiasma at Indjili Kiosk was annually frequented on the 6th of August, as the Holy Well associated with the Church of St. Saviour: “The Greeks still revered, until a few years ago, as a matter of tradition, the Hagiasma of the Saviour, which was under Indjili Kiosk.” [921]

In striking agreement with this evidence since the Turkish Conquest, are the accounts given regarding the Church of St. Saviour by writers previous to that event. According to them, the church was in the neighbourhood of the Church of St. George Mangana, and to the east of that sanctuary; it stood close to the sea, immediately behind the city walls; its Holy Spring was enclosed within the walls, and yet could be reached from without; in front of the walls through which the sacred stream flowed, was a beach of sand endowed with healing properties. [922] Nothing can be more conclusive.

This identification is of the greatest importance for the topographical reconstruction of the quarters of Byzantine Constantinople along the eastern shore of the promontory, for, with that church as a fixed point, it becomes comparatively easy to determine the positions of other noted buildings in the neighbourhood.

By means of that landmark, for example, the situation of the Church of St. George Mangana can, we have seen, be fixed. [923] It enables us also to settle, without prolonged discussion, the question raised by the extensive ruins discovered behind Indjili Kiosk, when the ground was cleared, in 1871, for the construction of the Roumelian railroad. The walls of an edifice 322 feet long by 53 feet wide, were then brought to view, and among the débris marble pillars and capitals were found in such numbers, as to prove that the building to which they belonged had been one of considerable importance. [924] Because some of the capitals seemed ornamented with the heads of bulls and lions, Dr. Paspates came to the conclusion that the ruins were the remains of the celebrated Palace of the Bucoleon. [925] On the other hand, Dr. Mordtmann thinks that here was the site of the Imperial residence, known as the Palace of Mangana, [926] an erection of Basil I. [927]

That the latter opinion is the correct one may be proved by means of the fact that the Church of St. Saviour stood at Indjili Kiosk. In the first place, the Palace of Mangana was near the Church of St. George Mangana—so near that the destruction of that palace by Isaac Angelus, to obtain material for edifices of his own construction, was viewed as an act of sacrilege committed against the property of the great saint. [928] But the Church of St. George Mangana, we have found, lay a short distance to the west of the Church of St. Saviour, [929] near the site of Indjili Kiosk. Consequently the remains of a palace near that kiosk must be those of the Palace of Mangana. This conclusion agrees, furthermore, with the fact that the Mangana, which gave name to the palace, was in this vicinity. [930] It is also consistent with the circumstance that the Palace of Mangana was noted for its coolness, [931] as would be characteristic of a residence in the position of Indjili Kiosk, which is exposed to the north wind that sweeps down the Bosporus from the Black Sea.

Thus, also, the site of the Church of St. Lazarus can be approximately determined. From the order in which the churches visited by the Deacon Zosimus [932] between St. Sophia and St. George Mangana are mentioned, it is clear that the Church of St. Lazarus lay to the south of the Church of St. Saviour, and consequently somewhere between Indjili Kiosk and the Seraglio Lighthouse. The identification is important; for near the Church of St. Lazarus was found the tier of seats, known as the Topi, which marked the southern extremity of the walls of old Byzantium on the side of the Sea of Marmora. [933]

Thus, also, the eastern limit of the grounds of the palace erected by Constantine the Great is determined. “The Triclinia erected by Constantine the Great,” says Codinus, [934] “reached to that point,” i.e. the Topi. Furthermore, the Tzycanisterion, or polo-ground, attached to the Great Palace, extended, we are told, as far as the neighbourhood of the Church of St. Lazarus and the Topi. [935] Dr. Paspates is therefore mistaken in making the palace grounds reach to within a short distance of the Seraglio Point.

