The earliest mention of a bridge across the Golden Horn is found in the Notitia.[[598]] It was situated in the Fourteenth Region, and, like the bridge across the Tiber, was a wooden structure, “pontem sublicium.” This was superseded by a bridge of stone,[[599]] which Justinian the Great constructed in 528, “so that one might pass,” as the Paschal Chronicle[[600]] expresses it, “from the opposite side (ἀπὸ τῆς ἀντι πέραν) to the all-happy city.” The new building went by various names in the course of its long history. It was known as the Bridge of Justinian (ἡ Ἰουστινιανοῦ γέφυρα),[[601]] in honour of its constructor; as the Bridge of St. Kallinicus (ἡ γέφυρα τοῦ ἁγίου Καλλινίκου),[[602]] after a church dedicated to that saint near its southern end; as the Bridge of St. Panteleemon (ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου Παντελεήμονος γέφυρα),[[603]] after a church of that name at its northern end; as the Bridge of Camels (ἡ τῆς Καμήλου γέφυρα),[[604]] on account, probably, of its frequent use by caravans of camels, bringing charcoal to the city; as the Bridge of Blachernæ,[[605]] from the district in which it stood. Whether it was the bridge of twelve arches near St. Mamas mentioned by the Anonymus and Codinus[[606]] is uncertain, for we cannot be sure that all references to the Church of St. Mamas allude to the church of that dedication which stood outside the walls of the city, and overlooked the head of the Golden Horn.
The bridge crossed the Barbyses[[607]] (Kiat-haneh Sou, one of the streams commonly styled “The Sweet Waters of Europe”), where that stream enters the Golden Horn,[[608]] in the district of the Cosmidion[[609]] (Eyoub). When Gyllius visited the city the stone piers of an ancient bridge could be seen, in summer, when the water was low, standing opposite a point between the northern extremity of the land walls and Aivan Serai: “Liquet pontem illum fuisse ubi pilæ cernuntur lapideæ antiqui pontis, sed non extra aquam eminentes nisi aliquando æstate, sitæe inter angulum urbis Blacherneum et suburbium, quod Turci appellant Aibasarium.”[[610]]
In the siege of 627 the flotilla of log-boats, which the Slavonian allies of the Avars brought to take part in the operations, was moored behind this bridge, watching for an opportunity to descend into the Golden Horn, and harass the northern side of the city.[[611]] Over it Heraclius came to make his triumphal entrance into the city, after his return from the Persian War. It was a circuitous road for him to take from the Palace of the Hiereia (Fener Bagtchèssi, on the Bay of Moda, near Kadikeui), which he occupied upon his arrival within sight of the capital. His most direct course was to proceed from that palace to the Golden Gate by boat across the Sea of Marmora. But the hero of seven glorious campaigns was possessed by such an insuperable dread of the water that, for a long time, nothing, not even a conspiracy against his throne, could induce him to overcome his fear and cross to the city. At length the difficulty was met in the following manner. A bridge of boats was placed across the Bosporus, from the bay of Phedalia (Balta Liman)[[612]] to the opposite Asiatic shore, the parapets of the bridge being constructed of great branches and dense foliage, so as to hide from view the water on either hand; and over this roadway the emperor was persuaded to pass on horseback, as through a thicket on terra firma. Once on the European side of the straits, it would have been natural for him to take the road leading towards the city along the shore. But rather than keep near the water, Heraclius struck inland, for the valley at the head of the Golden Horn, to reach the side of the harbour on which the city stood, by the bridge over the narrow stream of the Barbyses.[[613]]
Near the bridge the Crusaders, under Godfrey de Bouillon, encamped in 1096.[[614]] Over it the Crusaders, under the Emperor Conrad, passed in 1147, to ravage the suburbs on the northern side of the harbour.[[615]] To it, in 1203, the army of the Fourth Crusade marched, from Galata, in battle array, and, finding it had been cut down by the Greeks, repaired it, and crossed to encamp on the hill fronting the Palace of Blachernæ. “Et là (i.e. au bout du port),” to quote the picturesque language of Ville-Hardouin,[[616]] “il y a un fleuve qui se jette dans la mer, qu’on ne peut pas passer sinon par un pont de pierre. Les Grecs avaient coupé le pont; et les barons firent travailler l’armée tout le jour et toute la nuit pour arranger le pont. Le pont fut ainsi arrangé, et les corps de bataille armés au matin; et ils chevauchèrent l’un après l’autre, ainsi qu’ils avaient été ordonnés. Et ils vout devant la ville.” Twice in 1328, and once in 1345, Cantacuzene[[617]] encamped his troops on the meadows beside the bridge, while he endeavoured to gain the city by parleying with its defenders at the Gate of Gyrolimnè.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SEAWARD WALLS.
Owing to the unique maritime position occupied by Constantinople, the defence of the shores of the capital was a matter of secondary importance. So long as the Empire retained the command of the sea, a city accessible by water only through the narrow defiles of the Hellespont and the Bosporus had little reason to apprehend a naval attack.
This immunity was, it is true, seriously affected when the Saracens and the Republics of Italy became great sea-powers. Still, even then, the situation of the city rendered an assault with ships an extremely difficult operation. The northern shore of the city could be put beyond the reach of the enemy by a chain extended across the narrow entrance of the Golden Horn; while the currents that swept the Marmora shore were ready to carry a fleet out to sea, or to hurl it against the rocks. According to Ville-Hardouin,[[618]] it was the dread of those currents that, in 1204, deterred the Venetian fleet, under Dandolo, from attacking the walls beside the Sea of Marmora, after the failure of the attempt upon the fortifications along the Golden Horn.
Other natural allies to withstand a naval attack were, moreover, found in the violent storms to which the waters around the city are liable. Such a storm discomfited the great Saracen fleet in the siege of 718.[[619]] In 825, a tempest compelled Thomas, the rival of Michael II., to withdraw his ships from action;[[620]] while in 865 a storm destroyed the first Russian flotilla that entered the Bosporus.[[621]] In the long history of the Byzantine Empire there is only one instance of a successful naval assault upon Constantinople, the gallant capture of the city in 1204 by the Venetians. That victory, however, was due as much to the feeble spirit exhibited by the defenders, notwithstanding the advantages of their position, as to the bravery and skill of the assailants.
But though the seaward walls did not possess the military consequence of the land walls, they are interesting on account of their connection with important political events, and, above all, for their intimate association with the commercial activity of the greatest emporium of trade during the Middle Ages.
The history of the construction of these walls has already been noticed incidentally, when tracing the gradual expansion of the city.[[622]] In the days of Byzantium they proceeded, we have seen, from the Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the Neorium, on the Golden Horn; and to the point subsequently called Topi, on the Sea of Marmora. Under Constantine the Great they were carried to the Church of St. Antony Harmatius, on the northern side of the city; and to the Church of St. Æmilianus, on the southern. In 439, Theodosius II. prolonged the lines to meet the extremities of the land wall at Blachernæ, on the one hand, and the Golden Gate, on the other.