The Antiquities of Constantinople. Gilles Pierre

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СКАЧАТЬ readily closed with this Offer, and his Sins were pardon’d. At the Approach of the Festival, on which it was usual with him and his Army to go up to the Capitol, to perform the customary Rites of their Religion; Constantine fearful to be present at that Solemnity, as being warn’d to the contrary by a Dream, which was sent him from the Ægyptian, and not attending the holy Sacrifice, highly disgusted the Senate, and the whole Body of the People of Rome. But unable to bear the Curses and Scandal they threw upon him on that Account, he went in Search of some Place or other equally famous with Rome, where he might build him a Palace, and which he might make the Seat of the Roman Empire, and that at last he had discovered a Place between Troas and Old Ilium, fit for that Purpose; and that there he built him a Palace, laid the Foundations of a City, and raised part of a Wall for its Defence: But that afterwards disapproving the Situation, he left his Works unfinish’d, and settled at Byzantium; and being wonderfully taken with the Agreeableness of the Place, he judged it in all respects to be very commodious for an Imperial Seat. Thus far Zosimus, a great Favourite of Julian the Apostate, and an inveterate Enemy to Constantine on the account of his Religion; to whose Sentiments I have so perfect an Aversion, that I cannot give the least Credit to those Enormities he charges him with, and of which he had the greatest Abhorrence, as being a Prince of remarkable Clemency and Goodness, which I am capable of proving abundantly, but that it would prove too great a Digression in the present History. The Truth of it is, that Sozomen and Evagrius both have sufficiently refuted these malicious Reflections. In these Calumnies, I say, I entirely differ from Zosimus, yet in his Description of the Extent, and Compass of the City, I am wholly in his Opinion; who, though an Enemy to Constantine, yet is forced to acknowledge him to have built so large, so noble, so magnificent a City. I am the more induced to give Credit to his History in this Respect, because he lived many Ages nearer to the Time of Constantine than our modern Monks, who, in the Books they have written of Constantinople, give the following Account of it; namely, that Constantine built a Wall from the Tower of Eugenius (which was the Boundary of old Byzantium) to St. Anthony’s Church, and the Church of the Blessed Virgin, call’d Rabdon, quite up to the Exacionion; and that at a Mile’s Distance, it passed on to the old Gates of the Church of St. John the Baptist, stretching itself farther to the Cistern of Bonus, from whence it extended itself to the Armation, and so winded round to St. Anthony’s Church again. I should give my self the Trouble to examine this Account, but that I know the Authors are so fabulous, that they are no ways to be depended upon. But this I look upon to be an intolerable Blunder, that they place the Church of St. John Baptist within the Walls built by Constantine, whereas for many Years after his Death it continued without the City: Of which, and many other Errors, I shall take Notice in the following History.

Chap. IV.

       Of the present Figure, Compass, Length and Breadth of Constantinople.

       Table of Contents

      THE Figure of Constantinople is triangular, the Base of which is that Part of it which lies Westward: The top Angle points to the East, where the Peninsula begins. But both the Sides of this Triangle are not equal; for that Side which lies westward winds round the Angle of the Bay in the Figure of a Half-Moon. At a great Distance from thence, it winds about again from North to South. But the South Side of this Triangle veers about to such a Breadth, that if you should draw a strait Line from one Angle of it to the other, it would cut off a Creek, which, in the Middle of it, is at least a quarter of a Mile over. But that Side which faces the North, and is call’d Ceras, the Bay or Horn, should you draw a strait Line over it from one Angle to another, it would cut off not only the whole Bay, but also a part of Galata. For this Side inflects inwards in such a manner, that from each Point it circulates in the Form of a Bow, having two smaller Windings of the same Figure in the Middle of it, but lies inwardly into the Continent so far, that the two Horns or Ends of the Bow, which includes them, no ways intercept the Prospect of the Angles of the larger Arch. ’Tis upon this Account that Constantinople may rather seem to be of a triarcular, than a triangular Figure. For right Angles never project beyond their Sides, nor do they inflect inwards. But all semicircular Figures are in a manner both convex and concave also. So that if these three Angles, so far as they project beyond the main Body of the City, were divided from it, Constantinople would form a square oblong Figure, little more than a Mile broad, and almost three times as long. But be that as it will, all are of Opinion, that this City ought to be look’d upon to be of a triangular Figure, because it has three Sides; one of which that faces the Propontis, and the other on the side of the Thracian Continent, are of an equal Length; the third, adjoining to the Bay, is about a Mile shorter than the other two. This City is computed to be near thirteen Miles in Compass, although Laonicus Chalcondylus, in his History of the Ottomans, assures us, that Constantinople contain’d in Compass an hundred and eleven Furlongs; the Length of it, extending itself over the Promontory with six Hills, is no more than thirty Furlongs; but if the Figure of it was an equilateral Triangle, it would not be much above nine Miles in Circumference; and could we suppose its hilly Situation to be widen’d into one large Plain, yet then it would not be so large in Compass as the Inhabitants generally reckon it, viz. eighteen Miles. It is observable, that Constantinople does not contain more Bays of Building, as it is situate upon Hills, than it would if it were built upon a Plain; because you cannot so conveniently build upon a Declivity, as you can upon a Level. Nor does the Reason equally hold good, as to the Number of its Houses, and the Number of its Inhabitants. For Constantinople can contain more Men as it is seated upon Hills, than it could if it were seated on a Plain. The Breadth of this City varies in several Places. From the East to the Middle of it, ’tis at least a Mile in Breadth, but in no Place broader than a Mile and a half. It divides itself afterwards into two Branches, where ’tis almost as broad as ’tis long. I can compare it, as to its Figure, to nothing more properly than to an Eagle stretching out his Wings, and looking obliquely to the left, upon whose Beak stands the first Hill, where is the Grand Seignor’s Palace. In his Eye stands the Church of St. Sophia; on the lower part of the Head is the Hippodrom; upon his Neck are the second and third Hills, and the remaining part of the City fill up his Wings, and his whole Body.

Chap. V.

       A general Description of Constantinople.

       Table of Contents

      Constantinople takes up in Compass the whole Peninsula, which contains seven Hills, of which the eastern Angle of the City includes one, having its Rise at the Promontory, which Pliny calls Chrysoceras, and Dionysius a Byzantian, Bosporium. The first Hill is divided from the second by a broad Valley; the Promontory of Bosporium contains the other six, extending itself from the Entrance of the Peninsula on the East, full West with a continued Ridge, but somewhat convex’d, and hangs over the Bay. Six Hills and five Valleys shoot from the right Side of it, and ’tis divided only by the third and fifth Valleys on the left Side of it, which is all upon the Descent, and has only some small Hills and Vales, which are more steep than the Hills themselves. It has also two Windings which take their Rise from the Top of the first Hill, from whence it ascends by Degrees almost to another Winding, which begins from the Top of the third Hill, where sinking into a gentle Descent, it admits the Valley, which lies between the third and the fourth Hill. From thence it rises again with a moderate Ascent, and continues upon a Level westward almost to the Urbicion, where it rises again. The Plains adjoining to the Promontory differ as to their Level. Those that divide the Promontory at the Top, and those at the Foot of it, are very uneven in many Places. The Plain at the Top of the first Hill is seven hundred Paces in Length, and two hundred in Breadth. Shooting hence, it rises almost insensibly to the Top of the second Hill, where ’tis five hundred СКАЧАТЬ