The Amastrianum ( Latin : Amastriánum , Medieval Greek : τά Αμαστριανοῦ , romanized : ta Amastrianoú ), also called Forum Amastrianum by modern authors, was a public square ( Latin : forum ) in the city of Constantinople (today's Istanbul ). Used also as place for public mutilations and executions, it disappeared completely after the end of the Byzantine Empire .
17-636: The precise location of the square is unknown: in the work De Ceremoniis , written by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ( reigned 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
34-577: Is often cited as Ἔκθεσις τῆς βασιλείου τάξεως ("Explanation of the Order of the Palace"), taken from the work's preface, or Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως ("On the Order of the Palace"). In non-specialist English sources, it tends to be called the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (variably spelt), a formula used by writers including David Talbot Rice and the modern English translation. It
51-576: The Horrea Theodosiana , 'warehouses of Theodosius', both placed near the Harbour of Theodosius on the Propontis . 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
68-801: The Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions , a war manual written by Constantine VII for his son and successor, Romanos II . In its incomplete form chapters 1-37 of book I describe processions and ceremonies on religious festivals (many lesser ones, but especially great feasts like the Elevation of the Cross , Christmas, Epiphany, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter and Ascension Day and saint's days like St Demetrius , St Basil etc. often extended over many days), while chapters 38-83 describe secular ceremonies or rites of passage like coronations (38-40), weddings (39,41), births (42), funerals (60), or
85-521: The crescent . 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 (a Byzantine Guide of the city written in the 8th or 9th century), in the square lay also the edifice named Modius ( Greek : Μόδιον , pr. "Modion"). This landmark, built in front of
102-463: The "Blues" and the "Greens" during the hippodrome's horse races who had an important role during court ceremonies. The following chapters (84-95) are taken from a 6th-century manual by Peter the Patrician . They rather describe administrative ceremonies like the appointment of certain functionaries (ch. 84,85), investitures of certain offices (86), the reception of ambassadors and the proclamation of
119-403: The Amastrianum was also the centre of the horse trade in the city. The forum is supposed to have had a rectangular plan. It was adorned with several pagan statues: among them, one of Zeus as Helios and one of a sleeping Heracles . 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
136-584: The Western Emperor (87,88), the reception of Persian ambassadors (89,90), Anagorevseis of certain Emperors (91-96), the appointment of the senate's proedros (97). The "palace order" prescribes the conveyances required for movement (i.e. on foot, mounted, by boat), as well as the participants’ costumes and acclamations, some of which were debased Latin , which had not been an administrative language for more than three centuries. The second book follows
153-539: The celebration of war triumphs during feasts at the Hippodrome like Lupercalia (73). These protocols gave rules for imperial progresses to and from certain churches at Constantinople and the imperial palace, with fixed stations and rules for ritual actions and acclamations from specified participants (the text of acclamations and processional troparia or kontakia , but also heirmoi and stichera are mentioned), among them also ministers, senate members, leaders of
170-521: The city. 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, 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
187-634: 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 (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,
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#1732783557610204-564: 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 monument's façade hosted also two bronze hands set on spears. These were supposed to warn
221-565: 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 Horrea Alexandrina , 'Alexandrian warehouses' and
238-524: Was actually used to punish criminals, often through mutilation . The square's proposed locations have not yet been excavated. De Ceremoniis The De Cerimoniis or De Ceremoniis (fully De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae ) is the conventional Latin name for a Greek book of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople . Its Greek title
255-515: Was included in the ninth Regio of the city. No Byzantine source defines directly the Amastrianum as a forum , but from the context it is clear that it was a public square. Its name derived from the city of Amastris (modern Amasra) in Paphlagonia (a region on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia), either because someone from that city who had come to Constantinople for business
272-560: 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
289-418: Was written or at least commissioned by Emperor Constantine VII (reigned 913-959), probably around 956-959. The compilation of Rep. I 17 (Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek) was partially revised later under Nikephoros II (963-969), perhaps under the supervision of Basil Lekapenos , the imperial parakoimomenos , and it also contains earlier descriptions of the 6th century. One of the book's appendices are
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