14 regions of Constantinople

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The ancient city of

Latin: regiones). The system of fourteen regiones was modelled on the fourteen regiones of Rome, a system introduced by the first Roman emperor Augustus
in the 1st century AD.

After Emperor

original city walls
.

The 14 regions

Regio I

The area of the Ist regio was defined by the

augusta Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius I and husband of first Athaulf and then Constantius III.[1] A House of the Nobilissima Marina (Domum nobilissimae Marinae) was probably named for Marina, a daughter of Galla Placidia's brother Arcadius augustus, who himself gave his name to the Baths of Arcadius, (Thermas Arcadianas) described by Procopius.[1][2]

Regio II

The IInd regio was the site of

Ancient Greek: Κυνήγιον) and which was probably eastward of the acropolis, near the site of the kitchens of the Topkapı Palace.[3]
Both theatre and amphitheatre pre-existed Constantine's re-foundation of the city.

Regio III

The IIIrd regio was largely filled with the large

circus, called the Hippodrome, which was Constantinople's equivalent of the Circus Maximus in Rome.[6] Its southern edge was the harbour that Zosimus called the "harbour of Julian", otherwise known as the Kontoskalion.[6][7] Its northern limit was marked by the first stretch of the Mese odos - the main city thoroughfare running east–west - from its origin at the Milion to the Forum of Constantine.[6] It apparently included a tribune on the southern edge of that forum, which itself lay at the junction of regiones VI, VII, and VIII.[6] There was also the semi-circular colonnaded area known as the Sigma, which Zosimus likewise attributed to Julian.[6][7] The Cistern of Philoxenos was located there, as was the later Justinianic Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, and a residence named for the augusta Pulcheria (Domum Pulcheriae Augustae).[6]

Regio IV

The IVth regio was the site of the

Saint Menas, and the Scala Timasii, a quay apparently named for the 4th century general Timasius, victor of the Battle of the Frigidus.[8]

Regio V

The Vth regio was a commercial district bounded by the Golden Horn to the north and the Mese odos to the south.[10] The Notitia says of it in the early 5th century: "in this Region are contained the buildings that supply the city with its necessities."[11] The Prosphorion Harbour (Portus Prosphorianus) - the 'import harbour' - was sited there.[10] There were four horrea: the olive oil warehouses (horrea olearia) the Horrea Troadensia, 'Troadensian warehouses', Horrea Valentiaca, 'warehouses of Valens', and the Horrea Constantiaca, 'warehouses of Constantius'.[10] Additionally, there was the Prytaneum and the Strategium, which probably were at the civic heart of old Byzantium.[10] The strategion was probably the agora of the classical city, likely named for the official seat of the strategoi there. In Constantine's city, the Strategium was large area; Theodosius I was able to build a forum complex with a "Theban obelisk" (obeliscus Thebaeus quadrus) within it and leave land to spare in which a market continued to be held; this came to be known as the Lesser Strategion.[10] The Cistern of Theodosius was nearby, and were two thermae named for members of the Theodosian dynasty: the Baths of Honorius and the Baths of Eudocia.[10] The Baths of Eudocia in the Notitia may have been the renamed Baths of Achilles after the marriage of Eudocia to Theodosius II in 421. In the Vth regio too was the ultimate terminus of the Via Egnatia, for the Chalcedonian quay was located here, from which ferries transported traffic to Chalcedon to join the road to Nicomedia and the Asian provinces.[10]

Regio VI

On the shore of the VIth regio were two maritime facilities on the Golden Horn, alongside the Vth regio's Prophorion Harbour.

