Alessandra Ricci A RESILIENT LANDSCAPE: THE LAND WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS Τα χερσαία τείχη της Κωνσταντινούπολης, που ανε- The land walls of Constantinople, built in the early γέρθηκαν στις αρχές του 5ου αιώνα, ενίσχυσαν ου- years of the 5th century, substantially reinforced the σιαστικά την άμυνα της πόλης, ενώ συνέβαλαν στη city’s defenses while contributing to the creation of δημιουργία της αστικής της ταυτότητας. Αυτό το άρ- the capital’s urban identity. This paper considers a θρο εξετάζει ένα θέμα που θίγεται σπάνια, τη χρήση rarely touched-upon subject, that of the usage of agri- χώρων για αγροτικές καλλιέργειες εντός των τειχών cultural spaces within the land walls and their imme- και στα περίχωρά τους. Η παρουσία σήμερα κηπου- diate vicinity. The presence of horticultural activities ρικών δραστηριοτήτων σε ορισμένα τμήματα του τεί- noted along present-day sections of the land walls χους αντιπροσωπεύει την άυλη μνήμη προτύπων που represents the intangible memory of patterns of usage μπορούν να ανιχνευθούν στην περίοδο της ύστερης now traceable to the Late Antique period. αρχαιότητας. Λέξεις κλειδιά Keywords Ύστερη αρχαιότητα, αγροτικές καλλιέργειες, οχυρωματική Late Antique period; Agriculture; defensive architecture; en- αρχιτεκτονική, περιβαλλοντική αρχαιολογία, χερσαία τεί- vironmental archaeology; Land Walls; Gardens; Constan- χη, κήποι, Κωνσταντινούπολη. tinople. Despite the multitude of surviving architectural arti and masons Economic History of facts1 By zantium tifications spread across the diversified lands of the for tance of donors2 names and those involved at other levels s most ico nic monu * Department of Archaeology and History of Art, Koç University (Istanbul), [email protected] - . In his essay for the ** I would, the like vast to thankmajority Zeynep of Ahunbaywhich is for represented the information by forgen- , Charalambos Bouras interpreted the ab sen ce 3 erously shared about work conducted at tower 4 on the land walls;- of builders’ names and master craftsmen as a featu re of merJim Crow Byzantine for exchanges Empire, on thelittle water is knownsupply system; about Varlik the “hand” İndere Byzantium, their contributions surpassed by the impor- for help on the drawings; the library staff of the British School 3. Uluslararası Ta rihi of their architects, or the practices of the master builders ’ at Athens for their support offered during preparation of this text Yarımada Sempozyumu. Tebliğler Kitabı and for having made accessible the work by J. B. Lechevalier for of the architectural project . This contribution touches publication. Lastly, my gratitude goes to the Alexander S. Onassis upon one ofMaster Byzantine Builders architecture of Byzantium’ - Foundation for the fellowship opportunity, which allowed me to ments, the land walls of Constantinople, whose architects, spend research time in Athens (2016-2017). A. Ricci, “Istanbul’da Manevi Kültürel Miras: Kara Surlarının Bi- zans2 Bahçeleri” (“Intangible Cultural Heritage in Istanbul: the Ca- The Economic History se of the Land Walls’ Byzantine Orchards”), , Istanbul 2008, 66-67. ΔΧΑΕ R. Ousterhout, “The Mysterious Disappearing Architect and His3 Patron”, , Princeton University 1 Press, 1999, 39-57 where 34 individual names of architects only are attested from the 4th to the 15th centuries. Ch. Bouras, “Master Craftsmen, Craftsmen, and Building Ac- DChAE_39_5_Ricci.inddA preliminary 125 note on some aspects of this research appeared in, tivities in Byzantium”, A. E. Laiou (ed.), 30/4/2018 4:37:03 μμ ΛΘ΄ (2018), 125-138 125 ALESSANDRA RICCI antine and Ottoman times s prevailing master builders and masons, as with other buildings, are and symbolic landmark, it can be imagined that con- unknown to us. This paper seeks to represent a humble. Nes struction of the land walls in the 5th century must have tribute to Charalambos Bouras’ contribution to our bet- not only changed the perception of the urban space now 4 ter understanding of Byzantine architecture. extended to the west by 1.5 km from the Constantinian The land walls of Constantinople displayed an ar- walls, but that it must have also contributed to a radical chitectural and functional resilience throughout Byz- alteration of the cityscape. 5 . With their monumentality, Following are some considerations on the interplay orsubstantially those of the they Sycae contributed to the city’ . between the land walls and their surrounding landscape, mode of representation as a suspended urban ‘contain- and on some of the contemporary communities’ modes of er’, both in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods - adaptation to their construction. The main focus will be tled in an ostensibly strategic position, surrounded by on the usage of space within and around the land walls an exceptional geographical setting, the city is typically since their construction, a subject rarely considered when 6 rendered as tightly enclosed to the West by its monu- examining the monument. Although the land walls stand mental land walls, the sea walls encircling its shores and as a key monument for the study of diachronic archi- with