Cistern of Aetius

Cistern of Aetius
Vefa (Karagümrük) Stadium

The Cistern of Aetius (Greek Κινστέρνα του Αετίου) was a huge Late Antique open-air water reservoir in Byzantine Constantinople, now near Edirnekapı in modern Istanbul. Like other surviving Byzantine open cisterns of modern Istanbul, it has served different functions over the centuries, first being used as a “sunken” vegetable garden (Turkish Karagümrük Çukurbostanı) by the Ottoman era, and then as a football stadium for Karagümrük Sports Club since the mid twentieth century. The Cistern of Aetius is the smallest of the three surviving intramural open cisterns. It is also one of the oldest stadiums of Istanbul.

Karagümrük Stadium, formerly the Cistern of Aetius, covered with snow (2022)

History

The Cistern of Aetius was a large open cistern or reservoir built to store water. The rectangular structure was situated on a ridge between the Fifth and Sixth Hills along the northern branch of the Mese around 300 m southeast of Edirnekapı (Gate of Adrianople, historically the Gate of Charisius) and the Theodosian Land Walls. Several sources mentioned a cistern built by Aetius, the urban prefect (praefectus urbi) of Constantinople from around 419 to 421. He was perhaps in office in 421 when he is recorded building a cistern in Constantinople. While the cistern at Karagümrük was previously identified as the cisterns of Bonus or Aspar known from written sources, these identifications are now generally rejected. Stamped bricks from the Cistern of Aetius, with a third indiction year that suggests a manufacture date of 420/421, also seem to confirm its identity. There is also a reference to the Cistern of Pulcheria, which was also dated to 421, suggesting it is the same structure.

The Cistern of Aetius was built in the context of Constantinople’s growth in size and population in the second half of the fourth and first half of the fifth century. Constantinople, unlike Rome, lacked a good water supply, which was increasingly a serious problem as the need for water grew in the second half of the fourth century. Water shortages began to be addressed when the Aqueduct of Valens, an extensive system bringing water from Thrace, was completed around 373. In addition, a nymphaeum (monumental fountain) at the Forum Tauri, the Cistern of Modestus, and two baths named after the daughters of Valens, Anastasianae and Carosianae, were also built around the same time. During the Theodosian era, numerous construction projects expanded the infrastructure of the imperial capital, with the Theodosian Walls significantly enlarging the city. As the city’s population continued to grow and there was an increased threat of barbarian attack, a major expansion of the city’s water storage was undertaken during their period. The Aqueduct of Valens was extended, eventually making it the longest aqueduct of the Roman world, bringing water from over 250 km away. By the mid-fifth century, there were at least eight imperial baths, four nymphaea, five cisterns, and over 150 private baths. Amongst the new cisterns were the huge open reservoirs of Aetius and Aspar built in the new belt between the older Constantinian Walls and the new Theodosian Walls.

The Cistern of Aetius likely fell out of use when the Aqueduct of Valens was cut by the Avars during the Siege of Constantinople in 626. While the aqueduct was only restored over a century later during the reign of Constantine V in 766, it is unclear if the Cistern of Aetius was ever used to store water again. It is possible it was put to a new purpose by the Middle Byzantine era, such as gardens for growing vegetables. By the Ottoman era, the Cistern of Aetius was no longer used to store water and it began functioning as a çukurbostan (Turkish “sunken garden”) by the sixteenth century. It was known as Karagümrük Çukurbostanı, since it was in the district Karagümrük (Turkish “Black Customs”), which, according to tradition, takes its name from a customs house near the city gate of Edirnekapı.

After Karagümrük Sports Club was founded in 1926, Karagümrük Çukurbostanı was turned into its playing field. Karagümrük Sports Club takes its colors (red and black) from the Karagümrük Fire Brigade. Vefa Sports Club, originally based in the district of Vefa, later took control of the fields, building a stadium named after Vefa Sports Club in 1945. Karagümrük Sports Club was reestablished in 1946 and began to operate in Vefa Stadium. This stadium, which is also known as Karagümrük Stadium, has a capacity of 6,500 people.

Also see, Cistern of Aspar

Architecture and Water Engineering

The Cistern of Aetius consists of a long rectangular excavated reservoir with four partially surviving walls. It measures around 244 x 85 m and perhaps had a depth of 13-15 m. This suggests that it perhaps had a capacity of over 300,000 m³ (80 million gallons) of water. However, it has also been argued that, for reasons of water pressure, it could have only withstood being filled to a depth of 9.5 m. Its north wall is 5.2 m thick. The masonry of the walls consists of alternating bands of brick and mortared rubble faced with neatly-cut limestone blocks and brick, a typical technique in early fifth-century Constantinople. Its long, narrow shape, which is different from the other open cisterns in the city, is presumably related to the flat ridge on which it is located.

