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The Walls of Constantinople 2021 Walking Back in Time - The Walls of Constantinople 2021 Barry Mocke Introduction Located on a horn-shaped peninsula astride the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara, the imperial capital of Constantinople dominated the narrow waterway that divides Europe from Asia. The complexities of the geography provided both advantages and challenges to the site’s defence. A steep and rugged shoreline and the Sea of Marmara’s swift currents protected the southern coast. To the north, the Golden Horn was a natural anchorage and harbour. The Lycus River ran diagonally northwest to southeast across the peninsula, forming a narrow valley that sectioned the city into two distinct areas - a chain of six hills running along the Golden Horn to the north, and a single, larger hill to the south. For the most part, the many leaders and builders of the city succeeded in mastering the terrain and built a defence system that played a significant role in the history of the world. Constantinople has had a series of land walls and as the city expanded, different walls were constructed. 1. Byzantium Acropolis The original fortifications of the city were built in the 8th century BC when it was founded as Byzantium by Greek colonists from Megara, led by Byzas. At the time the city consisted of little more than an acropolis. Byzantium, despite being a prosperous trading post, was relatively unimportant during the Roman period, but featured prominently in the civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, holding out a Severan siege for three years (193-96 AD). 2. Severan Wall As punishment, Severus had the strong walls demolished and the city deprived of its status. He soon expanded the walls, appreciating the city's strategic importance, and endowed it with many monuments. 3. Constantinian Walls When Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, he greatly expanded the new city by building a new wall about 2.8 km (15 stadia) westwards of the Severan wall and incorporating even more territory. Constantine's fortification consisted of a single wall, reinforced with towers at regular distances, which was started in 324 and was completed under Constantine II. While these walls were able to defend the city from the Goths following their victory at the Battle of Adrianople in 378, it was becoming clearer that Constantine’s city walls were inadequate. Furthermore, the population had grown to the extent that new development of the city began to take place outside of the walls. Early in the reign of Theodosius II (408–50), the need for better defences at Constantinople became abundantly evident following the Sack of Rome by the Goths in 410. 4. Theodosian Walls (Greek Theodosianon Teichos) Frequently referred to as the Walls of Constantinople, the ruins that still enclose Istanbul, are the remnants of centuries of evolution. Awe-inspiring even in decay, they are a testament to the glory of Greco-Roman military art. The walls of Constantinople were the most famous of the medieval world, singular in scale, and their construction and design. Their principal composition was mortared rubble, faced with blocks of fitted limestone and reinforced by courses of layered red brick. To enhance the integrity of the overall network, the towers and walls were built independently of one another. The entire city was enclosed in a defensive circuit of 23km of walls, reinforced by more than 400 towers and bastions, and several strong points and fortresses. The strongest construction faced west, against an approach by land. Here on a 6.5km stretch of rolling land, stand the Theodosian Walls. Enemies had to attack a linear obstacle of four belts, each ascending above the other, with a total width of ~60m. The land walls glorify Theodosius I (408-450), the reigning Roman emperor at the time construction began. Anthemius, as prefect of the East, was the head of state for six years and it was he who conceived and carried out the massive and defining expansion of the city defences. His vision would provide a durable framework for a citadel that the new capital would need to overcome to survive challenges that lay ahead. The cornerstone of the new city fortifications was the massive land wall, represented by the inner wall, constructed in 413 (Phase 1 in the diagram). The Theodosian system was completed in 447 with the addition of an outer wall and moat (Phase 2 in the diagram) - a response to a near calamity, when a devastating earthquake seriously damaged the walls and toppled 57 towers at the time that Attila the Hun was preparing to attack Constantinople. The work was accomplished with the help of the city’s demoi (more widely known as the “circus factions”, the Blues and Greens) in 60 days. The scale and speed of this remarkable feat are incredible. This