Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.—Part I

Foundation Of Constantinople.—Political System Constantine, And
His Successors.—Military Discipline.—The Palace.—The Finances.

The unfortunate Licinius was the last rival who opposed the
greatness, and the last captive who adorned the triumph, of
Constantine. After a tranquil and prosperous reign, the conquerer
bequeathed to his family the inheritance of the Roman empire; a
new capital, a new policy, and a new religion; and the
innovations which he established have been embraced and
consecrated by succeeding generations. The age of the great
Constantine and his sons is filled with important events; but the
historian must be oppressed by their number and variety, unless
he diligently separates from each other the scenes which are
connected only by the order of time. He will describe the
political institutions that gave strength and stability to the
empire, before he proceeds to relate the wars and revolutions
which hastened its decline. He will adopt the division unknown to
the ancients of civil and ecclesiastical affairs: the victory of
the Christians, and their intestine discord, will supply copious
and distinct materials both for edification and for scandal.

After the defeat and abdication of Licinius, his victorious rival
proceeded to lay the foundations of a city destined to reign in
future times, the mistress of the East, and to survive the empire
and religion of Constantine. The motives, whether of pride or of
policy, which first induced Diocletian to withdraw himself from
the ancient seat of government, had acquired additional weight by
the example of his successors, and the habits of forty years.
Rome was insensibly confounded with the dependent kingdoms which
had once acknowledged her supremacy; and the country of the
Cæsars was viewed with cold indifference by a martial prince,
born in the neighborhood of the Danube, educated in the courts
and armies of Asia, and invested with the purple by the legions
of Britain. The Italians, who had received Constantine as their
deliverer, submissively obeyed the edicts which he sometimes
condescended to address to the senate and people of Rome; but
they were seldom honored with the presence of their new
sovereign. During the vigor of his age, Constantine, according to
the various exigencies of peace and war, moved with slow dignity,
or with active diligence, along the frontiers of his extensive
dominions; and was always prepared to take the field either
against a foreign or a domestic enemy. But as he gradually
reached the summit of prosperity and the decline of life, he
began to meditate the design of fixing in a more permanent
station the strength as well as majesty of the throne. In the
choice of an advantageous situation, he preferred the confines of
Europe and Asia; to curb with a powerful arm the barbarians who
dwelt between the Danube and the Tanais; to watch with an eye of
jealousy the conduct of the Persian monarch, who indignantly
supported the yoke of an ignominious treaty. With these views,
Diocletian had selected and embellished the residence of
Nicomedia: but the memory of Diocletian was justly abhorred by
the protector of the church: and Constantine was not insensible
to the ambition of founding a city which might perpetuate the
glory of his own name. During the late operations of the war
against Licinius, he had sufficient opportunity to contemplate,
both as a soldier and as a statesman, the incomparable position
of Byzantium; and to observe how strongly it was guarded by
nature against a hostile attack, whilst it was accessible on
every side to the benefits of commercial intercourse. Many ages
before Constantine, one of the most judicious historians of
antiquity1 had described the advantages of a situation, from
whence a feeble colony of Greeks derived the command of the sea,
and the honors of a flourishing and independent republic. 2

1 (return) [ Polybius, l. iv. p. 423, edit. Casaubon. He observes
that the peace of the Byzantines was frequently disturbed, and
the extent of their territory contracted, by the inroads of the
wild Thracians.]

2 (return) [ The navigator Byzas, who was styled the son of
Neptune, founded the city 656 years before the Christian æra. His
followers were drawn from Argos and Megara. Byzantium was
afterwards rebuild and fortified by the Spartan general
Pausanias. See Scaliger Animadvers. ad Euseb. p. 81. Ducange,
Constantinopolis, l. i part i. cap 15, 16. With regard to the
wars of the Byzantines against Philip, the Gauls, and the kings
of Bithynia, we should trust none but the ancient writers who
lived before the greatness of the Imperial city had excited a
spirit of flattery and fiction.]

