[239] It is usually stated that Stamboul or Istamboul is a corruption of εἰς τὴν πόλιν, though Dr. Koelle disputes this derivation and considers that it is a mere shortening of the name Constantinople by the Turks, analogous to Skender or Iskender from Alexander. Koelle’s Tartar and Turk.
[240] In 1204 the Venetians and Crusaders under Dandolo and Monferrat entered the city by capturing the western portion of the walls on the side of the Horn.
[241] The position of the walls and gates is fully and admirably described in Professor Van Millingen’s Byzantine Constantinople, who, however, does not suggest that the Pempton was the Romanus Gate of the chroniclers of the siege.
[242] This was destroyed in the time of Suliman and replaced by a mosque which is called after his daughter Miramah, though the Greeks were allowed to build a church of St. George almost alongside it.
[243] Dr. Mordtmann is my authority for this statement. See note in the Appendix on the position of the Romanus Gate.
[244] Paspates claims that there was always water in the foss during a siege, though it was of no great depth. See p. 42 of his Παλιορκία τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. It is remarkable, however, that no mention is made of water by the contemporary writers on the last siege.
[245] Byzantine Constantinople, p. 86.
[246] Barbaro describes it as the place ‘dove che sun la più debel porta de tuta la tera,’ p. 21. The weakest gate he calls ‘San Romano.’
[247] Quite a considerable number of towers in the Outer Wall bear inscriptions showing that they were repaired after the Turkish siege of 1422.
[248] P. 159.