Walls of Constantinople

Walls of Constantinople
Istanbul, Turkey
Map showing Constantinople and its walls during the Byzantine era
Shown within Turkey
Type	Walls
Coordinates	41°00′44″N 28°58′34″E / 41.01224°N 28.976018°E / 41.01224; 28.976018Coordinates: 41°00′44″N 28°58′34″E / 41.01224°N 28.976018°E / 41.01224; 28.976018
Built	4th–5th centuries, with later restorations and additions
Built by	Septimius Severus, Constantine I, Constantius II, Theodosius II, Heraclius, Theophilos, Manuel I Komnenos
Construction materials	Limestone, Brick
Height	Up to 12 m
Current condition	Land walls partly ruined, restoration work under way; sea walls largely torn down
Current owner	Turkey
Open to the public	Yes
Controlled by	Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire, Ottoman Empire
Battles/wars	Avar siege of 626, First and Second Arab sieges, Second and final Ottoman siege

The Walls of Constantinople are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the city of Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey) since its founding as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Constantine the Great. With numerous additions and modifications during their history, they were the last great fortification system of antiquity, and one of the most complex and elaborate 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 (see Sieges of Constantinople). The advent of gunpowder siege cannons rendered the fortifications vulnerable, leading to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans on 29 May 1453 after a prolonged siege.

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 since the 1980s, which allows the visitor to appreciate their original appearance.

Land Walls

Walls of Byzantium

The original fortifications of the city were built in the 7th 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 early Roman period, but featured prominently in the civil war between Septimius Severus (r. 193–211) and Pescennius Niger (r. 193–194), holding out a Severan siege for three years (193–196). As punishment, Severus had the strong walls demolished and the city was deprived of its status.^[1] However, appreciating the city's strategic importance, he eventually rebuilt it and endowed it with many monuments (including the Hippodrome), as well as a new set of walls, increasing its area. No details are known of the Severan Wall, except its general course and that its main gate was located shortly before the entrance of the later Forum of Constantine.^[2]

Wall of Constantine

When Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, which he refounded as Constantinopolis ("City of Constantine"), 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.^[3] 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 his son Constantius II (r. 337–361).^[4][5] The approximate course of the wall is known: it began at the Golden Horn, near the modern Atatürk bridge, ran southwest and then southwards, passed east of the great open cisterns of Mocius and Aspar, and ended on the Propontis coast, somewhere between the later sea gates of St. Aemilianus and Psamathos.^[6]

Already by the early 5th century however, Constantinople had expanded outside the Constantinian Wall, in the extramural area known as the Exokionion.^[7] The wall survived during much of the Byzantine period, even though it was replaced by the Theodosian Walls as the city's primary defense; it still stood when Justinian I (r. 527–565) ascended the throne, but only traces survived in later ages. Van Millingen states that traces of the wall survived in the region of the İsakapı until the early 19th century.^[8]

Gates

The names of a number of gates survive of the Constantinian Wall, but scholars debate their identity and exact location.

Old Golden Gate

The Old Golden Gate (Latin: Porta Aurea), known also as the Xerolophos Gate and the Gate of Saturninus,^[9] is mentioned in the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, which further states that the city wall itself in the region around it was "ornately decorated". The gate stood somewhere on the southern slopes of the Seventh Hill.^[10] Its construction is often attributed to Constantine, but is in fact of uncertain age. It survived until late Byzantine times, when the Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras described it as being built of "wide marble blocks with a lofty opening", and crowned by a kind of stoa.^[11] In late Byzantine times, a painting of the Crucifixion was allegedly placed on the gate, leading to its later Ottoman name, İsakapı ("Gate of Jesus"). It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1509, but its approximate location is known through the presence of the nearby İsakapı Mescidi mosque.^[11][12]

Gate of Attalos

The identity and location of the Gate of At[t]alos (Πόρτα Ἀτ[τ]άλου, Porta At[t]alou) are unclear. Cyril Mango identifies it with the Old Golden Gate;^[11] van Millingen places it on the the Seventh Hill, at a height corresponding to one of the later gates of the Theodosian Wall;^[10] and Raymond Janin places it further north, near the point where the river Lycus passed under the wall.^[9] In earlier centuries, it was decorated with many statues, including one of Constantine, which fell down in an earthquake in 740.^[13]