Near the Topi likewise stood the Thermæ Arcadianæ, [936] constructed by the Emperor Arcadius, and one of the finest ornaments of the capital. There, also, was a church dedicated to the Archangel Michael, ἐν Ἀρκαδιαναῖς. [937]

In this neighbourhood, moreover, must have stood the Atrium of Justinian the Great, [938] a favourite public resort towards sunset, when the eastern side of the city was in shade, to admire the magnificent display of colour then reflected on the Sea of Marmora and the Asiatic coast and mountains. It was built of white marble and adorned with statuary, among which the statue of the Empress Theodora, upon a pillar of porphyry, was specially remarkable. [939]

Still further south of the Church of St. Saviour rose one of the most venerated shrines in Constantinople, the Church of the Theotokos Hodegetria (τῶν Ὁδηγῶν) founded by the Empress Pulcheria, and reconstructed by Michael III. [940] It boasted of a Holy Well famed for marvellous cures, [941] and of an Icon of the Virgin, attributed to St. Luke, which was regarded as the palladium of the city and the leader (Ὁδηγητρία) of the hosts of the Empire to victory. Generals on leaving the city to engage in war paid their devotions at this shrine, and the sacred picture had the first place of honour in a triumphal procession, taking precedence of the emperor himself. [942] In view of the siege of the city by Branas, in the reign of Isaac Angelus, the Icon was carried round the fortifications; [943] while in 1453 it was placed in the Church of the Chora, not far from the Gate of Charisius, to support the defence. There, upon the capture of the city, it was found by the Turks, and cut to pieces. [944]

According to the Russian pilgrims, the Church of the Hodegetria was situated to the south of St. George Mangana, and to the east of St. Sophia, on the right of the street conducting from the cathedral to the sea. [945] These indications support the opinion of Dr. Mordtmann [946] that the position of the church is marked by a neglected Hagiasma in the large vegetable garden at the south-eastern corner of the Seraglio grounds.

Two small gates in the city walls were respectively named after the two churches just mentioned, one being styled the Postern of St. Lazarus (τοῦ αγίου Λαζάρου πυλίς), [947] the other the Small Gate of the Hodegetria (ἡ μίκρα πύλη τῆς Ὁδηγητρίας). [948] They must have stood to the south of Indjili Kiosk; and, in fact, at the distance of some 145 paces from that point the marble frames of two small gateways are seen built in the wall. On the lintel of the one more to the south is a cross, and on two slabs built into the inner side of the gateway are the words, “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that entering into them I may worship the Lord.” [949] Two similar gates are seen still further south, one on either side of the second tower beyond Indjili Kiosk. These four entrances must have belonged to some of the numerous churches which were situated, according to the Russian pilgrims, in this part of the city. One of them, doubtless, represents the Postern of St. Lazarus, while another may claim to be the Small Gate of the Hodegetria.

The Postern of St. Lazarus is mentioned in history on the occasion of the sudden appearance, in 1269, of seventy-five Venetian galleys in the offing. [950] As soon as the fleet was sighted, all the gates of the city were closed, with the exception of this postern; and from it envoys were despatched in a boat to ascertain the object of the expedition. The public anxiety was relieved, when it was found that the Venetians had come to settle disputes with the Genoese at Galata and not to molest the capital.

According to Ducas [951] it was through the Gate of the Hodegetria that John VI. Palæologus penetrated, in 1355, into the city to overthrow John Cantacuzene. The voyage of the conspirators from Tenedos had been accomplished in rough weather; and it was dark and stormy when they arrived before Constantinople. As their force consisted of but two galleys, with 2000 men, the assailants could hope to enter the city only by stratagem. Approaching, therefore, the Gate of the Hodegetria, they proceeded to hurl empty oil-jars against the walls, and to rend the air with loud cries of distress. The startled sentinels, imagining it was a case of shipwreck, and touched by appeals to their humanity and by promises of a share in the rich cargo of oil reported to be on board the galleys, opened the gate and rushed to the rescue. When they discovered their mistake, it was too late. They were promptly overpowered and killed, and the Italian adventurers seized the gate, mounted the adjoining towers, and raised the cry in favour of Palæologus.

