YEDİKULE GOLDEN GATE

Yedikule, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 40°59'34.8"N 28°55'21.4"E / 40.993000, 28.922611



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

Yedikule, the Castle of the Seven Towers, is a curious structure, partly Byzantine and partly Turkish. The seven eponymous towers consist of four in the Theodosian wall itself, plus three additional towers built inside the walls by Mehmet the Conqueror. The three inner towers are connected together and joined to the Theodosian walls by four heavy curtain-walls, forming a five-sided enclosure. The two central towers in the Theodosian wall are marble pylons flanking the famous Golden Gate of Byzantium.

The structure was never used as a castle in the usual sense, but two of the towers were used in Ottoman times as prisons; the others were used as storage places for a part of the State treasure. To visit Yedikule we must first enter the city through a little gate just north of the castle. Though it was somewhat reconstructed in Turkish times, the Byzantine eagle above the arch on the inside proclaims its origins.

This must always have been the public entrance to the city in this vicinity, as indeed it is today, for the Golden Gate itself seems to have been reserved for the emperor and for distinguished visitors and processions.

The floors of the tower have fallen, but one climbs up by a staircase in the thickness of the wall. When at the top it is worthwhile walking around the chemin de ronde as far as the Golden
Gate, for there is a fine view of the castle and the walls down to the sea, and, if it is spring, one finds a profusion of orchids, hyacinths and Roman anemones growing in the turf.

The much celebrated Golden Gate between the pylons was originally a Roman triumphal arch erected in about 390 by Theodosius I the Great. At that time the present city walls had not yet been built and the triumphal arch, as was customary, stood by itself on the Via Egnatia, about a mile outside the walls of Constantine. The arch was of the usual Roman type with a triple arcade containing a large central archway flanked by two smaller ones.

The outlines of the arches can still be seen clearly although the openings were bricked up in later Byzantine times. The gates themselves were covered with gold plate – hence the name – and the façade was decorated with sculptures, the most famous of which was a bronze group of four elephants, placed there to commemorate the triumphal entry of Theodosius after his victory over Maxentius. When Theodosius II decided to extend the city two decades later, he incorporated the Golden Gate within his new land-walls.

It was presumably in connection with this new wall that he built the small marble gate outside the triumphal arch; the arch itself, of course, could have had no gates, except for ornamental iron or bronze grilles, and would have been indefensible. The outer gateway is part of the general system of defence and forms, with the curtain wall which joins it to the city walls near the polygonal towers, a small courtyard in front of the Golden Gate.

After the time of Theodosius I, the Golden Gate was several times the scene of triumphal entries by victorious emperors: Heraclius in 629 after his defeat of the Persians; Constantine V, Basil I, and Basil II after their victories over the Bulgars; John I Tzimisces after his defeat of the Russians; Theophilus and his son Michael III after their victories over the Saracens.

Perhaps the most emotional of all the triumphal entries was the one that occurred on 15 August 1261, when Michael VIII Palaeologus rode through the Golden Gate on a white charger after Constantinople was recaptured from the Latins. But that was the last time an Emperor of Byzantium was to ride in triumph through the Golden Gate, for the history of the Empire in
its last two centuries was one of continuing defeat, and by then the gateway had been walled up for good.

Following the walls from south to north, the Golden Gate (Greek: Chryseia Pyle; Latin: Porta Aurea; Turkish: Altınkapı or Yaldızlıkapı), is the first gate to be encountered. It was the main ceremonial entrance into the capital, used especially for the occasions of a triumphal entry of an emperor into the capital on the occasion of military victories or other state occasions such as coronations. On rare occasions, as a mark of honor, the entry through the gate was allowed to non-imperial visitors: papal legates (in 519 and 868) and, in 710, to Pope Constantine.

The Gate was used for triumphal entries until the Komnenian period; thereafter, the only such occasion was the entry of Michael VIII Palaiologos into the city on 15 August 1261, after its reconquest from the Latins. With the progressive decline in Byzantium's military fortunes, the gates were walled up and reduced in size in the later Palaiologan period, and the complex converted into a citadel and refuge.

The Golden Gate was emulated elsewhere, with several cities naming their principal entrance thus, for instance Thessaloniki (also known as the Vardar Gate) or Antioch (the Gate of Daphne), as well as the Kievan Rus', who built monumental "Golden Gates" at Kiev and Vladimir. The entrance to San Francisco Bay in California was similarly named the Golden Gate in the middle of the nineteenth century, in a distant historical tribute to Byzantium.

The date of the gate's construction is uncertain, with scholars divided between Theodosius I and Theodosius II. Earlier scholars favored the former, but the current majority view tends to the latter, meaning that the gate was constructed as an integral part of the Theodosian Walls. The debate has been carried over to a Latin inscription in metal letters, now lost, which stood above the doors and commemorated their gilding in celebration of the defeat of an unnamed usurper :

Haec loca Theudosius decorat post fata tyranni.
aurea saecla gerit qui portam construit auro.

(English translation)

Theodosius adorned these places after the downfall of the tyrant.
He brought a golden age who built the gate from gold.

Curiously, the legend has not been reported by any Byzantine author. However, an investigation of the surviving holes wherein the metal letters were riveted verified its accuracy. It also showed that the first line stood on the western face of the arch, while the second on the eastern. According to the current view, this refers to the usurper Joannes (r. 4239425), while according to the supporters of the traditional view, it indicates the gate's construction as a free-standing triumphal arch in 388-391 to commemorate the defeat of the usurper Magnus Maximus (r. 385-388), and which was only later incorporated into the Theodosian Walls.

The gate, built of large square blocks of polished white marble fitted together without cement, has the form of a triumphal arch with three arched gates, the middle one larger than the two others. The gate is flanked by large square towers, which form the 9th and 10th towers of the inner Theodosian wall. With the exception of the central portal, the gate remained open to everyday traffic.

The structure was richly decorated with numerous statues, including a statue of Theodosius I on an elephant-drawn quadriga on top, echoing the Porta Triumphalis of Rome, which survived until it fell down in an earthquake in 740. Other sculptures were a large cross, which fell in an earthquake in 561 or 562; a Victory, which was cast down in the reign of Michael III; and a crowned Fortune of the City. In 965, Nikephoros II Phokas installed the captured bronze city gates of Mopsuestia in the place of the original ones.

The main gate itself was covered by an outer wall, pierced by a single gate, which in later centuries was flanked by an ensemble of reused marble reliefs. According to descriptions of Pierre Gilles and English travelers from the 17th century, these reliefs were arranged in two tiers, and featured mythological scenes, including the Labours of Hercules. These reliefs, lost since the 17th century with the exception of some fragments now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum, were probably put in place in the 9th or 10th centuries to form the appearance of a triumphal gate. According to other descriptions, the outer gate was also topped by a statue of Victory, holding a crown.

Despite its ceremonial role, the Golden Gate was one of the stronger positions along the walls of the city, withstanding several attacks during the various sieges. With the addition of transverse walls on the peribolos between the inner and outer walls, it formed a virtually separate fortress. Its military value was recognized by John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–1354), who records that it was virtually impregnable, capable of holding provisions for three years and defying the whole city if need be. He repaired the marble towers and garrisoned the fort with loyal Catalan soldiers, but had to surrender it to John V Palaiologos (r. 1341-1391) when he abdicated in 1354.

John V undid Kantakouzenos' repairs and left it unguarded, but in 1389-90 he too rebuilt and expanded the fortress, erecting two towers behind the gate and extending a wall some 350 m to the sea walls, thus forming a separate fortified enceinte inside the city to serve as a final refuge. In the event, John V was soon after forced to flee there from a coup led by his grandson, John VII.

The fort held out successfully in the subsequent siege that lasted several months, and in which cannons were possibly employed. In 1391 however, John V was compelled to raze the fort by Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1382-1402), who otherwise threatened to blind his son Manuel, whom he held captive. Emperor John VIII Palaiologos (r. 1425-1448) attempted to rebuild it in 1434, but was thwarted by Sultan Murad II.

According to one of the many Greek legends about the Constantinople's fall to the Ottomans, when the Turks entered the city, an angel rescued the emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, turned him into marble and placed him in a cave under the earth near the Golden Gate, where he waits to be brought to life again to conquer the city back for Christians. The legend explained the later walling up of the gate as a Turkish precaution against this prophecy.