Gate of Saint Aemilianus

The only gate whose location is known with certainty, aside from the Old Golden Gate, is the Gate of Saint Aemilianus (Πόρτα τοῦ ἀγίου Αἰμιλιανοῦ, Porta tou Hagiou Aimilianou), named in Turkish Davutpaşa Kapısı. It lay at the juncture with the sea walls, and served the communication with the coast. According to the Chronicon Paschale, the Church of St Mary of Rhabdos stood next to the gate.^[9][14]

Gate of the Prodromos

The Old Gate of the Prodromos (Παλαιὰ Πόρτα τοῦ Προδρόμου, Palaia Porta tou Prodromou), named after the nearby Church of St John the Baptist (called Prodromos, "the Forerunner", in Greek), is another unclear case. Van Millingen identifies it with the Old Golden Gate,^[15] while Janin considers it to have been located on the northern slope of the Seventh Hill.^[9]

Gate of Melantias

The location of the Gate of Melantias (Πόρτα Μελαντιάδος, Porta Melantiados) is also debated. Van Millingen considered it to be a gate of the Theodosian Wall (the Pege Gate),^[16] while more recently, Janin and Mango have refuted this, suggesting that it was located on the Constantinian Wall. Again however, while Mango identifies it with the Gate of the Prodromos,^[17] Janin considers the name to have been a corruption of the ta Meltiadou quarter, and places the gate to the west of the Mocius cistern.^[18]

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 background.

In 408, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450), construction began on a new wall, about 1,500 m to the west of the old. The new wall became known as the Theodosian Wall (Greek: τείχος Θεοδοσιακόν, teichos Theodosiakon), and was built under the direction of Anthemius, the Praetorian prefect of the East, being completed in 413.^[19] New Rome now enclosed seven hills and justified the appellation Heptalophos (Ἑπτάλοφος, "seven hills"), in imitation of Elder Rome. On 7 November 447 however, a powerful earthquake destroyed large parts of the wall, including 57 towers. Subsequent earthquakes, including another major one in January 448, compounded the damage.^[20] Theodosius II ordered the urban 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 dēmoi (the "Circus factions") in the work, the walls were restored in a record 60 days, according to the Byzantine chroniclers.^[20] The chronicles also suggest that at this point, the second outer wall was added, and a wide ditch opened in front of the walls, but the validity of that information is open to question.^[20] Throughout their history, the walls were damaged by earthquakes, and repairs were undertaken on numerous occasions, as testified by the numerous inscriptions commemorating the emperors or their servants who undertook to restore them.^[5][21]

Course and topography

The walls stretched for about 6,5 km from south to north, from the Marble Tower (Turkish: Mermer Kule), also known as the Tower of Basil and Constantine (Gk. Pyrgos Vasileiou kai Kōnstantinou) on the Propontis coast to the Golden Horn. The total length of the surviving walls is 5,630 m, from the Sea of Marmara to the suburb of Blachernae near the Golden Horn,^[22] while the section between the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (known in Turkish as Tekfur Sarayı) and the Golden Horn does not survive, since the line of the walls was later brought forward to cover the suburb of Blachernae.^[5]

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 (modern Mevlevihane Kapısı) 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 tot he Gate of St. Romanus, located near the peak of the Seventh Hill at some 68 m above sea level.^[23] From there the wall descends into the valley of the river Lycus, where it reaches its lowest point at 35 m above sea level. From there the wall rises again, climbing the slope of the Sixth Hill, up to the Gate of Charisius or Gate of Adrianople, at some 76 m height.^[23] The stretch between the gates of St. Romanus and Charisius, ca. 1,250 m in length, the so-called Mesoteichion (Μεσοτείχιον, "Middle Wall"), is the weakest part of the walls because of the morphology of the ground.^[24] In most sieges of the city, this are was the focus of the main assault, albeit only in 1453 with success. 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.^[23]

Construction

The Theodosian Walls consisted of a main or inner courtain wall (Ἕσω Τείχος, Esō Teichos; also Μέγα Τείχος, Mega Teichos, "Great Wall"), separated from the lower outer wall (Ἕξω Τείχος, Exō Teichos) by a 15–20 m wide terrace, the peribolos (περίβολος). Between of the outer wall and the moat (σούδα, souda) there stretched an outer terrace, the parateichion (παρατείχιον), while a low breastwork crowned the moat's eastern escarpment.^[25]

The inner wall is a solid structure, 5 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.^[26] The wall was strengthened with 96 towers, mainly square but also a few octagonal ones, three hexagonal and a single pentagonal one. They were 18-20 meters tall, and placed at intervals of 55 meters.^[27] Each tower had a battlemented terrace on the top. Its interior was usually divided by a floor in 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.^[28] The lower floor could also be accessed from the peribolos by small posterns. Generally speaking, most of the surviving towers 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 storey and focused on the tower terrace as the sole fighting platform.^[29]

Photo of the peribolos, the space between the inner and outer walls.

