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Constantinople and Its Hinterland Papers From The Twenty Seventh Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies Oxford April 1993 Cyril Mango
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CONSTANTINOPLE AND
ITS HINTERLAND
Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies
Publications
3
CONSTANTINOPLE AND
ITS HINTERLAND
Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
VARIORUM
1995
First published 1995 by Ashgate Publishing
Copyright © 1995 by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies Hon.
Secretary, Dr M.E. Mullett, Dept of Greek & Latin, The Queen's
University of Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT7 INN
v
vi CONTENTS
vii
viii PREFACE
Cyril Mango
Oxford, November 1994
List of Abbreviations
AA Archaologischer Anzeiger
AASS Acta Sanctorum
ABSA Annual of the British School at Athens
AE L'Année Épigraphique
AJA American Journal of Archaeology
An Boll Analecta Bollandiana
Anna Comnena Anna Comnena, Alexiad, ed. and tr. B. Leib, 3 vols
(Paris, 1937-45)
Att. Michael Attaleiates (or Attaleiotes), Historia, éd. I.
Bekker, CSHB (Bonn, 1853)
Barisic, 'Siege' F. Barisic 'Le Siège de Constantinople par les Avares
et les Slaves en 626', Byz 24 (1954), 371-95.
BCH Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
BiblGeogArab Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum, ed. M.J. de Goeje
(Leiden, 1873-9)
BR-GK Bericht der Romisch-Germanischen Kommission
BSI Byzantinoslavica
ByzF Byzantinische Forschungen
ByzSt Byzantine Studies/Études byzantines
BZ Byzantinische Zeitschrift
CahArch Cahiers Archéologiques
Chron. Pasch. Chronicon Paschale, ed. L. Dindorf, CSHB (Bonn, 1832)
CJ Codex Justinianus in Corpus luris Civilis, vol.2, ed. P.
Kriiger, 15th ed. (Dublin-Zurich, 1970)
Const. Porph., TT Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Three Treatises on
Imperial Military Expeditions, ed. tr. and comm. J.F.
Haldon, CFHB 28 (Vienna, 1990)
CTh Codex Theodosianus, éd. Th. Mommsen and P. Meyer
(Berlin, 1905)
Dagron, Constantinople G. Dagron, Constantinople Imaginaire (Paris, 1984)
Dagron, Naissance G. Dagron, Naissance d'une capitale. Constantinople et ses
institutions de 330 à 451 (Paris, 1974)
IX
X ABBREVIATIONS
Druzipera
LONG WALLS
Tzurullon
SELYMBRIA
Raidestos
PERINTHOS
HËRACLEIA
Sea of Marmara
Proconnesos
Pegaé
CYZIKOS
Megas Agros
Lake Apollomas
<200m <600m
The hinterland
CONSTANTINOPLE
Chalcedon
Rhegion
Prinkipo
Nicomedia
Cape Akritas
Kibotos
Pylai
Kios
Nicaea;
Medikion
Prusa
0 100km
of Constantinople
Constantinople
1. Introduction
C. Mango
From Constantinople and its Hinterland, ed. Cyril Mango and Gilbert Dagron. Copyright ©
1995 by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies. Published by Variorum, Ashgate
Publishing Ltd, Gower House, Croft Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU11 3HR, Great Britain.
1
2 C. MANGO
2
Ignatius diaconus, ep.46, ed. M.I. Gedeon, Néa |3i.[3Xi.o9f|KT| eKKXriaLaaTLKUi1 CTuyypa^eui'
(Constantinople, 1903), col.48.
3
Zonaras, Hist., Praef., éd. L. Dindorf (Leipzig, 1868), I, 5; cf. IX.31, Dindorf, II, 339.
4
Epanagoge, IV.4. Cf. L. Bréhier, Les institutions de l'Empire byzantin (Paris, 1949), 188.
INTRODUCTION 3
was, furthermore, the belt of country in which the richer citizens often owned
property.5
Let us look more carefully at the map to understand some of the
advantages and constraints that geography imposed on the development
of Constantinople. 'A situation unrivalled by any other in the world', The
bridge that unites Europe to Asia', The crossroads of the universe', 'One
of the brightest gems in the diadem of nature' — such expressions have
been repeated over the centuries from one travel book to another. And so
the conviction has grown that Constantinople was destined by virtue of
its setting to become the capital of an empire extending over both Europe
and Asia. By choosing it as his seat, Constantine made not only the right
decision, but the obvious decision. Great men, it seems, have the gift,
denied to lesser mortals, of seeing the obvious.
