| City Walls |
Ever since they were first built by the city's founder, Byzas, the areas covered by the Istanbul city walls have varied over time. They took their present shape after Theodosius II added on the land walls. The wallswere encircled by a ditch 10 meters deep and 20 meters wide. The first wall, which was 2 meters thick and 8 1/2 meters high, began several meters beyond the ditch. About 20 meters further in was the inner wall, 5 meters thick and 12 meters high. On both the inner and the outer walls were placed 96 towerseach, many of which also had a gate. These gates were either for the civil population or the soldiders. 
Only twice in their history were these sturdy gates violated,during the Latin invasion of 1204 and the conquest of Istanbul in 1453.The Marmara Walls, 8,260 meters long, face theMarmara Sea. Their gates are Ahirkapi, ‚Atladikapi, Samatya kapisi and Narlikapi. The Land Walls, 5,632 meters in length, have 7 gates: Belgrat kapisi, Silivri kapi, Mevlevihane Kapisi, Topkapi, Edirnekapi, Egrikapi, and Yedikule ("7 towers") which the Byzantines adorned with three vaults and called "golden gate." The emperors used this ornamented gate upon returning home from a victorious battle. |