Near this gate must have been the Scala Chalcedonensis and the Portus Prosphorianus, which the Notitia places in the Fifth Region.[[809]] The former, as its name implies, was the pier frequented by boats plying between the city and Chalcedon; it is mentioned twice, as the point at which relics were landed in solemn state to be carried thence to St. Sophia.[[810]]
The Portus Prosphorianus[[811]] was in the bay which once indented the shore immediately to the east of the Gate of Bonus, where the line of the city walls described a deep curve. The name is probably derived from the word Πρόσφορον, and denoted that the harbour was the resort of the craft which brought products from the country to the markets of the city.[[812]] The harbour was also called the Phosphorion, as though associated with the sudden illumination of the heavens which saved the city from capture by Philip of Macedon. But its most common designation was τὸ Βοσπόριον, ὁ Βοόσπορος, ὁ Βόσπορος, probably because the point to which cattle were ferried across from Asia. The cattle-market was held here until the reign of Constantine Copronymus, who transferred it to the Forum of Taurus;[[813]] here also stood warehouses for the storage of oil, and granaries, such as the Horrea Olearia, Horrea Troadensia, Horrea Valentiaca and Horrea Constantiaca.[[814]] The granaries were inspected annually by the emperor.[[815]] According to Demosthenes, the three statues erected by Byzantium and Perinthus in honour of Athens for the aid rendered against Philip of Macedon were set up at the Bosporus.[[816]] But it is not certain whether the great orator used the name in a general sense, or with special reference to this port. The great fire in the fifth year of Leo I. started in the market near this harbour, through the carelessness of a woman who left a lighted candle on a stall at which she had bought some salt fish.[[817]]
We reach, next, the last gate in the line of the Harbour Walls, the Gate of Eugenius (Πόρτα τοῦ Εὐγενίου), represented now by Yali Kiosk Kapoussi. Its identity is established by the following indications. It marked the eastern extremity of the fortifications along the Golden Horn,[[818]] as the Xylo Porta marked their western terminus. Hence, the ditch constructed by Cantacuzene in front of those fortifications is described as extending from the Gate of Eugenius to the Gate Xylinè.[[819]] In the next place, the gate was close to the head of the promontory, or Acropolis, for ships outward bound rounded the promontory soon after passing the gate, while incoming ships passed the gate soon after rounding the promontory.[[820]] Again, the Church of St. Paul which stood near the gate is described, as situated in the quarter of the Acropolis, at the opening of the harbour.[[821]] This is consistent with the fact that the gate was at a point from which St. Sophia could be easily reached.[[822]]
Eugenius, after whom the gate, the adjacent tower, and the neighbouring district were named,[[823]] was probably a distinguished proprietor in this part of the city. The gate bore an inscription commemorating repairs executed by a certain Julian;[[824]] possibly, Julian who was Prefect of the City in the reign of Zeno, when Constantinople was shaken by a severe earthquake.
There is reason to believe that besides its ordinary designation this gate bore also, at one time, the name Marmora Porta; for certain ecclesiastical documents of the year 1399 and the year 1441 speak of an entrance in the quarter of Eugenius, under the name Marmora Porta, Μαρμαροπόρτα ἐν τῇ ἐνορίᾳ τοῦ Εὐγενίου.[[825]]
The Scala Timasii, so named after Timasius, a celebrated general in the reign of Arcadius, was in the Fourth Region,[[826]] and must therefore have been a pier near the Gate of Eugenius.
At this entrance it was customary for the bride-elect of an emperor to land, upon reaching the capital by sea; here she was received in state by her future consort, and having been invested with the Imperial buskins and other insignia of her rank, was conducted on horseback to the palace.[[827]] But what lends most interest to the gate is the fact that beside it rose the tower which held the southern end of the chain drawn across the harbour in time of war.[[828]] Originally, the building, styled Kentenarion (Κεντενάριον), was a stately structure, but after its overthrow by an earthquake, Theophilus restored it as an ordinary tower.[[829]] The chain was supported in the water by wooden floats,[[830]] and its northern end was made fast to a tower in the fortifications of Galata, known as the Tower of Galata, “Le Tour de Galatas.”[[831]] According to Gyllius, the gate near that tower was called Porta Catena,[[832]] but, unfortunately, he does not indicate its precise position. From the nature of the case, however, it must have been near Kiretch Kapoussi, directly opposite the Gate of Eugenius.[[833]]
Portion of the Chain Stretched Across the Entrance of the Golden Horn in 1453.
The employment of a chain to bar the entrance of the Golden Horn is mentioned for the first time in the famous siege of the city by the Saracens in 717-718, when the Emperor Leo lowered the chain with the hope of tempting the enemy’s ships into the narrow waters of the harbour.[[834]] It appears next in the reign of Michael II., who thereby endeavoured, but in vain, to keep out the fleet with which his rival Thomas attacked the city.[[835]] It was again employed by Nicephorus Phocas, in expectation of a Russian descent into the Bosporus.[[836]] The Venetians found it obstructing their path when they stood before Constantinople in 1203, but removed it after capturing the Tower of Galata, to which it was secured.[[837]] Finally, in 1453, it proved too strong for Sultan Mehemet to force, and drove him to devise the expedient of carrying his ships into the Golden Horn across the hills to Cassim Pasha.[[838]] A portion of the chain used on the last occasion is preserved in the Church of St. Irene, within the Seraglio grounds.