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 m.^[30] 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 midway between the Inner Wall's towers, and acting in supporting role to them.^[28] 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.^[30] 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 the both lines of wall, concentrated on the defense of the outer wall.^[24]

The moat was situated at a distance of about 15 m from the outer wall, creating a terrace called parateichion, where a paved road ran along the walls' length. The moat itself was over 20 m wide and 10 m deep, featuring a 1.5 m tall crenellated wall on the inner side, serving as a first line of defence. Transverse walls in the moat allowed it to be flooded and retain water even though the walls followed the rise of the land.^[30]

Gates

The wall contained 8 main gates and a number of smaller posterns. The main public gates led across the moat on bridges, while the secondary gates, traditionally called "Military Gates", led to the outer sections of the walls. It must be noted however that this division is mostly a matter of historiographical convention, as there is sufficient evidence that several of the secondary gates were also used by civilian traffic,^[31] and indeed, the very accuracy of the division between civilian and "military" gates has been questioned.^[32]

The exact identification of several gates is a debatable, both because the Byzantine chroniclers provide more names than the number of the gates and because of the inadequate information provided by literary and archaeological sources. In order, from south to north, these gates were:

Golden Gate

The Golden Gate (Greek: Χρυσεία Πύλη, Chryseia Pylē; Latin: Porta Aurea; Turkish: Altınkapı or Yaldızlıkapı), 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.^[33] 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.^[34] With the progressive decline in Byzantium's military fortunes, the gate was eventually walled up in the later Palaiologan period.^[35]

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.^[36] The debate has been carried over to an 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:^[19]

According to the current view, this refers to the usurper Joannes (r. 423–425),^[33] 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.^[19][35]

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 flanked by large square towers, which form the 9th and 10th towers of the inner Theodosian wall.^[33][35] The structure was decorated with numerous sculptures, 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.^[35][37] In 965, Nikephoros II Phokas installed the captured bronze city gates of Mopsuestia in the place of the original ones.^[38]

Surviving fragments of the statues decorating the Golden Gate, from the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

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.^[39] 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 labors 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.^[40][41] According to other descriptions, the outer gate was also topped by a statue of Victory, holding a crown.^[42]

After the Ottoman conquest, the Yedikule Fortress was erected behind the gate complex.^[39] Since the main Gates were usually kept closed, a small postern exists after the Fort (between towers 11 and 12), the so-called Yedikule Kapısı, which was used for everyday traffic. 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),^[39] as well as the Kievan Rus', who built monumental "Golden Gates" at Kiev and Vladimir.

Second Military Gate

The Second Military Gate or Gate of Belgrade.

The Second Military Gate or Xylokerkos Gate (Ξυλόκερκος Πύλη) lay between towers 22 and 23.^[43] Its second name derives from the fact that it led to a wooden circus (amphitheatre) outside the walls.^[44] Its 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. 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.^[45] It was re-opened in 1346^[46] but closed again before the siege of 1453, and remained closed until 1886.

Gate of the Spring

The Gate of the Spring.

The Gate of the Spring or Pēgē Gate (Πόρτα τῆς Πηγῆς) was named so after a monastery outside the Walls, the Zōodochos Pēgē ("Life-giving Spring") in the modern suburb of Balıklı. Also known as the Gate of Melantias (Porta Melantiados) because there the old highway from the town of Melantias entered the city, and is possibly the so-called Gate of Kalagros (Πύλη τοῦ Καλάγρου). In Turkish, it is known as the Selymbria Gate (Silivri Kapısı). It lies between towers 35 and 36, which were extensively rebuilt in later Byzantine times, while the gate arch itself was replaced in Ottoman times.^[47]

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.^[48]

Third Military Gate

This gate lies 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 opening in the outer wall preserved until the early 20th century, but has since disappeared.^[49]

Gate of Rhegion

The Gate of Rhegion (Πύλη τοῦ Ῥηγίου), modern Yeni Mevlevihane Kapısı, was located between towers 50 and 51 and named after the suburb of Rhegion.^[50] It was also called Πύλη Ρουσίου ("Gate of the Reds"), because it had been repaired in 447 by the dēmos of the Reds (Rousioi).

