Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/348

 308 DESTKUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIEE were in construction when measured with the guns of our own days, the Turks had employed them effectively. Breaches They had concentrated their fire mainly in three places. Turksm Five cannon had discharged their balls against the walls peaces between the Palace of Porphyrogenitus and the Adrianople Gate ; four, among which was the largest, against those in the Lycus valley near the Komanus Gate, and three against the walls near the Third Military Gate. The evidence presented to-day by the ruined condition of the walls in these places corroborates the statements made by contemporaries, that these were the principal places bombarded. Mahomet was already able to claim with some justice that he had opened three entrances for his army into the city. 1 Several of the towers between the Adrianople Gate and Caligaria had been destroyed. The Anatolian division had greatly weakened those in the neighbourhood of the Third Military Gate. But the most extensive destruction had been wrought by the Janissaries with the aid of the great cannon of Urban. While in each of the three places mentioned the Outer Wall is even now in an exceptionally dilapidated condition, the ruins in the valley of the Lycus show that this was the place where the cannon Lycus had been steadily pounding day and night. Along almost chiePpoint the whole length of the foss, extending for upwards of three of attack. m jies, its side walls and a great portion of the breastwork still remain, mostly, to all appearances, as solid as when they were new. But in the lower part of the Lycus valley hardly more than a trace of either is to be distinguished. The breastwork had been entirely destroyed and had helped to raise the foss to the level of the adjoining ground. A large portion of the Outer Wall and some of its towers had been broken down. The ruins of the Bactatinean tower had helped to fill the ditch ; two towers of the great Inner Wall had fallen. A breach of twelve hundred feet long according to Tetaldi had been made opposite the place where Mahomet had his tent. 2 Here, where the largest cannon was placed, the struggles had been keenest. Here was the station of 1 Crit. xlviii. 2 See also the Moscovite, xx.