Constantinople, though on the opposite side of the straits, and in
another quarter of the world. The beauty and salubrity of its situation
have rendered it a favourite residence. The streets are wider, the
open areas more spacious, and the houses better built than in the
capital; and the prospect, as you climb the hills above, is exceedingly
beautiful. In the ascent to the hill of Bourgourloo, you arrive at a
plateau, celebrated for the richness of the scenery it affords. Mount
Olympus, the Princes’ Islands, the winding strait of the Bosphorus
with its bays and villages, appear with singular beauty from this
spot; while the fragrance exhaled from the gardens, and the chant of
the nightingale, afford a gratification to every sense. Beside it is a
valley called Bulbul Dereci, or “the Vale of the Nightingale,” where
these birds abound, and their song is heard all day. When a public
functionary is deprived of his office, and suffered to retain his life,
he retires to Scutari, and seeks solace in its soothing enjoyments.
The Persian ambassador and his suite, excluded, like the Franks, from
Constantinople, here take up their abode. With the exception of a few
Jews, it is exclusively a Mohammedan city, and contains eighty thousand
Moslem inhabitants.
It is distinguished by many edifices of piety or utility. Here the
daughter of Soliman the Magnificent erected a mosque to the memory of
her father; and an inscription recording the circumstance, represents
her as “the gem of the world,” and prays that “Allah would render her
excellent in every other qualification.” Here Selim established his
printing-press, when he revived it, to enlighten his subjects: here he
erected a magnificent cotton-factory, to improve them in the industry
and arts of life: here he built a noble kisla, or barrack, for his
nizam djeddit, or new troops, to discipline a rude and turbulent rabble
to European restraints: and here he endowed a mosque, to which he
usually repaired to perform his Friday’s devotion. This edifice, given
in our illustration, stands on the slope of the hill, surrounded by an
extensive area, and exhibits considerable lightness and elegance. Among
the group of Turks is seen some in the costume of European soldiers;
which he lost his crown and life in endeavouring to establish, though
his more energetic successor completely succeeded. The violence and
impetuosity of one of those sudden currents of air which burst out in
the Sea of Marmora, was strongly marked by its effects on this mosque.
The principal minaret was snapped off like the stem of a pipe, and the
upper part was carried unbroken to a distance.
[Illustration: T. Allom. W. Floyd.
MOSQUE OF MAHMOUD II. AT TOPHANA.]
This beautiful but small imperial mosque of the reigning sultan, is
situated not on a conspicuous eminence like those of his predecessors,
but in the low alluvial ground on the shores of the Bosphorus, and on
the water’s edge; but the beauty and finish of the edifice compensate
for the defects of its site. All the skill of Oriental ornament is
expended upon it. Rich lattice-work and taper spires of minarets
highly gilded, glitter in the sun with a brilliancy and recency, as if
they had been left just finished by the hands of the artisans; while
painting and sculpture, in rich arabesque, give a peculiar elegance to
the edifice. It is entered by a lofty approach of marble steps, and
it is distinguished by a separate and detached spire, not a minaret,
but intended for a use which modern improvement and approximation to
European arts have lately introduced. The Turks abhorred the sound of a
bell in any form, and inhibit its use even to the Franks in assembling
their congregations for divine service. They could not be induced to
erect a public clock in the capital,[12] and it was supposed, some
years ago, that there were but two in the Turkish empire of Europe−-one
in the town of Shumla, erected by a minister who brought it from
Russia, where he had been on a mission, had learned its use, and
conferred it as a benefit on his native town; the other was bestowed
on Athens, while under the dominion of the Turks, by Lord Elgin, as a
compensation for his abduction of the marbles of the Parthenon. The
present sultan, however, among his improvements, has erected a steeple
in his temple for a clock, that the muezzim may be directed with more
certainty in calling the faithful to prayer; and it is probable that,
in a few years, the more effectual sound of the prohibited bell will be
substituted for the human voice.
[Illustration: T. Allom. G. Presbury.
CARAVANSARY AT GUZEL-HISSAR, ON THE MEANDER.
ASIA MINOR.]