Byzantine Senate on the forum's northern axis and the Column of Constantine at its centre.[12]

Regio VII

The VIIth regio was probably divided from the VIth by the line of the ancient walls of Byzantium; the VIth was within the old circuit, while the VIIth had been outside, though the obsolete walls themselves were probably gone before the 5th century. The VIIth regio was defined in the north by the Golden Horn and by the Mese odos to its south, running from the Forum of Constantine to the Forum of Theodosius, including the lost c. 50 m monumental Column of Theodosius.[14] With its spiral carvings and its spiral staircase (mentioned by the Notitia) like Trajan's Column, it was very likely the tallest Roman column anywhere.[14] It contained a number of colonnaded streets perpendicular to the Mese odos that lead north–south towards the Golden Horn. The VIIth regio had three churches named by the Notitia as the churches of Irene, Anastasia, and Saint Paul of Constantinople.[14] It also names a "Baths of Carosa" (Thermas Carosianas), named for a daughter of Valens.[14][15]

Regio VIII

The VIIIth regio was among the smallest regiones, and one of only two

Roman feet.[17] The Notitia omits mention of the Arch of Theodosius in this forum, but it stood on its southwestern corner and the Mese must have passed under it there. The regio included the Capitolium of Constantinople.[16]

Regio IX

Like the regiones on the shore of the Golden Horn, the IXth regio was a commercial quarter on the southern edge of the Byzantine peninsula, with two horrea mentioned by the Notitia.

Ancient Greek: Καινόπολις, lit.'new city'), which perhaps marked the site of a pre-Constantinian extramural settlement of Byzantium.[18] Caenopolis was close by the Forum of Theodosius; roof tiles from the Basilica there are reported to have blown to Caenopolis during a storm recorded by the Chronicon Paschale.[19] The Notitia also mentions the Baths of Anastasia (Thermas Anastasianas) and the Domum nobilissimae Arcadiae, 'House of the nobilissima Arcadia'.[18]

Regio X

The Xth regio was the site of the Nympheum Maius, a nymphaeum connected with the end of the Aqueduct of Valens.[20] The Baths of Constantine (Thermas Constantianas) in the Xth regio were here, on the right-hand side of the Mese odos's northward branch.[20] These may have been the baths referred to by Eusebius as having been built by Constantine I near his tomb, but it is more likely that construction of these thermae was begun by his son Constantius II; they were not finished for many years afterwards.[21] Three imperial residences were named by the Notitia: the Domum Augustae Placidiae, 'House of Placidia augusta', the Domum Augustae Eudociae, 'House of Eudocia augusta', and the Domum nobilissimae Arcadiae, 'House of the nobilissima Arcadia'.[20] Furthermore, there was the "Church or Martyrium of Saint Acacius" (Ecclesia sive martyrium sancti Acacii).[20] The Xth regio was a roughly square area in the city's northwest, beside the Golden Horn, separated from the IXth regio by "a wide road that is like a river flowing between them" (platea magna velut fluvio dividitur); this likely referred to the Mese, although it is possible that the Notitita's text originally referred to the boundary with the VIIIth regio and has subsequently become corrupt.[20]

Regio XI

The XIth regio – to the southwest of the Xth regio and north of the XIIth – was among the largest regiones, and one of only two land-locked regiones (with the VIIIth regio).[22] Most notably it was the regio of the Church of the Holy Apostles, originally built as the mausoleum of Constantine and named as the Martyrium Apostolorum, 'Martyrium of the Apostles' in the Notitia.[22] This stood on the top of Constantinople's IVth Hill, one of the highest points within the Constantinian Walls and over 60 m above sea level. (The site is now the Fatih Mosque, Istanbul.) From here, it extended all the way to the Mese odos's southern branch, where the Brazen bull (Bovem aereum) stood in the Notitia's day, a site later known as the Βοῦς, Boûs, 'Bull' or the Forum Bovis, 'Forum of the Bull', though it was not named as a forum by the Notitia.[22][23] It does name two palaces in the XIth regio: the residences of Aelia Flaccilla (Palatium Flaccillianum), first wife of Theodosius I, and of the augusta Pulcheria (Domum Augustae Pulcheriae), co-empress with her brother Theodosius II.[22] The regio also contained two cisterns named by the Notitia: the Cistern of Modestus and the Cistern of Arcadius.[22]

