CONSTANTINOPLE
489
CONSTANTINOPLE
ten a yearly tribute of 10,000 dacats. In 1458 the Turks took the ctty by asunlt, after a siege of forty days. In this siege the Torks liad several cannon of three and four feet calibre.
8. Under th« TVrJbt.— For the space of three days af- ter the taking of the city it was given up to pillage, and was the scene of frightfnl massacre and destnic- tion of public and private property. After the three days had elapsed Biahomet caused the carnage to be stopped, and offered to such Greeks as chose to remain protection in their property and in the exercise of their religion. The sultan then entered upon the erection df a series of public edifices. He built the castle of seven towers, the two seraglios, and a number of mag- nifloent mosques. He also transformed St. Sophia and other churches into mosques. The chief sultans after Biahomet have followed his example hi building at least one magnificent mosque. Constantinople has saffered frequently from fires that have often devas- tated whole quarters. In 1726 the first printing-press was set up m the city. During an outbreak in the Greek quarter in 1821, during the Greek Revolution, the Greek patriarch was hung by the mob. In 1826 the power of the Janissaries, who had opposed most Iknatically the introduction of modem civilization by the sultan, was completely broken by the shooting of 40,000 of them by the other troops of the army.
II. Description of the City previous to Ot Occupation by the Turks (1458).— The ancient Byzantium occupied the extreme point of the peninsula between the Sea of Marmora and the Crolden Horn, upon which the great capital was afterwards built. As Constantino- ple, the city was enlarged to its present limits. On the water side was built a single wall without a ditch. On the land side was a double, later a triple wall, each part from 14 to 20 feet high, 20 feet thick, with a ditch 28 ibet broad hi front, defended also by 548 towers, and a castle at each comer of the great triangle which the city covered, and penetrated by 8 gates. The private honses were small and poor.
Of the many public places or edifices we can notice but a few. (a) The Forum of Constantine (now part of the seraglio palace), which Constantine surrounded with a circus, an imperial palace, churches, baths, and many private palaces. Here he placed the porphyry column surrounded with wreaths of gold, " the Palladi- um of Rome,** which he brought from that city ; on this pillar he placed a bronze statue of Apollo, brought from Heliopolis, in Phrygia, and which Constantine wished to have considered as his own statue, substi- tuting the nails of the passion for the rays of the sun, in order to give the statue a resemblance to Christ. This statue is now lost. The column is partly destroy- ed, the remainder being called the '* Burnt Column." (&) The Forum of Theodosius, laid out by Tbeododus (A.D. 893X and containing a triumphal pillar like the Column of Trajan in Rome, and an equestrian statue of a man with winged feet, whom the popular tradition held to be Joshua commanding the sun to stand still ; under the left foot of the horse was buried the Palla^ dium of Constantinople, consisting of a doll or body wrapp^ m woollen garments, and which the Latins (in 1204) dug up and burnt, after having destroyed the statue, (c) The Forum Bovis, containing the brazen bull in which criminals were burnt to death. (d) The Hippodrome or Circus, near St. Sophia, in which races and other games were held, and which Constantine adorned with the best works of Grecian art, brought from all parts of the empire ; over the gate through which the horses entered the circus stood the four horses of Lysippus, which originally were placed in Athens, were brought here from Chios, then taken to Venice (1206), to Paris by Napoleon (1797), and finally returned to Venice (1815) ; an obelisk, 61 feet high, brought from Egypt to Athens, and thence to Constantinople, is yet standing ; the triple bronze snakes, that formed the faiterior of the Tripod of Del-
phos, 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high, is yet standing, one serpent's head having been cut off by Bfahomet with his sabre when he entered the city (1458), the other two having been removed during the last centuiy. These, then, are all the remains of an- cient art that have been preserved from the immense number brought to Constantinople. What few the Crusaders left (1204) the Turks have since destroyed, (e) The Imperial Paktce stood on the site of the old seraglio. It contained many magnificent buildings and rooms ; in the chapel of St. Theodor were the rel- ics, consisting of the ** original cross" and the ** staff of Moses." (/) The Bebdomon Palace^ where Leo Philosophos held his school, containing five golden tow- ers, supporting a golden tree on which golden birds sung, and containing the " head of John the Baptist.** (iff) The Palace and Baths ' of Lausos, adorned with many works of art, and containing the imperial library of 120,000 volumes (burnt 476). (K) The many hea- then temples were either turned into churches or sec- ularized by Theodosius. (t) Of chmvhes, by far the most important b that of St, Sophia (q. v.). (j) The Choras Church contained a *' picture of the Vurgin Mary painted by St Luke,*' which the Turks cut to pieces when they took the city. (Is) The Church of the HoUif Apostles^ built by Constantine, together with the Hereon (the burial-place of the emperors from the time of Constantine), with their rich ornaments and treasures, were plundered by the Crusaders in 1204, and destroyed m 1468. (t^ The Chmxh of 8U George, the Greek patriarchal church, is an ancient edifice, with many mosaics and Byzantine paintings. Exter- nally it is entirely destitute of ornament. It contains the " chaur of St. Chrysostom,** richly inhud with pearl, and on which the patriarch sits during great festivals ; also the '* pillar to which Christ was bound when he was scourged.*' (tn) The Blachednen Church, containing the ** holy chest with the garments of the Virgin Mary," and a ** miraculous image whose veO lifted itself every Friday evening, and settled down again on Saturday at vespers." On the yearly festi- val of this church a great procession took place, with the emperor at its head, (n) The Church of the Hr- ffin at the Golden Spring, near a spring or cistern of that name containing golden or ** fried fish.". A tnu dition has it that ** during the last assault by the Turks, a Greek monk in the monastery at thb place disbelieved the report that the Turks had entered the walls, saying, * I would sooner believe that these fish I am frying would leap out of the pan of hot oil and come to life again in the cistern.* Scarcely had he ut- tered these words when the fish sprang out into the cistern. Their descendants are red on one side and brown on the other, in commemoration of this event.** (o) Monasteries abounded in the city soon after the or- igin of this institution. Some of them were large, and occupied sighdy positions, (p) The Jews were allow- ed a synagogue b}! Constantine, but they were expelled from tiie city by Theodosius. (3) Large aqueducts sup. plied the city with an abundance of water ; some of these are yet in use, others are out of repair, (r) Vast dslems, or subterranean reservou^ were dug out dur- ing the reigns of the first emperors. Most of these are now out of repair, and but few contain water. One of the most remarlcable of these was the cistern of Philoxenus (now called the cistern of the thousand and one columns), containing three stories, supported each by 224 pillars. It is now used for silk-spinning. It contained 1,000,000 cubic feet of water. The cistern of St Peter contained 6,000,000 cubic feet of water.