From the top of the tower you can look down at the outer face of the bricked-up, triple-arched gateway, faced with marble and embellished with late-Roman frieze work and decorative, acanthus-leaf carved stone capitals perched atop grooved pilasters. The story of Yedikule Hisarı, the "Fortress of the Seven Towers", begins at this gateway. According to one theory, in A.D. 390, when Theodosius I was the reigning emperor, this was a triumphal arch typical of many found all over the Roman world.

Then it stood in open countryside well outside the old walls of the city, astride the Via Egnatia, a crucial 1,120-kilometer-long road linking Constantinople, via Thessaloniki, with the Adriatic. Another theory holds that the triumphal arch was built a little over two decades later, during the reign of Theodosius II.

At that time, with the city growing (as it is today) at a rapid rate, a decision was made to move the line of the city's land walls - which then stretched from today's Atatürk/Unkapanı Bridge to somewhere not far southwest of Yenikapı) - further west and thus include more safe and secure Lebensraum for the burgeoning population of the Byzantine capital. According to this second theory, the triumphal gateway was built as an integral part of the new fortifications, the Land Walls of Theodosius.

But whatever the date of construction, it was the purpose of the gateway that was all important. When a new Byzantine emperor was appointed, he would pass through the central arch in a great ceremonial procession before making his way to the city center to be greeted by the populace and the city's spiritual leader, the patriarch. Similarly, after a successful campaign, he would ride triumphantly through the arch into the city to be greeted by his adoring subjects.

This grand entryway is known as the Golden Gate because its mighty metal gates were gilded with gold. Even more magnificent must have been the four large bronze elephants surmounting the gateway, flanked by two winged victories representing the city's fortune.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

YEDİKULE MARBLE TOWER

Yedikule, Fatih - İstanbul - Turkey

GPS : 40°59'16.6"N 28°55'09.6"E / 40.987944, 28.919333



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

Here the sea-walls along the Marmara joined the land-walls, anchored to them by the Marble Tower, the handsome structure which we see standing on a little promontory by the sea. This tower, 13 metres square at its base and 30 metres high, its lower half faced in marble, is unlike any other structure in the whole defence-system, and may have been part of an imperial sea-pavilion. Indeed the ruins beside it seem to indicate that it was part of a small castle. Beyond the tower there are the sunken remains of a mole which must have been part of the castle harbour.

A short way in from the shore highway, immediately to the north of the first tower of the inner wall, we see one of the ancient gateways of the city. This is called the Gate of Christ because of the laureate monogram XP above it. In the long stretch of the Theodosian walls there were only ten gates and a few small posterns. Five of the ten gates were public entryways and five were used by the military, such as the one which we see here (it was sometimes called the First Military Gate).

The distinction was not so much in their structure as in the fact that while the public gates had bridges over the moat leading to the country beyond, the military gates did not, but gave access only to the fortifications. Until the end of the last century Stamboul was still a walled town and these gates were the only entryways to the city from Thrace, but in recent times the walls have been breached to permit the passage of the railway and of several modern highways. Nevertheless, nearly all the ancient city gates continue in use, as they have now for more than 15 centuries.

The first stretch of the Theodosian walls is rather difficult to inspect because of the obstacles presented by the railway and the various industries that are located here. But the stroll here is more pleasant than it was in times past, because in recent years the authorities have removed the noxious tannery that reeked here since early Ottoman times.

As Evliya describes this malodorous tannery as it smelt in his time: “The overpowering reek prevents people of quality from taking up their abode here, but the residents are so used to the stench, that should they happen to meet any musk-perfumed dandy, the scent quite upsets them.”

The best route on the first part of this stroll is to walk along inside the walls from the Marmara highway as far as the railway; then, after crossing the tracks cautiously, one can walk along the highway outside the walls as far as the gate at Yedikule, where one can enter the city again.

LOCATION SATELLITE MAP

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

THEODOSIAN WALLS OF OLD İSTANBUL

İstanbul - Turkey



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

The double Theodosian Walls (Greek: teichos Theodosiakon), located about 2 km to the west of the old Constantinian Wall, were erected during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408 - 450), after whom they were named. The work was carried out in two phases, with the first phase erected during Theodosius' minority under the direction of Anthemius, the praetorian prefect of the East, and was finished in 413 according to a law in the Codex Theodosianus.

An inscription discovered in 1993 however records that the work lasted for nine years, indicating that construction had already begun ca. 404 - 405, in the reign of Emperor Arcadius (r. 395 - 408). This initial construction consisted of a single curtain wall with towers, which now forms the inner circuit of the Theodosian Walls. Both the Constantinian and the original Theodosian walls were severely damaged, however, in two earthquakes, on 25 September 437 and on 6 November 447. The latter was especially powerful, and destroyed large parts of the wall, including 57 towers.

Subsequent earthquakes, including another major one in January 448, compounded the damage. Theodosius II ordered the praetorian prefect Constantine to supervise the repairs, made all the more urgent as the city was threatened by the presence of Attila the Hun in the Balkans. Employing the city's "Circus factions" in the work, the walls were restored in a record 60 days, according to the Byzantine chroniclers and three inscriptions found in situ.

It is at this date that the majority of scholars believe the second, outer wall to have been added, as well as a wide moat opened in front of the walls, but the validity of this interpretation is questionable; the outer wall was possibly an integral part of the original fortification concept. Throughout their history, the walls were damaged by earthquakes and floods of the Lycus river. Repairs were undertaken on numerous occasions, as testified by the numerous inscriptions commemorating the emperors or their servants who undertook to restore them.

The responsibility for these repairs rested on an official variously known as the Domestic of the Walls or the Count of the Walls (Domestikos / Komēs tōn teicheōn), who employed the services of the city's populace in this task. After the Latin conquest of 1204, the walls fell increasingly into disrepair, and the revived post-1261 Byzantine state lacked the resources to maintain them, except in times of direct threat.

Course and topography

In their present state, the Theodosian Walls stretch for about 5.7 km from south to north, from the "Marble Tower" (Turkish: Mermer Kule), also known as the "Tower of Basil and Constantine" (Greek: Pyrgos Basileiou kai Kōnstantinou) on the Propontis coast to the area of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Tr. Tekfur Sarayı) in the Blachernae quarter.

The outer wall and the moat terminate even earlier, at the height of the Gate of Adrianople. The section between the Blachernae and the Golden Horn does not survive, since the line of the walls was later brought forward to cover the suburb of Blachernae, and its original course is impossible to ascertain as it lies buried beneath the modern city.

From the Sea of Marmara, the wall turns sharply to the northeast, until it reaches the Golden Gate, at about 14 m above sea level. From there and until the Gate of Rhegion the wall follows a more or less straight line to the north, climbing the city's Seventh Hill. From there the wall turns sharply to the northeast, climbing up to the Gate of St. Romanus, located near the peak of the Seventh Hill at some 68 m above sea level.

From there the wall descends into the valley of the river Lycus, where it reaches its lowest point at 35 m above sea level. Climbing the slope of the Sixth Hill, the wall then rises up to the Gate of Charisius or Gate of Adrianople, at some 76 m height. From the Gate of Adrianople to the Blachernae, the walls fall to a level of some 60 m. From there the later walls of Blachernae project sharply to the west, reaching the coastal plain at the Golden Horn near the so-called Prisons of Anemas.

Construction

The Theodosian Walls consist of the main inner wall "great wall", separated from the lower outer wall (exō teichos or mikron teichos), "small wall" by a terrace, the peribolos. Between the outer wall and the moat (souda) there stretched an outer terrace, the parateichion, while a low breastwork crowned the moat's eastern escarpment. Access to both terraces was possible through posterns on the sides of the walls' towers.

The inner wall is a solid structure, 4.5 - 6 m thick and 12 m high. It is faced with carefully cut limestone blocks, while its core is filled with mortar made of lime and crushed bricks. Between seven and eleven bands of brick, ca. 40 cm thick, traverse the structure, not only as a form of decoration, but also strengthening the cohesion of the structure by bonding the stone façade with the mortar core, and increasing endurance to earthquakes. The wall was strengthened with 96 towers, mainly square but also a few octagonal ones, three hexagonal and a single pentagonal one.

They were 15 - 20 m tall and 10 - 12 m wide, and placed at irregular distances, according to the rise of the terrain: the intervals vary between 21 and 77 m, although most curtain wall sections easure between 40 to 60 meters. Each tower had a battlemented terrace on the top. Its interior was usually divided by a floor into two chambers, which did not communicate with each other. The lower chamber, which opened through the main wall to the city, was used for storage, while the upper one could be entered from the wall's walkway, and had windows for view and for firing projectiles.

