Vrisky palace

Tradition relates the time of the creation of the palace to the rule of Tiberius II (578-582) or his son-in-law Mauritius (582-602). Although this legend is completely legendary, since at that time the Arabs were not in Mesopotamia , it can indicate the time of the appearance of the original building on the site of the palace ^[2] . According to the chronicler, known as Theophanes Continuator , the palace was built by Theophilus in 831 or 832 at the proposal of the future patriarch John VII , who was impressed by what he saw in Baghdad during his embassy to the court of Caliph al Mamun . According to a more reliable source for the mid-9th century, the chronicle of Simeon Metafrast ^[3] , the order for the construction of the palace was given in the spring of 837 ^[4] . According to Theophanes Continuer, “a man named Patricius, who was awarded the title of patrician , who in addition added only to the sleeping quarters built a church named after the Most Holy Lady of Our Lady, and was engaged in construction and did everything according to John’s descriptions, and a three-chapel church near the front hall of the palace, beautiful beauty and magnitude superior to many; the middle aisle bears the name of an archistratig, both side - holy martyrs ” ^[5] . For the construction, stones were taken from the ruins of the nearby ancient Greek temple of Satyr ^[6] . According to the assumption of the French historian Raymond Janin , the saints mentioned by the chroniclers could be the saints of Menodor, Metrodor and Nymphodore revered in Bithynia . According to the assumption of the American Byzantinist these were Thekla, Anna, and Anastasia, the patron saints of the three daughters of the emperor. Around the palace gardens were planted and irrigation arranged. Theophilus loved to relax in the Vriisk Palace, and it was in him that he was informed of the invasion of the Arabs who reached Amoria ^[2] .

The likely location of the palace is the Asian coast of the Bosphorus , where the Maltepe district of Istanbul is currently located. According to the French traveler Pierre Gilles , in 1540 he discovered a village in this place ^[8] . The ruins of the palace and a small marina not far from it have been preserved ^[9] . The first archaeological justification for the identification of the ruins in the -Maltepe region with the Vrias palace in the 1950s was carried out by Turkish archaeologist Semavi Eyije . Eyige completed the description and photographing of the ruins ^[10] . At the same time, however, there was a view according to which the ruins in Maltepe should be identified with the Satyr monastery built by the patriarch Ignatius (847–858, 867–877). This theory was put forward in 1902 by the French orientalist Jules Parguar . However, later on in the architecture of the ruins, elements were identified that have analogues in the Umayyad and Abbasid ( , Ukhaydir and Bulkuwara ), as a result of which identification with the Vriy Palace became predominant ^[11] .

Sources

• The successor of Theophanes . Biographies of the Byzantine kings / ed prepared by Lubarsky J. N. - 2nd ed .. - St. Petersburg: Aletheya, 2009 .-- 400 p. - (Byzantine library. Sources). - ISBN 978-5-91419-146-4 .

Research

• Janin R. Constantinople Byzantine. - Paris, 1950 .-- 482 p.
• Ricci A. The road from Baghdad to Byzantium and the case of the Bryas palace in Istanbul // Byzantium in the Ninth Century: Dead or Alive ?. - 1996 .-- P. 131-149.
• Treadgold W. The Chronological Accuracy of the "Chronicle" of Symeon the Logothete for the Years 813-845 // Dumbarton Oaks Papers. - 1979. - Vol. 33. - P. 157-197.
• Μηλιόπουλος I. Περὶ Βρύαντος (Μάλτεπε) // Byzantinische Zeitschrift. - 2009. - Vol. 27, no. 1. - P. 325-345. - DOI : 10.1515 / byzs.1927.27.1.325 .