There are two modes of travelling through Asiatic Turkey. When the
traveller takes with him a firman from the sultan, and a Tartar
janissary as a guard, and brings an introduction to the pasha or
muzzelim of a town or village−-on his arrival, and the presentation
of his credentials, he has a _conak_ assigned him; that is, some
house is conferred upon him and his company, and a chaoush is sent
to establish him in it. The house is generally the residence of
some Greek, Armenian, or Jew. The chaoush enters without ceremony,
turns out the family, and puts the stranger in possession of all
it contains, as long as he chooses to remain. By special favour
of some more considerate traveller, he asks the family to stay as
lodgers in their own house, having assigned to the strangers the best
apartments in it. Should the traveller not meet with the comfort and
consideration of a conak, he is compelled to betake himself to a khan,
or a caravansary. The first of these is an immense edifice, with a
lofty roof and bare walls, resembling a rude imitation of Westminster
Hall, in which the horses literally appear like mice, contrasted with
the immensity of their stable. Round the bottom runs a low parapet,
leaving a small space between it and the wall, which serves as a
manger. Behind, it is filled with chopped straw, the usual food for
horses. When a traveller arrives, he rides in without question or
inquiry, turns his horse to his provender, spreads his carpet beside
him for himself, sups on whatever he brings with him, sleeps where he
eats, on the floor, and departs the next morning without payment. In
cities, the khan has somewhat more accommodation, and in the country
there is sometimes a small apartment stuck on the side of the lofty
wall like a pigeon-house, and ascended by a ladder, like a hay-loft.
Here the traveller finds a ragged mat on a rough dirty floor, and,
perhaps, there is a coffee-room in the street, whence he can procure
some refreshments; but these are rare luxuries. These naked edifices
were first erected by Murad Khan, vizir to Soliman the Magnificent,
and afterwards by the munificence and charity of sultans, for the
gratuitous accommodation of all travellers.
The caravansary is an improved khan.[13] Commerce with the interior
of Asia is carried on principally by the Armenians, who travel in
caravans. Companies of merchants combine and travel together; and when
the number is considerable, a chief is appointed, who commands and
regulates the march. They are often attended by hired soldiers, and
every man is himself armed with some weapon. When a pasha, or other
great man, is known to be about to make a movement, the caravan awaits
his departure, and proceed under his protection, like a fleet of
merchantmen under the convoy of a man-of-war. The caravan in this way
sometimes amounts to several thousand persons. Along the usual route,
large edifices are erected, having more accommodation than common
khans. They consist of quadrangles surrounded by chambers, where the
merchants are lodged, and their wares stowed, rising sometimes to the
height of two or three stories, ascended by stairs, and connected by
galleries and corridors. The area has frequently a fountain of pure
water playing in the centre, is planted with shrubs and trees, and the
fronts are trellaced with vines climbing over the roofs, affording
agreeable shade, or pendent with rich clusters of fruit. Some of them
are very picturesque and pleasing objects, and afford a most grateful
repose to the tired and heated traveller. As the indispensable duties
of charity, formerly prescribed to Moslems, and strictly followed, are
daily becoming of looser obligation; the fountains, khans, and other
erections of piety and charity, are rapidly falling to decay and ruin,
and no new ones are erected to supply their places.
The town of Guzel-Hissar, the caravansary of which is given in the
illustration, is supposed to be the ancient Tralles, stigmatized by
Juvenal for sending its effeminate inhabitants to corrupt the Romans.
It is situated in Asia Minor, on the north side of the Meander, about
thirty miles from Ephesus. It is approached by an excellent road, with
rich gardens on either side, planted with vines, olives, and other
Oriental trees. On ascending the hill on which the Acropolis of the
ancient city stood, the eye commands a magnificent view of the rich
plain beneath, with the Meander twining its tortuous current in such a
way, as conveys in a striking manner the character of the stream, and
why it gave its name to all winding rivulets. The modern town contains
a large population of about fifty thousand inhabitants. The Jews have
ten synagogues, and the Greek and Armenian Christians two churches.