Gate of St. Romanus

The gate (Πύλη Ἁγίου Ρωμανοῦ), named so after a nearby church, was earlier known as the Fourth Military Gate. It lies between towers 59 and 60, and with a gatehouse of 26,5 m, it is the second-largest gate after the Golden Gate.^[24]

Topkapi

The gate known in Turkish as Topkapı, the "Cannon Gate", lies shortly after the Gate of St. Romanus, between towers 65 and 66. Its name comes from the great Ottoman cannon, the "Basilic", that was placed opposite it during the 1453 siege. This gate was earlier identified as the "civil" Gate of St Romanus.^[24]

Fifth Military Gate

The Fifth Military Gate (Πύλη τοῦ Πέμπτου) lies to the north of the Lycus stream, between towers 77 and 78. It is also identified with the Byzantine Gate of St Kyriake,^[24] and called Sulukulekapı or Hücum Kapısı, the "Assault Gate", in Turkish, because there the decisive breakthrough was achieved on the morning of 29 May 1453.

Gate of Charisius

The restored Gate of Charisius or Adrianople Gate, where Sultan Mehmed II entered the city.

The siege of Constantinople in 1453 on a 15th century French miniature.

The gate (Πύλη τοῦ Χαρίσιου) is also known as Gate of Polyandrion or Myriandrion (Πύλη τοῦ Πολυανδρίου),^[24] because it led to a cemetery outside the Walls. A further corrupted form of the name, recorded during the siege of 626, is Koliandros. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, established his command here in 1453.^[51] 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, and was the highest point of the old city at 77 meters.

Minor gates and posterns

The first postern was the so-called Gate of Christ from the Chi-Rhō Christogram above it, lay between the two first towers of the main wall. It was known in late Ottoman times as the Tabak Kapı. Similar posterns are the Yedikule Kapısı and the gates between towers 30/31 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,^[52] while others consider it an Ottoman addition.^[53]

Kerkoporta

According to the historian Michael Doukas, on the morning of 29 May 1453, the small postern called Kerkoporta was left open by accident, allowing the first thirty or so Ottoman troops to enter the city. The Ottomans raised their banner atop the tower, signifying the beginning of the rout of the defenders, and the fall of the city. Scholars like van Millingen,^[54] Steven Runciman,^[55] and others , have traditionally placed the Kerkoporta at the end of the Theodosian Walls, between tower 96 and the so-called Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, or at the Komnenian Wall of Blachernae (see below).^[56] However, there is no evidence of a gate in the area, and it may be that the story is derived from the earlier legend concerning the Xylokerkos Gate, which several earlier scholars also equated with the Kerkoporta.^[54]

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...".^[57]

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.

Yedikule Fortress

The Castle of Seven Towers in 1685, showing the dense settlement inside its walls, as well as the still-preserved outer gate of the Golden Gate, decorated with relief panels.

The Golden Gate was one of the stronger positions along the walls of the city, withstanding several attacks during the sieges of the city, and with the addition of transverse walls on the peribolos between the inner and outer walls, it formed a virtually separate fortress.^[58] 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 (Greek: φρούριον, phrourion) with loyal Catalan soldiers, but had to surrender it to John V Palaiologos (r. 1341–1391) when he abdicated in 1354.^[59][60] John V undid Kantakouzenos' repairs and left it unguarded, but in 1389-90 he too rebuilt and expanded the fortress: he erected two towers behind the gate and extended a wall some 350 m to the sea walls, forming a separate fortified enceinte inside the city, to serve as a final refuge.^[61][62] Indeed, John V was soon after forced to flee there from a coup led by his grandson, John VII. John V was held out successfully in a siege that lasted several months, and in which cannons were possibly employed.^[63] 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.^[61][64] Emperor John VIII Palaiologos (r. 1425–1448) attempted to rebuild it in 1434, but was thwarted by Sultan Murad II.

The Castle of Seven Towers (1827).

