Читать книгу Byzantine Constantinople, the walls of the city and adjoining historical sites онлайн

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But here a difficulty occurs. In one very important particular the Kerko Porta, as described by Ducas, does not correspond to the character of the entrance with which it has been identified. The gate which the historian had in mind led to the peribolos, the terrace between the two Theodosian walls, whereas the gate below Tekfour Serai opens on the parateichion, the terrace between the Outer Wall and the Moat. This discrepancy may, however, be removed to some extent by supposing that under the name of the Kerko Porta. Ducas referred to the postern which Dr. Paspates^[388] found in the transverse wall built across the northern end of the peribolos, where the Inner Wall of Theodosius terminates abruptly a little to the south of Tekfour Serai. The postern was discovered in 1864, after some houses which concealed it from view had been destroyed by fire. It was 10-½ feet high by 6 feet wide, and although the old wall in which it stood has been, for the most part, pulled down and replaced by a new construction, the outline of the ancient postern can still be traced. Such an entrance might be buried out of sight, and be generally forgotten; and to open it, when recalled to mind in 1453, was to provide the defenders of the city with a secret passage, as they hoped, to the peribolos and the rear of the Outer Wall, where the contest was to be maintained to the bitter end.