If we survey Byzantium in the extent which it acquired with the
august name of Constantinople, the figure of the Imperial city
may be represented under that of an unequal triangle. The obtuse
point, which advances towards the east and the shores of Asia,
meets and repels the waves of the Thracian Bosphorus. The
northern side of the city is bounded by the harbor; and the
southern is washed by the Propontis, or Sea of Marmara. The basis
of the triangle is opposed to the west, and terminates the
continent of Europe. But the admirable form and division of the
circumjacent land and water cannot, without a more ample
explanation, be clearly or sufficiently understood. The winding
channel through which the waters of the Euxine flow with a rapid
and incessant course towards the Mediterranean, received the
appellation of Bosphorus, a name not less celebrated in the
history, than in the fables, of antiquity. 3 A crowd of temples
and of votive altars, profusely scattered along its steep and
woody banks, attested the unskilfulness, the terrors, and the
devotion of the Grecian navigators, who, after the example of the
Argonauts, explored the dangers of the inhospitable Euxine. On
these banks tradition long preserved the memory of the palace of
Phineus, infested by the obscene harpies; 4 and of the sylvan
reign of Amycus, who defied the son of Leda to the combat of the
cestus. 5 The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the
Cyanean rocks, which, according to the description of the poets,
had once floated on the face of the waters; and were destined by
the gods to protect the entrance of the Euxine against the eye of
profane curiosity. 6 From the Cyanean rocks to the point and
harbor of Byzantium, the winding length of the Bosphorus extends
about sixteen miles, 7 and its most ordinary breadth may be
computed at about one mile and a half. The new castles of Europe
and Asia are constructed, on either continent, upon the
foundations of two celebrated temples, of Serapis and of Jupiter
Urius. The _old_ castles, a work of the Greek emperors, command
the narrowest part of the channel in a place where the opposite
banks advance within five hundred paces of each other. These
fortresses were destroyed and strengthened by Mahomet the Second,
when he meditated the siege of Constantinople: 8 but the Turkish
conqueror was most probably ignorant, that near two thousand
years before his reign, Darius had chosen the same situation to
connect the two continents by a bridge of boats. 9 At a small
distance from the old castles we discover the little town of
Chrysopolis, or Scutari, which may almost be considered as the
Asiatic suburb of Constantinople. The Bosphorus, as it begins to
open into the Propontis, passes between Byzantium and Chalcedon.
The latter of those cities was built by the Greeks, a few years
before the former; and the blindness of its founders, who
overlooked the superior advantages of the opposite coast, has
been stigmatized by a proverbial expression of contempt. 10

3 (return) [ The Bosphorus has been very minutely described by
Dionysius of Byzantium, who lived in the time of Domitian,
(Hudson, Geograph Minor, tom. iii.,) and by Gilles or Gyllius, a
French traveller of the XVIth century. Tournefort (Lettre XV.)
seems to have used his own eyes, and the learning of Gyllius. Add
Von Hammer, Constantinopolis und der Bosphoros, 8vo.—M.]

4 (return) [ There are very few conjectures so happy as that of
Le Clere, (Bibliotehque Universelle, tom. i. p. 148,) who
supposes that the harpies were only locusts. The Syriac or
Phœnician name of those insects, their noisy flight, the stench
and devastation which they occasion, and the north wind which
drives them into the sea, all contribute to form the striking
resemblance.]

5 (return) [ The residence of Amycus was in Asia, between the old
and the new castles, at a place called Laurus Insana. That of
Phineus was in Europe, near the village of Mauromole and the
Black Sea. See Gyllius de Bosph. l. ii. c. 23. Tournefort, Lettre
XV.]

6 (return) [ The deception was occasioned by several pointed
rocks, alternately sovered and abandoned by the waves. At present
there are two small islands, one towards either shore; that of
Europe is distinguished by the column of Pompey.]

7 (return) [ The ancients computed one hundred and twenty stadia,
or fifteen Roman miles. They measured only from the new castles,
but they carried the straits as far as the town of Chalcedon.]

8 (return) [ Ducas. Hist. c. 34. Leunclavius Hist. Turcica
Mussulmanica, l. xv. p. 577. Under the Greek empire these castles
were used as state prisons, under the tremendous name of Lethe,
or towers of oblivion.]