It was at the Gate of the Hodegetria, probably, that Bardas, in 866, embarked to conduct an expedition against the Saracens in Crete, after invoking the aid of the Virgin Hodegetria. [952] Here, the troops sent by Alexius III. to suppress the insurrection under John the Fat landed to gain the Great Palace, which the rebel leader was occupying. [953] The gate appears in the last siege, as a point blockaded by the Turkish fleet which invested the walls along the Sea of Marmora. [954]

In the recess of the shore immediately beyond the Seraglio Lighthouse, where the coast bends westwards, are two gates, known, respectively, as Balouk Haneh Kapoussi and Ahour Kapoussi. The former, the Gate of the Fish House, obtained its name from the circumstance that it led to the quarters of the fishermen in the service of the Turkish Court; the latter was styled the Stable Gate, because it conducted to the Sultan’s Mews.

The Patriarch Constantius [955] identified Balouk Haneh Kapoussi with the Postern of Michael the Protovestarius, mentioned once in Byzantine history. That was the gate by which Constantine Ducas, in 913, entered the city to join the conspirators who sought to place him upon the throne instead of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, then a minor under the tutelage of his uncle and colleague, Alexander. [956] The fact that Constantine Ducas reached the gate by sea without being immediately discovered, and that he was then able to reach the Hippodrome quickly, is in favour of the view that the entrance stood upon the Sea of Marmora. But if, as seems probable, the entrance at Balouk Haneh Kapoussi was within the limits of the Great Palace, it cannot be the Parapylis of Michael Protovestarius; for that postern did not conduct Ducas into the grounds of the Imperial residence, but to the private house of his father-in-law Gregoras, without the palace precincts. Possibly one of the small gates between the Lighthouse and Indjili Kiosk represents the postern.

The ancient name of Ahour Kapoussi is not known. The Patriarch Constantius, [957] it is true, identifies it with the Gate of the Hodegetria. But the Gate of the Hodegetria was remarkable for its small size, and stood outside the enclosure of the Great Palace; whereas Ahour Kapoussi was within the palace grounds, and is of ordinary dimensions.

Equally erroneous is the view of Labarte [958] that the recess in the shore at this point marks the site of the Port of the Bucoleon, the harbour attached to the Imperial palace. Doubtless, the small bay before Ahour Kapoussi, as its position implies, served the convenience of the Byzantine Court, but it was not the Port of Bucoleon strictly so called. That harbour, we shall find, lay further west at Tchatlady Kapou, the gate next in order.

The splendid marble stables erected by Michael III. at the Tzycanisterion [959] were in this vicinity. May this gate not have been at their service? It would not be strange if the Sultan’s Mews were built upon the site of the Mews of his Byzantine predecessors.

Passing next to Tchatlady Kapou (the Broken or Cracked Gate), we reach the entrance attached, as already intimated, to the Imperial Port of the Bucoleon. Its Byzantine name has not been preserved, but in the time of Gyllius [960] it was called the Gate of the Lion (Porta Leonis), after the marble figure of a lion near the entrance. Upon the maps of Constantinople, made in the sixteenth century, it is styled “Porta liona della riva.” Leunclavius names it the Gate of the Bears (Πόρτα ταῖς Ἀρκούδαις), a designation derived, doubtless, from the figures of bears which once adorned the adjoining quay. [961]

Some authorities [962] have identified the entrance with the Sidhera Porta (the Iron Gate), which stood on this side of the city. But this is a mistake. The Iron Gate opened on the Harbour of Sophia, [963] and was near the Church of St. Thomas Amantiou; [964] and both these points were to the west of Tchatlady Kapou. Therefore Tchatlady Kapou itself cannot have been the Iron Gate.

That the Harbour of Sophia lay in that direction is unquestionable, for it stood at Kadriga Limani, [965] which is to the west of Tchatlady Kapou. And that the same was true of the Church of St. Thomas is clear from the fact that this sanctuary and the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus marked, respectively, the western and eastern limits of the ravages made beside the Sea of Marmora, by the great fire in the reign of Leo I. [966] The Church of St. Thomas lay, therefore, to the west of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and, consequently, as the latter stands to the west of Tchatlady Kapou, the former, also, must have occupied a similar position.

Portion of Walls Beside the Sea of Marmora.

In the city walls, a little to the west of Tchatlady Kapou, opposite the beautiful Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, is a small postern, opened, doubtless, for the use of the monastery attached to that church. Its side-posts are shafts of marble, covered with a remarkable inscription, and were evidently brought from some other building, when the postern was constructed or repaired.

