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The wall survived during much of the Byzantine period, even though it was replaced by the Theodosian Walls as the city's primary defense. An ambiguous passage refers to extensive damage to the city's "inner wall" from an earthquake on 25 September 478, which likely refers to the Constantinian wall.
Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," [14] could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. [15] Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly a bit more than a third the width of a major ...
The ancient city of Constantinople was divided into 14 administrative regions (Latin: regiones, Greek: συνοικιες, romanized: synoikies). The system of fourteen regiones was modelled on the fourteen regiones of Rome , a system introduced by the first Roman emperor Augustus in the 1st century AD.
The military events of the 7th century accustomed the inhabitants of Constantinople to be ready for frequent sieges. The inhabitants of Constantinople kept the city walls in good condition, made sure that the granaries were filled with grain and the cisterns with fresh water. The "spiritual defense" of the capital was also important.
The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia, the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; the sacred Imperial Palace, where the emperors lived; the Hippodrome; the Golden Gate of the Land Walls; and opulent aristocratic palaces.
The city had about 20 km of walls (land walls: 5.5 km; sea walls along the Golden Horn: 7 km; sea walls along the Sea of Marmara: 7.5 km), one of the strongest sets of fortified walls in existence. The walls had recently been repaired (under John VIII ) and were in fairly good shape, giving the defenders sufficient reason to believe that they ...
On the Asian shore, opposite to where he was, a colony, Chalcedon, had already been established. Byzas decided that Chalcedon was the prophesied 'city of the blind', as it had not taken advantage of the European shore. To build his new city, he selected the European shore of the south end of Bosporos and gave the new city his name, Byzantion.
Administratively, it marked the boundary between the twelfth regio (located to the west) and the rest of the city. [3] The Lycus reached the walls of Constantinople between the gates of Carisius and St. Romanus (corresponding to modern Edirnekapı and Topkapı), just south of the Fifth Military Gate, passed under the walls and entered the city. [1]