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
(_f_) The Cistern of Bonus, the next landmark to be considered, was
built by the Patrician Bonus, celebrated in Byzantine history for his
brave defence of the capital in 627 against the Avars and the Persians,
while the Emperor Heraclius was in Persia carrying war into the enemy’s
country.[81]
Where this cistern was situated is a matter of dispute which cannot be
definitely settled in our present state of knowledge. Gyllius identified
it with a large cistern, three hundred paces in length, which he found
robbed of its roof and columns, and turned into a vegetable garden, near
the ruins of the Church of St. John in Petra, on the Sixth Hill.[82] The
cistern has disappeared since that traveller’s day, but as the Wall of
Constantine never extended so far west, the identification cannot be
correct.
In Dr. Mordtmann’s opinion, the Cistern of Bonus was the large open
reservoir to the south-west of the Mosque of Sultan Selim, on the Fifth
Hill,[83] and there is much to be said in favour of this view.
The Cistern of Bonus was, in the first place, situated in one of the
coolest quarters of the city, and beside it, on that account, the
Emperor Romanus I. erected a palace,[84] styled the New Palace of
Bonus,[85] as a residence during the hot season. Nowhere in
Constantinople could a cooler spot be found in summer than the terrace
upon which the Mosque of Sultan Selim stands, not to speak of the
attractions offered by the superb view of the Golden Horn from that
point. Furthermore, the Cistern of Bonus was within a short distance
from the Church of the Holy Apostles, seeing that on the eve of the
annual service celebrated in that church in commemoration of Constantine
the Great, the Imperial Court usually repaired to the Palace of Bonus,
in order to be within easy riding distance of the sanctuary on the
morning of the festival.[86] A palace near the reservoir beside the
Mosque of Sultan Selim would be conveniently near the Church of the Holy
Apostles, to suit the emperor on such an occasion. To these
considerations can be added, first, the fact that on the way from the
Palace of Bonus to the Church of the Apostles there was an old cistern
converted into market gardens,[87] which may have been the reservoir
near the Mosque of Sultan Selim; and, secondly, the fact that the Wall
of Constantine, on its way from the Cistern of Aspar to the Golden Horn
passed near the site now occupied by the Mosque of Sultan Selim, and,
consequently, close to the old cistern adjoining that mosque. But to
this identification there is a fatal objection: the Cistern of Bonus was
roofed in,[88] whereas the reservoir beside the Mosque of Sultan Selim
appears to have always been open.