SECTION IV.
Concerning Constantine, the ninth Builder, who erected the Walls and Castle of Constantinople.
He was the first Roman emperor who destroyed the idols and temples of the Heathens, and he was also the builder of the walls of Islámbúl. ’Isá (Jesus) having appeared to him in a dream, and told him to send his mother Helláneh (Helena) to build a place of worship at his birth-place Beïtu-l-lahm (Bethlehem), and another at the place of his sepulchre in Kudsi Sheríf (Jerusalem), he despatched her with an immense treasure and army to Felestín (Palestine); she reached Yáfah (Jaffa), the port of Jerusalem, in three days and three nights, built the two churches named above, and a large convent in the town of Nábulús.
The Discovery of the true Cross.
By the assistance of a monk called Magháriyús (Macarius), she found the place where the true cross was buried. Three trees in the form of crosses were found in the same grave, and the moment, as the Christians relate, a dead body was touched by them, it came to life again: this day was the 4th of Eïlúl (September), which is therefore celebrated by the Christians as the feast of the Invention of the Cross, and has ever since been held as a great festival by the Greeks. Helláneh also built the convent of the Kamámeh (i.e. the church of the holy sepulchre) on the spot where the dead body had been restored to life, spent immense sums of money in repairing and adorning the mosque of Al-aksá built on the site of the temple of Solomon, restored Bethlehem, and did many other charitable and pious works. She then returned to Islámbúl, and presented the wood of the cross to her son Constantine, who received it with the greatest reverence, and carried it in solemn procession to the convent on the summit of Zírek-báshí. The noblest monuments of his power and resolution to surpass all other princes in the strength and durability of his works, are the walls of Constantinople. On the land side of the city, from the Seven Towers at its western extremity to Iyyúb Ansárí, he built two strongly fortified walls. The height of the outer wall is forty-two cubits, and its breadth ten cubits; the inner wall is seventy cubits high and twenty broad. The space between them both is eighty cubits broad, and has been converted into gardens blooming as Irem; and at present, in the space between the Artillery (Tóp-kapú) and Adrianople gates (Edreneh-kapú), are the summer-quarters (yáïlák) of the Zagharjíes, or 64th regiment of the Janissaries.
Outside of the exterior wall he built a third, the height of which, measured from the bottom of the ditch, is twenty-five cubits, and its breadth six cubits; the distance between this and the middle wall being forty cubits: and beyond the third wall there is a ditch one hundred cubits broad, into which the sea formerly passed from the Seven Towers as far as the gate of Silivrí; and being admitted on the other side from the gate of Iyyúb Ansárí to the Crooked gate (Egrí-kapú), the town was insulated. This triple row of walls still exists, and is strengthened by 1225 towers, on each of which ten watchful monks were stationed to keep watch, day and night. The form of Islámbúl is triangular, having the land on its western side, and being girt by the sea on the east and north, but guarded there also by a single embattled wall, as strong as the rampart of Gog and Magog. Constantine having, by his knowledge of astrology, foreseen the rise and ascendancy of the Prophet, and dreading the conquest of his city by some all-conquering apostle of the true faith, laid the foundation of these walls under the sign of Cancer, and thus gave rise to the incessant mutinies by which its tranquillity has been disturbed. It is eighteen miles in circuit; and at one of its angles are the Seven Towers pointing to the Kiblah (Meccah). The Seraglio-point (Seráï-búruní) forms its northern, and the gate of Iyyúb its third and north-western angle. Constantine having taking to wife a daughter of the Genoese king (Jenúz Králí), allowed him to build some strong fortifications on the northern side of the harbour, which were called Ghalatah, from the Greek word ghalah (γάλα, milk), because Constantine’s cow-houses and dairy were situated there.
Names of Constantinople in different Tongues.
Its first name in the Latin tongue was Makdúniyyah (Macedonia); then Yánkóvíchah in the Syrian (Suryání), from its founder Yánkó. Next in the Hebrew (’Ibrí) Alkesándeïrah (Alexandria) from Alexander; afterwards Púzenteh (Byzantium); then for a time, in the language of the Jews, Vezendúniyyeh; then by the Franks Yaghfúriyyeh. When Constantine had rebuilt it the ninth time, it was called Púznátiyám in the language of the Greeks, and Kostantaniyyeh; in German Kostantín-ópól; in the Muscovite tongue Tekúriyyah; in the language of Africa, Ghiránduviyyeh; in Hungarian, Vizendú-vár; in Polish, Kanátúryah; in Bohemian, Aliyáná; in Swedish (Esfaj), Khiraklibán; in Flemish, Isteghániyyeh; in French, Aghrándónah; in Portuguese, Kósatiyah; in Arabic, Kostantínah; in Persian, Kaïsari Zemín; in Indian, Takhti Rúm (the throne of Rome); in Moghól, Hákdúrkán; in Tátár, Sakálibah; in the language of the ’Osmánlús, Islámbúl. Towards the sea it was never defended by a ditch, which is there superfluous, but by a single wall; but to guard the entrance of the Bosporus and Hellespont, and to increase the security of the city, the castles called Kilídu-l-bahreïn (i.e. the key of the two seas), were built. It is said to have had three hundred and sixty-six gates in the time of Constantine, who left only twenty-seven open, and walled up the rest, the places of which are still visible.