Delphi Complete Works of Procopius

by Procopius of Caesarea

  [9] But the Emperor rebuilt those portions of these walls which had suffered, and making the weak parts very strong for the sake of the guards, he added the following devices. [10] He blocked up all the exits from each tower leading to those adjoining it; [11] and he built from the ground up a single ascent inside each individual tower, which the guards there can close in case of emergency and scorn the enemy if they have penetrated inside the circuit-wall, since each tower by itself was sufficient to ensure safety for its guards. [12] Also inside these walls he diligently made provision for safety, not only doing what has just been mentioned, but also restoring all the parts of the circuit-wall of the city of Selymbria which happened to have been damaged. [13] These things then were done by the Emperor Justinian at the long walls.

  [14] The well-known city of Heraclea which is situated on the coast near by, the ancient Perinthus — which in former times men regarded as the first city of Europe, though it now takes a place second to Constantinoplea — suffered cruelly from lack of water in recent times. This was not because the country about it had no water, nor yet because this matter was neglected by the ancient builders of the city (for Europe has an abundance of springs and the men of ancient times were careful to build aqueducts), but because Time, following its custom, had destroyed the city’s aqueduct, since it either failed to notice that its masonry had become enfeebled by age, or else was leading the people of Heraclea to their own destruction through their neglect of it; and the city was nearly left depopulated for this reason. [15] And Time was having the same effect upon the palace there, a very admirable building. [16] But when the Emperor Justinian saw the city, he in no careless fashion, but rather in a manner befitting an Emperor, flooded it with crystal-clear drinking-water, and he, far from permitting the city to be deprived of the honour of its palace, rebuilt it throughout.

  [17] One day’s journey distant from Heraclea was a town on the coast named Rhaedestus, well situated for the voyage to the Hellespont, with a good harbour well adapted for the business of the sea, so that merchant vessels could put in and unload their cargoes very conveniently and then put out to sea again with no difficulty after loading their freight. But it lay exposed to the barbarians, who sometimes overran that region in unexpected raids, because it was not protected even by makeshift defences nor was it naturally difficult of access. [18] Consequently the place came to be disregarded and neglected by the merchants through fear of the risk. [19] But now the Emperor Justinian has not only provided for the safety of the place but has also saved all those who dwell round about. [20] For he erected at Rhaedestus a city which is not only strongly defended by its wall, but is also of extraordinary size. [21] Hither on occasion all those who dwell near by flee for refuge when the barbarians fall upon them, and they thus save themselves and their property.

  [10] [1] Such were the works carried out by the Emperor Justinian at Rhaedestus. I shall go on to tell what he did in the region of the Chersonese. [2] The Chersonese extends out from all that portion of Thrace. It projects boldly into the sea and seems to be pressing onward, giving the impression that it is advancing toward Asia. [3] It has a single projecting point at the city of Elaeus, and this divides the sea into two parts, while the promontory itself is cut off from the rest of the mainland by the water, and curves inward before the advancing sea to form the so-called Gulf of Melas. [4] The remainder of it almost forms an island, acquiring a name appropriate to the shape which it assumes, for it is called Chersonese, most likely because it is prevented only by a tiny isthmus from being altogether an island. [5] At this isthmus the men of former times built a cross-wall of a very casual and indifferent sort which could be captured with the help of a ladder, [6] because, I suppose, they thought they were building an earthen wall around a casually placed garden-plot, and so built it of meagre dimensions and rising only slightly from the ground. [7] And facing the sea at either side of the isthmus they constructed wretched little bastions, of the sort which people are wont to call “moles,” and with these they closed the gap between the water and the circuit-wall, not with the expectation of repelling attacking forces at this point, but rather in order to invite them to effect an entrance; so contemptible did they make them and so easy to capture for any who should attack. [8] But they thought they had set up a kind of invincible bulwark against the enemy and so decided to regard everything inside this circuit-wall as requiring no further protection, for there actually was neither fort nor any other stronghold on the Chersonese, though it extends to a length of almost three day’s journey. [9] Indeed the enemy, while overrunning the land of Thrace recently, did actually undertake to force the entrance by the beach, and frightening off the guards there they leaped inside just as if they were playing a game, and they got inside the defences with no trouble.