Our illustration presents the arrival of a caravan, with all its busy
accompaniments; the patient camel, “the ship of the desert,” and the
great medium of communication in these countries, discharging its
cargo. Contrasted with this enormous and misshapen beast of burden,
is the Arabian courser, on which is mounted the tchelebi, or Turkish
gentleman, seated on his lofty saddle, his feet thrust into his
fire-shovel stirrups, and his knees protruding above his horse’s back
by the shortness of his stirrup-leather. On the ground is seated the
disengaged traveller, solacing his fatigue with his nargillai, and
behind him a pious Mussulman, preparing by ablution for the namaz, or
evening prayer.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. Sands.
ANADOLI-HISSAR,--OR CASTLE OF ASIA, AND THE HILL OF KANDELI.
ON THE BOSPHORUS.
ASIA MINOR.]
This castle was originally built, with that on the opposite shore,
by the Greek emperors, to command the passage of the strait at its
narrowest part. It was falling into ruins by the neglect and supineness
of the sovereigns of the lower empire, but the site was appropriated
and the edifice rebuilt by Mahomet I., when the Turks extended their
dominion to the Asiatic shores of the Bosphorus, as an effectual
step in his advance to the capital. Its fate was soon after sealed
by Mahomet II., who completed his line of approach by seizing on and
rebuilding the castle on the European shore.
The Asiatic castle stands, somewhat elevated, on a low promontory,
which, with a village around it, it covers. Near it is the Guyuk Sou,
or Sweet Waters of Asia, frequented as one of the favourite scenes of
Turkish enjoyment. The neighbourhood, on both sides the Bosphorus,
possesses springs of great celebrity. They are called by the Greeks
_ayasma_, or “holy wells,” and held in high repute for the sanctity
and efficacy of their waters, their spiritual and physical qualities
healing all diseases both of mind and body. Within the cavity which
covers the well, there is a shrine dedicated to the patron saint,
at which the pious are constantly seen, by boats passing along the
Bosphorus, offering up prayers and vows for the forgiveness of sins, or
the recovery of health.
Rising from the low and alluvial soil below, is the beautiful and
romantic eminence of Kandeli. This lovely hill projecting into a
promontory, commands an extensive view on both sides, up and down
the strait, nearly to its opening at both seas. It is the favourite
residence of the rich Armenians, who, retiring from the dismal
obscurity of their shops in the bazaars, or the cell-like offices where
they are engaged in the city and confined all day, indulge here in airy
and splendid mansions, an evening repose in more than Asiatic luxury.
[Illustration: T. Allom. F. A. Prior.
OUTER COOLING-ROOM OF THE BATH, NEAR PSAMATIA KAPOUSI.]
A district of Constantinople is called Psamatia, from a miracle of the
Greek church. During one of those verbal and frivolous controversies
which divided it, a priest was reproved by a young child for some
unsound opinion. He replied, he would hold it till convinced by a
sensible miracle that it was wrong. The child was immediately seized
by an invisible hand, and held suspended in the air over the heterodox
priest, till he confessed and recanted his error. This miracle, called
in the Greek church _ypsomathea_, or “the divine elevation,” gave a
name to the whole district, where it is firmly believed at this day. It
is one of the quarters inhabited by the Armenians, and presents many
indications of the wealth and industry of that thriving people.
It contains one of the principal baths of the city, in the luxury of
which, Oriental Christians, as well as Moslems, indulge. After the
process we have already described is gone through, the bather, purged
from all corporeal impurities, and escaped from the sensations of
suffocation and dislocation, is led by the tellah to enjoy the luxury
he has, in the opinion of many, dearly earned. Here, in an apartment
reduced to a moderate temperature, reclined at ease on a divan, his
purified person slightly covered with shawls, entirely divested of
his clothes, and perfectly free from all pressure or restraint, he
feels a renovated existence. Refreshments of various kinds are brought
to him, and, after taking them, he lies for some time sunk in that
dreamy repose of half-conscious existence, which is the very paradise
of an Oriental. When this is past, and the heat of his body is reduced
gradually to its usual temperature, so that he apprehends no peril from
sudden change, he resumes his clothes, and goes on his way rejoicing.
Nothing can afford a stronger contrast than the cautious effeminacy of
a Turk, and the rude hardihood of his neighbour and enemy the Russian,
in this particular. Both equally indulge in hot-baths; but the one
reduces the temperature of his body afterwards, by careful gradations,
even in the midst of summer, and dreads any extreme sensation as
mortal; while the other rushes from burning heat, with every pore
streaming with perspiration, into the intense cold of frozen snow, in
the depth of winter, and thinks the luxury and salubrity of the bath
increased by the contrast.
