The Antiquities of Constantinople. Gilles Pierre

Enquiry themselves about those Places, where but a few Years since very magnificent Temples were standing, and so very censorious are they, as to condemn those that do. However, that I might not pass away my Time uselessly, while I was in Expectation of Remittances from my Royal Master, for purchasing all the ancient Manuscripts I could meet with, I made it my Business, by all the Marks of Antiquity I was capable of observing, to make what Discoveries I could. In my Description of the ancient Monuments, I shall observe the same Method I did in the Description of the Hills. I shall consider them in the Order the Hills stand, or as I find them in the different Wards of the City; which, like Old Rome, was divided into fourteen Wards.

      Chap. II.

      Of the Ancient Monuments of the first Hill, and of the first Ward of the City

      THE first Hill, which Pliny sometimes calls Chrysoceras, and sometimes Auri Cornu, (though this was a Mistake, as appears from what I have wrote concerning the Thracian Bosporus) Dionysius a Byzantian calls the Promontory of the Bosporus. There are two Reasons assigned, says he, why ’tis call’d the Promontory of the Bosporus; the one is, as some say, because a Cow stung with a Gad-Bee forded over it. Others more fabulously report, that Io, the Daughter of Inachus, being changed into a Cow, swam across it, when she went into Asia. The same Author, speaking of a Place call’d Semystra, tells us, that Byzantium had been founded there, had not a Raven snatched a Part of the Sacrifice, they offer’d upon their landing, out of the Fire, and carry’d it to the Promontory of the Bosporus. This they look’d upon as a Token from the Gods, that they should found their City there. The same Writer, speaking in another Place of a Promontory call’d Metopum, opposite to the first Hill of Constantinople, this Promontory, he adds, faces the City, and lies directly against the Promontory of the Bosporus; and the same Author informs us, that a little above the Promontory of the Bosporus, there was an Altar erected to Minerva, who was call’d Ecbasia, or Egressoria, because those who transplanted the Colony hither, sally’d out from thence, with a Bravery equal to those, who fight for their Countrey. We might also call her Ecbateria, under which Name, as Hesychius reports, Diana was worshipped in Siphnus. He adds farther, that upon the same Promontory stood the old Temple of Neptune, and below it, upon the Plain, that the Byzantian Youth exercised themselves in Horse-racing, driving the Chariot, Wrestling, and other Martial Sports; and lastly, that at the Foot of the Promontory stood a Bay call’d Ceras, which had three Havens, fortify’d with three Cittadels, and high Sand-banks, upon it stood the Castle of Byzantium, of which Xenophon takes Notice, when he tells us, that the Men under his Command, having forc’d their Way into the Town, the Inhabitants fearing they should be put to the Sword if their City was taken, some fled to the adjoining Promontory, others to the Sea, and that some of them steering about a long time in a Fisher-boat, made at last a landing, got into a Tower, from thence made Signals of Distress, and were assisted at last by the People of Chalcedon. And not only the Castle of old Byzantium was built upon the first Hill, but Historians assure us, that the Emperours of Constantinople likewise continu’d a Fortress there, when they tell us, that to keep off the Enemy from entring the Port, they laid a Boom across the River, from the Cittadel to the Castle of Galata: Nay, even at this Day, the Grand Seignor has a Cittadel there, fortify’d with thick Walls, which enclose his spacious Gardens on all sides. In old Byzantium there was a Place call’d the Thracian Field, lying upon a Level, and not incumber’d with Houses. It was upon this Plain that Xenophon drew up in Military Order the Grecian Army. He informs us, in his Book of his Hellenici, that this Field was near the Thracian Gate; they open’d, says he, the Gates adjoining the Thracian Field: And in the 7^th Book of the Expedition of Cyrus, speaking of a Place, seated near the Walls of Byzantium, where he ranged his Army in order of Battle, he tells us, that the most convenient Place to draw up, or muster an Army is, the Thracian Field; because, as he goes on, ’tis free of Houses, and upon a Plain. I observ’d