  [10] So the Emperor Justinian, with his constant solicitude for the safety of his subjects, did as follows. [11] First of all he demolished completely the old wall, so that not so much as a trace of it was left. [12] And he straightway erected another wall, upon the same ground, very broad and rising to a great height. [13] Above the battlements a set-back vaulted structure in the manner of a colonnaded stoa makes a roof to shelter those who defend the circuit-wall. [14] And other breastworks resting upon the vaulted structure double the fighting for those who lay siege to the wall. [15] Furthermore, at either end of the wall, at the very edge of the sea, he made bastions (proboloi) extending far out into the water, which were joined to the wall and rivalled its defences in height. [16] He also cleared the moat outside the wall and dug it out very thoroughly, adding a great deal to its width and to its depth. [17] Furthermore, he stationed detachments of soldiers on these long walls, sufficient to offer resistance to all the barbarians if they should make any attempt upon the Chersonese. [18] And after he had made all this firm provision for its safety, he also built additional strongholds for the people inside; [19] so that if (God forbid) any mischance should befall the long walls, the inhabitants of the Chersonese would none the less be in safety. [20] For he surrounded the city of Aphrodisias with very strong defences, though it had been unwalled for the most part before that, and he put walls around the city of Ciberis which was lying dismantled, and provided it with inhabitants. [21] He also built there baths and guest-houses and numerous dwellings, and all the other things which make a city notable. [22] Furthermore, he provided Callipolis, as it is called, with a very strong wall, a city which had been left unwalled by the men of earlier times because of the faith which was placed in the long walls. [23] There too he built storehouses for grain and for wine amply sufficient for all the wants of the soldiers in Chersonese.

  [24] There was a certain ancient city opposite Abydus, Sestus by name, which again had been carelessly planned in earlier times and had no defences. [25] A certain very steep hill towers above it, on which he built an altogether inaccessible fortress, which cannot possibly be taken by any assailant. [26] And it happens that at no great distance from Sestus is situated Elaeus, where a precipitous rock rises from the sea, culminating in a lofty headland which is a natural fortress. [27] So this Emperor built a fort there too, which is hard to get past and altogether impregnable for assailants. [28] Furthermore, he founded the fortress at Thescus on the other side of the long wall, strengthening it by means of an especially strong circuit-wall. Thus he ensured the safety of the inhabitants of Chersonese from every side.

  [11] [1] Beyond the Chersonese stands the city of Aenus, which bears the name of its founder; for he was Aeneas, as they say, son of Anchises. [2] The circuit-wall of this place was easy to capture not only because of its lowness, since it did not rise even to the necessary height, [3] but because it offered an exposed approach on the side toward the sea, whose waters actually touched it in places. [4] But the Emperor Justinian raised it to such a height that it could not even be assailed, much less be captured. [5] And by extending the wall and closing the gaps on every side he rendered Aenus altogether impregnable. [6] Thus the city was made safe; and ye
t the district remained easy for the barbarians to overrun, since Rhodopê from ancient times had been lacking in fortifications. [7] And there was a certain village in the interior, Vellurus by name, which in wealth and population ranked as a city, but because it had no walls at all it constantly lay open to the plundering barbarians, a fate which was shared by the many fields lying about it. [8] Our Emperor made this a city and provided it with a wall and made it worthy of himself. [9] He also took great pains to put in order all such parts of the other cities in Rhodopê as had come to be defective or had suffered with time. [10] Among these were Trajanopolis and Maximianopolis, where he restored the parts of the bastions which had become weak. Thus were these things done.

  [11] The city of Anastasiopolis in this region was indeed walled even before this, but it lay along the shore and the beach was unprotected. Consequently the boats putting in there often fell suddenly into the hands of the barbarian Huns, who by means of them also harassed the islands lying off the coast there. [12] But the Emperor Justinian walled in the whole sea-front by means of a connecting wall and thus restored safety both for the ships and for the islanders. [13] Furthermore, he raised the aqueduct to an imposing height all the way from the mountains which rise here as far as the city. [14] And there is a certain ancient town in Rhodopê, Toperus by name, which is surrounded for the most part by the stream of a river, but had a steep hill rising above it. As a result of this it had been captured by the barbarian Sclaveni not long before. [15] But the Emperor Justinian added a great deal to the height of the wall, so that it now overtops the hill by as much as it previously fell below its crest. [16] And he set a colonnaded portico with a vaulted roof on its wall, and from this the defenders of the city fight in safety against those attacking the wall; and he equipped each one of the towers so as to be a strong fort. [17] He also secured the interval between the circuit-wall and the river by shutting it off with a cross-wall. These things, then, were done by the Emperor Justinian as I have said.

