Over the northern entrance to the lower chamber in the tower west of the gateway were found, until recently, two blocks of stone, upon which the name of St. Pantoleon was rudely carved between the figures of two peacocks, or phœnixes, symbols of the immortality that rose from the fires of martyrdom. Possibly, the chamber was a chapel in which persons entering or leaving the city could perform their devotions. According to Stephen of Novgorod, the relics of St. Pantoleon reposed in the adjoining Church of the Theotokos of Blachernæ.[[662]]
In the street to the rear of the tower is the small Mosque Toklou Dedè Mesdjidi, formerly, it is supposed, the Church of St. Thekla,[[663]] in the quarter of Blachernæ.
On the east side of the street leading from the Porta Kiliomenè to the Church of Blachernæ remains are found of a large two-storied Byzantine edifice, with three aisles. Its original destination cannot be determined with any degree of certainty. By some authorities[[664]] the building is supposed to have been the Porticus Cariana (Καριανὸν Ἔμβολον), which the Emperor Maurice erected, and upon the walls of which scenes in his life, from his childhood until his accession to the throne, were pourtrayed.[[665]]
The Bay of Aivan Serai was called the Bay of Blachernæ (ὁ πρὸς Βλαχέρνας κόλπος), and had a dockyard known as the Neorion at Blachernæ (τὸ ἐν Βλαχέρναις νεώριον).[[666]]
Proceeding eastwards, a few paces bring us to a breach in the wall leading to the Mosque Atik Mustapha Pasha Djamissi, supposed to be the Byzantine Church of SS. Peter and Mark, which was erected in 458 by two patricians, Galbius and Candidus, upon the shore of the Golden Horn, in the quarter of Blachernæ. The sanctuary claimed the honour of having enshrined “the Girdle of the Blessed Virgin,” before that relic was placed in the church specially dedicated to the Theotokos in this part of the city.[[667]] In the street to the west of the mosque lies the marble baptismal font of the church, cruciform, and having three steps within it leading to the bottom.
In a chrysoboullon of John Palæologus dated 1342, mention is made of the Gate of St. Anastasia (Πύλη τῆς ἁγίας Ἀναστασίας) in this part of the city.[[668]] The Russian pilgrim, who visited Constantinople in the fifteenth century (1424-1453), speaks of a chapel containing the relics of St. Anastasia near the Church of Blachernæ.[[669]]
Considerable interest is attached to the Church of St. Demetrius, situated within the walls a few paces to the east of Atik Mustapha Pasha Djamissi; for although the present edifice dates only from the beginning of the eighteenth century, the original building was a Byzantine foundation, adorned with mosaics and surmounted by a dome. Its full style was the Church of St. Demetrius of Kanabus (τοῦ Καναβοῦ), and may, as the Patriarch Constantius suggests,[[670]] have been erected by a member of the family of the Nicholas Kanabus who became emperor for a few days, in the interval between the overthrow of the Angeli and the usurpation of Murtzuphlus, during the troublous times of the Fourth Crusade.[[671]] In 1334, the church was the property of George Pepagomenos, a relative of Andronicus III.[[672]] After the Turkish Conquest the church became, from 1597 to 1601, the cathedral of the Greek Patriarch, when he was deprived of the use of the Church of the Pammakaristos (Fethiyeh Djamissi).[[673]]
Soon after leaving the Church of St. Demetrius, and before reaching the gate now styled Balat Kapoussi, the city wall was pierced by three large archways, 45 to 55 paces apart, and alternating with three towers. Balat Kapoussi being only 55 paces beyond the easternmost archway, here stood four entrances into the city, in most unusual proximity to one another. The first, or westernmost archway was, at one time, adorned with a bas-relief on either side. Tafferner, chaplain to Count Walter of Leslie, ambassador from the German Emperor Leopold I. to the Ottoman Court in the seventeenth century, describes the archway as follows: “In decensu clivi defluentis in Euxini brachium, porta perampla et obstructa muro conspicitur. Fama fert limitum hunc fuisse aulæ magni Constantini. Ad dextrum portæ latus adstat Angelus a candido et eleganti marmore effigiatus, statura celsior, ac virilem præ se ferens, et inserto muro. Ad lævam, Deipara visitur, proportione priore consimilis, atque ab Angelo consulatuta.”[[674]]
Nikè (Formerly Adorning Archway Near Balat Kapoussi).