And yet, was his decision so natural after all? The ancient Greek colony
of Byzantium had existed 1,000 years before Constantine, and although it
had played a notable part in Greek history, never became a really big and
important city. For a shrewd assessment of the matter we may consult the
historian Polybius, who lived in the second century B.C. 'The site of
Byzantium', he writes,
is as regards the sea more favourable to security and prosperity than that of
any other city in the world, but as regards the land it is most disadvantageous
in both respects. For, as concerning the sea, it completely blocks the mouth of
the Pontus in such a manner that no merchant can sail in or out without the consent
of the Byzantines. They have control over the supply of products from the Black
Sea, namely cattle, slaves, honey, wax and preserved fish traded for oil and wine.
As for corn, they sometimes export it and at other times import it.6
The disadvantage of the site in the eyes of Polybius was that it lay at the
mercy of the Thracian barbarians who could devastate, whenever they so
wished, the land owned by Byzantium.
Polybius saw clearly that the natural role of Byzantium was to serve as
the gateway for trade with the Black Sea basin. The current of the Bosphorus
carries all ships to Byzantium whether they like it or not, while it bypasses
the rival city of Chalcedon (modern Kadikóy) situated on the Asiatic shore.
But was trade with the Black Sea an important factor in the fourth century
when Constantine founded his capital? The answer is probably negative,
for the Greek colonies dotted along the northern shore, colonies that had
prospered earlier on, had collapsed in the third century under the onslaught
of the Goths. Paradoxically, it was only at infrequent intervals that Con-
stantinople was able to fulfil its natural trading role. This may have
5
'Constantinople Viewed from the Eastern Provinces', Harvard Ukrainian Studies 3/4, pt.2
(1979-80), 718ff. = Ideology, Letters and Culture in the Byzantine World (London, 1982), Study VI.
6
Polybius IV.38.lff.
4 C. MANGO
happened on a small scale in the ninth and following centuries when Black
Sea navigation was opened up by the Russian Vikings. It happened again
under Genoese control in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but when
the Genoese had been ousted by the Ottoman Turks, the Black Sea was
practically closed to international commercial traffic and remained so until
the foundation of Odessa by Catherine the Great of Russia.
Maritime links with west and south were a different matter. In the days
of Polybius, as in the days of Demosthenes, Byzantium was a point of trans-
mission of products destined for or originating from the Aegean basin.
Constantine's enormous city created instead a centre of consumption of
goods coming mostly from the south. The all-important problem of pro-
visioning is discussed by Professor Durliat, and it is enough to say now
that the Egyptian corn which fed the population until the early seventh
century not only had to travel a distance of 1,000 miles, but also had to be
conveyed up the Dardanelles during a season when the prevailing winds
were northerly. The pagan Eunapius, referring to the time of Constantine,
observes that 'the site of Byzantium is not adapted for the approach of ships
that touch there, except when a strong wind is blowing due from the
south'7 — which it hardly ever does during the normal season of navigation.
As a result the populace was in constant danger of going hungry until a
highly elaborate infrastructure of storage and unloading facilities had been
built up.
Another consideration may be worth mentioning. In the period of the
Tetrarchy, i.e. at the end of the third century A.D., the Roman emperors
set up a number of provincial capitals in which they periodically resided.
The military importance of the Straits did not escape their attention and
two new imperial residences were established, one at Nicomedia (Izmit)
about 100 km east of Byzantium, the other at Perinthos, renamed Heraclea,
an equal distance to the west. Diocletian, the senior emperor, habitually
lived at Nicomedia, where he initiated important public work, 'striving',
we are told, 'to make it the equal of Rome'.8 Why, we may ask, were
Nicomedia and Heraclea elevated to imperial status and Byzantium passed
over? If Byzantium was perceived as possessing such overwhelming natural
advantages, was Diocletian too blind to see them?
Following Polybius, let us now look at the land. Constantinople is situated
in Thrace, a part of the world that was regarded at the time as being rude
and barbarous. It was on the edge of the civilized world, had a cold climate
by Mediterranean standards and was subject to earthquakes. The tapering
tongue of land, at whose eastern extremity Constantinople lies, is wind-
swept, rolling country with two mountain ranges, both running east-west:
7
Vitae sophistarum, ed. Boissonade (Paris, 1845), 462.
8
Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum, ed. and tr. J.L. Creed (Oxford, 1984), VII.8-10.
INTRODUCTION 5
9
Themistius, O.13.167d (A.D.377), ed. H. Schenkl and G. Downey (Leipzig, 1965).
10
Cf. our remarks in TM 12 (1994), 143ff.
6 C. MANGO
not pay the price for it, but his immediate successors had to do so in the
form of immensely expensive works of engineering and a diversion of funds
on a huge scale to make sure that the imperial capital was properly supplied
and defended. Great men place great burdens on their descendants. Once
the investment had been made in the fifty to eighty years after Constantine's
death, it was too late to change course, i.e. to relocate the capital. And so
there inevitably grew up a new pattern of relationships both on the micro-
and the macro-geopolitical stage. What these relationships came to be is
the subject we should like to explore in this symposium.
