[380]. Cantacuzene, iii. p. 558; Theophanes, p. 667.
[381]. Ducas, p. 282. The Circus was known as the Circus of St. Mamas, because of its proximity to that church, and appears frequently in Byzantine history.
The district associated with the Church of St. Mamas (Zonaras, xvi. c. 5, ἐν τῇ κατὰ τὸ Στενὸν τοποθεσίᾳ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Μάμαντος καλουμένῃ) must have occupied the valley which extends from the Golden Horn southwards to the village of Ortakdjilar, the territory between Eyoub (Cosmidion) and Aivan Serai at the north-western angle of the city. The church itself, with its monastery (Cantacuzene, iv. pp. 107, 259), stood, probably, on the high ground near Ortakdjilar. Owing to its charming situation, the suburb was a favourite resort, and boasted of an Imperial palace, a hippodrome, a portico, a harbour, and, possibly, the bridge across the Golden Horn. The indications for the determination of the site of the suburb are: (1) it stood nearer the Golden Horn than the Gate of Charisius did; for in the military demonstration which Constantine Copronymus made before the land walls, against the rebel Artavasdes, by marching up and down between the Gate of Charisius and the Golden Gate, the emperor reached St. Mamas and encamped there, after passing the former entrance on his march northwards (Theophanes, pp. 645, 646). (2) The Hippodrome of St. Mamas was in Blachernæ (Ἐν Βλαχέρναις ... ἐν τῷ ἱππικῷ τοῦ ἁγίου Μάμαντος—Theophanes, p. 667), a term which could be used to designate even the district of the Cosmidion (Paschal Chron., p. 725, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τῶν ἁγίων Κοσμᾶ καὶ Δαμιανοῦ, ἐν Βλαχέρναις). (3) The suburb stood near the Cosmidion; hence the facility with which the Bulgarians under Crum were able to ravage St. Mamas from their camp near the Church SS. Cosmas and Damianus (Theophanes Cont., pp. 613, 614). (4) The suburb was near the water; for it had a harbour (Theophanes, p. 591). It is also described as situated on the Propontis (Genesius, p. 102), on the Euxine (Theophanes Cont., p. 197), on the Stenon, the Bosporus (Zonaras, ut supra), these names being applied in a wide sense. (5) At the same time the Church of St. Mamas stood near the walls (Zonaras, xiv. p. 1272, πλησίον τοῦ τείχους), and near the gate named Porta Xylokerkou (Cedrenus, i. p. 707). This does not necessarily imply that the church was immediately outside the gate, but it intimates that the church was at no very great distance from the gate, and could be easily reached from it; as, for example, the Church of the Pegè stands related to the Gate of Selivria (see above, p. [73]). Such language would be appropriate if a branch road leading to St. Mamas and the Golden Horn left the great road, parallel to the walls, at the point opposite the Porta Xylokerkou.
The suburb owed much to Leo the Great, who took up his residence there for six months, after the terrible conflagration which devastated the city in the twelfth year of his reign (Paschal Chron., p. 598). To him are ascribed all the constructions for which the suburb was celebrated; the harbour and portico (Paschal Chron., ut supra), the church, the palace, and the hippodrome (Anonymus, iii. pp. 57, 58; Codinus, p. 115). The Church of St. Mamas is, however, ascribed also to an officer in the reign of Justinian the Great, and to the sister of the Emperor Maurice (see Du Cange, Constantinopolis Christiana, iv. p. 185). There Maurice and his family were buried, after their execution by Phocas (Codinus, p. 121). The palace was frequented by Michael III., and there he was murdered by Basil I. (Theophanes Cont., p. 210). To it the Empress Irene and her son Constantine VI. retired from the city on the occasion of the severe earthquake of 790 (Theophanes, pp. 719, 720), and in it the marriage of Constantine VI. with Theodota was celebrated (Ibid. p. 728). It was burnt down by Crum of Bulgaria (Ibid. pp. 785, 786), but must have been rebuilt soon, for Theophilus took up his quarters there on the eve of his first triumphal entrance into the city (Constant. Porphyr., De Cer., p. 504). The hippodrome may have been, originally, the one which Constantine the Great constructed of wood, outside the city, and in which the adherents of Chrysostom assembled after the bishop’s deposition (Sozomon, viii. c. 21, συνήθον πρὸ τοῦ ἄστεος εἰς τινα χῶρον ὅν Κωνσταντίνος ὁ Βασιλεὺς, μήπω τὴν πόλιν συνοικήσας, εἰς ἱπποδρόμου θέαν ἐκάθηρε, ξύλοις περιτειχίσας). There Michael III. took part in chariot races (Theophanes Cont., p. 197; cf. Theophanes, p. 731). Crum carried away some of the works of Art which adorned it (Theophanes, pp. 785, 786). The harbour of St. Mamas appears as the station of a fleet in the struggle between Anastasius II. and Theodosius III. (Theophanes, pp. 591, 592), and in the struggle between Artavasdes and Constantine Copronymus (Ibid., pp. 645, 646).
[382]. Banduri, Imp. Orient., vii. p. 150, n. 428, ΘΕΥΔΟΣΙΟΣ ΤΟΔΕ ΤΕΙΧΟΣ ΑΝΑΞ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΑΡΧΟΣ ΕΩΑΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΣ ΕΤΕΥΞΑΝ ΕΝ ΗΜΑΣΙΝ ΕΞΗΚΟΝΤΑ. The gate appears in the reign of Anastasius I. (491-518), when a nun residing near it was mobbed and killed for sharing the emperor’s heretical opinions (Zonaras, xiv. c. 3, p. 1220, Migne). This is another evidence of its Theodosian origin. It must have stood in the portion of the Theodosian Walls that still remain, for it is mentioned in the reign of John Cantacuzene.
[383]. Ducas, pp. 282-286. Cf. Anonymus, iii. p. 50.
[384]. Nicetas Chon., pp. 528, 529.
[385]. Cantacuzene, iii. p. 558.
[386]. Ducas, p. 282, Παραπόρτιον ἕν πρὸ πολλῶν χρόνων ἀσφαλῶς πεφραγμένον, ὑπόγαιον, πρὸς τὸ κάτωθεν μέρος τοῦ παλατίου.
[387]. Ducas, pp. 282-286.