Brücken über das Goldene Horn

Abstract

Recently, M. Hurbanič had claimed in an essay that there was only one stone bridge over the Golden Horn. Consequently, he considered the several names which were mentioned in the Byzantine sources (Justinian, Kallinikos, Panteleimon and Camel Bridge) as the names of the same bridge. However, according to Ibn Battuta, who stayed in Constantinople in 1334, the former stone bridge over the Golden Horn was destroyed a long time before his visit. This construction must have been collapsed at an unknown time after 1204. On the other hand, the name Camel Bridge appears in the sources only from the end of the 13th century and for the last time in 1343. This new bridge, which was unknown to Ibn Battuta, is depicted on a veduta of Constantinople-Istanbul (Düsseldorf, Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, G 13, fol. 54r, ca. 1485/90) with the inscription pons despine. It is the same bridge which is depicted in the Vatican “Epithalamion” (Vat. gr. 1851, fol. 3v). Although the date of the manuscript is being controversially discussed at present, I agree with the scholars who date it in the Palaiologan era. The bridge on fol. 3v marks the place where a foreign imperial bride (presumably Maria-Kyratza of Bulgaria, the bride of Andronikos IV Palaiologos, who entered Constantinople by ship in 1346) is received by court ladies, and is already dressed in the robe of an Augusta (ῥωμαικὸν δεσποινικὸν ἱμάτιον). The name pons despine is without doubt the Latin translation of γέφυρα τῆς δεσποίνης. The bridge on both illustrations must be located further north of the Kosmidion at the narrowest point of the Golden Horn near modern district Silâhtarağa. In future discussions on the date of the Vatican “Epithalamion”, the pons despine in the Düsseldorf manuscript should be taken into account since it owes its name to the reception of an imperial bride (δέσποινης νύμφη). This event must have taken place in the Palaiologan period near the Camel Bridge, the only still existing bridge over the Golden Horn in 1343, 1346 and 1485/90.