The Antiquities of Constantinople

Chap. XVII.

Of the Valley which divides the Promontory from the seventh Hill

THE Valley which divides the seventh from the six Hills of the Promontory, is an easy Descent. It extends itself in Length to the Distance of four thousand Paces, if you take in the Plain on the Sea Shore. If you exclude that, and take your Dimensions from the winding of the seventh Hill, ’tis not above three thousand three hundred Paces long. It lies so much upon a Level, that you cannot perceive by walking it, that it has the least Ascent; yet you may discover by the Discernment of the Eye that it sensibly lengthens and widens itself into a greater Breadth. It bounds the Sides of the third and the fifth Valley, and the lowest Eminences of the fifth and sixth Hills. It is full of Gardens and pleasant Meadows. Here the Soldiers sometimes act their Mock-Fights. There’s a Rivulet which runs through the Middle of it, which is often dry in Summer Time.

Chap. XVIII.

Of the seventh Hill

THE seventh Hill is called the Xerolophos, on which stands the Pillar of Arcadius. This Hill is little less than twelve thousand Paces in Circumference, and contains more than a third Part of the City. The other two Parts are comprehended in the Compass of the Promontory, which is above twenty thousand Paces in Circumference. By Paces, I would here be thought to mean the ordinary Steps we take in Walking, which I cannot exactly reduce to a just Mensuration with the Roman Pace, by reason of the Turnings and Windings of the Ways, and the Differences of Paces, which are longer or shorter, according to the different Ascents and Descents of the Ground we walk. This Hill makes the third Angle of the City, from whence Constantinople is look’d upon to be of a triangular Figure. It lies shelving with a very moderate Descent, and has a double Declivity; one of which falls gently into the Valley, which divides the seventh Hill from the Promontory, and is of an equal Length with the Valley itself. The other Descent, which partly lies to the South-east, and partly to the South, falls into the Propontis, and is in some Places five hundred Paces steep, in others four hundred, three hundred, a hundred, nay even fifty, till it comes to the Point of the third Angle of the City, whence a large Plain shoots out towards the Sea, which, in different Places, is of a different Breadth. The Entrance of this Plain, at the Angle of the City just mention’d, is very narrow; it afterwards widens, which is occasioned by the Winding of one of its Sides, from whence it gently rises to the Foot of a small Hill, where ’tis four hundred Paces broad; onwards it is straiten’d into fifty, and afterwards is widen’d into a Breadth of a hundred Paces only. The End of this Plain, to the Distance of a thousand Paces, is more than four hundred Paces broad. On the Ridge of this Hill, there is a Plain of some Length and Breadth; the Hill itself is bounded by the Land Wall, and on the Top of it is a Cistern which is call’d Mocisia, which is wholly unroof’d, and stripp’d of its Pillars. This Cistern is nine hundred and seventy Paces in Circumference. The Walls of it, which are made of squared Free-stone, are still remaining; and the Ground where it stands, is now turn’d into a Garden.

Thus is it that I have laid before the Reader a Plan or Description of the Situation of the City of Constantinople, by which means the Situation of the Wards of that City will be more easily discovered. I hope I shall not be thought to have dwelt too long on this Subject, since a verbal Delineation of it is the most concise way of coming to the Knowledge of it. For although Constantinople, by reason of the Eminency of its Situation, affords a most agreeable Prospect at the remotest Distance, yet thus to particularize the several Parts of the City, leads the Reader into a more exact and more expeditious Insight into it, than any other Method of Information whatsoever.

Chap. XIX.

