_Of the Ancient Monuments of the first_ Hill, _and of the first_ Ward _of the City_.
The first Hill, which _Pliny_ sometimes calls _Chrysoceras_, and sometimes _Auri Cornu_, (though this was a Mistake, as appears from what I have wrote concerning the _Thracian Bosporus_) _Dionysius_ a _Byzantian_ calls the _Promontory_ of the _Bosporus_. _There are two Reasons assigned_, says he, _why ’tis call’d the_ Promontory _of the_ Bosporus; _the one is, as some say, because a Cow stung with a Gad-Bee forded over it. Others more fabulously report, that_ Io, _the Daughter of_ Inachus, _being changed into a Cow, swam across it, when she went into_ Asia. The same Author, speaking of a Place call’d _Semystra_, tells us, that _Byzantium_ had been founded there, had not a Raven snatched a Part of the Sacrifice, they offer’d upon their landing, out of the Fire, and carry’d it to the _Promontory_ of the _Bosporus_. This they look’d upon as a Token from the Gods, that they should found their City there. The same Writer, speaking in another Place of a _Promontory_ call’d _Metopum_, opposite to the first Hill of _Constantinople_, this _Promontory_, he adds, faces the City, and lies directly against the _Promontory_ of the _Bosporus_; and the same Author informs us, that a little above the _Promontory_ of the _Bosporus_, there was an Altar erected to _Minerva_, who was call’d _Ecbasia_, or _Egressoria_, because those who transplanted the Colony hither, sally’d out from thence, with a Bravery equal to those, who fight for their Countrey. We might also call her _Ecbateria_, under which Name, as _Hesychius_ reports, _Diana_ was worshipped in _Siphnus_. He adds farther, that upon the same _Promontory_ stood the old Temple of _Neptune_, and below it, upon the Plain, that the _Byzantian_ Youth exercised themselves in Horse-racing, driving the Chariot, Wrestling, and other Martial Sports; and lastly, that at the Foot of the _Promontory_ stood a Bay call’d _Ceras_, which had three Havens, fortify’d with three Cittadels, and high Sand-banks, upon it stood the Castle of _Byzantium_, of which _Xenophon_ takes Notice, when he tells us, that the Men under his Command, having forc’d their Way into the Town, the Inhabitants fearing they should be put to the Sword if their City was taken, some fled to the adjoining _Promontory_, others to the Sea, and that some of them steering about a long time in a Fisher-boat, made at last a landing, got into a Tower, from thence made Signals of Distress, and were assisted at last by the People of _Chalcedon_. And not only the Castle of old _Byzantium_ was built upon the first Hill, but Historians assure us, that the Emperours of _Constantinople_ likewise continu’d a Fortress there, when they tell us, that to keep off the Enemy from entring the Port, they laid a Boom across the River, from the Cittadel to the Castle of _Galata_: Nay, even at this Day, the _Grand Seignor_ has a Cittadel there, fortify’d with thick Walls, which enclose his spacious Gardens on all sides. In old _Byzantium_ there was a Place call’d the _Thracian_ Field, lying upon a Level, and not incumber’d with Houses. It was upon this Plain that _Xenophon_ drew up in Military Order the _Grecian_ Army. He informs us, in his Book of his _Hellenici_, that this Field was near the _Thracian_ Gate; they open’d, says he, the Gates adjoining the _Thracian_ Field: And in the 7ᵗʰ Book of the _Expedition of Cyrus_, speaking of a Place, seated near the Walls of _Byzantium_, where he ranged his Army in order of Battle, he tells us, that the most convenient Place to draw up, or muster an Army is, the _Thracian_ Field; because, as he goes on, ’tis free of Houses, and upon a Plain. I observ’d before, that the seven Towers of _Byzantium_ reach’d from the _Thracian_ Gate to the Sea; _Georgius Cedrinus_ asserts, that they reach’d to the Northern-Sea, that is, to the Bay call’d _Ceras_. _Herodotus_ attests, that in old _Byzantium_ stood an Altar erected to _Diana Orthosia_, and a Temple dedicated to _Bacchus_. _Darius_, says he, _upon viewing the Black Sea, came back to the Bridge, and erected upon the_ Bosporus _two Stone Columns, on which he order’d to be engraven the_ Assyrian _and_ Greek _Alphabets. The_ Byzantians _afterwards removed them into the City, near to the Altar of_ Diana Orthosia. _The_ Greek _Alphabet was what they retain’d, and made use of. The Column with the_ Assyrian _Characters they left remaining near the Temple of_ Bacchus, _where they had fix’d it_. _Laurentius_ translates the _Greek_ Word _Orthosia_, _Erecta_, but he had translated it more properly, had he call’d her _Erectoria_, or _Erectrix_, because as being the Goddess of Child-birth she _raises up_, or _recovers_ Women in Labour.