SETTLEMENTS OUTSIDE THE CITY UNTIL THE 7TH CENTURY IN ISTANBUL

First settlements

Starting from the 6th century, the Golden Horn became a part of the whole city. In the second half of the 6th century, Emperor Tiberios had two towers built at the entrance of the Golden Horn and closed the entrance to foreign ships with a chain. In the same period, Sykai had developed as the XIIIth District. Iustinian I restored this ancient city, built a church and named it Iustinianae, raising its status from a district to a city. There were also some public buildings such as baths and theatres. In fact, Sykai had been part of the city since the time of Constantine I.

Sources mention the existence of a stone bridge between the land lines ending at Blahernai (Ayvansaray) on the Golden Horn and Pegai on the opposite bank. Villehardouin wrote that this bridge existed during the Crusader invasion. The bridge was probably destroyed in the 13th century, because Ibn Battuta, who arrived in Istanbul in 1334, mentions the remains of this old bridge. On the Golden Horn, in Kosmidion, there was the famous monastery of St Kosmas and St Damianos, the folk physicians (anargiroi). On the opposite bank, Pegai, a large settlement with a palace, also had churches and shipyards. However, there are no physical data from the first centuries. Only the names of places and buildings are known.



Bosphorus

Throughout the entire history of the city, until recently, the Bosphorus was a fascinating natural environment for non-urban life, hunting and fishing. The history of ancient settlements on the shores of the Bosphorus is uncertain. The first mythological reference to the natural appearance of the Bosphorus is related to the passage of the Argonauts. We know that small villages existed on these shores, which were a paradise for fishermen. In such a large and bustling city, the existence of a waterway suitable for maritime transport made the proliferation of settlements on the shores of the Bosphorus inevitable. The only difficulty was sea transport. The earliest structures built in the fishing villages at the bottom of the deep valleys along the Bosphorus were the mansions of nobles. According to the information we have from the sources, the senators of Constantinus started to build their out-of-town villas, whose names are mentioned in historical sources, on the Bosphorus. Apart from these villas, many churches and monasteries were also built. These sparse settlements and rural estates extended as far as the entrance to the Black Sea.

On the Asian side of the entrance to the Bosphorus, the city of Chrysopolis, with its small harbour, continued to be a non-urban settlement. It was also the harbour of Chalcedon, since it was both easier and shorter to reach Chalcedon from here. On the small Cape Damalis, overlooking Byzantion, there was an ancient statue of a cow, which gave the cape its name. The imperial headquarters of the Anatolian army was also here. Our knowledge of Chrysopolis is based on later sources. Later, the Skutarion Barracks was built here, where an elite group of soldiers were stationed. The Turkish name "Üsküdar" derives from this word. During the Middle Byzantine period, on the small rock of Arcla (today's Maiden's Tower) at the entrance to the Bosphorus off Cape Damalis, Manuel I. Komnenos had built a small castle to block the entrance to the Bosphorus with a chain, but he never realised this project. However, this project shows that at that time the Bosphorus was beginning to be considered as a natural extension of the city. In the early period, the Bosphorus was an empty and rural area. However, after the reign of Iustinian, it became relatively more densely populated.