Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites
John Stuart Mill · en
With these indications as the basis for a decision, can the claim that
the tower S is the Tower of Anemas be maintained? The tower answers to
the description of Anna Comnena in being a tower in the city walls close
to the Palace of Blachernæ. Nor is its situation at variance with the
statement of Leonard of Scio that it stood in the neighbourhood of the
Xylo Porta, although there are three towers between it and that gate.
Furthermore, it is one of a pair of towers that might be designated the
Towers of Anemas.
The main reason, however, which induced Dr. Paspates to identify the
tower S with the prison of Anemas was the proximity of the tower to the
chambers C in the adjoining wall, which he regarded as prison-cells.
This view of the character of those chambers is, for reasons already
intimated, extremely doubtful. But even if prison-cells, that fact alone
would not be conclusive proof that they were the prison of Anemas. For
the prison of Anemas is always described as a tower; and by no stretch
of language can that designation be applied to the chambers in the body
of the wall.[535]
The force of this objection would, indeed, be met if proof were
forthcoming that the tower S gave access to the chambers C, and formed
an integral part of a common system. But the evidence is all on the
other side. From the manner in which the tower S blocks the windows of
some of the chambers, it is clear, as already observed, that the tower S
and the adjoining chambers belong to different periods, and were built
without regard to each other. There is no trace of any means of
communication between the tower and the two upper series of chambers,
and we have no reason to think, but the reverse, that the lowest series
of chambers could be reached from it. So far as the chambers are
concerned, the tower S is an independent building, upon whose identity
they throw no light. Whether it was the prison of Anemas must be
determined by its own character. Was it suitable for a prison? Above
all, is its age compatible with the view that it was the prison of
Anemas?
In answer to the former question, it cannot be denied that the tower S
could be used as a place of confinement. The chamber F, which is
supposed to have been a cistern, may have been a dungeon. The =L=-shaped
chamber in the second story may have served for the detention of great
personages placed under arrest. Still, on the whole, the tower S seems
rather an extension of the residential tower N than a dungeon.