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On account of its central position in the line of the land fortifications, this part of the walls was named the Mesoteichion (Μεσοτείχιον).^[364] It was also known as the Myriandrion,^[365] on account of its proximity to the Gate of Polyandrion; the portion to the south of the Lycus being further distinguished as the Murus Bacchatareus,^[366] after the Tower Baccaturea near the Gate of St. Romanus.^[367]

View Across the Valley of the Lycus (Looking North).

Owing to the configuration of the ground traversed by the Mesoteichion, it was at this point that a besieging army generally delivered the chief attack. Here stood the gates opening upon the streets which commanded the hills of the city; here was the weakest part of the fortifications, the channel of the Lycus rendering a deep moat impossible, while the dip in the line of walls, as they descended and ascended the slopes of the valley, put the defenders below the level occupied by the besiegers. Here, then, for Constantinople was the “Valley of Decision”—here, in the armour of the city, the “heel of Achilles.”