As stated already, the adjacent quarter was called the quarter of Eleutherius (τὰ τοῦ Ἐλευθερίου). It is mentioned under that name in 1203, as the farthest point reached by the great fire which then devastated the city through the folly of the Crusaders.[[1123]] The present name of the quarter, Vlanga, appears first in the eleventh century, as the designation of the residence of Andronicus Comnenus in this part of the city (οἶκος ὅς τοῦ Βλάγγα ἐπικέκληται),[[1124]] and it is the name by which writers subsequent to the Restoration of the Greek Empire refer to the district.[[1125]]
In the vicinity stood the Palace of the Empress Irene,[[1126]] the unnatural mother of Constantine VI., in which Basil II. entertained the Legates of Pope Hadrian II.[[1127]]
The Church of St. Panteleemon, erected by Theodora the wife of Justinian the Great, on the site of her humble dwelling when a poor woman earning her bread by spinning wool[[1128]] and the district of Narses (τὰ Ναρσοῦ)[[1129]] were in this neighbourhood; so also was the district of Canicleius (τὰ Κανικλείου), where the emperor landed when proceeding to pay his annual visit to that church.[[1130]] The modern Greek church of St. Theodore, to the south of Boudroum Djamissi (Myrelaion), marks, Dr. Mordtmann[[1131]] suggests, the district of Claudius (τὰ Κλαυδίου).
The Harbour of the Golden Gate.
Another harbour on this side of the city was the Harbour of the Golden Gate (ὁ λιμὴν τῆς Χρυσῆς),[[1132]] in the bay to the west of the entrance of that name. This is implied in the statement of Ducas, that during the siege of 1453 the right wing of the Turkish army extended southwards from the Gate of St. Romanus to the Harbour of the Golden Gate.[[1133]]
On the occasion of a triumph celebrating a victorious campaign in Asia Minor, the harbour presented an animated scene; for the spoils and prisoners which were to figure in the procession, were ferried across from Chrysopolis, and landed at this point, to be marshalled on the plain before the Golden Gate.[[1134]]
It was off this point that the Turkish fleet, in 1453, waited to intercept the five gallant ships, which brought provisions to the city from the island of Scio, and which forced their way to the Golden Horn, notwithstanding all the efforts of 305 vessels of the Sultan to capture them.[[1135]]
The Harbour of Kaisarius and the Neorion at the Heptascalon.
Before concluding this account of the city harbours on the Sea of Marmora, a point of some importance remains to be settled.
Byzantine historians speak of the Harbour of Kaisarius, and of the Neorion at the Heptascalon, on the southern shore of the city. Now, as traces of an additional harbour to those already mentioned, on this side of the city, may be disputed, the question presents itself: Have the Harbour of Kaisarius and the Neorion at the Heptascalon disappeared, or were they one or other of the harbours already identified?