By a return of the Stambol effendi, or Turkish lord-mayor, there were
in the city 88,115 houses, 130 of which were public baths, in which
most of the inmates of the other houses daily indulged. To accommodate
the number, men and women were obliged to have recourse to the same
bath, at different hours.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. Redaway.
THE ACROPOLIS OF PERGAMUS.
ASIA MINOR.]
This city of the Apocalypse was distinguished by many circumstances
worthy of record, both in profane and sacred history. It was erected
by Philoterus, a eunuch, into the capital of many nations, comprising
Lydia, Caria, Phrygia, and other states of Asia Minor, two centuries
and a half before the birth of Christ. It possessed the greatest
library then known in the world, consisting of 200,000 volumes,
afterwards brought by Cleopatra to form that of Alexandria. It gave
rise to a material for writing which has since been invaluable in
the world. Ptolemy had prohibited the exportation of papyrus from
Egypt, and an artist of Pergamus invented parchment, thence called
“pergamea.” It was celebrated for the worship of Esculapius, who had
a splendid temple there. The priests were the physicians, and the
temple was crowded with patients, who invoked succour by watching and
prayer. This was communicated by means of dreams and visions through
the priests, who administered the remedies which they affirmed the god
directed. Mighty sovereigns were among the number of these patients.
The last king, Attalus, was noted for his tyranny and singularity. He
obtained the name of Philometor, for his love to his mother, and became
a brass-founder, in order to cast for himself a statue of her. While
engaged in his forge, working as a common artisan, on a hot day, he was
seized with a fever, of which he died. His will was another mark of
singularity: it consisted of one line−-“Let the Roman people inherit
all I possess.” The Romans were charged with forging this will, and
poisoning the waters of the city, to compel the inhabitants to comply
with it. The state from that time became a Roman province; and it was
thus, by force or fraud, this ambitious people finally became masters
of the then known world.
When Christianity expanded itself in Asia, Pergamus became the third
church of the Apocalypse; but it appears, from the reproach of the
evangelist, that it was early infected with that heresy, which has
caused, in all ages, such injury to the church of Christ. “So hast thou
also them which hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which I hate,”
says St. John.[14] These heretics were the followers of Nicolas−-a
proselyte of Antioch, and one of the seven deacons mentioned in the
Acts.[15] They were “addicted to the vain babblings of science falsely
so called,”[16] pretended to a more deep and mysterious knowledge of
spirits and angels, and were the origin of the sect of “Gnostics,” who,
in the early ages of the Gospel, degraded it by absurd opinions and
foul practices. This church fell like the others, and less perhaps to
be regretted, under the dominion of the Osmanli, when, with the sword
in one hand, and the Koran in the other, they left the inhabitants
of Asia no alternative but death or Mahomet. As they advanced among
the Greek cities, they made their perfection in the arts the means of
subduing them. They not only cut their beautiful marble columns into
portions, and rounded them into cannon-balls, but they perforated the
larger pillars into artillery for throwing the pieces of the smaller.
At Pergamus many of the shafts of the columns of their temples were
thus converted into cannon.
The present city, now called Bergamo, by a slight corruption of the
original name, contains 50,000 inhabitants, of whom 1700 are Christians
of the Greek and Armenian churches, and 100 Jews, who have a synagogue.
It is approached by an ancient bridge passing over a tributary stream
of the Caicus. It forms the front ground of our illustration, with a
caravan passing it. In the background is seen the Acropolis, commanding
a splendid view over the vast and rich plain below, as far as the Egean
sea. On this grand elevation stood the magnificent temple, extensive
remains of which still exist, visible from the sea. On the plain
below was the Naumachia, where naval combats were held, supposed to
be the most splendid in Asia; and among the remains of ruder works
is a portion of a common sewer, consisting of a cylinder of brick,
thirty feet in diameter. But the ruin most interesting to the Christian
traveller is that of Agios Theologus, the Evangelist St. John, erected
by Theodosius, when he surmounted the Globe he held in hand with a
Cross−-to declare that Christianity had now become the paramount
religion of the world.