9 (return) [ Darius engraved in Greek and Assyrian letters, on
two marble columns, the names of his subject nations, and the
amazing numbers of his land and sea forces. The Byzantines
afterwards transported these columns into the city, and used them
for the altars of their tutelar deities. Herodotus, l. iv. c.
87.]

10 (return) [ Namque arctissimo inter Europam Asiamque divortio
Byzantium in extremâ Europâ posuere Greci, quibus, Pythium
Apollinem consulentibus ubi conderent urbem, redditum oraculum
est, quærerent sedem _cæcerum_ terris adversam. Ea ambage
Chalcedonii monstrabantur quod priores illuc advecti, prævisâ
locorum utilitate pejora legissent Tacit. Annal. xii. 63.]

The harbor of Constantinople, which may be considered as an arm
of the Bosphorus, obtained, in a very remote period, the
denomination of the _Golden Horn_. The curve which it describes
might be compared to the horn of a stag, or as it should seem,
with more propriety, to that of an ox. 11 The epithet of _golden_
was expressive of the riches which every wind wafted from the
most distant countries into the secure and capacious port of
Constantinople. The River Lycus, formed by the conflux of two
little streams, pours into the harbor a perpetual supply of fresh
water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the
periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in that
convenient recess. As the vicissitudes of tides are scarcely felt
in those seas, the constant depth of the harbor allows goods to
be landed on the quays without the assistance of boats; and it
has been observed, that in many places the largest vessels may
rest their prows against the houses, while their sterns are
floating in the water. 12 From the mouth of the Lycus to that of
the harbor, this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles in
length. The entrance is about five hundred yards broad, and a
strong chain could be occasionally drawn across it, to guard the
port and city from the attack of a hostile navy. 13

11 (return) [ Strabo, l. vii. p. 492, [edit. Casaub.] Most of the
antlers are now broken off; or, to speak less figuratively, most
of the recesses of the harbor are filled up. See Gill. de
Bosphoro Thracio, l. i. c. 5.]

12 (return) [ Procopius de Ædificiis, l. i. c. 5. His description
is confirmed by modern travellers. See Thevenot, part i. l. i. c.
15. Tournefort, Lettre XII. Niebuhr, Voyage d’Arabie, p. 22.]

13 (return) [ See Ducange, C. P. l. i. part i. c. 16, and his
Observations sur Villehardouin, p. 289. The chain was drawn from
the Acropolis near the modern Kiosk, to the tower of Galata; and
was supported at convenient distances by large wooden piles.]

Between the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, the shores of Europe
and Asia, receding on either side, enclose the sea of Marmara,
which was known to the ancients by the denomination of Propontis.
The navigation from the issue of the Bosphorus to the entrance of
the Hellespont is about one hundred and twenty miles.

Those who steer their westward course through the middle of the
Propontis, may at once descry the high lands of Thrace and
Bithynia, and never lose sight of the lofty summit of Mount
Olympus, covered with eternal snows. 14 They leave on the left a
deep gulf, at the bottom of which Nicomedia was seated, the
Imperial residence of Diocletian; and they pass the small islands
of Cyzicus and Proconnesus before they cast anchor at Gallipoli;
where the sea, which separates Asia from Europe, is again
contracted into a narrow channel.

14 (return) [ Thevenot (Voyages au Levant, part i. l. i. c. 14)
contracts the measure to 125 small Greek miles. Belon
(Observations, l. ii. c. 1.) gives a good description of the
Propontis, but contents himself with the vague expression of one
day and one night’s sail. When Sandy’s (Travels, p. 21) talks of
150 furlongs in length, as well as breadth we can only suppose
some mistake of the press in the text of that judicious
traveller.]