little consideration for anything outside its walls tecture, and represent a powerful historical palimpsest (Galata) district, across the city spanning across rivaling empires and preserving tangible of Byzantium. From the Seventh through the Fifteenth Century Whether observed from the waters of the Marmara Sea, Landscapesigns of relations and ratherthe construction than disconnections, their con- from the Golden Horn, or from the Thracian country- ofstruction the land must walls have also been perceived as a large-scale 7 side,Bildlexikon until the zur more Topographie recent Istanbuls.unregulated Byzantion-Konstanti expansion of- manipulation of the environment. Hence, it appears rea- modernnopolis-Istanbul Istanbul bis the zum land Begin walls des of 17. Constantinople Jahrhunderts visual- sonable to focus on the temporal arc of the 5th century, ly and physically conveyed the limits of the urban space when the defensive system’s project and construction Buildings and4 its mighty defenses . As a powerful monumental took place and the monument was newly built. (DOS XXXIX), Washington, D.C. 2002, 2, 539-554, in part. 539. A rare cross-historical survey of the monument in, W. Müller-Wie- ner,5 Istanbul Land Walls World Heritage Site. With a Special Focus on , Tübingen Two Romes. Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity the Historic Yedikule Vegetable Gardens (Yedikule Bostanları). Re- 1977, 286-300. portThe Presentedland walls to stretchedthe United forNations circa Educational, 6.5 km from Scientific the sea and of See, for example a passage in, Procopius, , H. B. Dewing 8 MarmaraCultural Organization to the Golden (UNESCO), Horn, forming one of the most trans. (The Loeb Classical Library, Procopius VIII), Harvard Uni- elaborate defensive systems of Antiquity while also defin- versity Press, 1954, iv, 2-3, 57. Other cities in Late Antiquity are represented as encircled by strong walls in coinage issues see, L. ing the extension of the largest metropolis of Late Antiq- Grig, “Competing Capitals, Competing Representations: Late An- uity . When observed from the countryside, the defensive RIA Die Landmau- tique6 Cityscapes in Words and Pictures”, L. Grig – G. Kelly (eds), er von Konstantinopel (Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity), Oxford 2012, 31-52. Die A remarkable example is represented by the early 15th-century 8 Istanbul, 2014, electronic docu- Landmauer von Konstantinopel-Istanbul: historisch- topogra phi- map of Constantinople by the Florentine cartographer Cristoforo ment, https://oxfordbyzantinesociety.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/ sche und baugeschichtliche Untersuschungen Buondelmonti7 and its reception, C. Barsanti, “Costantinopoli e report_land_walls_whs.pdf, accessed, 5.02.2018. l’Egeo nei primi decenni del XV secolo: la testimonianza di Cris- The monument was the object of a systematic architectural sur- A Report of Concern on the Conservation Issues of the toforo Buondelmonti,” , ser. 3, 24 (2001), 83-253. vey in the 1930s, B. Meyer-Plath – A. M. Schneider, For example, the vast repertoire of images by N. V. Artamonoff (Denkmäler Antiker Architektur VI, VIII), taken in the mid-1930s: http://images.doaks.org/artamonoff/collec- 2 vols, Berlin 1943, with no subsequentΔΧΑΕ comprehensive survey. tions/show/29 accessed, 5.02.2018. In 1985 the land walls were in- For a recent study of the monument, N. Asutay-Effenberger, scribed in the UNESCO world heritage list: http://whc.unesco.org/ en/list/356 (accessed, 5.02.2018). For a recent assessment of the land (Millennium- Studi- walls and it surrounding environment, F. Kıvılcım – A. Aksoy – en 18), Berlin 2007 with earlier bibliography. The Koç Universi- DChAE_39_5_Ricci.inddA. Ricci, 126 ty-Stavros Niarchos Foundation for Late Antique and Byzantine30/4/2018 4:37:05 μμ ΛΘ΄ (2018), 125-138 126 THE LAND WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS Fig. 1. Constantinople. The land walls seen from south-west with the ditch, outer wall and inner wall, tower 25 in the foreground. earth terraces that are placed in front of the outer and in 10 system comprised, from west to east, three architec- likely that, in order to accommodate these architectural tural elements and two earth structures (Figs 1, 2). A and earth features on such a large scale, the general proj- wide ditch with internally buttressed walls was crossed ect was carefully planned and executed . More specifi- by stone bridges corresponding to most of the 12 doc- cally, the terrain had to be progressively. prepared, with umented gates that led to an outer earth .terrace, It is therefore whose earth removed from the ditch likely used to create the two exact inclination has not been determined. An outer wall - Tech- equipped with towers and gates was linked to the outer ner walls. Although this form of terrain preparation does nology in Transition. A.D. 360-650 terrace as well as to an inner, more compact earth terrace. not compare with the typology of land retention terraces 11 Lastly, an inner defensive line was marked by two-story built in the city, it provides a valuable parameter for the 9 towers and gates.