After the final capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II built a new fort in 1457. By adding three larger towers to the four pre-existing ones (towers 8 to 11) on the inner Theodosian wall, he formed the Yedikule Hisarı (Turkish for "Fortress of Seven Towers", in Greek Ἑπταπύργιον, Heptapyrgion). During much of the Ottoman era, it was used as a treasury and state prison. The ambassadors of states currently at war with the Porte were usually imprisoned there. Amongst its most notable prisoners was the young Sultan Osman II, who was imprisoned and executed there by the Janissaries in 1622.^[65] During the Napoleonic Wars, the fortress was the prison of many French prisoners, including the writer and diplomat Francois Pouqueville who was detained there for more than two years (1799 to 1801) and who wrote an extensive description of the area.^[66]

A masjid (small mosque) and a fountain were built in the middle of the fort's inner courtyard, which also contained the houses of the garrison, forming a separate city quarter. The houses were torn down in the l9th century, and a girls' school built in their place. An open-air theatre has been built in more recent years, used for cultural festivals.^[65]

Walls of Blachernae

The section of the Theodosian Walls that adjoins the walls of Blachernae, with the Palace of Porphyrogenitus in the background, as they appear today in suburban Istanbul.

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 favored 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 defenses of the Blachernae section remained weaker than at the Theodosian Walls, and it was here the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade managed to penetrate and first enter the city.

The Walls of Blachernae consist of four single walls built in different periods. Generally they are about 12-15 meters in height; thicker than the Theodosian Walls and with more closely spaced towers. Situated on a steep slope, they lacked a moat, except on their lower end towards the Golden Horn, where Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos had dug one.^[67] 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 architecturally-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 (the "Crooked Gate"), which is identified with the old Kaligaria Pylē, 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.^[68]

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 about 400 metres. This wall has four square towers and a gate, the Gyrolimne Gate (Πύλη Γυρολίμνης, from Argyrē Limnē, the "Silver Lake") between the second and third of them, now walled up, which led to the Blachernae Palace.^[69] 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.^[70]

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 (Πύλη τῶν Βλαχερνῶν). The wall of Leo V complements it from the outside, forming a sort of rectangular fort, with an internal space of about 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" (Ξυλόπορτα or Ξύλινη Πύλη).

Preservation and restoration work on the Land Walls

The land walls run through the heart 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 program has been criticized 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.^[71] 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.^[72]

Sea Walls

The sea walls (Greek: τείχη παράλια) enclosed the city on the sides of the Sea of Marmara (Propontis) and the gulf of the Golden Horn (χρυσοῦν κέρας). Although the original city of Byzantium certainly had sea walls, traces of which survive,^[73] the exact date for the construction of the medieval walls is a matter of debate. For long, the seaward walls were attributed by scholars to Constantine I, along with the construction of the main land wall.^[74] However, the first actual reference to their construction comes in 439, when the urban prefect Cyrus of Panopolis was ordered to repair the city walls and complete them on the seaward side.^[75] This activity is certainly not unconnected to the fact that in the same year, Carthage fell to the Vandals, an event which signaled the emergence of a naval threat in the Mediterranean.^[76] Nevertheless, the walls are not specifically mentioned as extant until much later, around the year 700.^[77]

The chain that closed off the entrance to the Golden Horn in 1453, now on display in the Istanbul Military Museum.

The Sea Walls were architecturally similar to the Theodosian Walls, but of simpler construction. They were formed by a single wall, considerably lower than the land walls, with inner circuits in the locations of the harbours. Enemy access to the walls facing the Golden Horn was prevented by the presence of a heavy chain or boom, installed by Emperor Leo III (r. 717–741), supported by floating barrels and stretching across the mouth of the inlet. One end of this chain was fastened to the Tower of Eugenius, in the modern suburb of Sirkeci, and the other in Galata, to a large, square tower, the Kastellion, the basement of which was later turned into the Yeraltı (underground) Mosque.^[22] At the same time, on the Marmara coast, the city's defence was helped by strong currents, which made an attack by a fleet almost impossible. According to Geoffrey of Villehardouin, it was for this reason that the Fourth Crusade did not attack the city from this side.^[78]

During the early centuries of its existence, Constantinople faced few naval threats. Especially after the wars of Justinian, the Mediterranean had again become a "Roman lake". It was during the first siege of the city by the Avars and the Sassanid Persians that for the first time, a naval engagement was fought off the city itself. However, after the Arab conquests of Syria and Egypt, a new naval threat emerged. In response, the sea walls were renovated in the early 8th century under Tiberios III (r. 698–705) or Anastasios II (r. 713–715).^[79][80] Michael II (r. 820–829) initiated a wide-scale reconstruction, eventually completed by his successor Theophilos (r. 829–842), which increased their height. As these repairs coincided with the capture of Crete by the Saracens, no expense was spared: As Constantine Manasses wrote, "the gold coins of the realm were spent as freely as worthless pebbles".^[81] Theophilos' extensive work, essentially rebuilding the sea walls, is testified by the numerous inscriptions found or otherwise recorded that bear his name, more than those of any other emperor. Despite future changes and restorations, these walls would essentially protect the city until the end of the empire.^[82]

The Virgin Mary rising from among the walls of Constantinople. Coin of Michael VIII Palaiologos, commemorating the recapture of Constantinople in 1261.

