In the district of Eugenius were some of the most noted charitable institutions of the city, among which the great Orphanage[[839]] and the Hospitia,[[840]] built on the site of the old Stadium of Byzantium by Justinian the Great and Theodora, for the free accommodation of poor strangers, were conspicuous. There, also, stood the Church of St. Michael and the Church of St. Paul.[[841]]
The Basilikè Pylè.
Before concluding the study of the Harbour Walls we must recur to the question which presented itself at an earlier stage of our inquiries, but was reserved for consideration at the close of this chapter, as more favourable to an intelligent and thorough discussion of the subject.
Where was the Basilikè Pylè which Byzantine historians, after the Restoration of the Empire, associate with this line of the city’s bulwarks? Was it, as some authorities maintain, at Balat Kapoussi,[[842]] or, as others hold, in the neighbourhood of the Seraglio Point?[[843]] Or is it possible that a gate bearing that epithet was found at both points?
In favour of the opinion that the Imperial Gate was near the Seraglio Point there is, first, the statement of Phrantzes, already cited, to that effect. “To Gabriel of Treviso,” says the historian,[[844]] “captain of the Venetian triremes, with fifty men under him, was entrusted the defence of the tower, in the middle of the current, guarding the entrance of the harbour; and he was opposite the Imperial Gate.”
What Phrantzes means by the “entrance of the harbour” (τὴν εἴσοδον τοῦ λιμένος) admits of no dispute, for the phrase has only one signification. But, as though to render mistake impossible, he repeats the expression, in that sense, several times. The Greek ships, which were moored beside the chain across the mouth of the harbour, and which the Sultan endeavoured to sink or drive away by the fire of a battery planted on the hill of St. Theodore, to the north-east of Galata, Phrantzes[[845]] observes, were stationed “at the entrance of the harbour” (ἐν τῇ εἰσόδῳ τοῦ λιμένος). The object of this bombardment, adds the historian[[846]] in the next sentence, was not simply to force “the entrance to the harbour” (διὰ τὴν εἴσοδον τοῦ λιμένος), but also to injure the Genoese shipping at that point, and thus show that the Sultan dared to act in any way he pleased, even towards the Italians of Galata. Again, Phrantzes[[847]] remarks that the ships moored along the chain at the mouth of the harbour (ἐν τῶ στόματι τοῦ λιμένος) were placed here to render entrance into the harbour more difficult to the enemy (ὅπως ἰσχυροτέρως κωλύσωσι τὴν εἴσοδον).
Equally decisive is the indication given regarding the tower which stood opposite the Imperial Gate. It was “in the middle of the current.” This statement carries the mind, at first, to the tower which stood on the rock off Scutari (Damalis, Arcla), where the lighthouse Kiz Kalehssi has been erected. But the idea that Phrantzes had that tower in view cannot be entertained for more than a moment; for to have stationed Gabriel there, with the Turkish fleet in complete command of the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmora, was not simply useless, but impossible. The current intended can be none other than the strong current at the head of the Seraglio Point, where it divides in two swift streams, which Nicephorus Gregoras[[848]] compares to Scylla and Charybdis, one running up the Golden Horn, the other out into the Sea of Marmora. A tower near a point with rushing waters on either hand might aptly be described as “in the middle of the current.”[[849]] Furthermore, Phrantzes[[850]] mentions the tower referred to, in close connection with what stood, unquestionably, near the head of the promontory. He speaks of it immediately after the Horaia Pylè, and immediately before the ships which defended the chain across the harbour’s mouth, as though in the same vicinity.
In the second place, the view that the Imperial Gate was near the Seraglio Point is supported by the testimony of Leonard of Scio, when he makes the statement that Gabriel of Treviso fought bravely, with his men, on the portion of the walls extending from the Beacon-tower as far as the Imperial Gate, at the entrance of the bay (of the Golden Horn): “Gabriel Trevsianus cordatissime a Turri Phani usque ad Imperialem Portam, ante sinum, decertabat.”[[851]] The archbishop’s phrase “ante sinum” corresponds to Phrantzes’ ἐν τῇ εἰσόδῳ τοῦ λιμένος.
Thirdly, it remains to add, on this side of the question, that the order in which Pusculus mentions the gates in the Harbour Walls favours the view that the Basilikè Pylè was not at Balat Kapoussi. Proceeding from west to cast in his account of the defence of the fortifications along the Golden Horn, that author refers to seven gates in the following order: Xylina, Cynegon, Phani, Theodosia, Puteæ, Platea, Basilea,[[852]] thus putting the Imperial Gate somewhere to the east of Oun Kapan Kapoussi. Had the Basilea stood at Balat Kapoussi it should have been mentioned immediately after Cynegon.
This is the main evidence in support of the opinion that the Basilikè Pylè was near the Seraglio Point, and it is difficult to conceive of evidence more clear and conclusive.