The inscription is a cento of verses, taken, with slight modifications, from the Prophet Habakkuk and the Psalter, to form a pæan in honour of the triumph of some emperor over his foes.

ΕΠΙΒΗΣΙ ΕΠΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΙΠΠΟΥΣ ΣΟΥ Κ. Η ΙΠΠΑΣΙΑ ΣΟΥ ΣΩ [ΤΗΡ] ΙΑ : [967] ΟΤΙ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΛΠΙΖΙ ΕΠΙ ΚΝ. ΕΝ ΤΩ ΕΛΕΙ ΤΟ [Υ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΥ ΟΥ ΜΗ] SALEUΘΗ : [968] ΟΥΚ ΟΦΕΛΗΣΙ ΕΚΘΡΟΣ ΕΝ ΑΥΤΩ Κ. ΥΙΟΣ ΑΝΟΜΙΑΣ ΟΥ ΠΡΟΣΘΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΚΩΣΙ ΕΑΥΤΟΝ : [969] ΑΙΝΩΝ ΕΠΙΚΑΛΙΣΕΤΟ [ΚΝ.] : ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΕΚΘΡΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΣΩΘΗΣΕΤΕ : [970] ΕΞΟΥΔΕΝΩΤΕ ΕΝΩΠΙΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΣ, ΤΟΥΣ ΔΕ ΦΟΒΟΥ [ΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΚΝ.] ΔΟΞΑΣΙ. [971]

The next entrance, the Gate of Sophia (Πόρτα τῶν Σοφιῶν), [972] as its name implies, was attached to the Harbour of Sophia. It was known also as the Porta Sidhera (Πόρτα Σιδηρᾶ), [973] from the material of its construction, and after the Turkish Conquest was designated Porta Katerga Limani, [974] the Gate of the Harbour of the Galleys, from κάτεργον, the Greek word for a galley.

The Porta Kontoscalion (τὸ δὲ λεγόμενον Κοντοσκάλιον ἡ Πόρτα) [975] communicated with the Harbour of the Kontoscalion, [976] and stood at Koum Kapoussi.

Next follows the gate Yeni Kapou, in the quarter of Vlanga. The Latin inscription which was found over the gate [977] proves it to have been a Byzantine entrance, but its ancient name has not been preserved. The gate was beside the Harbour of Theodosius, or Eleutherius [978] (Vlanga Bostan). Its Turkish name must allude to repairs made after 1453.

The next gate, Daoud Pasha Kapoussi, immediately to the west of Vlanga Bostan, is the Gate of St. Æmilianus (ἡ Πόρτα τοῦ ἁγίου Αἰμιλιανοῦ), [979] named so after a church of that dedication in the vicinity. It is identified by its situation. On the one hand, the Gate of St. Æmilianus was the westernmost entrance in the line of the Constantinian Walls beside the Sea of Marmora. [980] It must, therefore, have been a gate to the west of the old harbour at Vlanga Bostan, which, under the name of the Harbour of Eleutherius, stood within the city of Constantine. [981] On the other hand, it cannot have been a gate further west than Daoud Pasha Kapoussi, for the two gates which pierce the city wall in that direction can be identified with other gates, and were, moreover, beyond the original bounds of Constantinople. Near the Gate of St. Æmilianus stood the Church of St. Mary Rhabdou, venerated as the shrine in which the rod of Moses was kept. [982]

The next gate retains its old name, Gate of Psamathia (Πόρτα τοῦ Ψαμαθᾶ), [983] derived from the ancient quarter Psamathia (τοῦ Ψαμαθᾶ). The name alludes to the sand thrown up on the beach here, as at Koum Kapoussi (the Sand Gate).

Narli Kapoussi (the Pomegranate Gate), the succeeding entrance, accommodated the quarter around the celebrated Church and Monastery of St. John the Baptist, known as the Studion, because founded, in 463, by Studius, a patrician from Rome. The gate is never mentioned by name, but is clearly referred to by Constantine Porphyrogenitus [984] in his account of the Imperial visit paid, annually, to the Studion on the 29th of August, in commemoration of the martyrdom of the Baptist. On that occasion it was usual for the emperor to come from the Great Palace by water, in his state barge, and to land at this gate, where he was received by the abbot and monks of the monastery, and conducted to the services of the day.