Of the Walls of the City

THE Walls of Constantinople, in some Places, are built with squared Free-stone, in others with rough Stone, and in many Places with an Intermixture of Brick and Stone together. The Walls on the Land Side are double, secured with a large Ditch five and twenty Paces broad. One of the Walls is carry’d somewhat farther than the Length of the Ditch, and is very strongly fortified. These Walls stand at eighteen Foot Distance from each other. The inward Wall is very lofty, and more than twenty Foot in Thickness, upon which are built two hundred and fifty Towers with Steps, facing the Continent. The outward Wall is not above half as big, but has the same Number of Towers. As to the Nature of its Fortification, the Ground that takes up the Distance between the Ditch and the outward Wall, is higher than the adjoining Side of the Ditch, and the Ground between the two Walls is higher than that. The Countrey opening without the Walls is not incumber’d with Buildings, and is partly hilly, and partly upon the Level, but chiefly upon the latter, so that you have a delightful Prospect over the Fields before you, and a very extensive View all about you: And there is no Doubt to be made, but that Constantinople might be made a terrible strong Place. The Walls which run round the Sea, are not so high as the Land Walls; they are a plain Building, but very thick, and well guarded with Towers. On the Side of the Bay Ceras, they are about fifty Paces distant from the Shore. On the Side of the Bosporus and the Propontis, they are built upon the Shore, except where they are discontinu’d by some Port or Landing-place. Zonaras relates, that Theophilus the Emperor not only repaired, but raised these Walls higher, after they had been much impair’d by Time, and the Dashings of the Sea. This is also confirm’d to us down even to the present Age; for in many Places of them, I observ’d the Name of Theophilus the Emperor was cut in very large Characters. The Emperor Nicephorus was hated by his People for levying a Tax upon them, which was call’d Diceraton, for repairing these Walls. I learn from the Constitutions of Justinian, that in his Time the Walls were commonly call’d the old and the new Walls, where he decrees, That a larger Fee shall be paid the Bearers, and those who attend a Corpse beyond the new Walls of the City. What I would observe from hence is, that the old Walls which were built by Constantine, and that the new Walls which were built by Theodosius the Less, were both standing in the Reign of Justinian. The Walls of old Byzantium I have described in the Beginning of this Book; and as to the Condition they were in formerly, we may learn more fully from Herodian, who writes, that Byzantium was inclosed with a very large and a very strong Wall, made of square Stones of a great Size, so artfully cemented, that it was look’d upon as one compacted Piece of Work. This is also confirm’d by the Authority of Pausanias, who tells us, That he never saw the Walls of Babylon, or of Memnon, nor ever heard of any Person who had seen them: But the Walls of Byzantium and Rhodes, says he, are accounted exceeding strong; and yet the Walls which inclose Messene are stronger than these. ’Tis recorded by some Historians, that the Athenians kept their Treasury at Byzantium, because it was a well fortify’d Place. Whether those Walls which the Author of the Ancient Description of the Wards calls the double Walls are the same which we see at Constantinople at present, or whether they were built by Theodosius, I leave it to the Judgment of the Reader. Thus far I shall give my Opinion, viz. That they do not seem to me to be entirely the same Walls which that Author describes. For he places the Church of the Apostles in a Ward which is near to the Walls of the City, and places the fourteenth Ward without the Walls of the City, which at present, if not all of it, at least the best part of it, is within the Walls. I would add, that Theodosius the Less, who reign’d before Justinian, does not place the Blachernæ within the Walls of the City, and yet I have the Authority of Procopius, that these were apart of the Suburbs in the Time of Justinian, tho’ at present they are enclosed within the Walls, as were also the seven Towers, and the Church which was built by Stadius, (or rather Studius) who was afterwards Consul.

Chap. XX.

Of the Gates of Constantinople, and the seven Towers of Old Byzantium

THE Walls on the Side of the Continent have six Gates; one within the Palace of Constantine, another, which is call’d the Adrianopolitan Gate, and a third on the Brow of the seventh Hill. Besides these, there is the Porta Aurea or Gilded Gate, the Gate of Selymbria or Rhegium, and the Gate of the seven Towers. On the Side of the Bay Ceras is the Gate of the Blachernæ, at present call’d Xyloporta, seated near the third Angle of the City. There are also the Gates call’d Cynigos, or Porta Palatina, Phanaria, Agia, Porta Jubalica, Farinaria, Lignaria, Seminaria, Piscaria, the Gate of the Neorium, and the Gate of Demetrius, which stands on the Ridge of the first Hill. On the Side of the Propontis there are about five; every one of which has Stairs, or a Landing-place, and a Haven for Ships, besides the Gates of the Imperial Palace. There is also the Porta Stercoraria, Leonina, Condescala, two of which stand at the Foot of the seventh Hill. Those which have been principally taken Notice of by Historians, are the Gates of Cynigos, Rhegium and Xylocerum, also the Gate of Eugenius, the Porta Aurea, that call’d Myriandros, the Porta Condescala, and Porta Carsiana. In old Byzantium there was the Thracian Gate. For we are told by Dion, that the seven Towers reach’d from the Thracian Gate to the Sea, which Cedrinus tells us was the Bay Ceras. If any one spoke any thing in the first of these Towers, it immediately flew to the second, and so through all the rest, so that you might hear the Voice distinctly repeated in every one of them. Pliny tells the very same Story of Cyzicus. In that City, says he, near the Thracian Gate there are seven Towers, which multiply the Voice by Repetition, or Reiteration, more than seven times. This, he adds, was look’d upon by the Grecians as somewhat miraculous, and was call’d the Echo. I never found any Mention made of the Thracian Gates in any Historian but in Pliny, though it is not altogether improbable, that there were such Gates there; for Apollonius, in the first Book of his Argonauticks, mentions the Thracian Haven in Cyzicus; and Plutarch is very express, that near this City there was a Street call’d the Thracian Street. This is also attested not only by some more modern Writers of Constantinople, but also by Dion and Xenophon; the latter of whom writes, That when Alcibiades appear’d before the Town, the Byzantians open’d the Thracian Gates to him of their own Accord.

