Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites
John Stuart Mill · en
According to Gyllius,[787] Gerlach,[788] and Leunclavius,[789] this
entrance was in their day named by the Turks, Tchifout Kapoussi, and was
regarded by the Greeks as the Πύλη Ὡραία (the Beautiful Gate), mentioned
by Phrantzes[790] and Ducas[791] in the history of the last siege. The
epithet Horaia is supposed to be a corruption of the original name for
the entrance (τοῦ Νεωρίου); the Turkish designation of the gate being
explained by the fact that a Jewish community was settled in the
neighbourhood of the gate.[792]
As to the transformation of Neorion into Horaia, it seems somewhat
far-fetched; still, Greeks think it conceivable.[793] If both names,
indeed, belonged to the gate, a simpler and more probable explanation of
the fact would be that the two names had no connection with each other,
and that the epithet “Beautiful” was bestowed upon the entrance, towards
the close of the Empire, in view of embellishments made in the course of
repairs.
The identification of the Gate of the Neorion with the Horaia Pylè
involves, however, a difficulty. It makes Ducas contradict other
historians, as regards the point to which the southern end of the chain
across the Golden Horn was attached during the siege of 1453.
According to Ducas,[794] that extremity of the chain was fastened to the
Beautiful Gate. Critobulus,[795] on the other hand, affirms that it was
attached to the Gate of Eugenius (Yali Kiosk Kapoussi), the gate nearest
the head of the promontory, and his statement is supported by
Phrantzes[796] and Chalcocondylas,[797] when they, respectively, say
that the chain was at the harbour’s mouth, and fixed to the wall of the
Acropolis. Now, the correctness of the position assigned to the chain by
the three latter historians cannot be called in question. It was the
position prescribed for the chain by all the rules of strategy. To have
placed the chain at the Gate of the Neorion would have left a large
portion of the northern side of the city exposed to the enemy, and
permitted the Turkish fleet to command the Neorion and the ships
stationed before it. Hence the accuracy of Ducas can be maintained only
by the identification of the Beautiful Gate with the Gate of Eugenius
instead of with the Gate of the Neorion.
We are, therefore, confronted with the question whether the historian is
mistaken as regards the gate to which the city end of the chain was
attached, or whether the view prevalent in Constantinople in the
sixteenth century respecting the position of the Horaia Pylè should be
rejected as unfounded.