Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites
John Stuart Mill · en
The succeeding gate, Ayasma Kapoussi, was opened, it would seem, after
the Turkish Conquest. It is not mentioned by Gyllius, or Leunclavius, or
Gerlach. The conjecture that it represents a gate in the Wall of
Constantine, styled Porta Basilikè, situated near the Church of St.
Acacius ad Caream (τὸν ἅγιον Ἀκάκιον, τὴν Καρυὰν, ἐν τῇ Βασιλικῇ
Πόρτα)[743] does not appear very probable. The Church of St. Acacius,
situated in the Tenth Region,[744] was the sanctuary to which
Macedonius, the bishop of the city, removed the sarcophagus of
Constantine the Great, from the Church of the Holy Apostles on the
summit of the Fourth Hill, when the latter edifice threatened to fall
and crush the Imperial tomb.[745] The bishop’s action encountered the
violent opposition of a large class of the citizens, and led to a riot
in which much blood was shed. Under these circumstances, it is difficult
to believe that the sarcophagus of Constantine was transported from its
original resting-place to a point so distant as the neighbourhood of
Ayasma Kapoussi, especially when the removal was a temporary
arrangement, made until the repairs on the Church of the Holy Apostles
should be completed. It is more probable that St. Acacius was near the
Church of the Holy Apostles. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that the
Porta Basilikè was a gate in the Wall of Constantine. The Church of St.
Acacius stood near a palace erected by that emperor (πλησίον τῶν
οἰκημάτων τοῦ μεγάλου Κωνσταντίνου):[746] or, as described elsewhere,
was a small chapel (οἰκίσκον εὐκτήριον) near a palace named Karya,
because close to a walnut-tree on which the saint was supposed to have
suffered martyrdom by hanging.[747] The Porta Basilikè may have been a
gate leading into the court of that palace.
The three succeeding gates, Odoun Kapan Kapoussi, Zindan Kapoussi,
Balouk Bazaar Kapoussi, bore respectively the names Gate of the
Drungarii (τῶν Δρουγγαρίων); Gate of the Forerunner (Porta juxta parvum
templum Precursoris, known also as St. Johannes de Cornibus); Gate of
the Perama or Ferry (τοῦ Περάματος). They can be identified, perhaps,
most readily and clearly by the following line of argument:—