Blachernae

Coordinates: 41°02′02″N 28°56′25″E / 41.03389°N 28.94028°E / 41.03389; 28.94028
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Blachernae (

Church of St. Mary of Blachernae (Panagia Blacherniotissa), built by Empress Pulcheria in c. 450, expanded by Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474) and renovated by Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) in the 6th century.[1]

Etymology

The Romanian philologist Ilie Gherghel wrote a study about Blachernae and concluded that it possibly derived from the name of a Vlach. (sometimes written as Blach or Blasi)[2] Gherghel compared data from old historians like Genesios and from the Greek lexicon Suidas and mentioned the existence of a small colony of Vlachs in the area of today Blachernae. Similar opinions were sustained by Lisseanu.[3] The name Blachernae appeared in a work of Theophanes the Confessor in connection with a revolt of Flavius Vitalianus against Emperor Anastasius I in 513.[4]

It is important to note, however, that Skarlatos Byzantios, in his influential work Constantinople Volume I, mentions the Greek tradition that the district was named after the fish species Lakernai, which the locals fished there in large quantities and called Blachernai.[5]

According to Ilie Gherghel, the word Vlach became known in the Germanic and Slavic world through the

Kastamonitou Monastery which was written in the 17th century but based on a 9th-century Byzantine source.[6]

Byzantine era

The quarter is recorded as regio XIV in the early 5th-century

Theodosian Walls, but the Church of St. Mary remained outside of the walls until 627, when Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) built another wall to enclose it.[1] By that time, the church had become the major Marian shrine of the city,[1] and the second-most important church in Constantinople after Hagia Sophia, if only because the emperors' residence was nearby. In 1347, Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–1354) was crowned
there, instead of at Hagia Sophia.

South of the church and situated on the city's Seventh Hill stood the imperial

Bucoleon Palace, the Palaiologos emperors of the restored Byzantine Empire again used the Blachernae Palace as their main residence.[1] The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Turkish: Tekfur Sarayı) and the so-called Prison of Anemas
are the main surviving structures of the Palace of Blachernae, which was a complex of multiple buildings.

Following the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in May 1453, the Sultan's residence was moved to Topkapı Palace on the site of the ancient acropolis of Byzantium, opposite to the original site of the Great Palace, which had by this time fallen into complete ruin, and the Blachernae area (with the exception of the Palace of Porphyrogenitus) fell into disuse.

During the Byzantine Papacy, the portion of the Aventine overlooking the Greek quarter of Rome became known as the ad Balcernas or Blachernas.[8]

Today

The historic Blachernae area is in the present-day

Virgin Mary, can still be visited today; in Turkish
it is named Ayazma, a name derived from the Greek term hagiasma (Greek: ἁγίασμα), meaning "holy water".

Gallery

  • Our Lady of Blachernae, an icon of the Theotokos from the church of the Blachernae.
    Our Lady of Blachernae, an icon of the Theotokos from the church of the Blachernae.
  • Byzantine-era Constantinople.
    Byzantine-era Constantinople.
  • Byzantine emperor Theophilus (r. 829–842), on horseback, visits the Church of St. Mary in the Constantinopolitan suburb of Blachernae.
    Byzantine emperor Theophilus (r. 829–842), on horseback, visits the Church of St. Mary in the Constantinopolitan suburb of Blachernae.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Kazhdan 1991, p. 293.
  2. ^ Gherghel 1920, pp. 4–8
  3. ^ G. Popa Lisseanu, Continuitatea românilor în Dacia, Editura Vestala, Bucuresti, 2014, p.78
  4. ^ Theophanes Confessor. In: Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, București, Institutul de studii Sud-Est Europene, 1970, p.599
  5. .
  6. ^ Stelian Brezeanu, O istorie a Bizanțului, Editura Meronia, București, 2005, p. 126
  7. ^ van Millingen 1899, p. 119.
  8. ^ Ekonomou, Andrew J. 2007. Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern influences on Rome and the papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590–752, page 42. Lexington Books.

Sources

Further reading

  • Gherghel, Ilie (1920). Cateva consideratiuni la cuprinsul notiunii cuvantului "Vlach" (in Romanian). Bucuresti: Convorbiri Literare.

External links

41°02′02″N 28°56′25″E / 41.03389°N 28.94028°E / 41.03389; 28.94028