Blachernae
Blachernae (
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
Byzantine era
The quarter is recorded as regio XIV in the early 5th-century
South of the church and situated on the city's Seventh Hill stood the imperial
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
Gallery
-
Byzantine-era Constantinople.
-
Byzantine emperor Theophilus (r. 829–842), on horseback, visits the Church of St. Mary in the Constantinopolitan suburb of Blachernae.
See also
- Atik Mustafa Pasha Mosque
- Blachernitissa
- Blanquerna
- The Protection of the Mother of God
References
- ^ a b c d e Kazhdan 1991, p. 293.
- ^ Gherghel 1920, pp. 4–8
- ^ G. Popa Lisseanu, Continuitatea românilor în Dacia, Editura Vestala, Bucuresti, 2014, p.78
- ^ Theophanes Confessor. In: Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, București, Institutul de studii Sud-Est Europene, 1970, p.599
- ISBN 9786054640652.
- ^ Stelian Brezeanu, O istorie a Bizanțului, Editura Meronia, București, 2005, p. 126
- ^ van Millingen 1899, p. 119.
- ^ 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
- ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- van Millingen, Alexander (1899). Byzantine Constantinople: The Walls of the City and Adjoining Historical Sites. London, United Kingdom: John Murray.
Further reading
- Gherghel, Ilie (1920). Cateva consideratiuni la cuprinsul notiunii cuvantului "Vlach" (in Romanian). Bucuresti: Convorbiri Literare.