Hebdomon cistern

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View of the cistern

The Hebdomon cistern ( Greek κινστέρνη τοῦ Ἕβδομου ) is an open cistern in the suburb of Hebdomon (now Bakırköy , Istanbul ) of the Byzantine metropolis of Constantinople . The Turkish name for the cistern is Fildamı Sarnıcı ("elephant stable cistern").

location

The building is now in the Osmaniye district of the Bakırköy district of Istanbul between Fildamı arkası and Çoban çeşme sokak , northwest of the Veliefendi Hipodromu racecourse . The cistern was located around 2 km west of the Theodosian Land Wall in a small valley that is now fully built up and near the Propontis coast. Originally the suburb Hebdomon ( Greek Ἕβδομον ) was located here , which got its name because of its distance of seven Roman miles to the Constantinople milestone Milion .

history

The exact date of construction of the cistern is unknown. It is believed that the cistern was built between the 5th and 6th centuries. Century and the 8th century was built. Due to the size of the bricks, the date is assumed after the end of Justinian I's reign (565), while the missing stamps on the bricks are typical for buildings after the end of the 6th century. The art historian Tülay Ergül suspects, due to the architecture and construction technology, that it was built in the 5th or 6th century, because similar cisterns were built in Constantinople during this period and the two imperial palaces in Hebdomon were also built during this time.

The building served as a water depot for the two imperial palaces in the region: the Magnaura built by Emperor Valens and the Jucundianae (also Secundianae ) built by Justinian I. Both palaces were close to the coast and roughly where Ataköy Marina is today. In addition, the cistern supplied the troops of the Thracian Army, which used the nearby "Field of Mars". The Kampos tou Tribounaliou ( Greek Κάμπος τοῦ τριβουναλίου , Latin Campus Tribunalis ), where several Byzantine emperors were elected by acclamation of the army, was in the valley of Veli Efendi , where Istanbul's racecourse is today.

After Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453, the reservoir is said to have been used as a stable for the sultan's elephants, which earned him the Turkish name Filhane or Fildamı . Vegetables were later grown here and the place became one of the four Çukurbostan ( Sunken Garden ).

In 1968 the region was to be built with houses. During the excavation work, the walls of the cistern were largely exposed again. Vegetable growing was only stopped in 1996 when the state bought the cistern and converted it into a concert arena for more than 12,000 people. In 2003, however, it became apparent that the strong vibrations of the concerts were damaging the walls and disturbing the horses in the stables at the nearby racetrack. The concerts were then discontinued. Since then, the Bakırköy municipality has managed the site and still uses it sporadically for receptions.

In 2015, the local council of the municipality announced that the cistern should be restored. The work is still ongoing.

description

The rectangular structure is 127 meters long and 76 meters wide, making it slightly larger than the Basilica Cistern and slightly smaller than the Aetius Cistern . It is the smallest open cistern in the city of Constantinople. The average depth is 11 meters, but the walls on the outside are significantly less high, as the ground has been filled up over the centuries. On the east side, the walls extend around 2.5 meters into the ground. The reservoir held around 105,000 m³ of water. The walls on the north and south sides are 4.10 meters thick, on the long sides in the east and west around 7 meters thick and completely preserved.

The walls were built with the Roman wall technique opus listatum , ie several rows of red bricks were laid alternating with several rows of ashlar. While the brick layers completely run through the masonry, the stones veneer a cast masonry ( Opus caementicium ). The Aetius cistern, the Aspar cistern and the Mocius cistern were built similarly within the city walls. The inner walls were probably coated with a waterproof mortar ( Opus signinum ), as remains prove. The outer west wall is sunk into the earth, while the inner west wall and the outer east wall are provided with a series of 21 semicircular niches that create support pillars to withstand the weight of the earth and the water to the east. The first niche has a semi-dome and it can be assumed that the remaining niches were built over in the same way. On the north and south sides there are two stairs running in opposite directions, some of which have now been destroyed.

Another interesting feature of the cistern is the water tower ( Latin, Castellum aquae ), which was built on the outside of the southwest corner in the second niche. The tower served as a water tank, believed to have been used to stabilize hydraulic pressure by releasing the water when the level fell below a certain level. The tower has a clamshell structure with a spiral staircase in the center, around which was the container with the water flowing from a drain at the bottom of the tower. The drain was surrounded in the lower part by 30 centimeter thick outer walls, above the cistern by 15 centimeter thick walls. Several drainage channels distributed the water in different directions. It is not known whether the lower-lying cistern was supplied with water from nearby springs and whether this was sufficient to fill it, or whether the water came from an artificial canal in the Thracian hinterland.

In the same small valley in which the cistern is located, there are three smaller elliptical open cisterns to the west, oriented from north to south. The central one has been destroyed, while the other two remaining ones are called domuzdamı ( pig houses ) because they were used as stables for animals.

literature

  • Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), pp. 42-47.
  • Macide Savaş: Bakırköy Fildamı sarnıcı koruma sorunları . Master's thesis at Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, Istanbul 2009 ( digitized ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Raymond Janin : Constantinople Byzantine . Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1964, p. 205.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Ernest Mamboury : The Tourists' Istanbul . Çituri Biraderler Basımevi, Istanbul 1953, p. 326.
  3. ^ Raymond Janin: Constantinople Byzantine . Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1964, p. 446.
  4. ^ Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), p. 47.
  5. ^ A b Raymond Janin: Constantinople Byzantine . Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1964, p. 447.
  6. ^ Raymond Janin: Constantinople Byzantine . Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1964, p. 448.
  7. ↑ a b c Feride Imrana Altun: Istanbul'un 100 Roma, Bizans Eseri . Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kültür A.Ş. Yayınları, Istanbul 2009, ISBN 978-9944-370-76-9 , p. 142.
  8. ^ Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), p. 42.
  9. ↑ a b c Bambaşka Bakırköy Gazetesi , No. 10, March 2009.
  10. ↑ Fildamı Sarnıcı ne zaman restore edilecek? , Yaşam Gazetesi, February 9, 2018.
  11. ^ Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), p. 44.
  12. ^ Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), p. 46.
  13. ↑ a b Tülay Ergül: A Byzantine Cistern near Istanbul . In: Archeology , Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1974), p. 45.
  14. ^ A b Raymond Janin: Constantinople Byzantine . Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines, Paris 1964, p. 206.

Coordinates: 40 ° 59 ′ 35 ″  N , 28 ° 53 ′ 10 ″  E