THE MARBLE TOWER AT S.W. CORNER OF THE WALLS
so we turn northwards and enter upon the famous defences, so long the bulwarks of the Empire.
Something has already been said about the building of the Theodosian walls. It has been seen that Anthemius who ruled as Prætorian prefect during the minority of the Emperor Theodosius II. enlarged and refortified the city, and that "the bounds he assigned to the city, fixed substantially her permanent dimensions, and behind the bulwarks he raised—improved and often repaired, indeed, by his successors—Constantinople acted her great part in the history of the world." Repaired by Constantine, then holding the office that had been held by Anthemius, thirty-four years after the first construction, "this was a wall, indeed, τὸ καὶ τεῖχος ὄντως[62]—a wall which, so long as ordinary courage survived, and the modes of ancient warfare were not superseded, made Constantinople impregnable, and behind which civilization defied the assaults of barbarism for a thousand years."
The walls stretch now from the marble tower to a short distance beyond the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus. Originally they went further, but, as will be seen, they were superseded by newer fortifications beyond that point.
The walls, as may be traced to-day, were thus divided. First, within was the great inner wall from 13½ to 15½ feet thick, which historians call τὸ κάστρον τὸ μέγα, τὸ μέγα τεῖχος. It rose probably about 50 feet above the ground, with a battlement of 4 feet 8 inches. It was guarded by ninety-six towers, standing about 180 feet apart, about 60 feet high, and projecting from the wall from 18 to 34 feet. These towers were distinct buildings from the wall, though connected with it. The capture of a tower would not necessarily involve the capture of the wall. From the roof of the tower the engineer discharged stones and Greek fire, and there, says Nicephorus Gregoras, the sentinels looked westward day and night, keeping themselves awake at night by shouting to one another along the line.
Between the inner and outer walls was the inner terrace, ὁ περίβολος, in which were sheltered the troops for the defence of the outer walls. It was a space of from 50 to 64 feet. Above it rising now 10 feet, but probably of old nearly twice as far, was the outer wall, the "little wall." It is "from 2 to 6½ feet thick, rising some 10 feet above the present level of the peribolos, and about 27½ feet above the present level of the terrace between the outer wall and the moat."[63] The upper part is built above a lower solid portion, "for the most part in arches, faced on the outer side with hewn blocks of stone," and supported behind by arches which carried a parapet-wall. This wall was also protected by towers with small windows. Behind this outer wall the troops on which fell the brunt of the fighting, as in 1422 and 1453, were sheltered.
Beyond the outer wall was an embankment or terrace, τὸ ἔξω παρατείχιον, some 60 feet broad. Then came the moat, of at least the same breadth as the terrace. This is now to a great extent filled up and used for market gardens, but in front of the Golden Gate it is still 22 feet deep. It had scarp and counter-scarp, each 5 feet thick, and the scarp was surmounted by a breast-work with battlements 5 feet high. Across the moat are walls, which were probably aqueducts. It seems probable that the moat itself was rarely if ever filled with water.
To the gates which went through both walls belongs the greatest historic interest. Some of the ten great gates were merely used to give entrance to the fortifications; others, connected with bridges thrown over the moat, formed the public gates of the city. These latter were specially guarded by towers. Besides these there were a few posterns, most of which led only into the inner terrace. Starting from the marble tower we come across a series of inscriptions, one of Basil and Constantine (975-1025), over the first inner tower, and after that a number commemorating the restoration by John Palæologus, 1433-44. The first gate is the most renowned of all, the Porta Aurea, the Golden Gate, built of marble with two beautifully carved capitals. It is flanked by two great marble towers. It was built between 389 and 391 to commemorate the victory of Theodosius the Great over Maximus. Through it he entered in triumph in 391, and like the column of Arcadius and the obelisk in the Hippodrome, it is the still surviving memorial of his greatness. Above it at one time stood a statue of Theodosius, and many groups of statuary. An inscription recorded its foundation: