From very ancient times the city was divided into two parts, separated by the course of the Volkhof which rises in Lake Ilmen and empties into the Ladoga. On the right bank was the side of St. Sophia, where Jaroslov built the celebrated cathedral, and where the Kremlin was located, enclosing both the palaces of the archbishop and the movable prince. This is the site of the famous Russian monument which was consecrated in 1862. On the left bank of the river was the side of commerce, the two parts of the city being united by a grand bridge, often celebrated in the annals of Novgorod.
It is noticeable that the city was composed of certain quarters, in each of which dwelt respectively separate nationalities or trades, just as in ancient Rome, Pompey, after he conquered the Samnites, brought them to the capital and planted them across the Tiber between the rived and the Janiculum hill, a division which retains its character to the present day, under the name of The Trastevere. To-day there is the "Ghetto," the quarter of Jews, and in Paris we find the "Latin Quarter," and in London and New York the great "East Side" settlements, where races and classes find a congenial home in a colony within the city. So in Novgorod we find allusions to the quarters of the Prussians, the Slavs, the porters, the carpenters, and so on.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
