The Fourth Ward
The fourth Ward extends itself in a long Vale, the Hills rising on the Right and Left from the Miliarium Aureum through a Vale, to a plain level Ground. It contains, the Miliarium Aureum; the Augusteum; a Basilica; a Nympheum; the Portico of Phanio; a Marble Galley, the Monument of a naval Victory; the Church of St. Menna; a Stadium; The Stairs of Timasius; thirty two Streets; three hundred and seventy five great Houses; four large Portico’s; seven private Baths; five private Mills; and seven Gradus. It is presided by one Curator, assisted by one Vernaculus, forty Collegiati, and five Vico-Magistri.
Notes
The Miliarium Aureum.] Cedrinus, speaking of the Miliarium Aureum, writes thus: Under the Roof of the Miliarium Aureum were placed the Statues of Constantine the Great, and his Mother, with a Cross between them. Behind him stands Trajan, and near his Mother is the Statue of Ælius Hadrianus on Horseback. There is a Clock here, which was set up by Justinian. There was also a Miliarium Aureum at Rome, erected in the Forum by Augustus, from whence they used to adjust the Distances of Places, and the Mensuration of Miles, all the Roads of Italy meeting at the Foot of it, as ’tis observed by Plutarch, Dion, P. Victor, and others. Yet Æmilius Macer is of another Opinion. A Mile, says he, is not to be computed from the Miliarium, but from the Houses, upon the Skirts of the City, to the Place to which you measure. As then there was a Miliarium Aureum at Rome, so there was at Constantinople, which imitated Old Rome as near as it could; tho’ at Rome it was built in the Figure of a Pillar, at Constantinople it was another kind of Building, as is evident from what is above-mentioned by Cedrinus; and is also attested by Suidas, who writes, that under the Roof of the Miliarium, stood the Cross, the Figures of Constantine and Helena, the Image of Fortune, and many other Statues. He calls it not the Miliarium, but the Milium.
The Augusteum.] This was a large Pillar of Brass, erected by Justinian, as Cedrinus relates, who tells us, that in the fifteenth Year of the Reign of Justinian, was finished the great brazen Pillar, which is called the Augusteum. Upon it was placed the Statue of Justinian on Horseback, holding in his Right Hand an Apple, in Imitation of a Globe, to signify that the whole World was subject to his Government. He sat with his Right Hand stretched out, pointing to the Persians to stand off, and not to approach his Dominions. All the Coverings of the Passage of Entrance into the Imperial Palace, were made of gilded Brass. This is still called the Brazen Passage, as the Pillar is call’d the Augusteum. Procopius speaks largely of it in his Oration de Ædif. Justin. where he writes, that not the Pillar, but the Place where the Pillar stood, was called the Augusteum, as it was also the Macellum. The principal Pillar, says he, is to be admired for its Size, yet is it no regular and uniform Structure, but made of Stones of a vast Compass. The Pedestal and Top of it is covered with the most refined Brass, which by cramping its Stones together, does at the same Time both strengthen and adorn it. The Brass, as to its Lustre, is not much inferior to pure Gold, and at least of equal Worth and Beauty with the finest Silver. At the Top of this Pillar was placed a very large Horse cast in Brass, facing the East, wonderful in his Kind, in a walking Posture, with his Head bending downwards, lifting up his near Fore-Foot, as though he would paw the Ground. His Off-Foot is fixed to the Pedestal, on which he stands; and his Hind-Feet are so closely contracted, as if he was rising upon his Speed. Upon him sits the Statue of the Emperor in Brass, whom they call Achilles, because he is somewhat like him. He has no Boots, but his Feet are bound round with a kind of Sandals. He is armed with a radiant Breast-plate and Head-piece, and looks, you would fancy, as if he were marching, in a war-like Posture, against the Persians. In his left Hand he bears a Globe, by which ’tis signified, that the Earth and the Sea is subject to his Power. He is not equipped either with Sword nor Spear. There’s a Cross fixed upon the Globe, intimating, that under its auspicious Influence, he arrived to the Imperial Dignity; and that all Success in War is to be attributed to the Omnipotency of the Saviour of Mankind. His Right Hand, which is open, is stretched Eastward, and seems to forbid the barbarous Nations to approach his Territories. Below this Place, stands the Forum called Augustum. This Forum stands before the Imperial Palace; ’tis surrounded with Pillars, and the Inhabitants call it Augustum. Eastward from hence stands the Curia, or Prætorium, which was built by Justinian, where the old Romans, in the Beginning of the new Year used, as Suidas observes, to perform a solemn Festival. Phavorinus relates, that the Flesh-Market was the same with the Augusteum. It was so called, says Suidas, because the Curatores, and Senastophori of the Wards, used every Year, on the Ides of October, to dance in Honour of Augustus, or because the Statues of Constantine, and Helena his Mother, were erected there.
A Basilica.] This was one of the most magnificent Basilica’s in the World, which Cedrinus takes Notice of, when he tells us, that a Fire began at the Middle of the Chalcopratia, which consumed both the Portico’s before mentioned, all the neighbouring Buildings, and the Basilica, which contained a Collection of a Hundred and twenty Thousand Books. There was a Curiosity very particular in this Library, which was the Gut of a Dragon, on which were inscribed in Golden Characters, the Iliads and Odysses of Homer, with the History of the Atchievements of other Heroes. The Roof of this Basilica was supported with many Ranges of Pillars, as we see at present in some Churches, which are many of them built after the same Manner with the Basilica’s. One of these Basilica’s is described by Virgil, in his seventh Æneid.
