The next public gate, Edirnè Kapoussi, between the eighth and ninth towers to the north of the Fifth Military Gate, was named the Gate of Charisius (τοῦ Χαρισίου). The name, which appears in a great variety of forms, occurs first in Peter Magister,[[352]] a writer of Justinian’s reign, and was derived, according to the Anonymus, from Charisius, the head of the Blue Faction, when the Theodosian Walls were built.[[353]] While some authorities, as already intimated, have attached this name to the Gate of the Pempton, others have supposed that it belonged to the entrance now known as Egri Kapou.[[354]] This, as will be shown in the proper place, is likewise a mistake.[[355]]
The grounds on which the Gate of Charisius must be identified with the Edirnè Kapoussi are these:[[356]] From the statements of Cananus and Critobulus, already considered in determining the position of the Gate of St. Romanus,[[357]] it is clear that the Gate of Charisius was one of the two gates on the northern bank of the Lycus; either the gate at the foot of that bank or Edirnè Kapoussi upon the summit. That it was not the former is clearly proved by the fact that Cananus and the Metrical Chronicle, as already cited, distinguished the Gate of Charisius from the entrance beside the Lycus. The Gate of Charisius was, therefore, Edirnè Kapoussi, the gate on the summit of the bank.
Again, the Gate of Charisius was, like Edirnè Kapoussi, at the head of the street leading to the Church of the Holy Apostles. This is evident from the circumstance that when Justinian the Great, returning to the city from the West, visited on his way to the palace the tomb of the Empress Theodora at the Holy Apostles’, he entered the capital by the Gate of Charisius instead of by the Golden Gate,[[358]] because the former entrance led directly to the Imperial Cemetery near that church.
To these arguments may be added the fact that near the Gate of Charisius was a Church of St. George,[[359]] the guardian of the entrance, and that a Byzantine church dedicated to that saint stood immediately to the south-east of Edirnè Kapoussi as late as the year 1556, when it was appropriated by Sultan Suleiman for the construction of the Mosque of Mihrimah. At the same time the Greek community received by way of compensation a site for another church to the north-west of the gate, and there the present Church of St. George was built to preserve the traditions of other days.[[360]] Lastly, like Edirnè Kapoussi, the Gate of Charisius stood at a point from which one could readily proceed to the Church of the Chora (Kahriyeh Djamissi), the Church of St. John in Petra (Bogdan Serai), and the Palace of Blachernæ.[[361]]
Another name for the Gate of Charisius was the Gate of the Polyandrion, or the Myriandron (Πόρτα τοῦ Πολυανδρίου, τοῦ Μυριάνδρου), the Gate of the Cemetery. This follows from the fact that whereas the respective names of the three gates in the walls crossing the valley of the Lycus are usually given as the Gate of Charisius, Gate of the Pempton, the Gate of St. Romanus, we find the first name omitted in a passage of the Paschal Chronicle referring to those entrances, and the Gate of the Polyandrion mentioned instead.[[362]] Evidently, the Gate of Charisius and the Gate of the Polyandrion were different names for the same gate.
The latter designation was peculiarly appropriate to an entrance on the direct road to the Imperial Cemetery. Probably a public cemetery stood also outside the gate, where a large Turkish cemetery is now situated, and that may have been another reason for the name of the gate.[[363]]
With the portion of the walls between the Gate of St. Romanus and the Gate of Charisius, memorable historical events are associated which cannot be passed over without some notice, however brief.
On account of its central position in the line of the land fortifications, this part of the walls was named the Mesoteichion (Μεσοτείχιον).[[364]] It was also known as the Myriandrion,[[365]] on account of its proximity to the Gate of Polyandrion; the portion to the south of the Lycus being further distinguished as the Murus Bacchatareus,[[366]] after the Tower Baccaturea near the Gate of St. Romanus.[[367]]
View Across the Valley of the Lycus (Looking North).