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The Amastrianum (, ), also called Forum Amastrianum by modern authors, was a public square () in the city of
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
(today's
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
). Used also as place for public mutilations and executions, it disappeared completely after the end of the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
.


Location

The precise location of the square is unknown: in the work '' De Ceremoniis'', written by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (
reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...
ed 913–959), the square was located along the southern branch of the Mese odós (the main street of the city), between the Philadelphion and the Forum Bovis, both stations of imperial processions coming from the Great Palace and heading to the western part of the city. Janin (1964), p. 69 Because of that, the Amastrianum should have lain in the valley of the Lycus creek, between the seventh and the third hills of Constantinople, at midway between the modern neighbourhoods of Şehzadebaşı and Aksaray. According to another source,Mamboury (1953, p. 73 the square lay in a plain zone on the southern slope of the fourth hill of Constantinople, more or less where the modern roads ''Atatürk Caddesi'' and ''Şehzadebaşı Caddesi'' cross each other. Administratively, it was included in the ninth ''Regio'' of the city.Mamboury (1953, p. 67


History

No Byzantine source defines directly the Amastrianum as a forum, but from the context it is clear that it was a public square. Janin (1964), p. 68 Its name derived from the city of Amastris (modern Amasra) in
Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; , modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; ) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus (region), Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia (later, Galatia ...
(a region on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
coast of north central Anatolia), either because someone from that city who had come to Constantinople for business was killed here, or because it was a place of execution for delinquents, and the Paphlagonians had a reputation for being criminals. According to the '' Patrologia Latina'', the square hosted two statues, respectively of a Paphlagonian and of a slave of him, both always covered with litter and excrement. Indeed the neighbourhood had a very bad reputation, and witnessed several executions. Here Michael III (r. 842–867) let burn the exhumed body of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V Kopronymos (r. 741–775), and Basil the Macedonian (r. 867–886) burned the slaves responsible of having killed their master. In 932,
Romanos I Lekapenos Romanos I Lakapenos or Lekapenos (; 870 – 15 June 948), Latinisation of names, Latinized as Romanus I Lacapenus or Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for and senior co-ruler of ...
(r. 920–944) let burn at the stake here Basil the Copper Hand, who assumed the identity of the usurper Constantine Doukas to lead a rebellion in Bithynia. During the Byzantine age, the Amastrianum was also the centre of the horse trade in the city. Janin (1964), p. 95


Architecture

The forum is supposed to have had a rectangular plan. It was adorned with several pagan statues: among them, one of
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
as
Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...
and one of a sleeping
Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
. Moreover, groups of turtles and birds, and 16 statues of drakes adorned the place. The square was delimited by a marble fence whose small columns were adorned with the
crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...
. The strange ornaments, together with its usage as execution place, spread among the populace the belief that the Amastrianum was inhabited by devils. According to the
Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai ''Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai'' (, "brief historical notes") is an eighth- to ninth-century Byzantine text that concentrates on brief commentary connected to the topography of Constantinople and its monuments, notably its Classical Greek sculp ...
(a Byzantine Guide of the city written in the 8th or 9th century), in the square lay also the edifice named ''Modius'' (, pr. "Modion"). Janin (1964), p. 104 This landmark, built in front of the house of a certain Krateros, had a central plan with columns bearing a vault topped by a pyramid. The building hosted a silver exemplar of the '' modius'', the largest Roman dry measure unit and was used above all in the cereals trade. The exemplar on display was supposed to represent the standard for this unit in the
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
. The monument's façade hosted also two bronze hands set on spears. These were supposed to warn the wheat merchants against cheating using false measures: cheaters had their right hand cut off, as happened in the 5th century to two sailors accused of having swindled the Emperor while selling him cereals. The monument's location was not accidental: the square was not far from two horrea complexes related to the public grain supply from Egypt, the a''nnona''. These were the and the , both placed near the Harbour of Theodosius on the Propontis. Janin (1964), p. 55 The ''Modius'' had been erected by Emperor Valentinian I (r. 364–375), who introduced this standard to Constantinople. A statue of him carrying a ''modius'' lay under the monument's vault. Over the years the original meaning of the bronze hands was forgotten and the place was actually used to punish criminals, often through mutilation. The square's proposed locations have not yet been excavated.


Notes


Sources

* * {{Public spaces of Constantinople Fora of Constantinople