The geographers who, with the most skilful accuracy, have
surveyed the form and extent of the Hellespont, assign about
sixty miles for the winding course, and about three miles for the
ordinary breadth of those celebrated straits. 15 But the
narrowest part of the channel is found to the northward of the
old Turkish castles between the cities of Sestus and Abydus. It
was here that the adventurous Leander braved the passage of the
flood for the possession of his mistress. 16 It was here
likewise, in a place where the distance between the opposite
banks cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes imposed a
stupendous bridge of boats, for the purpose of transporting into
Europe a hundred and seventy myriads of barbarians. 17 A sea
contracted within such narrow limits may seem but ill to deserve
the singular epithet of _broad_, which Homer, as well as Orpheus,
has frequently bestowed on the Hellespont. 1711 But our ideas of
greatness are of a relative nature: the traveller, and especially
the poet, who sailed along the Hellespont, who pursued the
windings of the stream, and contemplated the rural scenery, which
appeared on every side to terminate the prospect, insensibly lost
the remembrance of the sea; and his fancy painted those
celebrated straits, with all the attributes of a mighty river
flowing with a swift current, in the midst of a woody and inland
country, and at length, through a wide mouth, discharging itself
into the Ægean or Archipelago. 18 Ancient Troy, 19 seated on a an
eminence at the foot of Mount Ida, overlooked the mouth of the
Hellespont, which scarcely received an accession of waters from
the tribute of those immortal rivulets the Simois and Scamander.
The Grecian camp had stretched twelve miles along the shore from
the Sigæan to the Rhætean promontory; and the flanks of the army
were guarded by the bravest chiefs who fought under the banners
of Agamemnon. The first of those promontories was occupied by
Achilles with his invincible myrmidons, and the dauntless Ajax
pitched his tents on the other. After Ajax had fallen a sacrifice
to his disappointed pride, and to the ingratitude of the Greeks,
his sepulchre was erected on the ground where he had defended the
navy against the rage of Jove and of Hector; and the citizens of
the rising town of Rhæteum celebrated his memory with divine
honors. 20 Before Constantine gave a just preference to the
situation of Byzantium, he had conceived the design of erecting
the seat of empire on this celebrated spot, from whence the
Romans derived their fabulous origin. The extensive plain which
lies below ancient Troy, towards the Rhætean promontory and the
tomb of Ajax, was first chosen for his new capital; and though
the undertaking was soon relinquished the stately remains of
unfinished walls and towers attracted the notice of all who
sailed through the straits of the Hellespont. 21

15 (return) [ See an admirable dissertation of M. d’Anville upon
the Hellespont or Dardanelles, in the Mémoires tom. xxviii. p.
318—346. Yet even that ingenious geographer is too fond of
supposing new, and perhaps imaginary _measures_, for the purpose
of rendering ancient writers as accurate as himself. The stadia
employed by Herodotus in the description of the Euxine, the
Bosphorus, &c., (l. iv. c. 85,) must undoubtedly be all of the
same species; but it seems impossible to reconcile them either
with truth or with each other.]

16 (return) [ The oblique distance between Sestus and Abydus was
thirty stadia. The improbable tale of Hero and Leander is exposed
by M. Mahudel, but is defended on the authority of poets and
medals by M. de la Nauze. See the Académie des Inscriptions, tom.
vii. Hist. p. 74. elem. p. 240. Note: The practical illustration
of the possibility of Leander’s feat by Lord Byron and other
English swimmers is too well known to need particularly
reference—M.]

17 (return) [ See the seventh book of Herodotus, who has erected
an elegant trophy to his own fame and to that of his country. The
review appears to have been made with tolerable accuracy; but the
vanity, first of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greeks, was
interested to magnify the armament and the victory. I should much
doubt whether the _invaders_ have ever outnumbered the _men_ of
any country which they attacked.]

1711 (return) [ Gibbon does not allow greater width between the
two nearest points of the shores of the Hellespont than between
those of the Bosphorus; yet all the ancient writers speak of the
Hellespontic strait as broader than the other: they agree in
giving it seven stadia in its narrowest width, (Herod. in Melp.
c. 85. Polym. c. 34. Strabo, p. 591. Plin. iv. c. 12.) which make
875 paces. It is singular that Gibbon, who in the fifteenth note
of this chapter reproaches d’Anville with being fond of supposing
new and perhaps imaginary measures, has here adopted the peculiar
measurement which d’Anville has assigned to the stadium. This
great geographer believes that the ancients had a stadium of
fifty-one toises, and it is that which he applies to the walls of
Babylon. Now, seven of these stadia are equal to about 500 paces,
7 stadia = 2142 feet: 500 paces = 2135 feet 5 inches.—G. See
Rennell, Geog. of Herod. p. 121. Add Ukert, Geographie der
Griechen und Romer, v. i. p. 2, 71.—M.]