before, that the seven Towers of Byzantium reach’d from the Thracian Gate to the Sea; Georgius Cedrinus asserts, that they reach’d to the Northern-Sea, that is, to the Bay call’d Ceras. Herodotus attests, that in old Byzantium stood an Altar erected to Diana Orthosia, and a Temple dedicated to Bacchus. Darius, says he, upon viewing the Black Sea, came back to the Bridge, and erected upon the Bosporus two Stone Columns, on which he order’d to be engraven the Assyrian and Greek Alphabets. The Byzantians afterwards removed them into the City, near to the Altar of Diana Orthosia. The Greek Alphabet was what they retain’d, and made use of. The Column with the Assyrian Characters they left remaining near the Temple of Bacchus, where they had fix’d it. Laurentius translates the Greek Word Orthosia, Erecta, but he had translated it more properly, had he call’d her Erectoria, or Erectrix, because as being the Goddess of Child-birth she raises up, or recovers Women in Labour. This I collect to be the true Sense of the Word, not only from several Authors, but from Plutarch, who in his Book of Rivers, has this Story: Proud Teuthras, King of Mysia, says he, with his Retinue of Spearmen chas’d a Boar, which fled into the Temple of Diana Orthosia to implore her Assistance. As they were all driving furiously into the Temple, the Boar cry’d out with an audible human Voice, Let your Compassion, Royal Sir, be shewn to one whom Diana brought into the World. Teuthras enraged at this, slew the Creature. Diana resenting the Affront, threw the King into a Phrenzy, and punished him with ulcerous Sores. He could not bear the Indignity of his Punishment, and so retired to the Mountains. His Mother Lysippa, immediately, with the Prophet Polyidius, who inform’d her of the Occasion of her Son’s Sufferings, hastens in Search of him, and by sacrificing to Diana some Oxen, reconciles her to him. When she perceiv’d her Son return’d to his Senses, she erected an Altar to Diana Orthosia, and near it placed a Golden Boar, with a Man’s Head upon his Shoulders. Before the Destruction of Byzantium by Severus, both the Altar and the Boar were standing, in the first Valley of the first Hill. Since Constantine rebuilt the City, the first Hill included in it the first Ward, which contain’d the House of Placidia Augusta, that also of the most noble Marina, and the Baths of Arcadius. I learn this from the ancient Division of the City into Wards, though I must confess myself at a Loss, to know in what Part of the City the first Ward began, nor can I make any such Discovery from the Remains of any ancient Buildings, which are now entirely destroy’d. However, thus much may be inferr’d from Procopius, who has it upon Record, that when you sail from the Propontis to the Eastern Part of the City, there stand the publick Baths, built by Arcadius. In this Place, says he, Justinian built a Court, which was encompassed with so calm a Sea, that when you walk’d in the Galleries, you might discourse audibly with the Sailors. It made a very beautiful, a very delightful, and most magnificent Prospect: It was fann’d with gentle Breezes, supported with lofty Columns, and laid with the most curious Marble, which like the Sun, reflected a most amazing Lustre: It was also adorn’d with abundance of Marble and brazen Statues, finish’d to the nicest Perfection; a lovely Scene to the Spectators! The Reader, had he seen it, would have taken it to have been the Work of Phidias, Lysippus, or Praxiteles. Upon a high Pillar of Porphyry Marble, in the same Place, stood the Statue of the Empress Theodora, addressing herself, as it were, to him for building so noble a Structure. The Beauty of the Column is exceedingly surprising, yet does it by no means come up to that inconceivable inexpressible Gracefulness and Dignity you see in the Statue. From these Words of Procopius, as I would observe by the By, that that Pillar now landing upon a Descent, lying Eastward of the Grand Seignor’s Palace, is not the same with that upon which Theodora was erected, as some are of Opinion it is; because it is neither of a Porphyry Colour, and is at too remote a Distance form the Court; so would I have the Reader understand, that the first Ward contain’d in it the Length of the first Hill, which is bounded on three Sides by the Sea. I find not only in many Historians, but also in Suidas the Grammarian, that the Statue of Arcadia, the