Access to the wall was provided by large ramps along their side. The lower floor could also be accessed from the peribolos by small posterns. Generally speaking, most of the surviving towers of the main wall have been rebuilt either in Byzantine or in Ottoman times, and only the foundations of some are of original Theodosian construction. Furthermore, while until the Komnenian period the reconstructions largely remained true to the original model, later modifications ignored the windows and embrasures on the upper store and focused on the tower terrace as the sole fighting platform.

The outer wall was 2 m thick at its base, and featured arched chambers on the level of the peribolos, crowned with a battlemented walkway, reaching a height of 8.5 - 9 m. Access to the outer wall from the city was provided either through the main gates or through small posterns on the base of the inner wall's towers. The outer wall likewise had towers, situated approximately midway between the inner wall's towers, and acting in supporting role to them. They are spaced at 48 - 78 m, with an average distance of 50 - 66 m. Only 62 of the outer wall's towers survive.

With few exceptions, they are square or crescent-shaped, 12 - 14 m tall and 4 m wide. They featured a room with windows on the level of the peribolos, crowned by a battlemented terrace, while their lower portions were either solid or featured small posterns, which allowed access to the outer terrace. The outer wall was a formidable defensive edifice in its own right: in the sieges of 1422 and 1453, the Byzantines and their allies, being too few to hold both lines of wall, concentrated on the defence of the outer wall.

The moat was situated at a distance of about 20 m from the outer wall. The moat itself was over 20 m wide and as much as 10 m deep, featuring a 1.5 m tall crenellated wall on the inner side, serving as a first line of defence. Transverse walls cross the moat, tapering towards the top so as not to be used as bridges. Some of them have been shown to contain pipes carrying water into the city from the hill country to the city's north and west. Their role has therefore been interpreted as that of aqueducts for filling the moat and as dams dividing it into compartments and allowing the water to be retained over the course of the walls.

According to Alexander van Millingen, however, there is little direct evidence in the accounts of the city's sieges to suggest that the moat was ever actually flooded. In the sections north of the Gate of St. Romanus, the steepness of the slopes of the Lycus valley made the construction maintenance of the moat problematic; it is probable therefore that the moat ended at the Gate of St. Romanus, and did not resume until after the Gate of Adrianople.

The weakest section of the wall was the so-called Mesoteichion "Middle Wall". Modern scholars are not in agreement over the extent of this portion of the wall, which has been variously defined from as narrowly as the stretch between the Gate of St. Romanus and the Fifth Military Gate (A.M. Schneider) to as broad as from the Gate of Rhegion to the Fifth Military Gate (B. Tsangadas) or from the Gate of St. Romanus to the Gate of Adrianople (A. van Millingen).

Wall Gates

The wall contained nine main gates, which pierced both the inner and the outer walls, and a number of smaller posterns. The exact identification of several gates is a debatable, for a number of reasons. The Byzantine chroniclers provide more names than the number of the gates, the original Greek names fell mostly out of use during the Ottoman period, and literary and archaeological sources provide often contradictory information.

Only three gates, the Golden Gate, the Gate of Rhegion and the Gate of Charisius, can be established directly from the literary evidence. In the traditional nomenclature, established by Philipp Anton Dethier in 1873, the gates are distinguished into the "Public Gates" and the "Military Gates", which alternated over the course of the walls.

According to Dethier's theory, the former were given names and were open to civilian traffic, leading across the moat on bridges, while the latter were known by numbers, restricted to military use, and only led to the outer sections of the walls. Today however, this division is, if at all, retained only as a historiographical convention. First, there is sufficient reason to believe that several of the "Military Gates" were also used by civilian traffic.

In addition, a number of them have proper names, and the established sequence of numbering them, based on their perceived correspondence with the names of certain city quarters lying between the Constantinian and Theodosian walls which have numerical origins, has been shown to be erroneous: for instance, the Deuteron, the "Second" quarter, was not located in the southwest behind the Gate of the Deuteron or "Second Military Gate" as would be expected, but in the northwestern part of the city.

First Military Gate
First Military Gate, or Gate of Christ. The gate is a small postern, which lies at the first tower of the land walls, at the junction with the sea wall. It features a wreathed Chi-Rhō Christogram above it. It was known in late Ottoman times as the Tabak Kapı.

Xylokerkos Gate or Gate of Belgrade.
The Xylokerkos or Xerokerkos Gate, now known as the Belgrade Gate (Belgrat Kapısı), lies between towers 22 and 23. Alexander van Millingen identified it with the Second Military Gate, which however is located further north. Its name derives from the fact that it led to a wooden circus (amphitheatre) outside the walls. The gate complex is approximately 12 m wide and almost 20 m high, while the gate itself spans 5 m.

According to a story related by Niketas Choniates, in 1189 the gate was walled off by Emperor Isaac II Angelos, because according to a prophecy, it was this gate that Western Emperor Frederick Barbarossa would enter the city through. It was re-opened in 1346, but closed again before the siege of 1453 and remained closed until 1886, leading to its early Ottoman name, Kapalı Kapı "Closed Gate".

Second Military Gate
Second Military Gate, the greatest of the military gates. The gate is located between towers 30 and 31, little remains of the original gate, and the modern reconstruction may not be accurate. It is known today as Belgrade Gate (Belgrad Kapısı), after the Serbian artisans settled there by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent after he conquered Belgrade in 1521.

Gate of the Spring
The Gate of the Spring or Pēgē Gate was named after a popular monastery outside the Walls, the Zōodochos Pēgē "Life-giving Spring" in the modern suburb of Balıklı. Its modern Turkish name, Gate of Selymbria (Tr. Silivri Kapısı), appeared in Byzantine sources shortly before 1453. It lies between the heptagonal towers 35 and 36, which were extensively rebuilt in later Byzantine times: its southern tower bears an inscription dated to 1439 commemorating repairs carried out under John VIII Palaiologos.

The gate arch was replaced in the Ottoman period. In addition, in 1998 a subterranean basement with 4th / 5th century reliefs and tombs was discovered underneath the gate. Van Millingen identifies this gate with the early Byzantine Gate of Melantias, but more recent scholars have proposed the identification of the latter with one of the gates of the city's original Constantinian Wall. It was through this gate that the forces of the Empire of Nicaea, under General Alexios Strategopoulos, entered and retook the city from the Latins on 25 July 1261.

Third Military Gate
The Third Military Gate, named after the quarter of the Triton "the Third" that lies behind it, is situated shortly after the Pege Gate, exactly before the C-shaped section of the walls known as the "Sigma", between towers 39 and 40. It has no Turkish name, and is of middle or late Byzantine construction. The corresponding gate in the outer wall was preserved until the early 20th century, but has since disappeared. It is very likely that this gate is to be identified with the Gate of Kalagros.

Gate of Rhegion
Modern Yeni Mevlevihane Kapısı, located between towers 50 and 51 is commonly referred to as the Gate of Rhegion in early modern texts, allegedly named after the suburb of Rhegion (modern Küçükçekmece), or as the Gate of Rhousios after the hippodrome faction of the Reds which was supposed to have taken part in its repair.

From Byzantine texts however it appears that the correct form is Gate of Rhesios, named according to the 10th-century Suda lexicon after an ancient general of Greek Byzantium. A.M. Schneider also identifies it with the Gate of Myriandr[i]on or Polyandrion "Place of Many Men", possibly a reference to its proximity to a cemetery. It is the best-preserved of the gates, and retains substantially unaltered from its original, 5th-century appearance.

Fourth Military Gate
The so-called Fourth Military Gate stands between towers 59 and 60, and is currently walled up. Recently, it has been suggested that this gate is actually the Gate of St. Romanus, but the evidence is uncertain.

Gate of St. Romanus
The Gate of St. Romanus was named so after a nearby church and lies between towers 65 and 66. It is known in Turkish as Topkapı, the "Cannon Gate", after the great Ottoman cannon, the "Basilic", that was placed opposite it during the 1453 siege. With a gatehouse of 26,5 m, it is the second-largest gate after the Golden Gate. It is here that Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor, was killed on 29 May 1453.

Fifth Military Gate
The Fifth Military Gate lies immediately to the north of the Lycus stream, between towers 77 and 78, and is named after the quarter of the Pempton "the Fifth" around the Lycus. It is heavily damaged, with extensive late Byzantine or Ottoman repairs evident. It is also identified with the Byzantine Gate of (the Church of) St. Kyriake, and called Sulukulekapı "Water-Tower Gate" or Hücum Kapısı ("Assault Gate") in Turkish, because there the decisive breakthrough was achieved on the morning of 29 May 1453. In the late 19th century, it appears as the Örülü kapı "Walled Gate". Some earlier scholars, like J.B. Bury and Kenneth Setton, identify this gate as the "Gate of St. Romanus" mentioned in the texts on the final siege and fall of the city.