18 (return) [ See Wood’s Observations on Homer, p. 320. I have,
with pleasure, selected this remark from an author who in general
seems to have disappointed the expectation of the public as a
critic, and still more as a traveller. He had visited the banks
of the Hellespont; and had read Strabo; he ought to have
consulted the Roman itineraries. How was it possible for him to
confound Ilium and Alexandria Troas, (Observations, p. 340, 341,)
two cities which were sixteen miles distant from each other? *
Note: Compare Walpole’s Memoirs on Turkey, v. i. p. 101. Dr.
Clarke adopted Mr. Walpole’s interpretation of the salt
Hellespont. But the old interpretation is more graphic and
Homeric. Clarke’s Travels, ii. 70.—M.]

19 (return) [ Demetrius of Scepsis wrote sixty books on thirty
lines of Homer’s catalogue. The XIIIth Book of Strabo is
sufficient for _our_ curiosity.]

20 (return) [ Strabo, l. xiii. p. 595, [890, edit. Casaub.] The
disposition of the ships, which were drawn upon dry land, and the
posts of Ajax and Achilles, are very clearly described by Homer.
See Iliad, ix. 220.]

21 (return) [ Zosim. l. ii. [c. 30,] p. 105. Sozomen, l. ii. c.
3. Theophanes, p. 18. Nicephorus Callistus, l. vii. p. 48.
Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 6. Zosimus places the new city
between Ilium and Alexandria, but this apparent difference may be
reconciled by the large extent of its circumference. Before the
foundation of Constantinople, Thessalonica is mentioned by
Cedrenus, (p. 283,) and Sardica by Zonaras, as the intended
capital. They both suppose with very little probability, that the
emperor, if he had not been prevented by a prodigy, would have
repeated the mistake of the _blind_ Chalcedonians.]

We are at present qualified to view the advantageous position of
Constantinople; which appears to have been formed by nature for
the centre and capital of a great monarchy. Situated in the
forty-first degree of latitude, the Imperial city commanded, from
her seven hills, 22 the opposite shores of Europe and Asia; the
climate was healthy and temperate, the soil fertile, the harbor
secure and capacious; and the approach on the side of the
continent was of small extent and easy defence. The Bosphorus and
the Hellespont may be considered as the two gates of
Constantinople; and the prince who possessed those important
passages could always shut them against a naval enemy, and open
them to the fleets of commerce. The preservation of the eastern
provinces may, in some degree, be ascribed to the policy of
Constantine, as the barbarians of the Euxine, who in the
preceding age had poured their armaments into the heart of the
Mediterranean, soon desisted from the exercise of piracy, and
despaired of forcing this insurmountable barrier. When the gates
of the Hellespont and Bosphorus were shut, the capital still
enjoyed within their spacious enclosure every production which
could supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numerous
inhabitants. The sea-coasts of Thrace and Bithynia, which
languish under the weight of Turkish oppression, still exhibit a
rich prospect of vineyards, of gardens, and of plentiful
harvests; and the Propontis has ever been renowned for an
inexhaustible store of the most exquisite fish, that are taken in
their stated seasons, without skill, and almost without labor. 23
But when the passages of the straits were thrown open for trade,
they alternately admitted the natural and artificial riches of
the north and south, of the Euxine, and of the Mediterranean.
Whatever rude commodities were collected in the forests of
Germany and Scythia, and far as the sources of the Tanais and the
Borysthenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the skill of Europe
or Asia; the corn of Egypt, and the gems and spices of the
farthest India, were brought by the varying winds into the port
of Constantinople, which for many ages attracted the commerce of
the ancient world. 24

[See Basilica Of Constantinople]

22 (return) [ Pocock’s Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii.
p. 127. His plan of the seven hills is clear and accurate. That
traveller is seldom unsatisfactory.]

