Chalke - History

History

The gate lay on the southeastern corner of the Augustaion, the main ceremonial plaza of the city, with the Hagia Sophia cathedral on the northern side and the Baths of Zeuxippos and the Hippodrome of Constantinople on the southern and western sides.

The first structure in that location was erected by the architect Aetherius during the reign of Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491–518) to celebrate the victory in the Isaurian War (492-497). Like much of the city's center, this structure burned down in the Nika riots of 532, and was subsequently rebuilt by the Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). This building was extensively described by the historian Procopius in his De Aedificiis. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the Chalke itself or its dependencies became a prison, until Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) repaired it and converted it into a law court.

Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 920–944) attached a small chapel dedicated to Christ Chalkites (Χριστός Χαλκίτης), which was later rebuilt on a grander scale by Emperor John I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976), who endowed it with relics and was himself buried there. This rebuilding was facilitated by the fact that his predecessor, Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969), had enclosed the palace precinct with a new wall of reduced girth, to which the Chalke was no longer attached. The main gatehouse, denuded of its bronze gates by Emperor Isaac II Angelos during his first reign (1185–1195), is not mentioned by Byzantine chroniclers after ca. 1200. The chapel however survived long after: it is mentioned as being largely intact by Russian pilgrims in the 14th century, and in Ottoman times, the ruins of the chapel were known as Arslanhane and functioned as a menagerie. The remains of the chapel are depicted in 18th-century drawings, until finally demolished in 1804.