Unidentified cistern from Region XI (Crow et al., 2008, p. 127-128). It is uncertain whether it was an open or covered cistern. If it were in Region XI, its location would imply that it was supplied by the Valens Waterway(?).
Literary Evidence
It is attested in the Notitia as Arcadiaca (425).
Gilles (mid-16th century) claims to have visited the spot where he suspected once stood "the old cistern of Arcadius or Modestus" (Gilles, De Topographia Constantinopoleos 4.2). Crow comments that Mango theorised that Gilles was looking at the Cistern of Bonus, which could have previously been known as the Cistern of Arcadius (Crow et al., 2008, p. 245).
According to İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/cukur-hamam--istanbul (accessed 24/06/2025), the Austrian Joseph von Hammer, who was in Istanbul from 1799-1806, wrote that Çukur Hamam (literally: "Pit Bathhouse", eastside of the Fatih camii complex) was built in the "pit" of the dilapitated Arcadius cistern (Constantinopolis und der Bosporos Volume 1, 1822, p. 534-535). Furthermore, the location of Çukur Hamam implies that this pit named "Arcadius cistern" would be located in Region X, whereas the Notitia places the cistern in Region XI (further southwards).
In 1873, the historian Alexander van Millingen made a drawing of what he called "the Arcadius cistern". It is not clear if this corresponds with an actual plausible cistern that could be identified as thus. Van Millingen's drawing seems to depict a covered cistern.