[Illustration: T. Allom. J. C. Bentley.
THE TRIPLE WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
ON THE LAND SIDE, NEAR TOP KAPOUSI.]
The walls of Constantinople, notwithstanding the shocks of earthquakes,
the numerous assaults of besiegers, the decay of time, and the
dilapidations of neglect, are at this day surprisingly perfect; and
though fifteen centuries have passed since their first erection, they
include the same space, and stand at the same elevation. The great
wall, forming as it were the base of the triangular area on which the
city is built, and running from sea to sea, is nearly five miles in
extent: a broad high road passes parallel to and just under it, so
that a traveller can view without interruption the whole line, from
the Golden Horn to the Propontis, and contemplate, during a delightful
walk, the most interesting remains perhaps existing in the world.
In some places the rising ground so elevates him, that he sees a
considerable part of the interior of the city over the walls, and he
looks down upon places, hallowed by various recollections, which the
narrowness and obscurity of the streets prevent his viewing from within.
This wall, originally erected by Constantine the Great, was enlarged
by Theodosius, and is therefore called after his name. It suffered
various shocks by violence of different kinds−-of nature, time, and
the hand of man−-and was finally repaired by Leo and Theophilus. From
the district called Blachernæ, where it meets the harbour, it rises to
an immense height, and towers to a surprising elevation above the head
of the passenger. The uniformity is broken, however, by the remains of
edifices on the summit of the wall, and the rich drapery of ivy and
various trailing plants, which cover it. Here the wall, secured by its
magnitude, is single, and presents but one defence. But at the gate
called Egri Kapousi, or the crooked gate, where it forms an angle, the
elevation is less, and the defence increased by a triple wall of three
parallel fortifications, which extend to the Seven Towers and the sea.
The walls are eighteen feet asunder, crowned with battlements, and
defended by fifty-nine towers, of various forms and sizes. Inserted in
different places are tablets of stone or iron, containing inscriptions
which commemorate events, or persons who repaired the walls; but most
of them are now entirely effaced, particularly those on iron, by the
rust and corrosion of the metal. The masonry in some parts consists
of huge blocks of granite, resembling those early structures in
Greece called Cyclopean, from the fancy of mythologists, that they
had been erected by gigantic architects. In others, they are composed
of alternate courses of broad flat bricks, resembling our tiles, and
stones twice the thickness. Arcades and arches, both in the walls and
towers, are formed, in a curious manner, of similar materials. The wall
is entered by seven gates, called by the names of the towns to which
they lead, or some circumstance connected with them. Of the latter, is
the gate of Top Kapousi.
This gate, called also _Porta Sancti Romani_, as leading to the Greek
church of St. Romanus, was that rendered memorable by the final attack
of the Turks. Before it stands the Mal Tepé, one of those artificial
mounds, supposed to be sepulchral tumuli, which are spread for many
hundred miles over these regions, both in Europe and Asia. The summit
commands an extensive view of the interior of the city, and here
Mahomet II. erected the Sandjak-sheriff, or great standard of the
Prophet, and directed the operations of the siege. Beside the gate are
seen, yet unrepaired, the breaches made in the walls by that enormous
artillery which he caused to be cast for the purpose, and on the summit
of the gate are placed some of the huge granite balls discharged from
them, in memory of the event; and hence the gate is now called Top
Kapousi, or “Port of the Cannon.” When the cross was sinking under the
crescent, and the great capital of the Christian world was just falling
into the hands of the followers of Mahomet, Constantine retired to the
church of Sancta Sophia, and, after receiving, with his few faithful
adherents, the solemn eucharist, proceeded to make his last effort in
the breach. He was killed in the attack, and the Turks poured into
the devoted city over his body. There is no tomb, or coin, or other
artificial memorial, to preserve the name of this good and gallant
man; but nature has herself supplied the neglect. There grows out of
the breach some picturesque and venerable trees, on the spot where
tradition says he fell; and travellers gather the red berries in their
season, to sow and propagate at home these testimonials of the last and
best of the Palæologi.
[Illustration: T. Allom. W. H. Capone.
YÈRÈ-BATAN-SERAÏ, CONSTANTINOPLE.]