The Gate’s Position and Identification
There can be little doubt that the Gate of the Kynegos (meaning Gate of the Hunter) once stood in this area of the city. It was either the modern Balat Kapoussi or the archway decorated with the ancient bas-relief nearby. This conclusion is supported by several historical descriptions that mention the position of the gate.
According to the Byzantine historian Phrantzes, the Gate of the Kynegos was located between the Xylo Porta (Wooden Gate) and the Petrion. Another source, Pusculus, places it between the Xylo Porta and the Porta Phani—which corresponds to today’s Fener Kapoussi—and adds that it was not far from the Xylo Porta Harbour Kynegon.
Furthermore, this gate was situated near the emperor’s palace, and it was the spot where visitors arriving from the Golden Horn would disembark from their boats and mount horses to travel to the Imperial Residence. Both Balat Kapoussi and the neighboring archways match these descriptions. They are the only entrances in this stretch of the city wall between Xylo Porta and the Gate of Phanar (Fener Kapoussi) that could have functioned as main city gates. Therefore, one of them—most likely Balat Kapoussi—must have been the Gate of the Kynegos.
The District of the Kynegon
This identification is further confirmed by the fact that a district named after the Gate of the Kynegos, known as the Quarter of the Kynegon, once occupied the flat area along the Golden Horn, both inside and outside the line of the city walls.
For example, the Church of Saint Demetrius, which stood a short distance west of Balat Kapoussi and the adjacent archways, is described in old texts as being near a gate in the quarter of the Kynegon. This shows that the name “Kynegon” referred not only to a gate but also to the surrounding neighborhood.
The Kynegon in Later History
During the Ottoman siege and occupation, the area continued to be recognized by this name. When the Turkish forces built a bridge across the Golden Horn from Haskeui (on the opposite shore) to place a battery of cannons, the bridge stood directly in front of the Kynegon. This detail confirms that the name was still used to describe the same part of the city’s waterfront fortifications Sightseeing Tours Turkey.
The Venetian traveler Nicholas Barbara also used the name “Kynegon” to describe the broader region near the Xylo Porta. He wrote that the land walls of Constantinople stretched “from the Golden Gate to the Kynegon.” In his Italianized phrasing:
“Le mure de tera, che jera mia sie, che sun de la Cresca per fina al Chinigo.”
This means, “The land walls, which I saw myself, extended from the Golden Gate to the Kynegon.”
All these sources agree that the Gate of the Kynegos stood in the northern section of the city walls, between Xylo Porta and Fener Kapoussi, close to Balat Kapoussi. The evidence from Byzantine historians, Western travelers, and later observers supports this location.
The gate’s name, associated with hunting and possibly the imperial stables or gardens, may reflect its connection with the emperor’s nearby palace complex and the open grounds along the Golden Horn. Whether marked by the surviving bas-relief of the winged figure (Nike) or by the Balat Gate itself, this entrance remains one of the most historically important and symbolically rich spots along the harbor walls of Constantinople.