Regio XII

The southwestern corner of the walled city was occupied by the XIIth regio.[24] It contained the Golden Gate, which marked the entrance to the city from nearby Rhegium along a route established by Constantine. From the Golden Gate the southern branch of the Mese odos ran to the Forum of Theodosius established by Theodosius I; the street was probably entirely flanked by colonnades (the porticus Troadenses, 'Troadesian porticoes') and the Chronicon Paschale even described the Constantinian Walls as 'Troadesian walls'.[24][25] Between the Golden Gate and the Forum of Theodosius I there was the Forum of Arcadius, in which stood the Column of Arcadius, though because this Forum was completed in the reign of Arcadius's successor Theodosius II it too was known as a forum of Theodosius.[24] On the coast of the XIIth regio was the Harbour of Theodosius, later named the Harbour of Eleutherios.[24] Shielded by the security of the Golden Gate and the Walls, the Constantinopolitan mint established by Constantine I was located here.[24]

Regio XIII

The XIIIth regio was outside the walled city of Constantinople. It stood on the opposite bank of the Golden Horn, at Sycae, later called Pera and Galata, and now Beyoğlu.[26] Regular ferries connected it with the metropolis, and settlement was clustered around a single main street on the shoreline, above which rose the steep terrain.[26] It had a theatre, probably dating from Sycae's time as an independent city outside Byzantium.[26] There were, additionally, a Forum of Honorius and the Baths of Honorius (Thermas Honorianas). Besides these, the shipyard or docks (navalia) were sited in the XIIIth regio.[26]

Sycae was renamed Justinianopolis (

Medieval Greek: Ἰουστινιανούπολις, Latin: Iustinianopolis) after the emperor Justinian I, who also restored its ancient theatre.[27]
This suggests it maintained an existence quasi-independent from Constantinople proper.

Regio XIV

The location of the XIVth regio is uncertain. The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae was clear that the regio was outside the main circuit of the Walls, that it was contained within walls of its own at some remove from the peninsula, and that it appeared to be a city (civitatis) of its own.[28] Within were a church, a palace and a sports-field (lusorium), a theatre, a nymphaeum, public baths (thermae), and "bridge on wooden piles" (pontem sublicium sive ligneum).[28]

Eyüp or Silahtarağa, since both places had a bridge in the past, though Silahtarağa's bridge was over the Barbyses River rather than the Golden Horn, and Mango discredited the older prevailing suggestion that the XIVth regio referred to the area of Blachernae. Blachernae touched, and was later incorporated within, the city walls; this does not suit the Notitia's description of the regio as "separated from it [the city] by some distance lying between" (tamen quia spatio interiecto divisa est).[26]

Bibliography

Primary sources

Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitinae

Chronicon Paschale

Secondary sources

Mango, Marlia Mundell (2000). "The Commercial Map of Constantinople". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 54: 189–207.

JSTOR 1291839
.

Matthews, John (2012). "The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae". In Grig, Lucy; Kelly, Gavin (eds.). Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. pp. 81–115.

OCLC 796196995
.

.

References

  1. ^ a b c Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 230.
  2. ^ Procopius, de aedificiis, I:11.1-2
  3. ^ a b c d Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 231.
  4. ^ Procopius, de aedificiis, I:2.1
  5. ^ Chronicon Pashcale, s. a. 531 (621 Bonn.)
  6. ^ a b c d e f Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 231-232.
  7. ^ a b Zosimus, III:11.3
  8. ^ a b c d e f Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 232-233.
  9. ^ Procopius, de aedificiis, I:11.27
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 233-234.
  11. ^ Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 233.
  12. ^ a b c d Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 234-235.
  13. ^ Cassius Dio, Historia Romana, LXXV:10.5
  14. ^ a b c d Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 235-236.
  15. OCLC 59164561
    .
  16. ^ a b c Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 236.
  17. ^ Cedrenus, 1.609 (Bonn.)
  18. ^ a b c Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 236-237.
  19. ^ Chronicon Paschale, s. a. 404 (570 Bonn)
  20. ^ a b c d e Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 237-238.
  21. ^ Eusebius, vita Constantini, IV:59
  22. ^ a b c d e Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 238-239.
  23. JSTOR 1291839
    .
  24. ^ a b c d e Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 239.
  25. ^ Chronicon Paschale, s. a. 451 (590 Bonn)
  26. ^ a b c d e Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 240.
  27. ^ Chroncion Paschale, s. a. 528 (618 Bonn)
  28. ^ a b Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, 240-241.