Map of Byzantine Constantinople. The Kontoskalion is located in the southeastern part of the city, and named Harbour of Julian/Sophia.
The Kontoskalion (
Sophia (Greek: Λιμὴν τῆς Σοφίας or Λιμὴν τῶν Σοφιῶν ή Σοφιανῶν), and in Ottoman times as Kadırga Limanı ("Harbour of the Galleys") was a harbour in the city of Constantinople, active from the 6th century until the early Ottoman period. In the literature it has been known under several names, and the sources about it are often contradictory.[1]
Location
The harbour lay in an inlet – still recognizable today in the flat landscape profile – of the
The “Galley Harbour street” or Kadirga Limani Caddesi in Istanbul still delineates the north shore of the old harbour.
History
Byzantine period
Map of Constantinople around 1420s-1430s, after Cristoforo Buondelmonti. The Kontoskalion is clearly visible on the central right part of the map, right of the Hippodrome: the semicircular convex mole protects it from the sea, while the sea walls separate it from the city.
Marmara Sea
from Kumkapı. From here the Byzantine galleys approached the harbour, now silted up.
Already during the reign of
Propontis shore a harbour named Portus Novus ("New Port") or Portus Iulianus (Greek: Λιμὴν τοῦ Ἰουλιανοῦ): at the same time he erected in front of it a crescent-shaped building named Sigma or Porticus Semirotunda.[1][2] This decision was taken despite the many problems which affected the location: each port along the Marmara shore was undefended against the fierce storms caused by the intermittent southwest wind, the Lodos; these brought much sand into the basin, making necessary a periodic and expensive dredging; moreover, the heavy rains provoked erosion from the hills which caused silting too.[3] On the other hand, the building of a harbour on the south shore was necessary to supply the western and southern regions of the city, too far from the Golden Horn.[3]
The problems of this area were compounded by repeated urban fires, the first fire having occurred at the end of the 4th century partially destroying the area.
after Justin's empress, were erected four statues, representing Justin, Sophia, their daughter Arabia and Narses.[1]
At the end of the century, the harbour also acquired a military function, which it did not lose until the end, becoming a base of the
Patria Constantinopolitanae began to refer to it also as Kontoskalion,[4] which remains the modern Greek denomination of the quarter lying to its west, known in Turkish as Kumkapı
.
After the end of the
galleys.[8] In some versions of the map of Florentine traveller Cristoforo Buondelmonti (who visited Constantinople in 1421),[9] the basin is shown flanked by its arsenal, and in the account of the Spanish traveller Pedro Tafur, who saw it in 1437, the harbour was still active. It remained so until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.[4][7]
Ottoman period
After the conquest of the city, in 1462 Sultan
Pierre Gilles reports that around 1540 the women living in that neighbourhood used to wash their clothes in the basin.[4][7] However, in some 18th-century maps, the harbour is still shown in active use.[9] The end of the port was accelerated by the erection of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, started in 1748, since the excavated earth was partly thrown in the harbour.[4] The basin and the arsenal have since long time disappeared, and today they are partly built up.[4]
Description
The Kadırga Limanı and its arsenal, from Byzantium nunc Constantinopolis by Braun and Hogenberg, 1572.The current site of the Kontoskalion. it is occupied by parks and houses
In the first description of the area, stemming from the 6th century, the harbour is described as a basin flanked by an arsenal surrounded by walls.
Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque until the old sea wall of Kumkapı, while the basin, protected by a mole, is delimited by the Sea Walls, still in place in 19th century.[4]
According to Wolfgang Müller-Wiener, it is also possible that the arsenal area was originally another sea basin, but the division between Kontoskalion and Port of Sophia appearing on several old maps, where they are represented as separated harbors, should be refused, due to the topography of the area.[4]
Janin, Raymond (1964). Constantinople Byzantine. Développement Urbaine et Répertoire Topographique (in French). Paris: Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines.
