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(b) The next landmark, the Ancient Gate of the Forerunner (Παλαιὰ Πόρτα τοῦ Προδρόμου), elsewhere styled simply the Ancient Gate (Παλαιὰ Πόρτα),[65] furnishes the most precise indication we have of the position of Constantine’s wall. It was a gate which survived the original fortifications of the city, as Temple Bar outlived the wall of London, and became known in later days as the Ancient Gate, on account of its great antiquity. Its fuller designation, the Ancient Gate of the Forerunner,[66] is explained by the fact that a church dedicated to the Baptist was built against the adjoining wall. Conversely, the church was distinguished as the Church of the Forerunner at the Ancient Gate (τὴν Παλαιὰν).[67] Manuel Chrysolaras places the entrance to the west of the Forum of Arcadius, and describes it as one of the finest monuments in the city.[68] It was so wide and lofty that a tower or a full-rigged ship might pass through its portals. Upon the summit was a marble portico of dazzling whiteness, and before the entrance rose a column, once surmounted by a statue. When Bondelmontius visited the city, in 1422, the gate was still erect, and is marked on his map of Constantinople as Antiquissima Pulchra Porta.[69] It survived the Turkish Conquest, when it obtained the name of Isa Kapoussi (the Gate of Jesus), and held its place as late as 1508. In that year it was overthrown by a great earthquake. “Isa Kapoussi,” says the Turkish historian Solak Zadè, who records the occurrence, “near Avret Bazaar, which had been in existence for 1900 years (sic), fell and was levelled to the ground.”[70] But the shadow of the name still lingers about the site. A small mosque to the west of Avret Bazaar bears the name Isa Kapoussi Mesdjidi,[71] while the adjoining street is called Isa Kapoussi Sokaki. The mosque is an ancient Christian church, and probably bore in its earlier character a name which accounts for its Turkish appellation.

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