Database: Harbor of Theodosius

Arsenal / Harbor of Theodosius

Originally called the Harbor of Elutherios by the city's original Greek inhabitants, this was the largest of Constantinople's numerous ports. Augmented by Emperor Theodosius in the fourth century it became a major port for the trading of agricultural goods, and later a military outpost.

Not long after the Ottomans took over, the port was noted to have succumbed to a heavy amount of silting and it was eventually closed off and built over. By the seventeenth century it had all but disappeared. In the 21st century, workers excavating the site in preparation for a project discovered the remains of dozens of ancient Byzantine galleys sunk deep into the soil.