Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites
John Stuart Mill · en
Some authorities[961] 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,[962] and was
near the Church of St. Thomas Amantiou;[963] 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,[964] 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.[965] 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.
[Illustration: 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 :[966] ΟΤΙ
Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΛΠΙΖΙ ΕΠΙ ΚΝ. ΕΝ ΤΩ ΕΛΕΙ ΤΟ [Υ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΥ ΟΥ ΜΗ]
SALEUΘΗ :[967] ΟΥΚ ΟΦΕΛΗΣΙ ΕΚΘΡΟΣ ΕΝ ΑΥΤΩ Κ. ΥΙΟΣ ΑΝΟΜΙΑΣ ΟΥ
ΠΡΟΣΘΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΚΩΣΙ ΕΑΥΤΟΝ :[968] ΑΙΝΩΝ ΕΠΙΚΑΛΙΣΕΤΟ [ΚΝ.] : ΕΚ ΤΩΝ
ΕΚΘΡΩΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΣΩΘΗΣΕΤΕ :[969] ΕΞΟΥΔΕΝΩΤΕ ΕΝΩΠΙΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΟΝΗΡΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΣ,
ΤΟΥΣ ΔΕ ΦΟΒΟΥ [ΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΚΝ.] ΔΟΞΑΣΙ.[970]
The next entrance, the Gate of Sophia (Πόρτα τῶν Σοφιῶν),[971] as its
name implies, was attached to the Harbour of Sophia. It was known also
as the Porta Sidhera (Πόρτα Σιδηρᾶ),[972] from the material of its
construction, and after the Turkish Conquest was designated Porta
Katerga Limani,[973] 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)[974]
communicated with the Harbour of the Kontoscalion,[975] 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[976] 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[977] (Vlanga
Bostan). Its Turkish name must allude to repairs made after 1453.