Chap. XXI.

Of the long Walls

THE Suburbs and Fields adjoining were inclosed with Walls of such an immoderate Length, that they extended themselves from the City to the Distance of a two Days Journey. They were built by Anastasius the Emperor to prevent the Incursions of the Scythians and Bulgarians, reach’d from the Black Sea to the Propontis, were forty thousand Paces remote from the City, and twenty Roman Foot in Breadth. These Walls were often taken and batter’d by the barbarous Nations, but repair’d by Justinian; and that the Soldiers garrisoned there might defend them to the best Advantage, he order’d the Passages of one Tower to another to be stopp’d up, no Entrance being allow’d, but the Door at the Bottom of the Steps, by which it was ascended; so that by this means it was sufficiently guarded, though the Enemies Forces were in the Heart of the City. Evagrius the sacred Historian tells us, that Anastasius built the long Wall, which was two hundred and eighty Furlongs distant from the City, that it reach’d from Sea to Sea, was four hundred Furlongs in Length, that it was a good Security to those who sail’d out of the Black Sea to the Propontis, and that it put a Stop to the Excursions of the barbarous Nations.

The End of the First Book

BOOK II

Chap. I.

Of the Buildings and Monuments of Old Byzantium and Constantinople, called New Rome

Having describ’d the Figure and Extent of the City, and having particularized the Situation of the seven Hills, I shall proceed to consider what Buildings and Monuments Constantinople anciently had, or now has, and into how many Wards it was divided. For when I accidentally fell upon this Division of the City into Wards, in an ancient Manuscript written above one thousand Years ago, by a Gentleman more noble by his Birth than his Writings, I was in hopes, with some Ease, to have traced out the ancient City; but the barbarous Mahometans have either so demolish’d those venerable and truly heroick Ornaments which distinguish’d it, to adorn their own paultry Houses, or entirely buried them in their own Ruins, that in very few Places you shall see any Remains of an old Foundation. I omit to mention the Fires and other Devastations, committed not only by the Savages of other Countries, but the great Havock lately made by the Turks themselves, who for the last hundred Years have incessantly endeavour’d entirely to deface and destroy it, by building upon it in so different a Manner, that those who have formerly seen some parts of it, scarce know its ancient Situation. Consider farther the profound Ignorance of the Greeks at present. There is scarce a Man of them who either knows, or has so much as an Inclination to know, where their Antiquities are. Nay, their Priests are so heedless and negligent in this Respect, that they will not make the least Enquiry themselves about those Places, where but a few Years since very magnificent Temples were standing, and so very censorious are they, as to condemn those that do. However, that I might not pass away my Time uselessly, while I was in Expectation of Remittances from my Royal Master, for purchasing all the ancient Manuscripts I could meet with, I made it my Business, by all the Marks of Antiquity I was capable of observing, to make what Discoveries I could. In my Description of the ancient Monuments, I shall observe the same Method I did in the Description of the Hills. I shall consider them in the Order the Hills stand, or as I find them in the different Wards of the City; which, like Old Rome, was divided into fourteen Wards.

Chap. II.

