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342 DESTEUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIEE he had opened for his troops, one was to the north of the Adrianople Gate. The walls between this gate and the Palace of Porphyrogenitus were, in construction, like those in the Lycus valley, but the inner Theodosian wall, instead of extending as far as that palace (now known as Tekfour Serai), stopped short about a hundred yards from it. There a short wall at right angles connected it with the second or Outer Wall. In this transverse wall was a postern giving access from the city to the Inner Enclosure or Peribolos. The short Outer Wall north of the transverse wall, having to do duty for the two city walls, had been made exceptionally strong. A small postern gate, partly below the level of the ground and underneath the extremity of the palace, 1 led directly from the city to the Outer Enclosure. This gate was known as the Kerkoporta or Circus Gate. 2 It had been built up and almost forgotten for many years previous to the siege, but when easy access to the Outer Enclosure was deemed necessary, certain old men recalled its existence and it was reopened. As its position caused it to be con- cealed from persons who were not close to the tower, it may easily have been left undefended for a while during the night under the impression that it would not be noticed. 3 1 TlapairSpTiov %p irpb iroWwv x?bv(*>v a(T<paa>s -ire<ppayfJ.4uov, vir6yaiov, tcpbs rb Kdrcodev /x4pos tov iraXariov. 2 Its complete name was Porta Xylokerkou, because it led to a wooden circus outside the city. See the subject fully discussed by Professor van Millingen, Byzantine Constantinople, pp. 89-94. 3 I am not satisfied that the Kerkoporta was the one indicated by Professor van Millingen. On the map published by the Greek Syllogos, as well as in Canon Curtis's Broken Bits of Byzantium, a small postern is shown in the wall immediately south of the tower adjoining Tekfour Serai, and my own recollection is that I saw this walled-up postern with Dr. Paspates in 1875. The wall itself was pulled down on the outbreak of the last Turko-Eussian war and replaced by a slighter one. Whichever view be correct, the statement in the text is not affected. Professor van Millingen contends that the Kerkoporta strictly so called was the small gate in the corner between Tekfour Serai, and the adjoining tower on the south. But he maintains also that the postern to which Ducas refers was in the transverse wall, giving access from the city to the Inner Enclosure. He remarks that if the Turks entered by the Kerkoporta they could have mounted the great Inner Wall from the city. As to the latter objection, it must be