Gate of Charisius
The Gate of Char[i]sius, named after the nearby early Byzantine monastery founded by a vir illustris of that name, was, after the Golden Gate, the second most important gate. In Turkish it is known as Edirnekapı "Adrianople Gate", and it is here where Mehmed II made his triumphal entry into the conquered city.

This gate stands on top of the sixth hill, which was the highest point of the old city at 77 meters. It has also been suggested as one of the gates to be identified with the Gate of Polyandrion or Myriandrion, because it led to a cemetery outside the Walls. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, established his command here in 1453.

Minor gates and posterns
Known posterns are the Yedikule Kapısı, a small postern after the Yedikule Fort (between towers 11 and 12), and the gates between towers 30/31, already walled up in Byzantine times, and 42/43, just north of the "Sigma". On the Yedikule Kapısı, opinions vary as to its origin: some scholars consider it to date already to Byzantine times, while others consider it an Ottoman addition.

Kerkoporta
According to the historian Doukas, on the morning of 29 May 1453, the small postern called Kerkoporta was left open by accident, allowing the first fifty or so Ottoman troops to enter the city. The Ottomans raised their banner atop the Inner Wall and opened fire on the Greek defenders of the peribolos below. This spread panic, beginning the rout of the defenders and leading to the fall of the city. In 1864, the remains of a postern located on the Outer Wall at the end of the Theodosian Walls, between tower 96 and the so-called Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, were discovered and identified with the Kerkoporta by the Greek scholar A.G. Paspates.

Later historians, like van Millingen and Steven Runciman have accepted this theory as well. However, excavations at the site have uncovered no evidence of a corresponding gate in the Inner Wall (now vanished) in that area, and it may be that Doukas' story is either invention or derived from an earlier legend concerning the Xylokerkos Gate, which several earlier scholars also equated with the Kerkoporta.

Later history
The Theodosian Walls were without a doubt among the most important defensive systems of Late Antiquity. Indeed, in the words of the Cambridge Ancient History, they were "perhaps the most successful and influential city walls ever built - they allowed the city and its emperors to survive and thrive for more than a millennium, against all strategic logic, on the edge of [an] extremely unstable and dangerous world...".

With the advent of siege cannons, however, the fortifications became obsolete, but their massive size still provided effective defence, as demonstrated during the Second Ottoman Siege in 1422. In the final siege, which led to the fall of the city to the Ottomans in 1453, the defenders, severely outnumbered, still managed to repeatedly counter Turkish attempts at undermining the walls, repulse several frontal attacks, and restore the damage from the siege cannons for almost two months.

Finally, on 29 May, the decisive attack was launched, and when the Genoese general Giovanni Giustiniani was wounded and withdrew, causing a panic among the defenders, the walls were taken. After the capture of the city, Mehmed had the walls repaired in short order among other massive public works projects, and they were kept in repair during the first centuries of Ottoman rule.

Restored section of the Theodosian Walls at the Selymbria Gate. The Outer Wall and the wall of the moat are visible, with a tower of the Inner Wall in the background.

Preservation and Restoration

Many sections were restored during the 1980s, with financial support from UNESCO, but the restoration programme has been criticised for focusing on superficial restoration and poor quality of work, which became apparent in recent earthquakes, as well as destroying historical evidence. Nonetheless, the restored sections give a fairly accurate image of the walls as they stood during Byzantine times. The wall runs through the suburbs of modern Istanbul, with a belt of parkland flanking their course. The walls are pierced at intervals by modern roads leading westwards out of the city.

This became apparent in the 1999 earthquakes, when the restored sections collapsed while the original structure underneath remained intact. The threat posed by urban pollution, and the lack of a comprehensive restoration effort, prompted the World Monuments Fund to include them on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world.

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

GALATA WALLS OF OLD İSTANBUL

İstanbul - Turkey



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

The oldest surviving map of Constantinople, by Cristoforo Buondelmonti, dated to 1422. The fortifications of Constantinople and of Galata, at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, are prominently featured. The water trench in front of the Theodosian walls at the western end of the city is also depicted, as well as the Maiden's Tower in the middle of the Bosporus.

Galata, then the suburb of Sykai, was an integral part of the city by the early 5th century: the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae of ca. 425 names it as the city's 13th region. It was probably fortified with walls in the 5th century, and under Justinian I it was granted the status of a city. The settlement declined and disappeared after the 7th century, leaving only the great tower (the kastellion tou Galatou) in modern Karaköy, that guarded the chain extending across the mouth of the Golden Horn.

After the sack of the city in 1204, Galata became a Venetian quarter, and later a Genoese extra territorial colony, effectively outside Byzantine control. Despite Byzantine opposition, the Genoese managed to surround their quarter with a moat, and by joining their castle-like houses with walls they created the first wall around the colony.

The Galata Tower, then called Christea Turris (Tower of Christ), and another stretch of walls to its north were built in 1349. Further expansions followed in 1387, 1397 and 1404, enclosing an area larger than that originally allocated to them, stretching from the modern district of Azapkapı north to Şişhane, from there to Tophane and thence to Karaköy.

After the Ottoman conquest, the walls were maintained until the 1870s, when most were demolished to facilitate the expansion of the city. Today only the Galata Tower, visible from most of historical Constantinople, remains intact, along with several smaller fragments.

Galata, within the walls of which it is known there exist a church, forum, bath, theatre, a port and 431 big houses, has been used as a residential area since Constantinus I era. The walls were extended to 2800 metre in time, and to these walls, Tiberios II the Emperor (578-582) included a fort, to where the chains blocking the Golden Horn during the conquest were tied to Galata. The fort, still standing currently, has been used as Yer altı Camii (Underground Mosque) since 18th century.

On saving Constantinople from the Latin in the year 1261, the Byzantine Emperor let the Genoese settle in Galata. However, he made the walls removed and did not let them erect once again. In order to be secure against the external attacks, the Genoese, not allowed to erect walls, dug huge ditches around Galata. Houses were built around this region where the ditch started in 1303. Merging the whole houses after awhile, the walls were erected again. These walls were fortified during the course of period, and Galata Tower was included herein in 1349.

The Genoese, living on trade, took under guarantee not only themselves but also their goods. Galata, previously built in a region between the current Karaköy Square and Galata Tower, its area was enlarged as the Byzantine authority turned weaker and the Genoese stronger. The enlarged Galata was great enough to include the current Azapkapı - Şişhane - Kule - Tophane regions.

It is known that there was an harbor in settlement region of Sykai which gained importance during the period of  I. Constantine (324-337) surrounded by the city wall. When the districts of the city were rearranged during the period of Theodosius II (408-450) the region of Sykai was included in the borders of the city. This settlement included a church, a forum, hamams and a theatre. Since Emperor Justinianus constructed new buildings and improved Sykai in 528, his name was given to this city which was sometimes called as Justinianai or Justinianopolis.

Today, the most specific feature of this region is Galata Tower. It is known that the tower was constructed after Genoeses settled in this region. Genoeses who had a privileged region in the shores of Golden Horn in Istanbul already in the 12th century lost this region in favor of Venetians in 1204 during invasion by IV. Crusade and started to settle in Galata region as from the middle of the 13th century. Emperor Mikhael VIII (1261-1282) who conquered Istanbul from Latin in 1261 and reestablished Byzantium administration, granted a lot of rights to Genoeses to establish trade guilds, palaces, public baths, bakeries, houses and shops and to make free trade.

However, it was heard that Genoeses intended to revolt, they were expelled from Byzantium and they could obtain the permit to settle in Galata in 1267. But, Byzantium Emperor destroyed city walls standing there and left  only a Byzantium garrison. Since there were no walls , it was not possible to defend Galata and rival Venetian fleet fired Genoese colony in Galata  in 1296.

After this event; Genoese decided that they had to surround their town with city walls. However, Byzantium administration did not permit them to surround their town, prohibited construction of city walls and castles, but by a Ferman dated 1303 Byzantium administration specified the borders of priviliged region which is granted to Genoeses.

Genoeses were definitely prohibited to build housesoutside this priviliged region and instructed to leave a line of empty field around this region. Genoeses who broke these prohibitions within time , made a trench along the borders of the region and have the heights of Byzantium houses to be free. And then they constructed stone, tall buildings alongside the borders with regular intervals.