  [18] And I shall describe all the fortresses which were made by him through the rest of Thrace and through what is now called Haemimontum. [19] First of all he built with great pains those parts which were lacking, and those which had suffered, in Philippopolis and Beroea, and also at Adrianopolis and Plotinopolis, (for these happened to be very vulnerable), though they lay close to many tribes of barbarians. [20] And in all parts of Thrace he established countless fortresses, by which he has now made entirely free from devastation a land which formerly lay exposed to the inroads of the enemy. These fortresses, so far as I recall them, are as follows:

  In Europe:

  Lydicae

  Elaeae

  In Rhodopê, new:

  Caseëra

  Theodoropolis

  Thrasou

  Sudanel

  Mundepa

  Tharsandala

  Denizus

  Toparum

  Dalatarba

  Bre

  Cuscabiri

  Cusculis

  Of Thrace:

  Bospara

  Besuparum

  Capisturia

  Beripara

  Isgipera

  Ozormê

  Bereïarusº

  Tamonbari

  Scemnas

  Carasthyra

  Pinzus

  Tuleûs

  Arzum

  Castrazarba

  Zositersum

  Bergisum

  Dingium

  Sacissus

  Curtuxura

  Potamùcastellum

  Eisdicaea

  The trading-port of the Taurocephali

  Belaïdipara

  Scitaces

  Bepara

  Pusinum

  Hymauparubri

  Scariotasalucra

  Augustas

  Urdaûs

  St. Trajan’s

  Dertallus

  Solbanû

  Bascum

  Zincyro

  Of Haemimontum:

  Zemarcû

  Ceriparon

  Casibonon

  Ucû

  Antonum

  Gesilafossatum

  Cheroenum

  Probinû

  St. Theodore’s

  Burdepto

  Raculê

  St. Julian’s

  Tzitaëtûs

  Belastyras

  Getrinas

  Bredas

  Verus

  Thocyodis

  Via

  Anagoncli

  Suras

  Authiparû

  Dordas

  Sarmathon

  Clisura

  Hylasianae

  Thrasarichû

  Baeca

  Chrysanthus

  Marcerota

  Zdebrên

  St. Theodore’s

  Asgarzus

  Burtudgiz

  Taurocomum

  Nicê

  Cabotumba

  Deixas

  Getristaus

  Debrê

  Probinû

  Carberus

  Teësimontê

  Asgizûs

  Dalatarba

  Theodoropolis

  Tzyeidon

  Tzonpolegon

  Basibunum

  Anchialus

  Marcianum

  Cyridana

  Beculi

  The remaining Thracian fortresses; also those along the Euxine Sea and the Ister River, and in the interior, as follows:

  In Mysia, on the Ister River:

  Erculente

  Scatrina

  Appiara

  Exentaprista

  Deoniana

  Limô

  Odyssus

  Vidigis

  Arina

  Nicopolis

  Zicideba

  Spibyrus

  The city Castellum

  Cistidizus

  Basternas

  Metallus

  Beripara

  Spathizus

  Marcerota

  Bodas

  Zisnudeba

  Turulês

  Justinianopolis

  Therma

  Gemellomontes

  Asilba

  Cuscauri

  Cusculi

  Fossatum

  Bisdina

  Marcianopolis

  Scythias

  Grapsô

  Nonô

  Trosmês

  Neaïodunô

  Residina

  Constantiana

  Callatis

  Bassidina

  Beledina

  Abrittus

  Rubusta

  Diniscarta

  Monteregine

  Becis

  Altina

  Manroballe

  Tigra

  Scedeba

  Novas

  In the interior:

  Copustorus

  Birginasô

  Tillitô

  Ancyriana

  Murideba

  Itzês

  Castellonovo

  Padisara

  Bismapha

  Valentiniana

  Zaldapa

  Axiopa

  Carsô

  Gratiana

  Preïdis

  Argamô

  Paulimandra

  Tzasclis

  Pulchra Theodora

  Tomis

  Creas

  Catassû

  Nisconis

  Novejustiniana

  Presidiô

  Ergamia

  BOOK V.

  [1] [1] The buildings erected by the Emperor Justinian in all Europe have been recorded, as far as possible, in the preceding Book. We must now go on to the remaining parts of Asia. [2] All the fortifications of cities and the fortresses, as well as the other buildings which he erected throughout the East, from the boundary of Persia as far as the city of Palmyra, which chances to be in Phoenicia by Lebanon — these, I think, have been sufficiently described by me above. [3] So at present I shall tell also of all that was done by him in t
he rest of Asia and in Libya, either in fortifying, or in repairing the roads where they were difficult to travel and wholly beset with dangers (sometimes, because mountains towered above them, where they were too steep, sometimes where, since there was a river near by, travellers were caught in it and drowned), or, finally, in repairing all the parts of cities which had become defective — all this I shall proceed to tell, beginning at this point.

  [4] There chanced to be a certain place before the city of Ephesus, lying on a steep slope hilly and bare of soil and incapable of producing crops, even should one attempt to cultivate them, but altogether hard and rough. [5] On that site the natives had set up a church in early times to the Apostle John; this Apostle has been named “the Theologian,” because the nature of God was described by him in a manner beyond the unaided power of man. [6] This church, which was small and in a ruined condition because of its great age, the Emperor Justinian tore down to the ground and replaced by a church so large and beautiful, that, to speak briefly, it resembles very closely in all respects, and is a rival to, the shrine which he dedicated to all the Apostles in the imperial city, which I have described above.