The argument countenancing the view which identifies the Imperial Gate with Balat Kapoussi may be stated, briefly, thus: In the first place, when Leonard of Scio declares that Gabriel of Treviso defended the walls “a Turri Phani ad Imperialem Portam” he associates the Imperial Gate with the quarter of the Phanar. Again, when Ducas affirms that the Venetians assisted the Greeks in the defence of the walls from the Imperial Gate to the Kynegon,[[853]] that entrance is associated with the district so named. The Imperial Gate, therefore, must have stood at a point between the Phanar and the Kynegon. But that is exactly the situation of Balat Kapoussi, with the quarter of the Phanar on its east, and the Kynegon on its west; hence the two gates were one and the same.
In the next place, the epithet “Imperial” was eminently suitable for an entrance which stood at the foot of a hill surmounted by the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, and from which the Palace of Blachernæ could be readily reached. How appropriate the epithet was is proved by the actual name of the gate, Balat Kapoussi (the Gate of the Palace), so similar in meaning to Basilikè Pylè.
In the third place, on the shore outside the Basilikè Pylè stood a Church of St. John the Baptist.[[854]] And in keeping with this fact, there is a Church of St. John the Baptist (the metochion of the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai) outside Balat Kapoussi.
These arguments are, however, open to criticism. So far as the statement of Leonard of Scio is concerned, it should be noted that he does not speak of the Turris Phani absolutely. Had he done so, the presumption would certainly be in favour of the view which understands him to refer to the district of the Phanar, half-way up the Golden Horn.[[855]] But his complete statement on the subject is that the Turris Phani of which he was speaking stood, with the Imperial Gate beside it, “ante sinum,” at the entrance of the bay of the Golden Horn, thus making it manifest that he had in mind another beacon-tower than the one in the district commonly known as the Phanar. That the shore of the Golden Horn was lighted at more than one point during the night, and especially at the entrance of the harbour, is only what might be expected. Nor is there in the assertion of Ducas, that the Venetians and Greeks united their forces to defend the fortifications from the Imperial Gate to the Kynegon, anything to determine the distance between the two points. They might be very near, or they might be as far apart as the extremities of the Harbour Walls; for there is no reason to think that the Venetians defended only the small portion of the walls between Balat Kapoussi and the three archways to the west of that gate.
The remaining arguments under consideration have more force, but are by no means decisive. The appropriateness of the epithet “Imperial” to an entrance in the situation of Balat Kapoussi affords, certainly, a presumption in favour of the view that the entrance was so named, although it cannot, alone, prove that such was the fact. The name Balat Kapoussi appears only after the Turkish Conquest, and may or may not be borrowed from the Byzantine designation of the gate. The strongest argument on this side of the question is, undoubtedly, that drawn from the presence of the Church of St. John the Baptist on the shore to the north-east of Balat Kapoussi,[[856]] the possible representative of the ancient church of that dedication “on the shore outside the Basilikè Pylè.”[[857]]
But, in any case, these arguments do not refute the proof adduced for the existence of a Basilikè Pylè near the Seraglio Point. They leave that fact undisturbed; and can only claim to give countenance to the idea that another Basilikè Pylè stood at Balat Kapoussi.
Two questions, accordingly, are involved in the problem before us. Which of the gates near the Seraglio Point was styled the Basilikè Pylè? Was that gate the only Imperial Gate in the line of the Harbour Walls, or do some statements of Byzantine historians on the subject imply the existence of a second Basilikè Pylè?
In the opinion of Leunclavius, the Imperial Gate is to be identified with the Horaia Pylè (the Gate of the Neorion) at Bagtchè Kapoussi.[[858]] But if the Horaia Pylè was at Bagtchè Kapoussi, the Basilikè Pylè could not be there also. The two entrances are unmistakably distinguished by Phrantzes, who mentions both in the same connection, the one immediately after the other, and states that, in the defence of the fortifications along the harbour, the Beautiful Gate was in charge of the crew of a vessel from Crete, while the Imperial Gate was under the care of Gabriel of Treviso.
But this is an objection which has force only against those who adopt the view that the Horaia Pylè stood at Bagtchè Kapoussi.
A more general objection to the view of Leunclavius is that Bagtchè Kapoussi does not occupy the situation attributed to the Imperial Gate by Phrantzes and Leonard of Scio. It is not opposite a tower guarding the entrance of the harbour; it is too far up the Golden Horn to be described as “ante sinum.”