Making the use of important crisis which Byzantium Empire experienced, Genoeses inconnected the houses, which were in form of bastions, into each other with walls which means surrounding the region with city walls. Genoeses administrated this colony under a governor called podesta. This governor was also permanent representative of Genoeses in Byzantium Empire. However; as Byzantium Empire weakened, the colony of Genoeses strengthened, become rich and widened the borders.

During the conquest of Istanbul, Galata tried to be impartial by following the policy of an independent state. After overthrow of Byzantium, the administer of Galata signed an agreement with Fatih II. Mehmet and Ottoman Empire acknowledged the priviliges of Galata. Galata was included in the territory of Ottoman-Turkish state and the churches of San Paolo and San Domenico were converted into mosques.

In this period Galata was administrated by a governor called voyvoda and some Greeks from Izmir were settled in this region. But since the 15th century, many European merchants had already settled there and the activities of Genoeses had been reduced. The coastal band stretching from the northern shores of the Golden Horn until Tophane and the slopes behing it have been known as Galata since the 8th  century. Formerly this area was known as  Sycae (Sykai), or as peran en Sykais, which essentially means ‘on opposite shore’.

It is thought that Galata’s foundation preceded that of Constantinopolis. The archaeological finds here indicate that it was an important settlement area in Antiquity. Although its borders can not be determined precisely, it is known that during the reign of Emperor Constantin (324 - 337), it was a fortified settlement consisting of a forum, a theatre, a church, a harbor and bath buildings, as well as 431 large houses.  The present fortification walls were constructed by Emperor Justinian in 528.

The 2 meter wide land walls surrounded by a 15 meter deep moat were enclosing an area of 37 hectars.  It is surmised that the renowned Castellion that used to control the entry into the Golden Horn was built by Emperor Tiberius I (578 - 582). Among the trading colonies in the area, that had acquired the commercial harbor functions due to favorable topographical conditions, the Italian presence had begun to be more prominent starting from 10th century onwards. The conditions that had created the Medieval Galata were being formed in these trading colonies.

At first Amalfi, then the Venetians and later the Pisans had obtained special privileges from the Byzantines. The Genovese, who had established themselves on the southern shores of the Golden Horn as a result of their rights recognized by Emperor Manuel Comnenos I (1143-1186), were forced to move over to Pera on the opposite shore when the Venetians seized their territory during the Latin invasion of 1204. When the Latins departed from Constantinople in 1261, the city was in complete ruins.

And the economic relations of the Byzantine capital were now completely in the hands of the Venetians and the Genovese merchants. Emperor Michael Paleologos VIII (1261-1282), who was able to recapture Constantinople from the Latins, signed the Nymfaion Treaty with the Genovese and permitted them to rebuild their commercial  loggia, their palazzo comunale and other buildings of theirs. And they received consulate rights, as well as free trade privileges.

When rival Venetians attacked the Genovese colony in 1296, they wanted to renew their demolished fortification walls, but could not secure the necessary permission from the Emperor, and had to be contented with a moat only. On the other hand, they were able to formalize their borders as a result of a decree dated 1303.

As the Byzantine Empire grew weaker, however, the Genovese took advantage of this situation to strengthen their position, and started to build tower houses along this moat, connected them to each other with crenellated walls, thereby bringing the Galata region to a ready state of defence, and expanded their territory towards the environs of Azapkapı - Şişhane - Galata Tower - Tophane.

The Galata Tower was constructed in 1349. According to an agreement, the colony came under the responsibility of an administrator called podesta.  The Podesta was considered, at the same time, as the ambassador of Genoa at the court of the Byzantine Emperor. The Podesta, in turn, was responsible towards a city council of 24 elected members known as "Magnifica Comunita di Pera". During the 14th  century, Galata with its urban form and structures used to display its period’s typical features as a Mediterranean city.

It had become an important part of the city where commercial relations with the West were established and carried on, and this characteristic of the area had continued after the conquest, as well. It is known that the Genovese had strengthened and elevated the height of the fortifications and increased the number of city gates in 1446, a few years prior to the siege of the city.

However, following the conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmet II had demanded the removal of the upper portion of the walls of Galata, and had signed an agreement with the Genovese recognizing their privileges which they had obtained during the period of the Byzantine Empire, in return for their acceptance of the ownership of the region by the Ottoman State.

The Podesta had been replaced by a new administrator called Vaivode. It is well known that a large number of Western merchants ha settled at Galata following this conquest. The most important axis of the region was the Voyvoda Avenue (today’s Bankalar Avenue), which extended parallel to the shore line and on which were lined the administrative structures of the colony.

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

MARMARA WALLS (PROPONTIS) OF OLD İSTANBUL

İstanbul - Turkey



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

The wall of the Propontis was built almost at the shoreline, with the exception of harbours and quays, and had a height of 12-15 metres, with thirteen gates, and 188 towers and a total length of almost 8,460 metres, with further 1,080 metres comprising the inner wall of the Vlanga harbour. Several sections of the wall were damaged during the construction of the Kennedy Caddesi coastal road in 1956-57.

The wall's proximity to the sea and the strong currents of the Propontis meant that eastern and southern shores of the peninsula were comparatively safe from attack, but conversely, the walls had to be protected against the sea itself : a breakwater of boulders was placed in front of their base, and marble shafts were used as bonds in the walls' base to enhance their structural integrity.

From the cape at the edge of the ancient acropolis of the city (modern Sarayburnu, Seraglio Point), south and west to the Marble Tower, the Propontis Wall and its gates went as follows :

The first gate, now demolished, was the Eastern Gate or Gate of St. Barbara (Pylē tēs martyros Barbaras) after a nearby church, in Turkish Top Kapısı "Gate of the Cannon", from which Topkapı Palace takes its name. Unique among the seaward gates, it was, like the Golden Gate, flanked by two large towers of white marble, which in 1816 was used to construct the nearby Marble Kiosk of Sultan Mahmud II.

Twice it served as the entry-point for an emperor's triumphal return: in 1126, when John II Komnenos returned from the recapture of his ancestral Kastamonu, and in 1168, when Manuel I Komnenos returned from his victorious campaign against Hungary. Next was the gate known in Turkish as Değirmen Kapı "Millstone Gate", whose Byzantine name is unknown.

Close by and to its north stood the great Tower of Mangana, which was intended to hold the one end of the chain, planned (but probably never actually installed) by Manuel I Komnenos to close off the Bosporus, the other end being at a tower erected on the island of the modern Maiden's Tower (Kız Kulesi) off Chrysopolis (modern Üsküdar), known as Damalis (Arkla) in Byzantine times.

The next gate is now known as the Demirkapı "Iron Gate", and is an Ottoman-era structure. A Greek name is not known, and it is not known whether a gate stood there in Byzantine times. Behind these two gates extended the quarter of the Mangana "Arsenal", with its numerous monasteries, the most famous of which were those of St. George of Mangana, the Church of Christ Philanthropos, and of the Theotokos Hodegetria, and the Palace of Mangana.

Four small posterns, in two pairs of two, stand at the southern edge of the Mangana quarter, and probably serviced the numerous churches. The names, but not the identity, of two of them have been recorded, the Postern of St. Lazarus (pylis tou hagiou Lazarou), and the Small Gate of the Hodegetria, both named after the respective monasteries located near them. It is also probable that one of them is to be identified with the Postern of Michael the Protovestiarius. Further south, at the point where the shore turns westwards, are two further gates, the Balıkhane Kapısı "Gate of the Fish-House" and Ahırkapısı "Stable Gate".

Their names derive from the buildings inside the Topkapı Palace they led to. Their Byzantine names are unknown. The next gate, on the southeastern corner of the city, was the gate of the imperial palace of the Bucoleon, known in Byzantine times as the Gate of the Lion (Greek: Porta Leontos, in Latin Porta Leonis) after the marble lions that flanked its entrance, as well as Gate of the Bear (porta tēs arkoudas) after depictions of that animal at the quay. In Turkish it is known as Çatladıkapı "Broken Gate".

To the west of the Bucoleon Palace lies the Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, and the first of the harbours of the city's southern shore, that of the Sophiae, named after the wife of Emperor Justin II (r. 565-578) and known originally as the Port of Julian. A small postern is situated in front of the church, while the first larger gate, the Gate of the Sophiae (Porta tōn Sophiōn) or Iron Gate (Porta Sidēra), opened to the harbour.

