Prosphorion Harbour

[1][2] The harbour lay on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, east of today's Galata Bridge, in the fifth region of Constantinople, where the sea walls made a deep nick, in correspondence of the Byzantine Gate of Eugenius (the Ottoman Yalıköşkü kapısı),[2] and extended successively westwards, finally occupying the first inlet after the estuary entrance.

[1] After the reconstruction of Byzantium following its destruction under Septimius Severus (r. 193–211), the harbour grew to the west, finally enclosing the whole area today occupied by the Sirkeci railway station and its dependencies.

[1] The first landing place to be met at the east, possibly lying near the Gate of Eugenius, was named after Timasius (d. 396), a high officer active under Emperors Valens (r. 364–378) and Theodosius I (r.

[1] Right after the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 324, the port received the name of "closed harbour" (Greek: κλειστός λιμήν, kleistos limen) since it was protected by moles and defended by the sea walls and by the Tower of Eugenius.

[2] Its only surviving function until the late Palaiologan period was that of dockyard (Greek: ναύσταθμος, naustathmos) for the Emperor during his trips from the Palace of Blachernae to the Hagia Sophia cathedral.