Zeytinburnu (İlçe)
the Zeytinburnu (İlçe) is part of Istanbul .Interesting places in Zeytinburnu (İlçe):
| Белградские ворота | The Golden Door | |
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Walls of Byzantium
Made by Uncle Riotous
Taken from the battlements of Yedikule Castle (see map for details) this is one of the original towers of the old Walls of Byzantium in Istanbul. This will have been part of the Theodosian Wall which they started building in 408AD (see below for more details). Many of the towers further up the wall have been repaired (photo of a repaired section) but I love the look of some of the older towers which look almost like cross sections. I've quoted from Wikipedia below to give some history on the walls themselves. It's a great place to go and have a look at if you're in Istanbul although some of the places it goes through aren't hugely tourist friendly. The original fortifications of the city were built in the 7th century BC, when it was founded as Byzantium by Greek colonists from Megara, led by the eponymous Byzas. At the time the city consisted of an acropolis and little more. Byzantium, despite being a prosperous trading post, was relatively unimportant during the Roman period, but featured prominently in the civil war between Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, holding out a Severan siege for three years (193-96 AD). As punishment, Severus had the strong walls demolished and the city deprived of its status.[1] However, soon after he rebuilt it, appreciating the city's strategic importance, and endowed it with many monuments and a new set of walls, increasing its area. When Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, which he refounded as Nova Roma, he greatly expanded the new city by building a new wall about 2.8 km (15 stadia) westwards of the Severan wall and incorporating even more territory.[2][3] Constantine's fortification consisted of a single wall, reinforced with towers at regular distances, which began to be constructed in 324 and was completed under Constantine II. The approximate course of the wall is known, running from the area of the Plateia Gate of the Golden Horn sea walls to near the Gate of St. Aemilianus on the Propontis walls . The wall survived during much of the Byzantine period, even though it was replaced by the Theodosian Walls as the city's primary defence; it still stood when Justinian ascended the throne, but only the Old Golden Gate still survived to late Byzantine times, until destroyed by an earthquake in 1509.[4] Already by the early 5th century however, Constantinople had expanded outside the Constantinian Wall, in the extra-mural area known as the Exokionion. In 408, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, construction began on a new wall, about 1,500 m to the west of the old, which stretched for 5,630 meters between the Sea of Marmara and the suburb of Blachernae near the Golden Horn.[6] The new wall, which became known as the Theodosian Wall (Greek Theodosianon Teichos), was built under the direction of Anthemius, the Praetorian prefect of the East, and completed in 413.[7] The walls stretched for about 5.5 km from south to north, from the Marble Tower, Turkish Mermer Kule (in Greek Pyrgos Basileiou kai Kōnstantinou, Tower of Basil and Constantine) on the Propontis coast to the Blachernae, ending at about the area of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (known in Turkish as Tekfur Saray), where they adjoined the later walls of Blachernae. New Rome now enclosed seven hills and justified the appellation Eptalofos, like Old Rome. On November 6, 447, however, a powerful earthquake destroyed large parts of the wall, and Theodosius II ordered the urban prefect Cyrus of Floros (sometimes referred to as Constantine) to supervise the urgent repairs, as the city was threatened at the time by Attila the Hun. Cyrus employed the city's dēmoi (more widely known as Circus factions) in the work, and succeeded in restoring the walls within 60 days, as testified in two inscriptions in Greek and Latin on the Mevlevihane Gate.[6] At the same time, a second outer wall was added, and a wide ditch opened in front of the walls. The walls were built in two lines of defense, which adjoined the ditch. The main Inner Wall (Esō Teichos or Mega Teichos, Great Wall) is a solid structure, 5 metres thick and 12 metres high. It is faced with carefully cut limestone blocks, while its core is filled with mortar made of lime and crushed bricks. Between seven and eleven bands of brick, ca. 40 cm thick, traverse the structure, not only as a form of decoration, but also strengthening the cohesion of the structure by bonding the stone façade with the mortar core, and increasing endurance to earthquakes.[9] The wall was strengthened with 96 towers, mainly square but also octagonal or hexagonal, 18-20 metres tall, and placed at intervals of 55 metres.[10] Each tower had a battlemented terrace on the top. Its interior was usually divided by a floor in two chambers. The lower chamber, which opened to the city, was used for storage, while the upper one could be entered from the wall's walkway, and had windows for view and for firing projectiles. Access to the wall was provided by large ramps along their side.[11] The Outer Wall (Exō Teichos or Proteichisma) was built 15-20 metres from the main wall, creating a space between the two walls called perivolos. The Outer Wall was 2 metres thick at its base, and featured arched chambers on the level of the perivolos, crowned with a battlemented walkway, reaching a height of 8.5 metres.[12] Access to the Outer Wall from the city was provided either through the main gates or through small posterns on the base of the Inner Wall's towers. The Outer Wall likewise had 96 towers, square or crescent-shaped, situated midway between the Inner Wall's towers, and acting in supporting role to them.[11] They featured a room with windows on the level of the perivolos, crowned by a battlemented terrace, while their lower portions were either solid or featured small posterns, which allowed access to the outer terrace.[12] The moat (souda) was situated at a distance of about 15 metres from the Outer Wall, creating a terrace called parateichion, where a paved road ran along the walls' length. The moat itself, which could be flooded, was about 20 metres wide and 10 metres deep, featuring a 1.5 metre tall crenellated wall on the inner side, serving as a first line of defence.
Le plus ridicule du Yedikule
Made by rogiro
The contrast between the train and Yedikule, the Castle of Seven Towers near Istanbul, is somehow... ridicule. (But maybe it just sounds nice, ridicule du Yedikule)
Walls of Byzantium
Made by Uncle Riotous
This photo was taken by Emma Bentham.
Sea of Marmara (2006-10-241)
Made by Argenberg
Three (2006-10-242)
Made by Argenberg
Nearest places of interest:
| Veliefendi Hipodromu Crowne Plaza hotel Белградские ворота The Golden Door | Sulukule kececi iş merkezi Güngören (District) Adapark |