In Turkish, it is known as Kadırgalimanı Kapısı, "Gate of the Harbour of the Galleys". Next was the Gate of Kontoskalion, modern Kumkapısı "Sand Gate", which opened to the late Byzantine harbour of the same name, intended to replace the long silted-up Harbour of the Sophiae.

The next harbour to the west is the large Harbour of Eleutherius or Theodosius, in the area known as Vlanga. The harbours are now silted up and known as the Langa Bostan park. Immediately before it to the east stands the gate known in Turkish as the Yenikapı "New Gate". A Latin inscription commemorates its repair after the 447 earthquake. It is usually identified with the Jewish Gate of late Byzantine times.

Immediately to the west after the harbour lies the next gate, Davutpaşa Kapısı "Gate of Davut Pasha", usually identified with the Gate of Saint Aemilianus (Porta tou hagiou Aimilianou), which is known to have stood at the junction of the sea wall with the city's original Constantinian Wall. That view however is disputed by Janin, as the junction of the walls occurred considerably to the west from the modern gate's location.

Further to the west, where the shoreline turns sharply south, stood the Gate of Psamathia (Porta tou Psamatha / Psamatheos), modern Samatya Kapısı, leading to the suburb of the same name. Further south and west lies the gate known today as Narlıkapı "Pomegranate Gate". Its Byzantine name is unknown, but is prominent on account of its proximity to the famed Monastery of St John the Studite.

The wall of the Propontis was built almost at the shoreline, with the exception of harbours and quays, and had a height of 12-15 metres, with 10 gates, 3 small gates, 188 towers and a total length of almost 8.460 metres, with further 1.080 metres comprising the inner wall of the Vlanga harbour. Several sections of the wall were damaged during the construction of the coastal road in 1956-57.

From the Marble Tower to the cape of St. Demetrius at the edge of the ancient acropolis of the city (modern Seraglio Point), the wall's gates were :

1. the Gate of St. John Studites, modern Narlikapı "Gate of Roses", which led to the important monastery of the same name.
2. the Gate of Psamathos (Porta Psamatheos, Turkish Samatya Kapısı), leading to the suburb of Psamathia.
3. the Gate of St. Aemilianus (Turkish Davutpaşa Kapısı), before the harbours of Eleutherios and Theodosios.
4. the Vlanga Gate (Porta Vlaggas), at the mouth of the River Lycus, within the harbours. It was demolished after the Ottoman conquest, and a new gate (Yenikapı) build in its place.
5. the Kontoscalion Gate (Porta Kontoskaliou, Turkish Kumkapı), at the harbour of the same name.
6. the Iron Gate, leading to and from the harbour of Sophia or Sophianon, also called harbour of Julian. In Turkish it is called Kadirgalimani Kapısı.
7. the Bull and Lion Gate, which led to the harbour and imperial palace of Bucoleon, in Turkish Çatladıkapı.
8. an unnamed gate, at the southeastern edge of the Imperial quarter, modern Ahırkapısı.
9. an unnamed gate, at the southeastern edge of the Imperial quarter, modern Balıkhane Kapısı (it lies immediately within the later perimeter of the Topkapı Palace).
10. the Gate of St. Lazarus (Porta Agiou Lazarou), at the ancient Temple of Poseidon.
11. the Postern of the Odegetria, at the Palace of Mangana, modern Demirkapı.
12. the Postern of Michael Protovestiarius, today Değirmen Kapı.
13. the Eastern Gate, in Turkish Top Kapısı, from which Topkapı Palace takes its name.

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

GOLDEN HORN WALLS OLD İSTANBUL

İstanbul - Turkey



PHOTOGRAPHS ALBUM

The wall facing towards the Golden Horn, where in later times most seaborne traffic was conducted, stretched for a total length of 5,600 metres from the cape of St. Demetrius to the Blachernae, where it adjoined the Land Walls. Although most of the wall was demolished in the 1870s, during the construction of the railway line, its course and the position of most gates and towers is known with accuracy. It was built further inland from the shore, and was about 10 metres tall. According to Cristoforo Buondelmonti it featured 14 gates and 110 towers, although 16 gates are known that are of Byzantine origin.

The northern shore of the city was always its more cosmopolitan part: a major focal point of commerce, it also contained the quarters allocated to foreigners living in the imperial capital. Muslim traders had their own lodgings (mitaton) there, including a mosque, while from the time of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081-1118) on, the emperors granted to the various Italian maritime republics extensive trading quarters which included their own wharfs (skalai) beyond the sea walls.

The known gates of the Golden Horn wall may be traced in order from the Blachernae eastwards to the Seraglio Point, as follows : The first gate, very near the land walls, was the Koiliomene Gate "Rolled Gate", in Turkish "Küçük Ayvansaray Kapısı". Shortly after stood the Gate of St. Anastasia, located near the Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque, hence in Turkish "Atik Mustafa Paşa Kapısı".

In close proximity on the outer side of the walls lay the Church of St. Nicholas Kanabos, which in 1597-1601 served as the cathedral of the Patriarch of Constantinople. Further down the coast was the gate known in Turkish as Balat Kapı "Palace Gate", preceded in close order by three large archways, which served either as gates to the shore or to a harbour that serviced the imperial palace of Blachernae.

Two gates are known to have existed in the vicinity in Byzantine times: the Kynegos Gate "Gate of the Hunter(s)", whence the quarter behind it was named Kynegion, and the Gate of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist (Porta tou hagiou Prodromou kai Baptistou), though it is not clear whether the latter was distinct from the Kynegos Gate. The Balat Kapı has been variously identified as one of them, and as one of the three gates on the Golden Horn known as the Imperial Gate.

Further south was the Gate of the Phanarion, Turkish "Fener Kapısı", named after the local light-tower, which also gave its name to the local suburb. The gate also marked the western entrance of the Petrion Fort, formed by a double stretch of walls between the Gate of the Phanarion and the Petrion Gate, in Turkish "Petri Kapısı". According to Byzantine tradition, the area was named thus after Peter the Patrician, a leading minister of Justinian I (r. 527-565).

A small gate of the western end of the fort's inner wall, near the Phanarion Gate, led to the city, and was called the Gate of Diplophanarion. It was at the Petrion Gate that the Venetians, under the personal leadership of Doge Enrico Dandolo, scaled the walls and entered the city in the 1204 sack. In the 1453 siege however, an Ottoman attack on the same place was repelled.

The next gate, Yeni Ayakapı "New Gate of the Saint", is not Byzantine, unless it replaces an earlier Byzantine entrance. It was constructed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan in 1582. Shortly after it lies the older Ayakapı "Gate of the Saint", known in Greek as the St. Theodosia Gate after the great earby church of St. Theodosia (formerly identified with the Gül Mosque). The next gate is that of Eis Pegas, known by Latin chroniclers as Porta Puteae or Porta del Pozzo, modern "Cibali Kapısı".

It was named so because it looked towards the quarter of Pegae "springs" on the other shore of the Golden Horn. Next was the now-demolished Gate of the Platea follows, rendered as Porta della Piazza by Italian chroniclers, and called in Turkish Unkapanı Kapısı "Gate of the Flour Depot". It was named after the local quarter of Plate[i]a ("broad place", signifying the broad shoreline at this place). The next gate, Ayazma Kapısı "Gate of the Holy Well", is in all probability an Ottoman-era structure.

The next gate is the Gate of the Drungaries, modern Odunkapısı "Wood Gate". Its Byzantine name derives from the high official known as the Drungary of the Watch. It marked the western end of the Venetian quarter. It is followed by the Gate the Forerunner, known as St. John de Cornibus by the Latins, named after a nearby chapel. In Turkish it is known as Zindan Kapısı "Dungeon Gate".

The destroyed Gate of the Perama, "Porta tou Peramatos" lay in the suburb of Perama "Crossing", from which the ferry to Pera (Galata) sailed. It marked the eastern limit of the Venetian quarter of the city, and the beginning of the Amalfitan quarter to its east. In Buondelmonti's map, it is labelled Porta Piscaria, on account of the fishmarket that used to be held there, a name that has been preserved in its modern Turkish appellation, Balıkpazarı Kapısı, "Gate of the Fish-market".

This gate is also identified with the Gate of the Jews (Hebraïkē Porta), Porta Hebraica in Latin sources, although the same name was apparently applied over time to other gates as well. In its vicinity was probably also the Gate of St. Mark, which is recorded in a single Venetian document of 1229. Its identity is unclear, as is the question whether the gate, conspicuously named in honour of the patron saint of Venice, was pre-existing or opened after the fall of the city to the Crusaders in 1204.

