rebuilt the City, the first Hill included in it the first Ward, which contain’d the House of Placidia Augusta, that also of the most noble Marina, and the Baths of Arcadius. I learn this from the ancient Division of the City into Wards, though I must confess myself at a Loss, to know in what Part of the City the first Ward began, nor can I make any such Discovery from the Remains of any ancient Buildings, which are now entirely destroy’d. However, thus much may be inferr’d from Procopius, who has it upon Record, that when you sail from the Propontis to the Eastern Part of the City, there stand the publick Baths, built by Arcadius. In this Place, says he, Justinian built a Court, which was encompassed with so calm a Sea, that when you walk’d in the Galleries, you might discourse audibly with the Sailors. It made a very beautiful, a very delightful, and most magnificent Prospect: It was fann’d with gentle Breezes, supported with lofty Columns, and laid with the most curious Marble, which like the Sun, reflected a most amazing Lustre: It was also adorn’d with abundance of Marble and brazen Statues, finish’d to the nicest Perfection; a lovely Scene to the Spectators! The Reader, had he seen it, would have taken it to have been the Work of Phidias, Lysippus, or Praxiteles. Upon a high Pillar of Porphyry Marble, in the same Place, stood the Statue of the Empress Theodora, addressing herself, as it were, to him for building so noble a Structure. The Beauty of the Column is exceedingly surprising, yet does it by no means come up to that inconceivable inexpressible Gracefulness and Dignity you see in the Statue. From these Words of Procopius, as I would observe by the By, that that Pillar now landing upon a Descent, lying Eastward of the Grand Seignor’s Palace, is not the same with that upon which Theodora was erected, as some are of Opinion it is; because it is neither of a Porphyry Colour, and is at too remote a Distance form the Court; so would I have the Reader understand, that the first Ward contain’d in it the Length of the first Hill, which is bounded on three Sides by the Sea. I find not only in many Historians, but also in Suidas the Grammarian, that the Statue of Arcadia, the second Wife of Zeno, stood in the Arcadian Baths, near the Places call’d the Bathra, from the Stairs by which you ascend them. I find also in that Place two Statues of Verina, the Wife of Leo Magnus, one in the Northern Part of the City, near the Church of St. Agathonicus beyond the Bathra, the other on that Side of the City where stands the Church of St. Barbara: The first was erected by Leo in his Life-time, the second since his Death; when upon the Flight of Zeno, his Son in Law, his Brother Basiliscus was crown’d Emperor in his stead. I have reason to believe, when I consider the natural Situation and Order in which the Wards stand, that Part of the second Ward was inclos’d in the Palace: For this Ward, according to the ancient Description of it, at its first Entrance stood upon a Level; at some Distance it rose by a gentle Ascent, and at last, with very deep Precipices, fell into the Sea. I am of Opinion, that these Precipices descended on that Spot of Ground where the Kitchens, and Bagnio’s of the Grand Seignor stand at present. But where-ever they might stand in ancient Times, all the steep Places that were formerly enclosed within the Palace are now levell’d, where now there stands an old Church commonly call’d Sophia the Less. Some of the most ancient Inhabitants affirm it to be the Church of St. Irene, which Socrates tells us was built by Constantine the Great. I take it to be the same Church which the People of the second Ward call the Old Church. I have Reason also to believe, that the other Part of the second Ward stood without the Palace, from the Situation of the Churches and Bagnio’s, which the second Ward encloses. For Zonaras and other Historians assert, that the Church, which formerly went by the Name of the Great Church, was afterwards call’d the Church of St. Sophia, which every body knows stood without the Enclosure of the Palace. I have reason to conjecture also, that the Palace of Maximinus formerly stood within the Verge of the Court, from the following Inscription made in its Commendation by Cyrus, once a Consul and Nobleman of Rome.
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