On the cliff outside the gate is an Armenian Chapel of St. John the Baptist, which Dr. Paspates [985] thinks belonged originally to the Studion.

The excavations made in laying out the public garden beside the city walls west of the Gas Works at Yedi Koulè, brought to light substructures of an ancient edifice, in the construction of which bricks stamped with the monogram of Basil I. and with a portion of the name Diomed were employed. The ruins marked, undoubtedly, the site of the Church and Monastery of St. Diomed, upon whose steps Basil flung himself to sleep the evening he entered the city, a poor homeless adventurer from Macedonia, in search of fortune. The kindness shown to the stranger by the abbot of the House was never forgotten; and when Basil reached the throne he rebuilt the church and the monastery on a more extensive scale, and enriched them with ample endowments. [986] The large number of pillars strewn upon the adjoining beach belonged, probably, to the church.

Somewhere in the neighbourhood was the prison, known as the Prison of St. Diomed. In it, Pope Martin I. was detained by the Emperor Constans in 654; [987] and there Maria, the wife of Manuel Comnenus and mother of Alexius II., was confined by the infamous Andronicus Comnenus. [988]

The last tower in this line of fortifications, situated on a small promontory commanding a wide view of the Sea of Marmora, is a very striking and picturesque object. It has four stories, and is constructed mostly of large blocks of marble. To it was attached a two-storied building, forming, with the tower, a small château or castle at this point. Only the foundations of the western and northern walls of the building are left, but the eastern wall, pierced by two tiers of small windows, and ornamented with string-courses, stands almost intact. The castle must have been the residence of some superior military officer. Here, some think, was the Prison of St. Diomed. In the recess of the shore immediately beyond the tower was a small postern for the use of the garrison at this point.

One cannot bring this account of the Walls of Constantinople to a close without calling to mind, again, the splendid part they played in the history of the world. To them the Queen of Cities, as her sons loved to call her, owed her long life, and her noble opportunity to advance the higher welfare of mankind. How great her services in that respect have been, we are coming to recognize more clearly, through a better acquaintance with her achievements, and a fairer judgment upon her faults. The city which preserved Greek learning, maintained Roman justice, sounded the depths of religious thought, and gave to Art new forms of beauty, was no mean city, and had reason to be proud of her record.

Chateau and Marble Tower Near The Western Extremity of the Walls Beside the Sea of Marmora.

But never was she so grand as in her attitude towards the barbarous tribes and Oriental peoples which threatened her existence, and sought to render European civilization impossible. Some of her foes—the Goths and the great Slavic race—she not only fought, but also gathered within the pale of civilized Christendom. With others, like the Huns, Persians, Saracens, Turks, she waged a relentless warfare, often achieving signal triumphs, sometimes worsted in the struggle, always contesting every inch of her ground, retarding for a thousand years the day of her fall, perishing sword in hand, and giving Western Europe, meantime, scope to become worthy to take from her dying hands the banner of the world’s hope. This is service similar to that which has earned for Ancient Greece men’s eternal gratitude, and has made Marathon, Thermopylæ, Salamis, Platæa, names which will never die.

Among the monuments brought by Constantine from various parts of the Empire to adorn his city was the serpent column which had stood for eight centuries before the shrine of Delphi, inscribed with the names of the Greek States whose valour on the field of Platæa hurled the Persian out of Greece. In placing that column in the Hippodrome of New Rome, did he divine the mission of the new capital? It was Greece transferring to the city founded on the banks of the Bosporus the championship of the world’s best life. And as we look backwards upon the tremendous conflict between barbarism and civilization, which forms the very core of Byzantine history, we see that nowhere could that venerable monument have been placed more appropriately, and that if the name of the City of Constantine were inscribed upon it no dishonour would be cast upon the names already there, and only justice would be done to the Empire which assumed their task and emulated their renown.

But the shield of the city in that long heroic contest were the Walls whose history we have reviewed.