Of the Ancient Monuments of the first Hill, and of the first Ward of the City

THE first Hill, which Pliny sometimes calls Chrysoceras, and sometimes Auri Cornu, (though this was a Mistake, as appears from what I have wrote concerning the Thracian Bosporus) Dionysius a Byzantian calls the Promontory of the Bosporus. There are two Reasons assigned, says he, why ’tis call’d the Promontory of the Bosporus; the one is, as some say, because a Cow stung with a Gad-Bee forded over it. Others more fabulously report, that Io, the Daughter of Inachus, being changed into a Cow, swam across it, when she went into Asia. The same Author, speaking of a Place call’d Semystra, tells us, that Byzantium had been founded there, had not a Raven snatched a Part of the Sacrifice, they offer’d upon their landing, out of the Fire, and carry’d it to the Promontory of the Bosporus. This they look’d upon as a Token from the Gods, that they should found their City there. The same Writer, speaking in another Place of a Promontory call’d Metopum, opposite to the first Hill of Constantinople, this Promontory, he adds, faces the City, and lies directly against the Promontory of the Bosporus; and the same Author informs us, that a little above the Promontory of the Bosporus, there was an Altar erected to Minerva, who was call’d Ecbasia, or Egressoria, because those who transplanted the Colony hither, sally’d out from thence, with a Bravery equal to those, who fight for their Countrey. We might also call her Ecbateria, under which Name, as Hesychius reports, Diana was worshipped in Siphnus. He adds farther, that upon the same Promontory stood the old Temple of Neptune, and below it, upon the Plain, that the Byzantian Youth exercised themselves in Horse-racing, driving the Chariot, Wrestling, and other Martial Sports; and lastly, that at the Foot of the Promontory stood a Bay call’d Ceras, which had three Havens, fortify’d with three Cittadels, and high Sand-banks, upon it stood the Castle of Byzantium, of which Xenophon takes Notice, when he tells us, that the Men under his Command, having forc’d their Way into the Town, the Inhabitants fearing they should be put to the Sword if their City was taken, some fled to the adjoining Promontory, others to the Sea, and that some of them steering about a long time in a Fisher-boat, made at last a landing, got into a Tower, from thence made Signals of Distress, and were assisted at last by the People of Chalcedon. And not only the Castle of old Byzantium was built upon the first Hill, but Historians assure us, that the Emperours of Constantinople likewise continu’d a Fortress there, when they tell us, that to keep off the Enemy from entring the Port, they laid a Boom across the River, from the Cittadel to the Castle of Galata: Nay, even at this Day, the Grand Seignor has a Cittadel there, fortify’d with thick Walls, which enclose his spacious Gardens on all sides. In old Byzantium there was a Place call’d the Thracian Field, lying upon a Level, and not incumber’d with Houses. It was upon this Plain that Xenophon drew up in Military Order the Grecian Army. He informs us, in his Book of his Hellenici, that this Field was near the Thracian Gate; they open’d, says he, the Gates adjoining the Thracian Field: And in the 7th Book of the Expedition of Cyrus, speaking of a Place, seated near the Walls of Byzantium, where he ranged his Army in order of Battle, he tells us, that the most convenient Place to draw up, or muster an Army is, the Thracian Field; because, as he goes on, ’tis free of Houses, and upon a Plain. I observ’d before, that the seven Towers of Byzantium reach’d from the Thracian Gate to the Sea; Georgius Cedrinus asserts, that they reach’d to the Northern-Sea, that is, to the Bay call’d Ceras. Herodotus attests, that in old Byzantium stood an Altar erected to Diana Orthosia, and a Temple dedicated to Bacchus. Darius, says he, upon viewing the Black Sea, came back to the Bridge, and erected upon the Bosporus two Stone Columns, on which he order’d to be engraven the Assyrian and Greek Alphabets. The Byzantians afterwards removed them into the City, near to the Altar of Diana Orthosia. The Greek Alphabet was what they retain’d, and made use of. The Column with the Assyrian Characters they left remaining near the Temple of Bacchus, where they had fix’d it. Laurentius translates the Greek Word Orthosia, Erecta, but he had translated it more properly, had he call’d her Erectoria, or Erectrix, because as being the Goddess of Child-birth she raises up, or recovers Women in Labour. This I collect to be the true Sense of the Word, not only from several Authors, but from Plutarch, who in his Book of Rivers, has this Story: Proud Teuthras, King of Mysia, says he, with his Retinue of Spearmen chas’d a Boar, which fled into the Temple of Diana Orthosia to implore her Assistance. As they were all driving