distribution.[1] With the exception, however, of that of Valens, aerial aqueducts (so conspicuous at Rome) have not been carried near to, or within, the walls of Constantinople; and subterranean pipes of lead or earthenware are the usual means of conveying the precious liquid from place to place.[2] The public cisterns are in themselves a striking architectural feature of the city. Some of these are open basins, but many of them possess vaulted roofs, upborne by hundreds of columns whose capitals are sculptured in the varied styles of Byzantine art.[3] Most of these receptacles for water are distinguished by special names; thus, beneath the Sphendone of the Hippodrome, we have the Cold cistern,[4] and near to the palace or hospice of Lausus the Philoxenus, or Travellers' Friend.[5] By a law of Theodosius II, the wharf dues, paid for the use of the various stairs on the Golden Horn, are applied to the repair of the aqueducts, the supply of water from which is free to the public.[6] In connection with the cisterns a group of three storks in white marble is pointed out as a further
- ↑ See the title De Aqueductu in both Codes and Godfrey's commentary.
- ↑ This aqueduct seems to have been built originally by Hadrian, restored by Valens, who used for the purpose the walls of Chalcedon as a punishment for that town having taken the part of the usurper Procopius, and again restored by Theodosius I. Hence it is denoted by the names of each of these emperors at different times; Socrates, iv, 8; Zonaras, xiii, 16; and the Codes, loc. cit.
- ↑ Chrysoloras, loc. cit., etc.
- ↑ Codin., p. 14.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 21; Byzantios, op. cit., i, p. 262. Still existing in a dry state, and occupied by silk weavers. Most probably the name arises from its having been founded by a patrician Philoxenus; the Turks cal it Bin ber derek, meaning 1,001 columns; see Grosvenor, op. cit., p. 366.
- ↑ Cod., XI, xlii, 7: "It would be execrable," remarks Theodosius II, "if the houses of this benign city had to pay for their water." By a constitution of Zeno every new patrician was to pay 100 lb. of gold towards the maintenance of the aqueducts; Cod., XLI, iii, 3.