The water supply line of the Valens channel probably entered the city near the highest point of the city a short distance north of Edirnekapı. It then continued near the northern ridge of the hill, passing just south of the Cistern of Aetius, continuing east along the Aqueduct of Valens, and terminating in Binbirdirek Cistern. As these reservoirs were uncovered, its water would have been much less clean than that stored in closed cisterns. It has been proposed that there could have been a separate channel with poorer quality water that supplied large open cisterns. The writings of Frontinus and Vitruvius show that the Romans had water preferences based on taste and clarity, suggesting that the water from the open cistern would have been less desirable. The lower quality of the water, then, might have been used for industrial and agricultural purposes. This seems to be supported by their location between the old Constantinian walls and the Theodosian Land Walls, which had numerous vegetable gardens. By the seventh century, it became more important to grow crops within the city walls during sieges, making the water from open cisterns an important source for the irrigation of the gardens. However, this does not explain similar large open cisterns in more densely populated areas in the heart of the city.

There is no surviving evidence of inflow or outflow channels for the Cistern of Aetius, though a channel broken through the northwest wall was documented in the late nineteenth century. Inflow channels would have entered at a level higher than the highest intended capacity, while outflow channels would have been at the lowest level. Since the lower portions of the walls, where such evidence would be located, are now covered with accumulated debris, such evidence is no longer visible. Since the bottom of the wall has not been determined, its actual depth is also merely an estimation. İpek Bodrum Cistern, now buried under a park, was located a short distance from the northeastern side of the Cistern of Aetius; however, it is unclear if it was somehow connected or involved in regulating the water flow.

The gardens were flattened when Karagümrük Çukurbostanı was first turned into a football field. Over the years, work on the stadium has led to the partial loss of the cistern walls. In 1986, the walls on the side of the stands were covered with concrete.

Dimensions and possible water capacity

244 m x 85 m x 13-15 m = 269,620-311,100 m³

Brick bands were 0.35 m high and ashlar bands were 1.8 m high

The bricks are laid in bands of four courses of bands.

İpek Bodrum Cistern, now buried under a park, was located a short distance from the northeastern side of the Cistern of Aetius. It is unclear if it was somehow connected or involved in regulating the water flow. Photo from the Nicholas V. Artamonoff Collection (1936)

Edirnekapı, Mihrimah Mosque and Karagümrük Çukurbostan

Aerial photo by Kadir Kir

The Cistern of Aetius, known in the Ottoman era, as Karagümrük Çukurbostanı, was located in the district of Karagümrük (Turkish “Black Customs”), which, according to tradition, takes its name from a customs house near the city gate of Edirnekapı. The district appeared following the construction of Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in the 16th century.

Excerpts from Primary Sources

The Chronicle of Marcellinus

4th indiction, consulship of Eustathius and Agricola (420/1)

The reservoir of Aetius was built.

The Patria

At the so-called Cistern of Aetios, which was built by the patrician Aetios under Valens, a statue stood of this Aetios.

The Parastaseis

In the so-called cistern of Aetius, which was founded by the patrician Aetius in the days of Valentinian; there the statue (stele) of Valentinian himself is preserved in the cistern with Aetius escorting it.

Chronicon Paschale

In the time of these consuls [421] water was let into the cistern of the lady Pulcheria Augusta, in the month Peritius, one day before the Ides of February [12 February], in the presence of lord Theodosius Augustus.

Aerial view of Edirnekapı, Fevzi Paşa Caddesi and Karagümrük Stadium (c.1958)

List of the Seven Wonders of Late Byzantine Constantinople

Codex Matritensisgraecus 86 (late fifteenth century) trans. Bardill

The Augoustios (Justinian’s Column in the Augustaion)

The Tauros and the Xerolophos (Theodosius’ column and Arcadius’ column in their respective fora)

The reservoirs of the aqueducts:

Of the Prodromos (The Cistern of Aetius, near St John Prodromos in Petra)

Of the Pantepoptes (The Cistern of Aspar)

Of Gonos (The Cistern of Bonos)

Of Mukusia (The Cistern of Mokios)

Of the Archangel (presumably a cistern close to St. Michael’s column set up by Michael VIII Palaiologos)

From Pierre Gilles’ Topography of Constantinople and Its Antiquities

That the suburb called the Hebdomon was on the Sixth Hill, which is now inside the city, is clear from the Church of St. John the Baptist, whom the Greeks commonly call Prodromos. This is on the side extending to the east, demolished for the most part by the Turks, where a few marble columns remain, fearing the final plunder. But these are few out of the many that have been taken away. While other remains indicate how sumptuous this church was, so does the cistern called Bonus (which was so called because a Patrician named Bonus constructed it), situated a little above it. This [cistern] is 300 paces in length. Its columns and roof have been despoiled, in which a garden now grows there.

[This description is based on a mistaken location of the Hebdemon, which is now modern Bakırköy. This cistern is presumably the Cistern of Aetius, which never had columns or a roof.]