During the siege of the city by the Fourth Crusade, the sea walls nonetheless proved to be a weak point in the city's defences, as the Venetians managed to storm them. Following this experience, Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) took particular care to heighten and strengthen the seaward walls immediately after the Byzantine recapture of the city in 1261, since a Latin attempt to recover the city was regarded as imminent.^[83] Furthermore, the installation of the Genoese at Galata across the Golden Horn, agreed upon in the Treaty of Nymphaeum, posed a further potential threat to the city.^[84] Time being short, as a Latin attempt to recover the city was expected, the sea walls were heightened by the addition of two-meter high wooden and hide-covered screens. Ten years later, facing the threat of an invasion by Charles d'Anjou, a second line of walls was built behind the original maritime walls, although no trace of them survives today.^[83][85]

The walls were again restored under Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328) and again under his successor Andronikos III Palaiologos (r. 1328–1341), when, on 12 February 1332, a major storm caused breaches in the wall and forced the seaward gates open.^[86] In 1351, when the empire was at war with the Genoese, John VI Kantakouzenos again repaired the walls, and even opened a moat in front of the wall facing the Golden Horn. Other repairs are recorded for 1434, again against the Genoese, and again in the years leading up to the final siege and fall of the city to the Ottomans, partly with funds provided by the Despot of Serbia, George Brankovic.^[87]

Propontis Wall

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 Kennedy Caddesi coastal road in 1956–57.^[22] From the Marble Tower to the cape at the edge of the ancient acropolis of the city (modern Sarayburnu, Seraglio Point), the wall's gates were:

1. the Gate of St. John Studites (Pylē Agiou Iōannou tou Stouditou), modern Narlıkapı ("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 (Pylē Agiou Aimilianou, Turkish Davutpaşa Kapısı), before the harbours of Eleutherios and Theodosios.
4. the Vlanga Gate (Porta Vlaggas), at the mouth of the Lycus stream, 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 (Sidēra Pylē), leading to and from the harbour of Sophia or Sophianon (Limēn Sofianōn), also called harbour of Julian (Limēn Ioulianou). In Turkish it is called Kadırgalimanı Kapısı.
7. the Bull and Lion Gate (Porta Vōos kai Leontos, shortened to Voukoleōn), 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 (Porta tēs Odēgētrias), at the Palace of Mangana, modern Demirkapı.
12. the Postern of Michael Protovestiarius (Porta Mikhaēl Prōtovestiariou), today Değirmen Kapı.
13. the Eastern Gate (Eōa Pylē) or Gate of St. Barbara (Pylē Agias Barbaras), in Turkish Top Kapısı, from which Topkapı Palace takes its name.

Golden Horn Wall

Marble relief of the goddess Nike, recovered from the Royal Gates (Balat Kapı).

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 much 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.^[88] The northern shore of the city was always its more cosmopolitan part: a major focal point of commerce, it also contained the qarters allocated to feoreigners 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.^[89]

The known gates of the Golden Horn wall are, in order, from the Seraglio Point westwards to Blachernae:^[22]

