The Anemas Dungeon is more like a prison than a dungeon and was built in Byzantine times to house prisoners who had unsuccessfully revolted against the Byzantine emperor. It is part of the land walls on the west side of the city where they begin to descend to the Golden Horn. Anemas had 14 cells and two basement floors, although today only one remains. The two lower floors had no lighting, but the upper floor was illuminated through openings in the western wall. Its name derives from a Byzantine general of Arab origin, who was imprisoned there after he unsuccessfully tried to topple Alexios I Comnenus (r. 1081-1118) …. an interesting read from Hurriyet.
Read the full article here.
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I know it’s not exactly the same, but it reminds me a bit of that history channel documentary series, cities of the underworld i think it was called. There was and episode in which they explored the area of the capadocia discovering underground cities from the very beggining of christianity…One would think people in this area liked digging down to perform some of their most “curious” habbits…
Anyway, thanks a lot for a really interesting post. I’ll add you to our history blog blogroll and we will kee an eye on you!
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