23 (return) [ See Belon, Observations, c. 72—76. Among a variety
of different species, the Pelamides, a sort of Thunnies, were the
most celebrated. We may learn from Polybius, Strabo, and Tacitus,
that the profits of the fishery constituted the principal revenue
of Byzantium.]

24 (return) [ See the eloquent description of Busbequius,
epistol. i. p. 64. Est in Europa; habet in conspectu Asiam,
Egyptum. Africamque a dextrâ: quæ tametsi contiguæ non sunt,
maris tamen navigandique commoditate veluti junguntur. A sinistra
vero Pontus est Euxinus, &c.]

The prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth, united in a
single spot, was sufficient to justify the choice of Constantine.
But as some decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every
age, been supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on the origin of
great cities, 25 the emperor was desirous of ascribing his
resolution, not so much to the uncertain counsels of human
policy, as to the infallible and eternal decrees of divine
wisdom. In one of his laws he has been careful to instruct
posterity, that in obedience to the commands of God, he laid the
everlasting foundations of Constantinople: 26 and though he has
not condescended to relate in what manner the celestial
inspiration was communicated to his mind, the defect of his
modest silence has been liberally supplied by the ingenuity of
succeeding writers; who describe the nocturnal vision which
appeared to the fancy of Constantine, as he slept within the
walls of Byzantium. The tutelar genius of the city, a venerable
matron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, was
suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom his own hands
adorned with all the symbols of Imperial greatness. 27 The
monarch awoke, interpreted the auspicious omen, and obeyed,
without hesitation, the will of Heaven. The day which gave birth
to a city or colony was celebrated by the Romans with such
ceremonies as had been ordained by a generous superstition; 28
and though Constantine might omit some rites which savored too
strongly of their Pagan origin, yet he was anxious to leave a
deep impression of hope and respect on the minds of the
spectators. On foot, with a lance in his hand, the emperor
himself led the solemn procession; and directed the line, which
was traced as the boundary of the destined capital: till the
growing circumference was observed with astonishment by the
assistants, who, at length, ventured to observe, that he had
already exceeded the most ample measure of a great city. “I shall
still advance,” replied Constantine, “till He, the invisible
guide who marches before me, thinks proper to stop.” 29 Without
presuming to investigate the nature or motives of this
extraordinary conductor, we shall content ourselves with the more
humble task of describing the extent and limits of
Constantinople. 30

25 (return) [ Datur hæc venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana
divinis, primordia urbium augustiora faciat. T. Liv. in proœm.]

26 (return) [ He says in one of his laws, pro commoditate urbis
quam æterno nomine, jubente Deo, donavimus. Cod. Theodos. l.
xiii. tit. v. leg. 7.]

27 (return) [ The Greeks, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and the author of
the Alexandrian Chronicle, confine themselves to vague and
general expressions. For a more particular account of the vision,
we are obliged to have recourse to such Latin writers as William
of Malmesbury. See Ducange, C. P. l. i. p. 24, 25.]

28 (return) [ See Plutarch in Romul. tom. i. p. 49, edit. Bryan.
Among other ceremonies, a large hole, which had been dug for that
purpose, was filled up with handfuls of earth, which each of the
settlers brought from the place of his birth, and thus adopted
his new country.]

29 (return) [ Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 9. This incident, though
borrowed from a suspected writer, is characteristic and
probable.]

30 (return) [ See in the Mémoires de l’Académie, tom. xxxv p.
747-758, a dissertation of M. d’Anville on the extent of
Constantinople. He takes the plan inserted in the Imperium
Orientale of Banduri as the most complete; but, by a series of
very nice observations, he reduced the extravagant proportion of
the scale, and instead of 9500, determines the circumference of
the city as consisting of about 7800 French _toises_.]

