1. General information

Milion¹ in Constantinople was initially a column, from which the Mese began.² Later in the area of this column a square vaulted structure was erected, the vault supported by marble columns. It constituted the point relative to which all roads and distances of Eastern part of the empire were measured.³ Eventually not only the structure, but the whole region to the west of the Augustaion was called Milion.

2. Topography

The exact location of the Milion is unknown; however it was very probably to the northwest of Hagia Sophia and west of the Augustaion.⁴ It was erected in the beginning of the Mese, at the point where it formed a bend, directed towards the Forum of Constantine to the west and towards the Baths of Zeuxippos to the north. Where the Mese meets what is today known as the square of Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya Meydani) and turns toward the Alemdar avenue, an arch and a column were excavated; according to the archaeologists they must belong to Milion, because that is the area where the Milion presumably stood. Its main facade was turned towards the Augustaion to the east. Here was an area paved with marble, known as the “plakoton” or the “marmaroton” (both names referring to its being paved with marble) of Milion. The part of the Mese that was in front of the Milion was called Forum of the Milion.⁵

In terms of etymology, the term derives from the Latin word mille, a Roman unit of measurement of length, which measured about 1500 m. (mille passus, mean. thousand paces of a Roman soldier).⁶ The miliaria were milestones along the Roman streets on which information were inscribed, such as the distance from the capital or the distance between the cities, signalled by a number, the locations between which the street extended, and also the name of those who constructed the street and of the emperor to whom the work was dedicated. This system was established by Julius Caesar and perfected by Augustus.⁷ The latter erected the Miliarium aureum, a marble milestone reveted with gold, which stood in the central Forum of Rome, relative to which the distance to every city of Empire was measured. All big cities of the provinces had their miliarium aureum.

3. Milion in the sources

The building is often mentioned in the Byzantine sources, and it was one of the points of reference in the life of Constantinople. Located in the region of Hagia Sophia and Augustaion, it was to the centre where many important facts took place and where the heart of capital beat.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos often refers to the Milion in his work De Cerimoniis as an important station in the ceremonial processions of the imperial court.⁸ He refers to it by the names “marmaroton” and “plakoton” of Milion, but also by “arch” or “small dome”. Milion is mentioned also in the Patria of Constantinople, a compilation of various writings on the public buildings, the topography and the traditions of Constantinople. In both the Parastaseis Syntomoi Chronikai⁹ and the Patria of Pseudo-Kodinos¹⁰ there is reference to the statues that adorned the monument. Milion is considered a gate of the ancient wall (perhaps of the wall of Septimius Severus). Cedrenos in his history describes the monument as a double triumphal arch, and he also mentions the statues that adorned it, enumerating among others busts of two Roman emperors.¹¹ Apart from the statues, however, in the 6^th century the horologion of Justinian I was set up in the Milion.¹²

Many Byzantine chronographers report facts that took place in the Milion. It appears that occasionally executions took place there, judging from the decapitations recounted in Theophanes’s Chronographia,¹³ but also the blinding of George Peganes on Michael III’s order.¹⁴ Niketas Choniates in his work writes of various facts that took place in the Milion during the reigns of Alexios II Komnenos, Isaac II Angelos and his son Alexios IV, as well as under Alexios V Doukas Mourtzouphlos.¹⁵

4. Description and history of the monument

The Milion was built by Constantine the Great in the first half the 4^th c., imitating the Miliarium aureum of Augustus¹⁶, in the context of transferring the centre of the Empire. Now the measurement begins from Constantinople. The original column made of gold was framed within a tetrapylon, the arches of which formed a cross, and the central square was covered with a dome.¹⁷ The floor was elevated and access was through a monumental stairway. The columns that carried the dome stood on the ground floor.¹⁸ The location of the monument in the area of the Mese, the Augustaion and Hagia Sophia advocate the important place it held in the life of city. So did the many statues that adorned it according to the sources.¹⁹ In the first half the 4^th c. the monument was adorned with statues of Tyche, Constantine and Helen flanking the Cross, equestrian sculptures of Trajan and Hadrian, as well as of Theodosios II.

In the 6^th century Justinian I places a solar clock there, and under Justin II (565-578) statues of his spouse Sophia, his daughter Arabia and his nephew Helen were placed there.²⁰

In the first half the 8^th c., and while the monument was already adorned with mosaic representations of the six Ecumenical Councils, Emperor Bardanes Philippikos, a supporter of Monotheletism, issued a decree according to which only the first five Ecumenical Councils would be depicted in the arches of the Milion. In this way he wanted to manifestate his opposition to the sixth Ecumenical Council, which had condemned Monotheletism. The representation of the sixth Ecumenical Council was destroyed and its place took a mosaic of the emperor and patriarch Sergios. Bardanes’ successor, Anastasios II added a new mosaic of the sixth Ecumenical Council. Later, however, these mosaics were replaced by Constantine V with chariot race scenes featuring his favoured charioteer, Ouranikos.²¹