NOTES.
The Sycene Ward.] This Ward is a Peninsula divided from Constantinople by a small Bay of the City. ’Tis at present call’d Galata, or Pera. Stephanus (de Urbibus) tells us, that Sycæ is a small City over against New Rome, which in his Time was called Justiniana. But Justinian himself, Novel. 59. Cap. 5. places it so far within the new Walls of the City, that, as he says, it ought to be looked upon as a Part of it. It was named by the Greeks Sycæna, from the great Produce it bears of the best Figs, as is observed by Cedrinus and Dionysius a Byzantian. ’Tis not inhabited at present by the Franks, for so the Greeks call the Latines. Gyllius is of Opinion that it was called Galata, because Brennus, Captain General of the Gauls, whom the Greeks call Γαλάται marched thither with his Army. It was also called Pera, that is, the Ferry, or Peræa, and stood on the other Side of the Water; as Josephus relates, that Judæa was on the other Side of Jordan; and as Strabo mentions a Place, which he says was on the other Side of Euphrates. Anastasius in his Constitutions calls it Sycæ, or the Ferry of Sycæ, where he commands the Dead to be bury’d without Fee, or Reward. ’Tis divided by a Hill that runs from North to South, and is bounded on each Side by two Vales, of a Mile in Length. Its Walls are four Thousand four Hundred Paces in Compass. Near to it, Justinian in his 159ᵗʰ Nov. seems to fix the Suburbs called Coparium: And Socrates in his 30ᵗʰ Chap. of his Eccles. Hist. tells us, that there’s a Place just against the City, which is called Sycæ. The Church of the Novatians was translated hither in the Reign of Constantine.
It maintained an Intercourse with Constantinople, by Boats and small Vessels.] There were in the Bay here many Thousands of small Boats, far exceeding the Number of those which are at Venice to carry Passengers from one Shore to the other, so that this Peninsula might reasonably be looked upon as a Part of the City. ’Tis almost surrounded with Mountains, at the Foot of which, towards the Sea, it lies all upon a Level to the opposite Shore. It contained a Church, the Forum, and Theatre of Honorius, and many other Ornaments and Curiosities in common with other Wards. There stood here a magnificent Church dedicated to St. Irene, which was built by Pertinax, who had pass’d the Consular Dignity, and was then Patriarch of Constantinople: And Constantine, when he had beautified the Ward with many stately Buildings, enclosed it with a Wall, as ’tis recorded by Cardinal Baronius in his Annals of the Year 314.
The Dock.] There was also a Place in this Ward where they built their Ships.
The Author has taken no Notice of two Streets which belonged to this Ward, and which would complete the Number of three hundred and twenty two Streets, mentioned in the Conclusion of his Treatise; but without the Addition of them, we can reckon them three hundred and twenty and no more.
The Fourteenth Ward.
Although this Ward is look’d upon to be a fourteenth Part of the City, yet because it is divided from the other Wards by an intermediate Space of Land, and enclosed within its own Walls, it makes the Figure of a small City by it self. The Entrance of it at the Gate is somewhat upon the Level; but the right Side of it, rising into an Ascent, almost to the Middle of the broad Way, falls into a deep Descent, and ends afterwards near the Sea in a Plain. It contains a Church; the Palace; a Nympheum; some Baths; a Theatre; a Lusorium; a Wooden Bridge; eleven Streets; a hundred and sixty seven great Houses; two large Portico’s; five private Baths; one publick, and one private Mill; with five Gradus.