was not merely a reconstruction of the walls but also the extensive enlarging and reinforcing of the walls, by adding an outer wall and a moat. This would result in Constantinople having the most elaborate and complex urban fortifications in the ancient world. Over the centuries many of the city fathers improved the fortifications. Their names can be seen engraved on the stone - roughly 30 of them covering more than a millennium, illustrating the importance of these defences to the empire. While Attila withdrew from Constantinople to pursue easier prey, later invaders were not so easily discouraged. Persians, Avars, Saracens, Bulgarians, Russians and others tried to take the city. As the capital of a mighty empire, and at the crossroads between two continents, Constantinople represented to the early medieval world what Rome and Athens had meant in classical times. The ‘Queen of Cities,’ she was a magnet for the pilgrim, trader, and conqueror alike. Constantinople withstood besieging armies 17 times in a millennium. With each succeeding onslaught, the city became ever more the final stronghold of Greek civilisation. Behind her fortifications in the east, Christian Europe also took shelter. The Theodosian Walls - A Formidable Structure The main line of defence was the inner wall, 15m in height and 5m thick, with a battlemented parapet 1.5m high that was accessed by stone ramps. Along its course at ~55m intervals run 96 massive towers, each once capable of mounting the heaviest military engines of the day. A second, outer wall, ~10m high, is joined to this main wall by an elevated 20m terrace (the peribolos). The outer wall is also equipped with 96 bastions, each offset from the towers of the inner wall to avoid masking their fires. Subterranean passages run toward the city-avenues that presumably provided the defending troops with secure movement to and from a threatened area. From the outer wall extended another 15m terrace (the parateichion), ending in a 1.75m high parapet. This bordered a great moat, some 20m wide and 10m deep, supplied by an aqueduct system. To compensate for the rolling terrain, the moat was sectioned by several dams, which enabled it to retain even distribution of water along its length. The five public gates that traversed the moat by way of drawbridges were set narrowly into the walls and were flanked by towers and bastions. Any assault made on the outer gates would be attacking into the strength of the defence. The terraced nature of the defensive system, and the distance between strong points, ensured that an attacker, once within the network, was in a range from all immediate points in the defence. The land walls were anchored at both extremities by two fortresses. Along the Sea of Marmara, the first fortress behind the Golden Gate, Kastellion had five towers. It was destroyed after the first fall of the city to the Fourth Crusade (1204) and rebuilt in 1350. The new fort featured five octagonal towers, and together with the two marble towers of the Golden Gate, becoming known as the Seven Towers (later rebuilt in 1457 as Yedikule). In the north, along the Golden Horn, was the quarter of the Blachernae Palace, the residence of the later Byzantine emperors. It was gradually transformed into a massive fortress. To those two fortified points were adjoined the sea walls, similar in construction to the outer wall, of which little remains today. The wall contained 10 main gates, plus an unknown number of small posterns, which were usually walled up in the event of a siege. The five public gates led across the moat on bridges, while the five so-called "Military Gates", known initially only by their numbers, led to the outer sections of the walls. Vulnerabilities The weaknesses of the defences must have been obvious, since a series of attackers, beginning with the Avars, had tried to exploit them. The stretch of walls between the Gate of St Romanus and the Gate of Charisius, with a length of 1 250 metres, was known as the Mesoteichion ("Middle Wall"). It was considered the weakest part of the walls because the ground descended towards the valley of the Lycus River, and as a result, the walls lay lower than the opposing slopes. It was here that Mehmed II had placed most of his artillery, and as a result, much of this portion of the walls lies in ruins today. Another problem, far more perplexing, was the location of the Blachernae Palace, a neglected section in the original land walls. The fortifications there, while often improved, were never equal to the rest of the walls. Finally, the construction of the sea walls as a single-wall circuit reflected a reliance on natural obstacles and a navy. Provided the Byzantine fleet commanded the narrows of the Hellespont (Dardanelles) and the Bosphorus, an attack from that quarter was not to be feared.
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