furiously into the Temple, the Boar cry’d out with an audible human Voice, Let your Compassion, Royal Sir, be shewn to one whom Diana brought into the World. Teuthras enraged at this, slew the Creature. Diana resenting the Affront, threw the King into a Phrenzy, and punished him with ulcerous Sores. He could not bear the Indignity of his Punishment, and so retired to the Mountains. His Mother Lysippa, immediately, with the Prophet Polyidius, who inform’d her of the Occasion of her Son’s Sufferings, hastens in Search of him, and by sacrificing to Diana some Oxen, reconciles her to him. When she perceiv’d her Son return’d to his Senses, she erected an Altar to Diana Orthosia, and near it placed a Golden Boar, with a Man’s Head upon his Shoulders. Before the Destruction of Byzantium by Severus, both the Altar and the Boar were standing, in the first Valley of the first Hill. Since Constantine rebuilt the City, the first Hill included in it the first Ward, which contain’d the House of Placidia Augusta, that also of the most noble Marina, and the Baths of Arcadius. I learn this from the ancient Division of the City into Wards, though I must confess myself at a Loss, to know in what Part of the City the first Ward began, nor can I make any such Discovery from the Remains of any ancient Buildings, which are now entirely destroy’d. However, thus much may be inferr’d from Procopius, who has it upon Record, that when you sail from the Propontis to the Eastern Part of the City, there stand the publick Baths, built by Arcadius. In this Place, says he, Justinian built a Court, which was encompassed with so calm a Sea, that when you walk’d in the Galleries, you might discourse audibly with the Sailors. It made a very beautiful, a very delightful, and most magnificent Prospect: It was fann’d with gentle Breezes, supported with lofty Columns, and laid with the most curious Marble, which like the Sun, reflected a most amazing Lustre: It was also adorn’d with abundance of Marble and brazen Statues, finish’d to the nicest Perfection; a lovely Scene to the Spectators! The Reader, had he seen it, would have taken it to have been the Work of Phidias, Lysippus, or Praxiteles. Upon a high Pillar of Porphyry Marble, in the same Place, stood the Statue of the Empress Theodora, addressing herself, as it were, to him for building so noble a Structure. The Beauty of the Column is exceedingly surprising, yet does it by no means come up to that inconceivable inexpressible Gracefulness and Dignity you see in the Statue. From these Words of Procopius, as I would observe by the By, that that Pillar now landing upon a Descent, lying Eastward of the Grand Seignor’s Palace, is not the same with that upon which Theodora was erected, as some are of Opinion it is; because it is neither of a Porphyry Colour, and is at too remote a Distance form the Court; so would I have the Reader understand, that the first Ward contain’d in it the Length of the first Hill, which is bounded on three Sides by the Sea. I find not only in many Historians, but also in Suidas the Grammarian, that the Statue of Arcadia, the second Wife of Zeno, stood in the Arcadian Baths, near the Places call’d the Bathra, from the Stairs by which you ascend them. I find also in that Place two Statues of Verina, the Wife of Leo Magnus, one in the Northern Part of the City, near the Church of St. Agathonicus beyond the Bathra, the other on that Side of the City where stands the Church of St. Barbara: The first was erected by Leo in his Life-time, the second since his Death; when upon the Flight of Zeno, his Son in Law, his Brother Basiliscus was crown’d Emperor in his stead. I have reason to believe, when I consider the natural Situation and Order in which the Wards stand, that Part of the second Ward was inclos’d in the Palace: For this Ward, according to the ancient Description of it, at its first Entrance stood upon a Level; at some Distance it rose by a gentle Ascent, and at last, with very deep Precipices, fell into the Sea. I am of Opinion, that these Precipices descended on that Spot of Ground where the Kitchens, and Bagnio’s of the Grand Seignor stand at present. But where-ever they might stand in ancient Times, all the steep Places that were formerly enclosed within the Palace are now levell’d, where now there stands an old Church commonly call’d Sophia the Less. Some of the most ancient Inhabitants affirm it to be the Church of St. Irene, which Socrates tells us was built by Constantine the Great. I take it to be the same Church which the People of the second Ward call the Old Church. I have Reason also to believe, that the other Part of the second Ward stood without the Palace, from the Situation of the Churches and Bagnio’s, which the second Ward encloses. For Zonaras and other Historians assert, that the Church, which formerly went by the Name of the Great Church