I HOMECOMING
From Speaking Of The Turks by K. Ziya Mufti-zada
13 minute read
W E were arriving at Constantinople, my native city, from which I had been absent nearly ten years. I had been in America all this time. At first my business interests and later the general war had prevented my coming back to my own country even on a visit. I was of military age and Turkey was under blockade. When I had left Constantinople a few years after the Turkish revolution, the whole country was exhilarated, filled with joy, with ambition and with hope. Freedom and emancipation from an autocratic domination had been obtained. Nothing was to prevent the normal advance of Turkey and the Turks along the road to progress. We were at last to obtain full recognition as a civilized nation. We were at last to receive equal treatment from the other European nations. But, alas, during the following years the gods decided otherwise. Long, interminable wars either...
PREFACE.
From Journal Of A Visit To Constantinople by John Auldjo
6 minute read
The publication of the pages of a journal in the crude and undigested form in which they were originally composed appears so disrespectful to the public, that it requires some explanation. They were written, "currente calamo," among the scenes they describe; more as a record of individual adventure, and to fix the transient impressions of the moment for the after gratification of the author, than with any hope of affording amusement during an idle hour, even to those who might feel an interest in all he saw and noted. The intense curiosity, however, which exists at present to learn even the minutest particulars connected with Greece and Turkey, and the possibility that some of his hurried notices might not be altogether devoid of interest, have induced the author to submit them to the public attention. In so doing, he has preferred giving them in their original state, with all their...
CHAPTER VIII
From The Destruction Of The Greek Empire And The Story Of The Capture Of Constantinople By The Turks by Edwin Pears
30 minute read
CAUSES LEADING TO DECAY OF EMPIRE: NOT DUE TO DEMORALISATION OF COURT; INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CAUSES; LATIN CONQUEST AND FORM OF GOVERNMENT HAD PRODUCED INTERNAL DISSENSIONS AND CHECKED ASSIMILATION OF HOSTILE RACES; METHOD OF TURKISH CONQUEST AND ITS FATAL CONSEQUENCES; RAVAGES OF BLACK DEATH; POPULATION OF CAPITAL IN 1453; ITS COMMERCE; RELATIONS OF PEOPLE WITH GOVERNMENT; RESEMBLANCE TO RUSSIA; DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING IDEA OF DOMESTIC LIFE. As the later Roman empire is now drawing to a close, it is worth while endeavouring to realise what were the immediate causes of its weakness, and what was its actual condition immediately preceding the final siege. The empire to which Constantine Dragases succeeded on the death of his brother John was over the city and a strip of land behind it which may be estimated roughly at about a hundred miles in length from its walls towards the north and west. To this...
CHAPTER VII Antiquities
From Constantinople by William Holden Hutton
17 minute read
Needless to say, the antiquities of Constantinople would take for their description not one but many books. Archæologists will read as well as see for themselves. Let me merely call attention to some of the prominent archæological remains which no one will wish to miss. They are the living memorials of the great past. And first the Hippodrome. So much has already been said of it that here I shall only give the barest description of what we see to-day. And first be it noted that the space now open is probably no more than two-fifths of the original Hippodrome. The mosque of Sultan Ahmed encroached on the east; other buildings on the west. The area of the ancient Hippodrome has been estimated at 25,280 square yards. The present space is not more than 216 yards in length and 44 across. Secondly, it must not be forgotten that the present...
CHAPTER XVII
From The Destruction Of The Greek Empire And The Story Of The Capture Of Constantinople By The Turks by Edwin Pears
30 minute read
ATTACKS IN OTHER PARTS OF THE CITY: BY ZAGAN AND CARAJA; BY FLEET; THE BROTHERS BOCCHIARDI HOLD THEIR OWN; PANIC WHEN ENTRY OF TURKS BECAME KNOWN; INCIDENT OF SAINT THEODOSIA’S CHURCH; MASSACRE AND SUBSEQUENT PILLAGE; CROWD IN SAINT SOPHIA CAPTURED; HORRORS OF SACK; NUMBERS KILLED OR CAPTURED; ENDEAVOURS TO ESCAPE FROM CITY; PANIC IN GALATA; MAHOMET’S ENTRY; SAINT SOPHIA BECOMES A MOSQUE; FATE OF LEADING PRISONERS: ATTEMPTS TO REPEOPLE CAPITAL. The author of the Turkish Taj-ut-Tavarikh or ‘Crown of History,’ written by Khodja Sad-ud-din, states that after the sultan’s troops had forced a way into the city—not, as he is careful to explain, through any of the gates, but across the broken wall between Top Capou and the Adrianople Gate—they went round and opened the neighbouring gates from the inside, and that the first so opened was the Adrianople Gate. Then the army entered through these gates in regular order,...
CHAPTER XIII. THE SEAWARD WALLS.
From Constantinople by Alexander Van Millingen
18 minute read
Owing to the unique maritime position occupied by Constantinople, the defence of the shores of the capital was a matter of secondary importance. So long as the Empire retained the command of the sea, a city accessible by water only through the narrow defiles of the Hellespont and the Bosporus had little reason to apprehend a naval attack. This immunity was, it is true, seriously affected when the Saracens and the Republics of Italy became great sea-powers. Still, even then, the situation of the city rendered an assault with ships an extremely difficult operation. The northern shore of the city could be put beyond the reach of the enemy by a chain extended across the narrow entrance of the Golden Horn; while the currents that swept the Marmora shore were ready to carry a fleet out to sea, or to hurl it against the rocks. According to Ville-Hardouin, [618] it...
The Basilikè Pylè.
