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
† ΝΙΚΑ Η ΤΥΧΗ
ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟ
ΦΥΛΑΚΤΟΥ ΗΜΩΝ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΟΥ
† †
The missing words with which the inscription closed were at some date
intentionally effaced, but analogy makes it exceedingly probable that
they were ΚΑΙ ΡΟΥΣΙΩΝ, “and of the Reds.”[334]
The number of inscriptions about this entrance is remarkable, five being
on the gateway itself, and two on its southern tower. Of the former
those commemorating the erection of the Theodosian fortifications in 447
are of special importance and interest;[335] another records the repair
of the Outer Wall under Justin II. and his Empress Sophia.[336]
Indistinct traces of the fourth are visible on the southern side of the
gateway; while the fifth, too fragmentary to yield a meaning, is on the
tympanum, arranged on either side of a niche for Icons,[337] for the
gates of the city were, as a rule, placed under the ward of some
heavenly guardian. This gate was closed with a portcullis.
The Fourth Military Gate stood between the ninth and tenth towers to the
north of the Porta Rhousiou. The northern corbel of the outer gateway is
an inscribed stone brought from some other building erected by a certain
Georgius.[338]
[Illustration: The Gate of St. Romanus.]
[Illustration: The Gate of Charisius.]
Top Kapoussi, between the sixth and seventh towers north of the Fourth
Military Gate, is the Gate of St. Romanus (πόρτα τοῦ Ἁγίου Ρωμάνου)[339]
so named after an adjoining church of that dedication. Its identity may
be established in the following manner: According to Cananus,[340] the
Gate of St. Romanus and the Gate of Charisius stood on opposite sides of
the Lycus. The Gate of St. Romanus, therefore, must have been either Top
Kapoussi, on the southern side of that stream, or one of the two gates
on the stream’s northern bank, viz. the walled-up entrance at the foot
of that bank, or Edirnè Kapoussi upon the summit. That it was the gate
on the southern side of the Lycus is clear, from the statements of
Critobulus and Phrantzes,[341] that in the siege of 1453 the Turkish
troops which invested the walls extending from the Gate of Charisius
(Edirnè Kapoussi) to the Golden Horn were on the Sultan’s _left_, _i.e._
to the north of the position he occupied. But the tent of the Sultan was
opposite the Gate of St. Romanus.[342] Hence, the Gate of Charisius was
one of the gates to the north of the Lycus, and, consequently, the Gate
of St. Romanus stood at Top Kapoussi, to the south. In harmony with this
conclusion is the order in which the two gates are mentioned by Pusculus
and Dolfin when describing the positions occupied by the defenders of
the walls from the Sea of Marmora to the Golden Horn. Proceeding from
south to north in their account of the defence, these writers place the
Gate of St. Romanus before, _i.e._ to the south of, the Gate of
Charisius.[343]