To the east of the Perama Gate was the Hikanatissa Gate, a name perhaps derived from the imperial tagma of the Hikanatoi. The gate marked the eastern end of the Amalfitan quarter of the city and the western edge of the Pisan quarter. Further east lay the Gate of the Neorion (Porta tou Neōriou), recorded as the Horaia Gate, "Beautiful Gate" in late Byzantine and Ottoman times.

As its names testifies, it led to the leading to the Neorion, the main harbour of ancient Byzantium and the oldest naval arsenal of the city. In the early Ottoman period, it was known in Turkish as the Çıfıtkapı "Hebrew Gate", but its modern name is Bahçekapı "Garden Gate". The eastern limit of the Pisan quarter was located a bit eastwards of the gate.

The 12th-century Genoese quarter of the city extended from there to the east, and in the documents conferring privileges on them one finds mention of two gates: the Porta Bonu "Gate of Bonus", and the Porta Veteris Rectoris "Gate of the old rector". It is very likely that these two names refer to the same gate, probably named after an otherwise unknown rector Bonus, and located somewhere in the modern Sirkeci district.

Finally, the last gate of the Golden Horn wall was the Gate of Eugenius (Porta tou Eugeniou), leading to the Prosphorion harbour. In close proximity was the 4th-century Tower of Eugenius or Kentenarion, where the great chain that closed the entrance to the Golden Horn was kept and suspended from. The gate was also called Marmaroporta "Marble Gate", because it was covered in marble, and featured a statue of the Emperor Julian. It is usually identified with the Ottoman Yalıköşk Kapısı, and was destroyed in 1871.

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.

ISTANBUL FORTIFICATION WALLS

Istanbul - Turkey

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they are one of the greatest and most complex fortification systems ever built.

Initially built by Constantine the Great, the walls surrounded the new city on all sides, protecting it against attack from both sea and land. As the city grew, the famous double line of the Theodosian Walls was built in the 5th century. Although the other sections of the walls were less elaborate, when well manned, they were almost impregnable for any medieval besieger, saving the city, and the Byzantine Empire with it, during sieges from the Avars, Arabs, Rus, and Bulgars, among others.

Only the advent of gunpowder siege cannons rendered the fortifications obsolete, resulting in the final siege and fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453.

The walls were largely maintained intact during most of the Ottoman period, until sections began to be dismantled in the 19th century, as the city outgrew its medieval boundaries. Despite the subsequent lack of maintenance, many parts of the walls survived and are still standing today. A large-scale restoration programme has been under way in the past twenty years, which allows the visitor to appreciate their original appearance.

LAND WALLS

The Walls of Byzantium and Constantine
The original fortifications of the city were built in the 8th century BC, when it was founded as Byzantium by Greek colonists from Megara, led by the eponymous Byzas. At the time the city consisted of an acropolis and little more. Byzantium, despite being a prosperous trading post, was relatively unimportant during the Roman period, but featured prominently in the civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, holding out a Severan siege for three years (193-96 AD).

As punishment, Severus had the strong walls demolished and the city deprived of its status. However, soon after he rebuilt it, appreciating the city's strategic importance, and endowed it with many monuments and a new set of walls, increasing its area. When Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, which he refounded as Nova Roma, he greatly expanded the new city by building a new wall about 2.8 km (15 stadia) westwards of the Severan wall and incorporating even more territory.

Constantine's fortification consisted of a single wall, reinforced with towers at regular distances, which began to be constructed in 324 and was completed under Constantine II. The approximate course of the wall is known, running from the area of the Plateia Gate of the Golden Horn sea walls to near the Gate of St. Aemilianus on the Propontis walls (see section on the Sea Walls below).

The wall survived during much of the Byzantine period, even though it was replaced by the Theodosian Walls as the city's primary defence; however, only the Old Golden Gate still survived to late Byzantine times, until destroyed by an earthquake in 1509. Already by the early 5th century however, Constantinople had expanded outside the Constantinian Wall, in the extra-mural area known as the Exokionion.

The Theodosian Walls
Restored section of the Theodosian Walls at the Selymbria Gate. The Outer Wall and the wall of the moat are visible, with a tower of the Inner Wall in the backgroundIn 408, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, construction began on a new wall, about 1,500 m to the west of the old, which stretched for 5,630 meters between the Sea of Marmara and the suburb of Blachernae near the Golden Horn.

The new wall, which became known as the Theodosian Wall (Greek Theodosianon Teichos), was built under the direction of Anthemius, the Praetorian prefect of the East, and completed in 413. New Rome now enclosed seven hills and justified the appellation Eptalofos, like Old Rome. On November 6, 447, however, a powerful earthquake destroyed large parts of the wall, and Theodosius II ordered the urban prefect Cyrus of Floros (sometimes referred to as Constantine) to supervise the urgent repairs, as the city was threatened at the time by Attila the Hun.

Cyrus employed the city's demoi (more widely known as "Circus factions") in the work, and succeeded in restoring the walls within 60 days, as testified in two inscriptions in Greek and Latin on the Mevlevihane Gate. At the same time, a second outer wall was added, and a wide ditch opened in front of the walls.

Construction
The walls were built in two lines of defense, which adjoined the ditch. The main Inner Wall (Esō Teichos or Mega Teichos, "Great Wall") is a solid structure, 5 metres thick and 12 metres high. It is faced with carefully cut limestone blocks, while its core is filled with mortar made of lime and crushed bricks. Between seven and eleven bands of brick, ca. 40 cm thick, traverse the structure, not only as a form of decoration, but also strengthening the cohesion of the structure by bonding the stone façade with the mortar core, and increasing endurance to earthquakes.

The walls were built of alternating layers of stone and brick in two lines of defense which adjoined the ditch. The Inner Wall (Eso Teichos or Mega Teichos, "Great Wall") was a solid structure, 5 metres thick and 12 metres high. It was strengthened with 96 towers, mainly square but also octagonal or hexagonal, 18-20 metres tall, every 55 metres.

Each tower had a battlemented terrace on the top. Its interior was usually divided by a floor in two chambers. The lower chamber, which opened to the city, was used for storage, while the upper one could be entered from the wall's walkway, and had windows for view and for firing projectiles. Access to the wall was provided by large ramps along their side.

The Outer Wall (Exo Teichos or Proteichisma) was built 15-20 metres from the main wall, creating a space between the two walls called perivolos. The Outer Wall was 2 metres thick at its base, and featured arched chambers on the level of the perivolos, crowned with a battlemented walkway, reaching a height of 8.5 metres. Access to the Outer Wall from the city was provided either through the main gates or through small posterns on the base of the Inner Wall's towers.

The Outer Wall likewise had 96 towers, square or crescent-shaped, situated in the middle distance between the Inner Wall's towers. They featured a room with windows on the level of the perivolos, crowned by a battlemented terrace, while their lower portions were either solid or featured small posterns, which allowed access to the outer terrace.

The moat (souda) was situated at a distance of about 15 metres from the Outer Wall, creating a terrace called parateichion, where a paved road ran along the walls' length. The moat itself, which could be flooded, was about 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep, featuring a 1.5 metre tall crenellated wall on the inner side, serving as a first line of defence.

The walls stretched for about 5.5 km from south to north, from the Marble Tower, Turkish Mermer Kule (Tower of Basil and Constantine) on the Propontis coast to the Blachernae, ending at about the area of the Palace of Porphyrogenitus (known in Turkish as Tekfur Saray), where they adjoined the later walls of Blachernae.

The wall contained 10 main gates, plus an unknown number of small posterns, which were usually walled up in the event of a siege. The five public gates led across the moat on bridges, while the five so-called "Military Gates", known initially only by their numbers, led to the outer sections of the walls. In order, from south to north, these gates were :

1. The First Military Gate, or Gate of Christ, named so because of the Chi-Ro Christogram inscribed on it, today known as the Tabak Kapı.

2. The Golden Gate (Turkish Altınkapı or Yaldızlıkapı), which was a triumphal arch from the reign of Theodosius I, originally standing alone, outside the Constantinian Wall, over the Via Egnatia. It was incorporated in the Theodosian Walls, serving as the state entrance into the capital, especially for the occasions of a triumphal return of victorious emperors from battle. It was architecturally elaborate, built of large square blocks of polished marble fitted together without cement, with three arches. During later years, two great flanking towers of the same material were added. Upon the gates were placed sculpted bronze elephants, flanked by winged Victories. Behind the gate lies the Ottoman-era Yedikule Fortress. Since the main Gates were usually kept closed, a smaller gate exists after the Fort, the Small Golden Gate, modern Yedikule Kapısı, which was used for everyday traffic.