From Constantinople by Alexander Van Millingen
13 minute read
Before concluding the study of the Harbour Walls we must recur to the question which presented itself at an earlier stage of our inquiries, but was reserved for consideration at the close of this chapter, as more favourable to an intelligent and thorough discussion of the subject. Where was the Basilikè Pylè which Byzantine historians, after the Restoration of the Empire, associate with this line of the city’s bulwarks? Was it, as some authorities maintain, at Balat Kapoussi, [842] or, as others hold, in the neighbourhood of the Seraglio Point? [843] Or is it possible that a gate bearing that epithet was found at both points? In favour of the opinion that the Imperial Gate was near the Seraglio Point there is, first, the statement of Phrantzes, already cited, to that effect. “To Gabriel of Treviso,” says the historian, [844] “captain of the Venetian triremes, with fifty men under him,...
CHAPTER XVI. THE WALLS ALONG THE SEA OF MARMORA.
From Constantinople by Alexander Van Millingen
27 minute read
The fortifications extending along the Sea of Marmora [884] from the Acropolis (Seraglio Point) to the southern extremity of the land walls consisted of a single wall flanked, according to Bondelmontius, by 188 towers—a line of defence some five miles in length. Almost everywhere along their course these fortifications stood close to the water’s edge, making it almost impossible to land troops at their foot, and giving them only the comparatively easy task of repelling an attack upon them with ships. Inscription in Honour Of Theodosius II. and the Prefect Constantine. ( See page 46 . ) Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Theophilus. ( See page 183 . ) Inscription in Honour Of the Emperor Isaac Angelus. ( See page 132 . ) What they had most reason to dread was the open sea upon whose margin they stood, its ceaseless, unwearied sap and mine of their foundations, and...
Chap. XVIII. Of the Imperial Palace, the Basilica; of the Palace of Constantine, and the House of Entrance nam’d Chalca.
From The Antiquities Of Constantinople by Pierre Gilles
11 minute read
NOT far from the Forum Augusteum , as Procopius writes, stood a Palace, the Statelyness and Magnificence of which the Reader may easily guess at from the Description he gives of the Vestibulum , or the House of Entrance into it. This Vestibulum is call’d the Chalca , which is made after this Manner. There are four strait Walls carried up to a great Height in a quadrangular Figure, from each Angle of which there projects a Stone Building curiously finish’d, which rises with the Wall from Top to Bottom, no ways intercepting the beauteous Prospect before you, but seeming rather to add to the Pleasure and Agreeableness of it. Above this Building are raised eight Arches, supporting the Roof, which rises into a globular Height most beautifully adorn’d. The Roof of it is not furnish’d with fine Paintings, but shines with Mosaick Work of all sorts of Colours, in...
Chap. IV. Of the Senate-House; the Nympheum; the Statues of the Forum of Constantine; of the Philadelphium; the Musæum; the Labarum and Syparum; of the Death of Arius; of the Temples of Tellus, Ceres, Persephone; of Juno and Pluto.
From The Antiquities Of Constantinople by Pierre Gilles
13 minute read
THE Porphyry Pillar, and the Senate-House, is placed by the Author of the Ancient Description of the Wards , in the sixth Ward , and the Nympheum in the fifth; but he does not tell us, how near they stood to one another. That they stood at a very little Distance, is evident both from Zonaras and Cedrinus , who write, that the Fire which happen’d in the Reign of Leo , burnt down the Senate-House on the North Side of the Forum of Constantine , which was adorn’d with Statues of Brass and Porphyry Marble, in which was placed the Porta of Diana of the Ephesians , a Present of Trajan , taken from the Scythians , containing a Description of the Wars of the Giants, a Jupiter arm’d with Thunder, Neptune with his Trident, Apollo with his Darts and Quiver. In the lower Part of the Porta were...
Chap. VI. Of the Street called Taurus, the Forum of Theodosius, the Pillar of Theodosius with Winding Stairs, of the Tetrapylum, the Pyramidical Engine of the Winds, the Statues of Arcadius and Honorius, of the Churches of Hirena and Anastasia, and the Rocks called Scyronides.
From The Antiquities Of Constantinople by Pierre Gilles
13 minute read
WHEN I was quite out of Heart as to Discovery of the seventh Ward , and the Taurus , without which no Discovery could be made of the eighth Ward , I made the best Enquiry I could after some other Buildings, which might lead me into the Knowledge of them. And after I had searched for the Situation of the Pillar of Theodosius for a considerable Time, I was informed by some antient Persons, that it stood on the Top of the Promontory , where the Plain of the third Hill extends it self, which is near the New Bagnio built by Bajazet the Emperor, who had demolished that Pillar above forty Years before I came to Byzantium , that he might build his Bagnio with more Convenience. Beyond that Bath, Northward, there is a broad Way, where there are three Booksellers Shops, and an antient Cistern; more towards...
THE EMPEROR RESUMES THE WAR AGAINST THEODORE LASCARIS
From ConquêTe De Constantinople by Geoffroi de Villehardouin
24 minute read
At that time Theodore Lascaris, who held the land on the other side of the straits towards Turkey, was at truce with the Emperor Henry; but that truce he had not kept well, having broken and violated it. So the emperor held council, and sent to the other side of the straits, to the city of Piga, Peter of Bracieux, to whom land had been assigned in those parts, and with him Payen of Orléans, and Anseau of Cayeux, and Eustace, the emperor’s brother, and a great part of his best men to the number of seven score knights. These began to make war in very grim and earnest fashion against Theodore Lascaris, and greatly wasted his land. They marched to a land called Skiza, which was surrounded by the sea except on one side. And in old days the way of entry had been defended with walls and towers,...