1. the Gate of Eugenios (Πόρτα τοῦ Ἐυγενίου), 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 (Μαρμαροπόρτα, "Marble Gate"), because it was covered in marble, and featured a statue of the Emperor Julian. It is usually identified with the Yalıköşk Kapısı, and was destroyed in 1871.^[90][91]
2. the Gate of Bonus (Πόρτα Bώνου), transcribed as Porta Bonu in Genoese sources, also found as Porta Veteris Rectoris ("Gate of the old rector"). The gate was probably named after an otherwise unknown rector Bonus, and was located somewhere in the modern Sirkeci district.^[92]
3. the Neorion Gate (Πόρτα τοῦ Νεωρίου, "Shipyard Gate"), recorded as the Horaia Gate (Πύλη Ὡραία, "Beautiful Gate") in late Byzantine and Ottoman times, leading to the Neorion harbour, the main harbour of ancient Byzantium and the oldest naval arsenal of the city.^[93] In the early Ottoman period, it was known in Turkish as the Çıfıtkapı ("Hebrew Gate"), but its modern name is Bahçekapı ("Garden Gate").^[94] The eastern limit of the Pisan quarter was located a bit eastwards of the gate.^[95]
4. the Hikanatissa Gate (Πόρτα τῆς Ἱκανατίσσης), 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.^[96]
5. the Gate of St. Mark, whose name survives in a single Venetian document of 1229. It is therefore unclear 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.^[97]
6. the Gate of the Perama (Πόρτα τοῦ Περάματος), in Turkish Balıkpazarı Kapısı, lay in the suburb of Perama ("Crossing"), from which the ferry to Pera (Galata) sailed. In Buondelmonti's map, it is labelled Porta Piscaria, on account of the fishmarket that used to be held there. It marked the eastern limit of the Venetian quarter of the city, and the western end of the Amalfitan quarter.^[98] According to Millingen, this gate is also to be identified with the Hebrew Gate, Porta Hebraica in Latin sources, although the same name was apparently applied over time to other gates as well.^[99]
7. the so-called Gate of St. John the Forerunner, or St. John de Cornibus, from the nearby chapel, named in Turkish Zindan Kapısı.^[100]
8. the Gate of the Drungarii (Πύλη τῶν Δρουγγαρίων), modern Odunkapısı. Its Byzantine name derives from the high official known as the Drungarius of the Vigla. It marked the western end of the Venetian quarter.^[101]
9. the Ayazma Kapısı Gate, which is in all probability an Ottoman-era structure.^[102]
10. the Gate of the Platea (Πόρτα τῆς Πλατέας), rendered as Porta della Piazza by Italian chroniclers, modern Unkapanı Kapısı. Named after the quarter of Plate[i]a.^[103]
11. the Gate of Eis Pegas (Πύλη εἰς Πηγάς), known by Latin chroniclers as Porta Puteae,^[104] modern Cibali Kapısı. It was named so because it looked towards the quarter of Pegae (Πηγαὶ, "springs") on the other shore of the Golden Horn.^[105]
12. the St. Theodosia Gate (Πύλη τῆς Ἁγίας Θεοδοσίας), named after the great church of St. Theodosia (formerly identified with the Gül Mosque). Known in Turkish as Ayakapı ("Holy Gate").^[106]
13. the Yeni Aya kapı gate ("New Holy Gate"), shortly after the Gate of St Theodosia, is not Byzantine. It was built by the great Ottoman architect Sinan in 1582.
14. the Petrion Gate (Πύλη τοῦ Πετρίου, Turkish Petri Kapısı), the eastern gates of the Petrion Fort (κάστρον τῶν Πετρίων), formed by a double stretch of walls between the Petrion Gate and the Phanarion Gate. According to contemporary sources, 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 1204. In the 1453 siege however, an Ottoman attack on the same place was repelled.^[107]
15. the Phanarion Gate (Πύλη τοῦ Φαναρίου, Turkish Fener Kapısı), the western gate of the Petrion Fort, named after the local light-tower (phanarion in Greek), which also gave its name to the suburb, Phanar.^[108]
16. 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 (Πύλη τοῦ Κυνηγοῦ/τῶν Κυνηγῶν, "Gate of the Hunter(s)"), whence the quarter behind it was named Kynegion, and the Gate of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist (Πόρτα τοῦ ἁγίου Προδρόμου και Βαπτιστοῦ), 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, or alternatively as the Imperial Gate (Πύλη Βασιλικὴ), which however lay most likely near Saraglio Point.^[109]
17. the Gate of St. Anastasia (Πύλη τῆς ἁγίας Ἀναστασίας), 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.^[110]
18. the Koiliomene Gate (Κοιλιωμένη Πόρτα, "Rolled Gate"), in Turkish Küçük Ayvansaray Kapısı, near the Toklu Dede Mescidi, a converted Byzantine church sometimes identified with the Church of St. Thecla.^[111]

Garrisons of the city

During the whole existence of the Byzantine Empire, the garrison of the city was quite small: the imperial guards and the small city watch (the kerketon) under the urban prefect were the only permanent armed force available. Any threat to the city would have to be dealt with by the field armies in the provinces, before it could approach the city itself. In times of need, such as the earthquake of 447 or the raids by the Avars in the early 7th century, the general population would be conscripted and armed, or additional troops would be brought in from the provincial armies.^[112]

