St Paul’s Journey to Macedonia
In the Acts of the Apostles (16:11–15), we read about an important moment in the spread of Christianity from Asia Minor to Europe. St...
The Monumental Portico and the Colonnaded Street
The second important group of ruins discovered in ancient Thyateira belongs to a monumental portico, which served as a grand entrance to a public...
Pliny the Younger and the Christians of Anatolia
One of the earliest official records of Christianity in Anatolia comes from Pliny the Younger, who served as the Roman governor of the province...
Persecution of the First Christian Leaders
During the first decades after the death of Jesus, the leaders of the early Christian movement faced severe persecution. St Stephen, the first Christian...
St John of Patmos
Much of what we know about St John of Patmos, also called the Theologian or the Divine, comes from later Christian traditions and apocryphal...
Distinguishing the Palaces of Constantinople
Two main points support the idea that the Palace of the Bucoleon and the Palace of Hormisdas were separate buildings. First, the Anonymus explicitly...
Identifying the Harbour of the Bucoleon
With the evidence regarding the famous group of the Lion and the Bull, it is clear that the Harbour of the Bucoleon was located...
The Gate of Tchatlady Kapou
On the western headland of the small bay in front of the Bucoleon Harbour stood an old slaughter-house. This building has long been used...
Purpose of Manuel’s Wall
The wall built by Emperor Manuel Comnenus was constructed to strengthen the defenses of the Palace of Blachernae, which had become the preferred residence...
Joining Old and New Walls
If the western spur of the Sixth Hill was already protected by walls when the Theodosian Walls were built (in the early 5th century),...
