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
The grounds on which the Gate of Charisius must be identified with the
Edirnè Kapoussi are these:[356] From the statements of Cananus and
Critobulus, already considered in determining the position of the Gate
of St. Romanus,[357] it is clear that the Gate of Charisius was one of
the two gates on the northern bank of the Lycus; either the gate at the
foot of that bank or Edirnè Kapoussi upon the summit. That it was not
the former is clearly proved by the fact that Cananus and the _Metrical
Chronicle_, as already cited, distinguished the Gate of Charisius from
the entrance beside the Lycus. The Gate of Charisius was, therefore,
Edirnè Kapoussi, the gate on the summit of the bank.
Again, the Gate of Charisius was, like Edirnè Kapoussi, at the head of
the street leading to the Church of the Holy Apostles. This is evident
from the circumstance that when Justinian the Great, returning to the
city from the West, visited on his way to the palace the tomb of the
Empress Theodora at the Holy Apostles’, he entered the capital by the
Gate of Charisius instead of by the Golden Gate,[358] because the former
entrance led directly to the Imperial Cemetery near that church.
To these arguments may be added the fact that near the Gate of Charisius
was a Church of St. George,[359] the guardian of the entrance, and that
a Byzantine church dedicated to that saint stood immediately to the
south-east of Edirnè Kapoussi as late as the year 1556, when it was
appropriated by Sultan Suleiman for the construction of the Mosque of
Mihrimah. At the same time the Greek community received by way of
compensation a site for another church to the north-west of the gate,
and there the present Church of St. George was built to preserve the
traditions of other days.[360] Lastly, like Edirnè Kapoussi, the Gate of
Charisius stood at a point from which one could readily proceed to the
Church of the Chora (Kahriyeh Djamissi), the Church of St. John in Petra
(Bogdan Serai), and the Palace of Blachernæ.[361]
Another name for the Gate of Charisius was the Gate of the Polyandrion,
or the Myriandron (Πόρτα τοῦ Πολυανδρίου, τοῦ Μυριάνδρου), the Gate of
the Cemetery. This follows from the fact that whereas the respective
names of the three gates in the walls crossing the valley of the Lycus
are usually given as the Gate of Charisius, Gate of the Pempton, the
Gate of St. Romanus, we find the first name omitted in a passage of the
_Paschal Chronicle_ referring to those entrances, and the Gate of the
Polyandrion mentioned instead.[362] Evidently, the Gate of Charisius and
the Gate of the Polyandrion were different names for the same gate.
The latter designation was peculiarly appropriate to an entrance on the
direct road to the Imperial Cemetery. Probably a public cemetery stood
also outside the gate, where a large Turkish cemetery is now situated,
and that may have been another reason for the name of the gate.[363]