In the early centuries, the imperial guard consisted of the units of the Excubitores and Scholae Palatinae. In time, they declined to parade-ground troops, but in the 8th century the Emperors, faced with successive revolts by the thematic armies and pursuing deeply unpopular Iconoclastic policies, established the imperial tagmata for their own security. Although the tagmata formed the core of imperial expeditionary armies and were often absent from the city, two of them, the Noumeroi and the Teicheiōtai remained permanently stationed in Constantinople, garrisoned around the Palace district or in various locations, such as disused churches, in the capital. These units were never very numerous, numbering a few thousands at best, but they were complemented by several detachments stationed around the capital, in Thrace and Bithynia.^[112]

The small size of the city's garrison was due to the uneasiness of emperors and populace alike towards a permanent large military force, both for fear of a military uprising and because of the considerable financial burden its maintenance would entail. Furthermore, a large force was largely unnecessary, because of the inherent security provided by the city walls themselves. As historian John Haldon notes: "Providing the gates were secured and the defenses provided with a skeleton force, the City was safe against even very large forces in the pre-gunpowder period."^[112]

Fortifications around Constantinople

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.

Several fortifications were built at various periods in the vicinity of Constantinople, and can be said to have formed an integrated defensive system along with the city's main walls. The first and greatest of these is the 56 km long Anastasian Wall (Greek Anastaseio Teichos or Makron Teichos, "Long Wall"), built in the mid-5th century as an outer defense to Constantinople, some 65 km westwards of the city. It was 3.30 m thick and over 5 m high, but its effectiveness was limited, and it was abandoned at some time in the 7th century for want of resources to maintain and men to man it. For centuries thereafter, its materials were used in local buildings, but several parts are still extant.^[113]

In addition, between the Anastasian Wall and the city itself, there were several small towns and fortresses like Selymbria, Rhegion or the great suburb of Hebdomon ("Seventh", modern Bakırköy, so named from its distance of seven Roman miles from the city walls), the site of major military encampments. Beyond the Long Walls, the towns of Bizye and Arcadiopolis covered the northern approaches. These localities were strategically situated along the main routes to the city, and formed the outer defenses of Constantinople throughout its history, serving to muster forces, confront enemy invasions or at least buy time for the capital's defenses to be brought in order.^[112] It is notable that during the final Ottoman siege, several of them, such as Selymbria, surrendered only after the fall of Constantinople itself. In Asia Minor, their role was mirrored by the cities of Nicaea and Nicomedia, and the large field camp at Malagina.^[112]

Walls of Galata

Galata, then the suburb of Sykai, was fortified under Justinian, but 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 extraterritorial 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.^[114] After the Ottoman conquest, the walls were maintained until the 1870s, when most were demolished to facilitate the expansion of the city.^[65] Today only the Galata Tower, visible from most of historical Constantinople, remains intact, along with several smaller fragments.^[22]

Anadolu and Rumeli Fortresses

The Rumelihisarı Fortress, seen from the Bosporus

The twin forts of Anadoluhisarı and Rumelihisarı lie to the north of Constantinople, at the narrowest point of the Bosporus. They were built by the Ottomans to control this strategically vital waterway in preparation for their final assault on Constantinople. Anadoluhisarı (Turkish for "Fortress of Anatolia"), also called Akçehisar and Güzelcehisar in earlier times, was constructed by Sultan Bayezid I in 1394, and initially consisted of just a 25 m high, roughly pentagonal watchtower surrounded by a wall.^[65] The much larger and more elaborate Rumelihisarı ("Fortress of Rumeli") was built by Sultan Mehmed II in just over four months in 1452. It consists of three large and one small towers, connected by a wall reinforced with 13 small watchtowers. With cannons mounted on its main towers, the fort gave the Ottomans complete control of the passage of ships through Bosporus, a role evoked clearly in its original name, Boğazkesen ("cutter of the strait"). After the conquest of Constantinople, it served as a customs checkpoint and a prison, notably for the embassies of states that were at war with the Empire. After suffering extensive damage in the 1509 earthquake, it was repaired, and was used continuously until the late 19th century.^[65]

See also

Byzantine Empire portal

• Aurelian Walls

References

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Walls of Constantinople

• 3D reconstruction of the Theodosian Walls at the Byzantium 1200 project
• 3D reconstruction of the Sea Wall at the Byzantium 1200 project
• 3D reconstruction of the Old Golden Gate at the Byzantium 1200 project
• 3D reconstruction of the Golden Gate at the Byzantium 1200 project
• The World Monuments Fund's 2008 Watch Listing for the City Walls
• Site of the Yedikule Fortress Museum
• Cross-section of the Theodosian Walls
• Diagram detailing the course of the Land Walls