3. The Second Military Gate, the greatest of the military gates. Its is known today as Belgrade Gate, after the Serbian artisans settled there by Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent after he conquered Belgrade in 1521.

4. The Gate of Melantias or Selymbria Gate (Turkish Silivri Kapısı), also known as Zoodochos Pege after a monastery outside the Walls, where the forces of the Empire of Nicaea under General Alexios Strategopoulos entered and retook the city from the Latins on 25 July 1261.

5. The Third Military Gate at the section known as the "Sigma", today walled up.

6. The Gate of Rhegium, modern Yeni Mevlevihane Kapısı, also named "Gate of the Reds", because it had been repaired in 447 by the demos of the Reds.

7. The Fourth Military Gate, south of modern Millet Caddesi.

8. The Gate of St. Romanus, named so after a nearby church, is called Topkapı, the "Cannon Gate" today, because of the great cannon that was placed opposite it during the last siege of Constantinople. Emperor Constantine XI established his command here, at the central and most threatened stretch of the walls.

9. The Fifth Military Gate, called Hücum Kapısı, the "Assault Gate", in Turkish, because there the decisive breakthrough was achieved on the morning of May 29, 1453.

10. The Gate of Charisius or Polyandrion (named so because it led to a cemetery outside the Walls), in Turkish Edirnekapı "Gate of Adrianople", where Sultan Mehmed II made his triumphal entry into the conquered city. This gate stands on top of the sixth hill, and was the highest point of the city at 77 metres.

The restored Gate of Charisius or Adrianople Gate, where Sultan Mehmed II entered the city.The stretch of walls between the Gate of St. Romanus and the Gate of Charisius, with a length of 1,250 metres, was known as the Mesoteichion "Middle Wall". It was considered as the weakest part of the walls, because the ground descended towards the valley of the Lycus River, and as a result the walls lay lower than the opposing slopes. It was here that Mehmed II had placed most of his artillery, and as a result, much of this portion of the walls lies still in ruins today.

The impression made by the mighty Theodosian Walls on the Western Crusaders who encountered them can be seen in the 13th century Caernarfon Castle in Wales, built by Edward I of England as a royal residence, which is said to have been modelled on them. With the advent of siege cannons, however, the fortifications became obsolete, but their massive size still provided effective defence, as demonstrated during the Second Ottoman Siege in 1422.

In the final siege, which led to the fall of the city to the Ottomans in 1453, the defenders, severely outnumbered, still managed to repeatedly counter Turkish attempts at undermining the walls, repulse several frontal attacks, and restore the damage from the siege cannons for almost two months. Finally, on 29 May, the decisive attack was launched, and when the Genoese general Giovanni Giustiniani was wounded and withdrew, causing a panic among the defenders, the walls were taken.

After the capture of the city, Sultan Mehmed II had the walls repaired in short order among other massive public works projects, and they were kept in repair during the first centuries of Ottoman rule.

The Yedikule Fortress
The first fortress behind the Golden Gate began being built during the reign of John I Tzimiskes and was completed under Manuel I Komnenos. That fort (Kastellion) had five towers, and was hence also named Pentapyrgion. It was destroyed after the first fall of the city to the Fourth Crusade, and rebuilt only in 1350 by John VI Kantakouzenos.

The new fort featured five octagonal towers, and together with the two marble towers of the Golden Gate, seven in total, becoming known as the Eptapyrgion "Seven Towers". In 1391 however, John V Palaiologos was forced to raze the fort by Sultan Bayezid I, who otherwise threatened to blind his son Manuel, whom he held captive. Emperor John VIII Palaiologos attempted to rebuild it in 1434, but was thwarted by Sultan Murad II.

After the final capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II rebuilt the fort in 1457, again with seven towers (four on the Inner Theodosian Wall - towers eight to eleven - and three larger ones behind), as the Yedikule Hisar (Turkish for "Fortress of Seven Towers"). During much of the Ottoman era, it was used as a treasury and state prison. Amongst its most notable prisoners was the young Sultan Osman II, who was imprisoned and executed there by the Janissaries in 1622.

The Walls of Blachernae
In the northwestern corner of the city, the suburb of Blachernae with its important church of Panagia Vlacherniotissa was left out of the Theodosian walls. To defend it, in the face of the great Avar siege, a single wall was built, around 627, in the reign of Heraclius. In 814, Leo V the Armenian built a new wall in front of the Heraclean one to safeguard against Bulgarian raids.

In the 12th century, when Blachernae had become the favoured imperial residence, Manuel I Komnenos built a wall, starting from the end of the Theodosian Walls, to protect the imperial palaces, which was connected by a later wall (possibly under Isaac II Angelos) to the Heraclean wall. Despite all this, the defences of the Blachernae section remained weaker than at the Theodosian Walls, and it was here the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade managed to penetrate them and first enter the city.

The Walls of Blachernae consist of four single walls built in different periods. Generally they are about 12-15 metres in height; thicker than the Theodosian Walls and with more closely spaced towers, while lacking a moat. The fortification begins at the end of the Theodosian Walls with the Komnenian Wall, connected by the Angelian wall to the Heraclean wall, which in turn is connected to the Sea Walls at the Golden Horn. The wall of Leo V lies in front of the Heraclean wall.

The wall of Manuel Komnenos is an architecurally-excellent fortification, extending for 220 m, with 9 towers, the small gate (paraportion) of St. Kallinikos between the second and third towers, and one gate after the sixth tower, the modern Eğri Kapı "Crooked Gate", which is identified with the old Kaligaria Pyle, the "Gate of the Bootmakers' Quarter". The Eğri Kapı is so named because the road in front of it detours sharply around a tomb, which is supposed to belong to Hazret Hafiz, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, who died there during the first Arab siege of the city.

The Komnenian wall ends at the third tower from the gate, and the newer wall (from the late 12th century), architecturally much inferior, continues for ca. 400 metres. This wall has four square towers and a gate, the Gyrolimne Gate (from Argyre Limne, the "Silver Lake") between the second and third of them, now walled up, which led to the Blachernae Palace.

The last stretch of the wall is adjoined by two structures: the Tower of Isaakios Angelos, built around 1188 as a residence for the Emperor, and the nearby building and tower known as Prisons of Anemas, dated to the 7th century but named after Michael Anemas, a general of Alexios I who was imprisoned there after a failed plot against the Emperor.

The wall of Heraclius begins from there and extends for about 100 metres to the Sea Walls. It has three strong hexagonal towers, and the Gate of Blachernae (Pyle Vlachernon). The wall of Leo V complements it from the outside, forming a sort of rectangular fort, with an internal space of ca. 25 metres between the two walls. At the edge of the Leontian wall stands the Tower of St. Nicholas, originally built by Leo V and rebuilt by Emperor Romanus I Lecapenus.

The Leontian Wall is thinner and of inferior construction to the Heraclean, and features four small towers along with a now collapsed gate, which formed the outer counterpart of the Blachernae Gate. Since the Sea Walls at the Golden Horn were built at a distance from the shore, a wall extended from the end of the Land Walls to the shoreline, the so-called Vrakhiolion, erected at the same time as the main Heraclean wall, in 627. It had a single gate, the "Wooden Gate" (Xyloporta).

Preservation of the Walls
The land walls run through the suburbs of modern Istanbul, with a belt of parkland flanking their course. They are pierced at intervals by modern roads leading westwards out of the city. Many sections were restored during the 1980s, with financial support from UNESCO, but the restoration programme has been criticised for destroying historical evidence, focusing on superficial restoration, the use of inappropriate materials and poor quality of work.

This became apparent in the 1999 earthquakes, when the restored sections collapsed while the original structure underneath remained intact. The threat posed by urban pollution, and the lack of a comprehensive restoration effort, prompted the World Monuments Fund to include them on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world. The biggest risk to their survival is the lack of a comprehensive plan to guide their long-term preservation and interpretation.

The conditions of the walls were among the factors that led to the consideration of the Historic Areas of Istanbul - a World Heritage Site - for inclusion in the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2006. The UNESCO committee decided, however, to allow the Turkish government more time to develop conservation strategies for the walls before placing Historic Istanbul on the World Heritage List in Danger. It is hoped that Watch listing will help to encourage this effort and highlight the importance of saving the walls.

These scripts and photographs are registered under © Copyright 2017, respected writers and photographers from the internet. All Rights Reserved.