Section I:
C. Mango
1
See P. Leveau and J.-L. Paillet, L'alimentation en eau de Caesarea de Maurétanie et l'aqueduc
de Cherchel (Paris, 1976), 15ff., 166; P.-A. Février, 'Armée et aqueducs' in J.-P. Boucher, éd.,
Journées d'études sur les aqueducs romains (Paris, 1983), 137ff.; B.D. Shaw, The Noblest Monuments
and the Smallest Things' in A. Trevor Hodge, éd., Future Currents in Aqueduct Studies (Leeds,
1991), 66ff.
From Constantinople and its Hinterland, ed. Cyril Mango and Gilbert Dagron. Copyright ©
1995 by the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies. Published by Variorum, Ashgate
Publishing Ltd, Gower House, Croft Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, GUI 1 3HR, Great Britain.
9
10 C. MANGO
2
The 'holy fountains' of the city (many of which are wells or cisterns) are listed by N.
Atzemoglou, T" ayiáo\ia-ra TT)? TTóXris1 (Athens, 1990).
3
K.O. Dalman, Der Valens-Aquadukt in Konstantinopel (Bamberg, 1933), 34f.
4
See tables in A. Trevor Hodge, Roman Aqueducts and Water Supply (London, 1992), 347.
5
A.M. Schneider and W. Karnapp, Die Stadtmauer von Iznik (Nicaea) (Berlin, 1938), 44f. and
inscriptions 10 and 18.
6
Ep. 10.37-38, detailing previous attempts and expenditure incurred. Cf. 10.90 regarding
Sinope.
7
CJ XI.43.6 (a.440?); Malalas, ed. L. Dindorf, CSHB (Bonn, 1831), 435-6; Chron. Pasch., 619.
8
Dalman, Der Valens-Aquadukt, 28 ff.; S. Eyice, 'Byzantinische Wasserversorgungslagen in
Istanbul', Leichtweiss Inst. fur Wasserbau Braunschweig, Hft. 64 (1979), 5f., fig.2.
THE WATER SUPPLY 11
9
1 owe this information to Professor Dogan Kuban, who has carried out soundings by the
piers of the 'aqueduct of Valens'.
10
C. Mango, Le développement urbain de Constantinople (IVe-VIIsiècle),2nd éd. (Paris, 1990),
20;henceforward Développement.
11
The only statement to that effect, namely that 'the aqueduct of the big arches' was built
by Valens, is found in the highly unreliable Patria in Scriptures originum Constantinopolitanarum,
éd. T. Preger, II (Leipzig, 1907), 188, §69.
12
Themistius, Or.13,167d (a.377).
13
Chron. Pasch., 534.
14
Ed. R. Helm, Griech. christl. Schriftsteller 47 (1956), 247.
THE WATER SUPPLY 13
15
Or.l3.168a-b.
16
Script, orig. CP, 1,4.13.
17
Voyage dans la Turquie d'Europe (Paris, 1868), II, 291, 302; album, pl.19, fig.2.
18
S.Th. Lakides,'I aropia rf\c eirapxías' BiCúrp KOÙ MiriSetaç (Constantinople, 1899), 30f.
19
Thrakika 12 (1939), 34.
20
P.M. Oreskov, 'Vizantijski starini okolo Carigrad', Spisanie na Bülg. Akad. na Naukite 10
(1915), 71 ff.
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Transcriber’s Notes
pg 53 Changed: change is produced in the convertion
to: change is produced in the conversion
pg 85 Changed: by forcing one to breath more rapidly
to: by forcing one to breathe more rapidly
pg 89 Changed: bile salts, mucus, animo acids
to: bile salts, mucus, amino acids
pg 126 Changed: his green apples, excrutiating pains
to: his green apples, excruciating pains
pg 127 Changed: are not easly broken
to: are not easily broken
pg 137 Changed: while the herbiverous animals live upon cereals
to: while the herbivorous animals live upon cereals
pg 174 Changed: milk seems to make some people billious
to: milk seems to make some people bilious
pg 191 Changed: resultant happinees of every family
to: resultant happiness of every family
pg 194 Changed: retain the moisure
to: retain the moisture
pg 215 Changed: retain hody heat and furnish energy
to: retain body heat and furnish energy
pg 247 Changed: the secretion of hydrodiloric acid
to: the secretion of hydrochloric acid
pg 287 Changed: Petonized; boiled;
to: Peptonized; boiled;
pg 299 Changed: 30.78 grams, is corbohydrate
to: 30.78 grams, is carbohydrate
pg 305 Changed: Achlochlorhydria, 248
to: Achlorhydria, 248
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