Chap. X
Of the Thirteenth Ward of the City, call’d the Sycene Ward, of the Town of Galata, sometimes nam’d Pera.
THE Antient Description of the Wards of the City takes Notice, that Galata was formerly a Part of the City. The Thirteenth Ward of New Rome, says the Author, is the Sycene Ward, which is divided from it by a narrow Bay, and preserves an Intercourse with it, by Boats and Shipping. It is seated on the Side of a Hill, except a broad Tract of Land at the Foot of it, which lies upon the Level. Stephanus says, that the Town of Sycæ was situated against New Rome, and that it was call’d in his Time Sycæ Justinianæ, but does not give the Reason why it was call’d so. Probably it was, because Justinian either repair’d or rebuilt it; for which Reasons principally Cities frequently change their Names. I wonder that Procopius never took Notice of this Place, since he has given us an exact Description of all the Edifices of the Bay, call’d the Chrysoceras, which were either built or repair’d by him; unless perhaps the Mistake be in Procopius, by inserting the Word Jucundianæ instead of Justinianæ, when he tells us, that Justinian rebuilt the Palaces of the Suburbs in the Chalcopratia, as also in the Place call’d Sycæ Jucundianæ. If the Fault be not in Procopius, ’tis an Errour of Stephanus, who writes Justinianæ for Jucundianæ. But ’tis plain, that Stephanus wrote long before the Time of Justinian; so that if there be any Blunder, ’tis none of Stephanus, but Hermolaus, a Grammarian of Constantinople, who abridg’d the Commentaries of Stephanus, and dedicated them to Justinian. If I might give my Opinion, I should rather call it Sycæ Justinianæ, than Jucundianæ, because it appears to me it should be so, not only by comparing some Books of Procopius and Justinian which have been publish’d, but also by the Authorities of several MSS. Justinian asserts in his Constitutions, That ’tis agreeable to Equity, if a Corpse be carried to the Grave to a great Distance, that the Deacons attending it, should have some Acknowledgment. He subjoyns a little after, That he is of the same Opinion, if the Corpse be bury’d within the new Walls of the City or this Side of the Sycæ Justinianæ. This is but a small Procession, and it requires not much Time or Pains to walk thither; but, says he, if the Body be carried beyond the Walls of this flourishing City, or beyond any other Stairs, than those which lead to Sycæ——There’s no Occasion to add what follows. I would only have the Reader observe, that the Word πέρασμα which the Latins interpret Terminus, or a Boundary, signifies properly Trajectus, a Ferry, or the Stairs from whence you sail from one Place to another. ’Tis evident, from what I have quoted, that the Town call’d Sycæ is on the other side of the Bay facing Constantinople, altho’ Stephanus has not declar’d against what Part of the City it lies. I observe notwithstanding from the Treatise above mention’d, that the sixth Ward reach’d from the Forum of Constantine to the Ferry against Sycæ, which is now call’d the Ferry of Pera, or Galata. As I would pay a just Regard to the Authorities of some more modern Historians, I hall produce several Testimonies from them. They assert, that Absimarus, the Commander in Chief of the Forces which besieg’d Constantinople, harbour’d in the Port of Sycæ against the City. Evagrius writes, that the Heads of Longinus, and Theodorus, stuck upon Poles, were sent to Constantinople by Johannes a Scythian, and by the Emperor’s Command were fix’d upon the Shore of Sycæ, opposite to Constantinople; a pleasant Spectacle to the Inhabitants of the City! He adds further, That Vitalianus made an Incursion as far as Sycæ, and that when he came to an Anchor there, the Emperor Anastasius sent Marinus an Assyrian Admiral to fight him. Both Fleets prepare for the Engagement; the one facing Constantinople, the other Sycæ. For some Time they kept their Stations; after some small Skirmishes, and Attacks on both Sides, the Fight began near the Places call’d the Vitharia. Vitalianus having lost most of his Men, was forced to bear off, so that there was not the least Appearance of an Enemy in all the Bosporus. Nor am I induc’d to change my Opinion by the Authority of Strabo, who seems to place Sycæ at some Distance from the Bay. The Bosporus, says he, straitning it self from the Promontory into the Measure of five Stadia, or Furlongs, widens at the Harbour plac’d below Sycæ into thirty Furlongs, and from Sycæ to the Chrysoceras it contracts it self again into five Furlongs. Nor would this Opinion any ways contradict what I have said before, if my Author had meant by the Ceras of the Byzantians, what Pliny ’tis plain did, viz. the Bosporian Promontory where Byzantium stood. But Strabo immediately subjoins, that the Ceras was a Bay which was sixty Furlongs in length; and therefore it appears to me, that the Mistake lies either in Cod. Strabon. or in the Historian himself, as is fully evident from the Authority of Dionysius, a very ancient Writer of the History of Constantinople, which was his Native Place. This Author has recorded it, that Sycodes, or Sycæ, is the same Place near the Bay call’d Ceras, where Galata stands at present, as I have more evidently shewn in my Treatise of the Bosporus. The People of Pera therefore are grosly in the wrong, when they tell us, that Pera was first built by the Genoese; when it is plain that Pera was built long before they were suppos’d either to have purchas’d the Town, or to have receiv’d it as a Reward of their Sea-Services, from some Emperor of Constantinople; since Justinian places Sycæ within the Walls of the City, and Agathius assures us, it was enclosed with Walls, when he writes, that the People of Constantinople were in such a Consternation upon the Approach of the Enemy, that the Forces of Justinian were obliged to climb the Walls of Sycæ, to make a more vigorous Defence. Sycæ, by Stephanus, is call’d a City, as it is also by some modern Writers; but more antient Authors, who liv’d before Galata was taken by the Genoese, call it the Cittadel of Galata. They tell us farther, that a Fleet of the Saracens was station’d from the Magnaura to the Cyclobion; and that after it had continu’d two Days in that Station, Part of it was driven by a Storm to the Cittadel of Galata, as far as the Clydion, where the Emperor of Constantinople destroy’d it, from Acropolis, with liquid Fire. Zonaras writes, that when Michael the Emperor was besieged both by Sea and Land, he was so terribly distrest, that he was forc’d to lay a Boom across the Sea from Acropolis, to a small Town on the opposite Shore. There is at this Day a Gate at Galata, which is call’d the Boom-Gate. ’Tis however beyond Dispute, that Galata was more than once enlarg’d by the Genoese: This appears from the Walls, which at several Times they have built about it, being fortified on the East by Double, and on the West by Treble Walls, denoting the gradual Increase of the Town. You may see at present the antient Sycæ, enclos’d in the middle of Galata, situate against the sixth Ward, and the Sycene Ferry, all built on the Side of a Hill, just as ’tis represented in the Antient Description of the Wards, except one broad Piece of Ground, which lies upon a Level on the Shore at the Foot of the Hill. This Tract of Land was at least a hundred Roman Paces broad. For at present, between the Hill and the Bay, there is a Plain to be seen of an equal, if not of a larger Breadth; because, in such a Length of Time, it is widen’d, as may be observ’d daily, by the Abundance of Filth and Nastiness, which is cast about it. To make it subside at the Bottom, the Inhabitants have fix’d wooden Troughs upon Piles, which they drive into the Earth by an Engine, much like a Rammer. By this Means the Plain upon the Shore is enlarg’d, and made more commodious for Havens. But that the Reader may understand more perfectly where the Sycene Ward stood formerly, I will describe the Situation of Galata, as it stands at present.