In the actual state of the city, the palace and gardens of the
Seraglio occupy the eastern promontory, the first of the seven
hills, and cover about one hundred and fifty acres of our own
measure. The seat of Turkish jealousy and despotism is erected on
the foundations of a Grecian republic; but it may be supposed
that the Byzantines were tempted by the conveniency of the harbor
to extend their habitations on that side beyond the modern limits
of the Seraglio. The new walls of Constantine stretched from the
port to the Propontis across the enlarged breadth of the
triangle, at the distance of fifteen stadia from the ancient
fortification; and with the city of Byzantium they enclosed five
of the seven hills, which, to the eyes of those who approach
Constantinople, appear to rise above each other in beautiful
order. 31 About a century after the death of the founder, the new
buildings, extending on one side up the harbor, and on the other
along the Propontis, already covered the narrow ridge of the
sixth, and the broad summit of the seventh hill. The necessity of
protecting those suburbs from the incessant inroads of the
barbarians engaged the younger Theodosius to surround his capital
with an adequate and permanent enclosure of walls. 32 From the
eastern promontory to the golden gate, the extreme length of
Constantinople was about three Roman miles; 33 the circumference
measured between ten and eleven; and the surface might be
computed as equal to about two thousand English acres. It is
impossible to justify the vain and credulous exaggerations of
modern travellers, who have sometimes stretched the limits of
Constantinople over the adjacent villages of the European, and
even of the Asiatic coast. 34 But the suburbs of Pera and Galata,
though situate beyond the harbor, may deserve to be considered as
a part of the city; 35 and this addition may perhaps authorize
the measure of a Byzantine historian, who assigns sixteen Greek
(about fourteen Roman) miles for the circumference of his native
city. 36 Such an extent may not seem unworthy of an Imperial
residence. Yet Constantinople must yield to Babylon and Thebes,
37 to ancient Rome, to London, and even to Paris. 38

31 (return) [ Codinus, Antiquitat. Const. p. 12. He assigns the
church of St. Anthony as the boundary on the side of the harbor.
It is mentioned in Ducange, l. iv. c. 6; but I have tried,
without success, to discover the exact place where it was
situated.]

32 (return) [ The new wall of Theodosius was constructed in the
year 413. In 447 it was thrown down by an earthquake, and rebuilt
in three months by the diligence of the præfect Cyrus. The suburb
of the Blanchernæ was first taken into the city in the reign of
Heraclius Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 10, 11.]

33 (return) [ The measurement is expressed in the Notitia by
14,075 feet. It is reasonable to suppose that these were Greek
feet, the proportion of which has been ingeniously determined by
M. d’Anville. He compares the 180 feet with 78 Hashemite cubits,
which in different writers are assigned for the heights of St.
Sophia. Each of these cubits was equal to 27 French inches.]

34 (return) [ The accurate Thevenot (l. i. c. 15) walked in one
hour and three quarters round two of the sides of the triangle,
from the Kiosk of the Seraglio to the seven towers. D’Anville
examines with care, and receives with confidence, this decisive
testimony, which gives a circumference of ten or twelve miles.
The extravagant computation of Tournefort (Lettre XI) of
thirty-tour or thirty miles, without including Scutari, is a
strange departure from his usual character.]

35 (return) [ The sycæ, or fig-trees, formed the thirteenth
region, and were very much embellished by Justinian. It has since
borne the names of Pera and Galata. The etymology of the former
is obvious; that of the latter is unknown. See Ducange, Const. l.
i. c. 22, and Gyllius de Byzant. l. iv. c. 10.]

36 (return) [ One hundred and eleven stadia, which may be
translated into modern Greek miles each of seven stadia, or 660,
sometimes only 600 French toises. See D’Anville, Mesures
Itineraires, p. 53.]

37 (return) [ When the ancient texts, which describe the size of
Babylon and Thebes, are settled, the exaggerations reduced, and
the measures ascertained, we find that those famous cities filled
the great but not incredible circumference of about twenty-five
or thirty miles. Compare D’Anville, Mém. de l’Académie, tom.
xxviii. p. 235, with his Description de l’Egypte, p. 201, 202.]

38 (return) [ If we divide Constantinople and Paris into equal
squares of 50 French _toises_, the former contains 850, and the
latter 1160, of those divisions.]