With this evidence as regards the site of the group of the Lion and the Bull, it is impossible to doubt that the Harbour of the Bucoleon was in the little bay before Tchatlady Kapou. And with this conclusion every statement made by Byzantine writers regarding the harbour will be found to agree.
Ruins of the Palace of the Bucoleon.[[1010]]
That the shore of this bay was, like the Harbour of the Bucoleon, once richly adorned with monumental buildings, is manifest from the beautiful pieces of sculptured marble found upon its beach and in the water. Furthermore, the bay stands, as the Harbour of the Bucoleon stood, within easy reach of the site of the Great Palace. Here also are found the ruins of two Imperial villas, situated in the very position ascribed to the Palaces of the Bucoleon; namely, upon the city walls, at the waters edge, and one of them on a lower level than the other.[[1011]] Such correspondence goes to make the site of the Harbour of the Bucoleon one of the best authenticated localities in the topography of Byzantine Constantinople.
Here, however, a question arises. How far is this conclusion, regarding the site of the Harbour of the Bucoleon, compatible with the received opinion that the palace on the bay before Tchatlady Kapou was the Palace of Hormisdas, the residence of Justinian the Great while heir-apparent;[[1012]] and that the bay itself was the Harbour of Hormisdas (ὁ λιμὴν τὰ Ὁρμίσδου)?[[1013]]
In the face of all the evidence we have that the Harbour and the Palace of the Bucoleon were in the bay to the east of Tchatlady Kapou, there is but one answer to the question. We must either abandon the view that the Harbour and the Palace of Hormisdas had anything to do with that bay, and maintain that they stood elsewhere, or we must conclude that they were the Harbour and the Palace of the Bucoleon, under an earlier designation.
Two considerations may be urged in favour of the former alternative. First, the Anonymus distinguishes between the two palaces in a way which seems to imply that they were different buildings. “The Palace of the Bucoleon,” he says, “which stands upon the fortifications, was erected by Theodosius the Younger;”[[1014]] while of the Palace of Hormisdas he remarks: “The very large buildings near St. Sergius were the residence of Justinian when a patrician.”[[1015]]
In the second place, the Anonymus[[1016]] identifies the Harbour of Hormisdas with that of Julian. “What is called τὰ τοῦ Ὁρμίσδου,” observes the former writer, “was a small harbour where Justinian the Great built a monastery and called it Sergius and Bacchus, and another church, that of the Holy Apostles (SS. Peter and Paul), after receiving unction at the foot of the seats (of the Hippodrome), because of the massacre in the Hippodrome. It was named the Harbour of Julian, from its constructor.” Codinus[[1017]] also identifies the two harbours, and adds, that the Harbour of Julian had served for the accommodation of ships before the Harbour of the Sophiôn was constructed; that it had long been filled up; and that Justinian the Great had lived there before his accession to the throne. But if on the ground of these statements we identify the Harbour of Hormisdas with that of Julian, as Banduri[[1018]] and Labarte[[1019]] maintain, then the Harbour of Hormisdas was not situated in the bay to the east of Tchatlady Kapou, but at Kadriga Limani, the undoubted site of the Harbour of Julian, to the west of the gate.[[1020]] The Palace of Hormisdas, also, must then have been in that direction.
In the light, however, of all our knowledge on the subject, the identity of the two harbours just named cannot be maintained. John of Antioch,[[1021]] a far more reliable authority than the Anonymus or Codinus, makes it perfectly clear that the Harbour of Julian (which he calls by its later name, the Harbour of Sophia) was different from any harbour in the quarter of Hormisdas. According to him, the troops collected by Phocas for the defence of the city against Heraclius occupied three positions—the Harbour of Kaisarius, the Harbour of Sophia, and the quarter of Hormisdas. At the first two points were placed the Greens, while the third position was held by the Blues. From this account of the matter it is evident that the Harbour of Julian was not the harbour in the quarter of Hormisdas. It is a corroboration of this conclusion to find that in the narrative of the same events, given in the Paschal Chronicle,[[1022]] while no mention is made of the Harbour of Hormisdas, the Harbour of Julian is described as situated in another quarter, the quarter of Maurus (κατὰ τὰ λεγόμενα Μαύρου).
