Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites
John Stuart Mill · en
In the second place, the Anonymus[1015] identifies the Harbour of
Hormisdas with that of Julian. “What is called τὰ τοῦ Ὁρμίσδου,”
observes the former writer, “was a small harbour where Justinian the
Great built a monastery and called it Sergius and Bacchus, and another
church, that of the Holy Apostles (SS. Peter and Paul), after receiving
unction at the foot of the seats (of the Hippodrome), because of the
massacre in the Hippodrome. It was named the Harbour of Julian, from its
constructor.” Codinus[1016] also identifies the two harbours, and adds,
that the Harbour of Julian had served for the accommodation of ships
before the Harbour of the Sophiôn was constructed; that it had long been
filled up; and that Justinian the Great had lived there before his
accession to the throne. But if on the ground of these statements we
identify the Harbour of Hormisdas with that of Julian, as Banduri[1017]
and Labarte[1018] maintain, then the Harbour of Hormisdas was not
situated in the bay to the east of Tchatlady Kapou, but at Kadriga
Limani, the undoubted site of the Harbour of Julian, to the west of the
gate.[1019] The Palace of Hormisdas, also, must then have been in that
direction.
In the light, however, of all our knowledge on the subject, the identity
of the two harbours just named cannot be maintained. John of
Antioch,[1020] a far more reliable authority than the Anonymus or
Codinus, makes it perfectly clear that the Harbour of Julian (which he
calls by its later name, the Harbour of Sophia) was different from any
harbour in the quarter of Hormisdas. According to him, the troops
collected by Phocas for the defence of the city against Heraclius
occupied three positions—the Harbour of Kaisarius, the Harbour of
Sophia, and the quarter of Hormisdas. At the first two points were
placed the Greens, while the third position was held by the Blues. From
this account of the matter it is evident that the Harbour of Julian was
not the harbour in the quarter of Hormisdas. It is a corroboration of
this conclusion to find that in the narrative of the same events, given
in the _Paschal Chronicle_,[1021] while no mention is made of the
Harbour of Hormisdas, the Harbour of Julian is described as situated in
another quarter, the quarter of Maurus (κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα Μαύρου).
[Illustration: Portion of the Palace of Hormisdas.[1022]]
In favour of the alternative that the Palace and Harbour of Hormisdas
were the Palace and Harbour of the Bucoleon under another name, may be
urged all that goes to show that the former stood where the evidence
furnished by Pietro Zen has obliged us to place the latter. The bay and
palace on the east of Tchatlady Kapou stand close to what was
unquestionably the district of Hormisdas; for the Church of SS. Sergius
and Bacchus (Kutchuk Aya Sophia), a short distance to the west of the
gate, was in that district.[1023] It would be strange if a palace and
harbour so near that district were not those known by its name.