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
John Palæologus, upon receiving the surrender of the gate foolishly
dismantled the towers, lest they should be turned against him, in the
fickle political fortunes of the day.[273] He did not, however, carry
the work of destruction so far as to be unable to use the position as an
“acropolis” when besieged, in 1376, by his rebellious son,
Andronicus.[274] Later, when Sultan Bajazet threatened the city, an
attempt was made to restore the towers, and even to increase the
strength of this point in the fortifications.[275] With materials taken
from the churches of All Saints, the Forty Martyrs, and St. Mokius, the
towers were rebuilt, and a fortress extending to the sea was erected
within the city walls, similar to the Castle of the Seven Towers
constructed afterwards by Mehemet the Conqueror, in 1457. Upon hearing
of this action, Bajazet sent peremptory orders to John Palæologus to
pull down the new fortifications, and compelled obedience by threatening
to put out the eyes of Manuel, the heir to the throne, at that time a
hostage at Brousa. The humiliation affected the emperor, then seriously
ill, so keenly as to hasten his death. Subsequently, however, probably
after the defeat of Bajazet by Tamerlane at Angora, the defences at the
Golden Gate were restored; for the Russian pilgrim who was in
Constantinople between 1435 and 1453 speaks of visiting the Castle of
the Emperor Kalo Jean.[276]
In 1390, Manuel II., with a small body of troops, entered the city by
this gate and drove away his nephew John, who had usurped the
throne.[277] During the siege of 1453 the gate was defended by Manuel of
Liguria with 200 men, and before it the Sultan planted a cannon and
other engines of assault.[278]
Between the second and third towers to the north of the Golden Gate is
an entrance known at present, like the Porta Aurea, also by the name
Yedi Koulè Kapoussi. Dr. Paspates thinks it is of Turkish origin.[279]
It has certainly undergone repair in Turkish times, as an inscription
upon it in honour of Sultan Achmet III. testifies; but traces of
Byzantine workmanship about the gate prove that it belongs to the period
of the Empire;[280] and this conclusion is supported by the
consideration that, since the Porta Aurea was a State entrance, another
gate was required in its immediate neighbourhood for the use of the
public in this quarter of the capital. Hence the proximity of the two
gateways.
Regarding the name of the entrance opinions differ. Some authorities
regard the gate as the Porta Rhegiou (Ῥηγίου), the Gate of Rhegium,[281]
mentioned in the Greek Anthology.[282] But this identification cannot be
maintained, for the Porta Rhegiou was one of two entrances which bore an
inscription in honour of Theodosius II. and the Prefect Constantine, and
both those entrances, as will appear in the sequel, stood elsewhere in
the line of the fortifications.[283]
[Illustration: Yedi Koulè Kapoussi.]