Theodosian Walls of Constantinople
Under the praetorian prefect Anthemius, who governed for the child emperor Theodosius II, Constantinople received a new land wall 1.5–2 km west of Constantine’s, completed by 413. Strengthened with a lower outer wall and a moat, the Theodosian Walls remained the city’s main defence until the Ottoman conquest of 1453.
- Date
- between 404 and 408 – 413start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: year known · duration: ≈ 7 years
- Place
- Theodosian Walls (land walls of Constantinople)today: Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Theodosius II, Arcadius, Anthemius (praetorian prefect), Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Theodosian Walls; Land Walls of Constantinople; Walls of Constantinople; Феодосиевы стены; Стены Константинополя; Стены Феодосия
By the early 5th century Constantinople had outgrown the wall of its founder. A new wall across the peninsula, from the Sea of Marmara to the Blachernae quarter near the Golden Horn, was raised under Anthemius, praetorian prefect of the East, who led the government during the minority of Theodosius II. A law of 4 April 413 addressed to him calls the new wall a completed work and assigns its towers to the owners of the land it crossed, who were to keep them in repair. An inscription discovered in 1993 records nine years of work, which puts the start around 404/405, still under Arcadius; other accounts date the building to 408–413. The wall almost doubled the area of the city, and J. B. Bury called Anthemius “in a sense, the second founder of Constantinople”.
This first line is the present inner wall, 4.5–6 m thick and 12 m high, with 96 towers. Earthquakes damaged it in 437 and especially in 447, when 57 towers fell just as Attila’s Huns were ravaging the Balkans; the prefect Constantine had the walls restored within 60 days, employing the circus factions, the Blues and the Greens. Most scholars date the lower outer wall and the moat, more than 20 m wide, to this rebuilding, although they may have belonged to the original design. In their present state the land walls stretch for about 5.7 km.
The walls withstood the sieges of the Avars and Persians in 626, of the Arabs, the Rus’ and the Bulgars, and were still the city’s chief defence when the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453.
Connections
Related events
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatoliathe growing city had outgrown the wall of its founder, Constantine
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatoliabegun under Arcadius and completed during the minority of Theodosius II
- Attila’s invasions of the Balkans441 – between 447 and 448 · Balkans and Anatoliain 447 the damaged walls were rebuilt in 60 days as the Huns advanced
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatoliathe walls held against the Avars and Persians
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatoliathe walls were still the city’s chief defence in 1453
Same participants
- Division of the Roman Empire17 January 395 · Western and Central Europevia Byzantine Empire
- Revolt of Gildo397 – July 398 · Africavia Arcadius
- Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon410 · Middle East and Egyptvia Theodosius II
- Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople27 February 425 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Byzantine Empire
Same place
- Theodosian Code15 February 438 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Crossing of the Rhine31 December 406 · Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Sack of Rome by the Visigoths24–27 August 410
- Crossing of the Rhine31 December 406
- End of Roman rule in Britain383–410
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
Middle East and Egypt
- Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon410
- Mesrop Mashtots creates the Armenian alphabetbetween 405 and 406
- Jerusalem Talmudbetween 360 and 450
Africa
- Augustine writes The City of Godbetween 412 and 413 – between 426 and 427
- Martianus Capella’s Marriage of Philology and Mercurybetween 410 and 490
- Donatist schismbetween 311 and 312 – 411
Central and Northern Asia
- Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidaritesbetween 360 and 370 – 467
- The Rouran Khaganate dominates the steppe402–552
South Asia
- Reign of Chandragupta II Vikramadityabetween 375 and 381 – between 412 and 415
- Kumaragupta I and the founding of the Nalanda monasterybetween 415 and 455
East Asia
- Kumārajīva translates the Buddhist scriptures in Chang’an8 February 402 – 28 May 413
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
- Faxian’s journey to India and back by sea399 – 5 September 412
- King Jangsu raises the stele of Gwanggaeto the Great28 October 414
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Walls of Constantinople
- Wikipedia (English): Anthemius (praetorian prefect)
- Wikipedia (English): 447 Constantinople earthquake
- Wikipedia (Russian): Стены Константинополя
- Wikipedia (Russian): Антемий (префект)
- Codex Theodosianus, XV.1.51 (4 April 413)
- Van Millingen A. Byzantine Constantinople: The Walls of the City and Adjoining Historical Sites. — London: John Murray, 1899.
- Bardill J. Brickstamps of Constantinople. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Asutay-Effenberger N. Die Landmauer von Konstantinopel-İstanbul: historisch-topographische und baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen. — Berlin; New York: De Gruyter, 2007.