Cyclical inversion of limits and centres: the formation process of the Regio quartadecima, Constantinople

Abstract

The paper reconstructs the topography of Constantinople’s fourteenth region (regio XIV) applying the urban morphology analysis methods (Caniggia and Maffei, 1979) and the attractors’ theory (Camiz, 2018) to the fragmentary documental sources and scarce archaeological data. The pontem sublicium sive ligneum’s location was determined as part of a street network, in analogy with the pons sublicius in Rome, according to the formation process of the territorial organism. This was the starting point for the reconstruction of the topographic mosaic. By redefining the path of the Constantinian walls upon quantitative sources it was possible to localise the monumental buildings of the XIV region, as listed in the Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae, with reference to the morphology of the territory described by Dionysius of Byzantium and the Patria Konstantinopoleos. The form of the territory is a permanent element within urban contexts of continuous changes, demolitions and reconstructions. The analysis of the urban tissues, the road network’s diachronic attraction and the reconstruction of the territorial organism provided the general methodological framework for the placement of the topographical urban fragments mentioned by historical sources upon a GIS.