The
Augustaion
(
Greek
:
Α?γουστα?ον
) or, in
Latin
,
Augustaeum
,
[a]
was an important ceremonial square in ancient and medieval
Constantinople
(modern
Istanbul
,
Turkey
), roughly corresponding to the modern
Aya Sofya Meydanı
(
Turkish
, "
Hagia Sophia
Square"). Originating as a public market, in the 6th century it was transformed into a closed courtyard surrounded by porticoes, and provided the linking space between some of the most important edifices in the
Byzantine
capital. The square survived until the late Byzantine period, albeit in ruins, and traces were still visible in the early 16th century.
History
[
edit
]
The square dates back to ancient
Byzantium
, before its conversion into an imperial capital by
Constantine the Great
. When
Roman Emperor
Septimius Severus
(r. 193?211) rebuilt the city, he erected a large square surrounded by
porticoes
, hence named the
Tetrastoon
("four
stoas
"). In the center of the square stood a column with a statue of the god
Helios
.
[1]
In the 320s, Constantine adorned his chosen new capital with many new monumental buildings. His activities included new structures around the
Tetrastoon
, while the
Augustaion
was likely carved out of its eastern part at that time, and named after a
Porphyry
column supporting a statue of his mother, the
Augusta
Helena
.
[1]
[2]
The
Augustaion
was rebuilt in 459 under Emperor
Leo I
(r. 457?474), and again in the 530s, after being destroyed in the
Nika riot
, by Emperor
Justinian I
(r. 527?565). In its original form, the square was open to the public and functioned as the city's food market (
agora
), but after Justinian's reconstruction, it became more of an enclosed courtyard where access was restricted. Byzantine writers from the 7th century on refer to it as explicitly as a court or forecourt (
α?λ?, α?λα?α, προα?λιον
) of the
Hagia Sophia
.
[1]
[2]
Justinian's
Augustaion
survived mostly unchanged through the subsequent centuries. In the late 13th century, following the recovery of the city from the
Latin Empire
, the square and its adjacent buildings seem to have been the property of the Hagia Sophia.
[1]
By the early 15th century however, the Italian traveller
Cristoforo Buondelmonti
reported that the square lay in ruins, and by the time of
Pierre Gilles
' sojourn in the 1540s, only the fragments of seven columns remained.
[1]
Location and description
[
edit
]
The
Augustaion
lay in the eastern part of Constantinople, which in the early and middle
Byzantine
periods constituted the administrative, religious and ceremonial center of the city. The square was a rectangular open space, enclosed within a colonnaded porticoes (
peristyla
in Latin, in English
peristyles
),
[3]
probably first added in the 459 rebuilding and restored by Justinian.
[1]
Its exact dimensions are impossible to determine nowadays;
Rodolphe Guilland
suggested that it had a rectangular shape 85 m long and 60?65 m wide.
[1]
Enclosed on all sides, the
Augustaion
was entered in its western and southern side, respectively through the Melete and Pinsos Gates, from the
Mes?
, the city's main thoroughfare.
[1]
Directly outside the square stood the
Milion
, the mile marker from which all distances in the Empire were measured. To its north, the
Augustaion
was bounded by the
Hagia Sophia
cathedral and the
Patriarchal
palace (
Patriarcheion
), to its east by one of the two
Senate
houses of the city, built by Constantine or
Julian
(r. 360?363) and rebuilt by Justinian with a porch of six great columns adorning its front.
[1]
[2]
[4]
Next to the Senate, at the southeastern corner stood the monumental
Chalk?
Gate
, the entrance to the
imperial palace precinct
,
[3]
while to the southwest stood the great
Baths of Zeuxippus
and the northern end of the
Hippodrome
. In the 7th century, probably under Patriarch
Thomas I
(r. 607?610) a big three-aisled
basilica
called the
Th?mait?s
(Θωμα?τη?) was erected on the southeastern side of the square. It was a reception hall associated with the patriarchal residence, containing also the Patriarchate's library, and survived until the 16th century.
[1]
[5]
The square itself was paved with marble, as discovered in excavations, and featured a number of statues, aside from the already-mentioned statue of the
Augusta
Helena.
[1]
The 8th to 9th-century
Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai
record a statue of Constantine himself, standing on a column and flanked by statues of his three sons,
Constantine II
(r. 337?340),
Constans
(r. 337?350) and
Constantius II
(r. 337?361), to which were later added statues of
Licinius
(r. 308?324) and of Julian.
[6]
In the reign of
Theodosius the Great
(r. 379?395), the ensemble was replaced by a silver
equestrian statue
of the emperor, standing on a column, and again flanked at ground level by statues of his sons,
Arcadius
(r. 383?408) and
Honorius
(r. 393?423).
[6]
A bronze statue of
Aelia Eudoxia
on a column also stood on the square. The noise and pagan rituals that accompanied the statue's inauguration were criticized by Patriarch
John Chrysostom
, provoking the Empress' ire and his subsequent deposition and exile. The statue's base was discovered in 1848 and is now located in the garden of the Hagia Sophia.
[7]
[8]
Following Justinian's rebuilding, the square's main feature was a
tall column
erected in 543 in the western end of the square to commemorate his victories. It was topped by an equestrian statue of Justinian himself, reusing parts of Theodosius' statue, and was complemented by a group of three barbarian kings kneeling before it and offering tribute. It survived until the 16th century, when it was demolished by the
Ottomans
.
[2]
[9]
^
a:
Also found in the sources as:
Α?γουστ?ων or Α?γουστε?ν
,
Augouste?n
;
Α?γουστ?ον
,
Augoustion
;
Α?γουστε?ον
,
Augousteion
, and hence in the corrupted form
Γουστε?ον
,
Gousteion
. The name first appears in Latin in the
Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae
of ca. 425.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
Katsaveli (2007)
- ^
a
b
c
d
Kazhdan (1991), p. 232
- ^
a
b
Procopius,
De Aedificiis
, I.10.5
- ^
Procopius,
De Aedificiis
, I.10.6
- ^
Paspates (2004), p. 83
- ^
a
b
Cameron & Herrin (1984), p. 149
- ^
Cameron & Herrin (1984), pp. 93, 206?207
- ^
Paspates (2004), pp. 101?103
- ^
Cameron & Herrin (1984), pp. 251, 262?263
Sources
[
edit
]
- Procopius
,
de Aedificiis
, Book I
- Cameron, Averil; Herrin, Judith (1984).
Constantinople in the early eighth century: the Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai (introduction, translation, and commentary)
. Brill Archive.
ISBN
978-90-04-07010-3
.
- Katsaveli, Olga (2007-11-07).
"Augustaion"
. Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Constantinople. Archived from
the original
on 2014-04-26
. Retrieved
2009-09-25
.
- Kazhdan, Alexander
, ed. (1991).
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
. Oxford University Press.
ISBN
978-0-19-504652-6
.
- Paspates, A. G. (2004) [1893].
The Great Palace of Constantinople
. Kessinger Publishing.
ISBN
0-7661-9617-8
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Column monuments
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