A stately Palace in the City’s Height,
Sublime upon a hundred Pillars stood,
With gloomy Groves, religiously obscure,
Laurentian Picus’ Palace; where the Kings,
The first Inauguration of their Sway,
The Sceptres, and the regal Fasces took.
Trapp’s Virg.
In these Basilica’s they used to plead, and admit to Audience publick Ambassadors; and, indeed, most of the publick Affairs were transacted here. This I am speaking of was finely gilded, and made of a delicate Marble. Theodosius, in his Letters Mandatory to Cyrus, Prefect of the City, means this Basilica, in the following Words: We will and command, that the Basilica gilt with Gold, and shining with Marble, be no Ways shaded or darkened with Statues, or Pictures placed before it. I believe Zonaras understands the same Building in his Leo Magnus, where he says, that the Building called the Domus Maxima, in which the Senate, and some of the principal Citizens met to deliberate upon publick Affairs, was burnt down; nay, that the Emperor himself came thither in solemn Pomp, when he entered upon his Consular Dignity. It was a Work of surprising Beauty and Splendor. Justinian tells us in his 81st Novel, that the inferior Judges used to sit there in small Apartments. Suidas writes, that this Basilica stood behind the Miliarium, and that there was placed in it, amidst several others, a golden Statue. Among other Curiosities here, there is an Elephant, cast at the Expence of Severus, on the Account of a certain Banker, who killed his Keeper, and gave his Body to be devoured by a wild Beast; which the Elephant seeing, in a Rage slew the Banker. Severus, to preserve the Memory of the Fact, ordered the Elephant and his Keeper to be cast in Brass, and both the Figures, in the Consulship of Julian, were carried to Constantinople, and placed in the Basilica.
A Nympheum.] This, as Zonaras and Cedrinus tell us, was a spacious Building, in which they used to celebrate Marriage, when they had not Houses large enough for that Purpose. Suidas mentions, that in the Forum of this Ward, there was a Spring continually running, which filled the Bagnio of the Nympheum. Theodosius, in another Letter to Cyrus above-mentioned, writes thus. I command you, by Virtue of your prefectorial Authority, to appoint, as you shall judge convenient, what Share of Water be allotted to our Imperial Bagnio’s, and what Quantity may be sufficient for the Bagnio’s of the Nympheum.
The Portico of Phanio.] Suidas tells us, that Phanio is a Place where they carried the Filth of the City. This, probably, is the same Portico, which the Emperor Zeno tells us, reached from the Miliarium, as far as the Capitol, and is supported with four Ranges of Pillars, between which he allows, in his Cod. de Priv. Ædif. a Privilege to build little Shops.
A Marble Galley.] This was set up in Memory of a Victory, which Zosimus, in his fifth Book tells us, Trajutus, Admiral of Arcadius’s Fleet, obtain’d over Gaina, near Chersonesus.
The Church of St. Menna.] This Person was an Egyptian Soldier, who suffer’d Martyrdom under Dioclesian, in Phrygia: This Church was built by Constantine, who, as Eusebius reports in his Life, Book III. Chap. 4. built also other Churches in honour of the Martyrs.
A Stadium.] This was a square Area, design’d, as Suidas observes, for Martial Exercises. The Grecians generally made them two hundred Foot long, and sometimes more. This Area was surrounded with a Portico, and Pillars. The Grecians used them sometimes in Merriment, and Dancing, and sometimes in more manly Diversions, as Wrestling, fighting at Gauntlets, &c. The Portico, on the South Side of it, was double Wall’d, to secure it from the Violence of the Northern Storms. In the Stadium, stood an Ephebeum, with Seats all round it, where they held publick Disputations in Philosophy, and where Youth was train’d up in Literature, and Science. In ancient Times, when Books were scarce, they used to improve themselves by Dispute, and Argumentation. On each Side of the Ephebeum, there were Bagnio’s, in which the Combatants anointed themselves, before they enter’d the Lifts. The Stadium fac’d the Sea, as Procopius observes in his Book de Ædif Justin. In a Place, says he, near the Sea, at present call’d the Stadium, (a Place formerly appropriated to Games, and Martial Exercises) Justinian, and his Consort Theodora, built some large Hospitals.
The Stairs of Timasius.] These were three Steps, at the Foot of a Hill, leading down to the Sea, which were built by Timasius. ’Tis very probable, that they were made of Marble, and were something remarkable, because my Author takes Notice of them. There was Custom paid at these Stairs, for the Repairs of the City Aqueduct; as appears from the Cod. Theod. Aquæduc. We will, says he, that all the Customs, which are, or may be collected at the Stairs of this our City of Constantinople, be expended in the Repairs of the common Aque-duct. I am of Opinion, that this Custom was payable by such Ships as unladed their Freight there. Justinian in his 159ᵗʰ Novel takes notice of a Clause in the Codicil of the Will of Hierius, where he bequeaths to his Kinsman Hierius the Suburbs Coparium, with all the Stairs thereunto belonging. Cedrinus writes, That in the Reign of Copronymus the Emperor, the Sea was froze by the Severity of the Weather, and that upon a sudden Thaw, a large Cake of Ice bore against, and demolish’d the Stairs of the Imperial Palace at Constantinople. Timasius, who built these Stairs, was General of the Infantry to Theodosius the Great, and was train’d up in the Art of War from the Time of Valens the Emperor. At last being falsely, and injuriously accused by Eutropius, the Chamberlain of Arcadius, he was banish’d into Oasis. Zosimus, speaking of him in his fifth Book, says, that he was the Father of Syagrius, who was entitled Pater Patriæ.