CONSTANTINOPLE OLD AND NEW

Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror

From the portrait by Gentile Bellini in the Layard Collection

Photograph by Alinari Brothers, Florence

CONSTANTINOPLE
OLD AND NEW

BY
H. G. DWIGHT

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
1915

Copyright, 1915, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

Published September, 1915

OF HIS BOOK

A number of years ago it happened to the writer of this book to live in Venice. He accordingly read, as every good English-speaking Venetian does, Mr. Howells’s “Venetian Life.” And after the first heat of his admiration he ingenuously said to himself: “I know Constantinople quite as well as Mr. Howells knew Venice. Why shouldn’t I write a ‘Constantinople Life’?” He neglected to consider the fact that dozens of other people knew Venice even better than Mr. Howells, perhaps, but could never have written “Venetian Life.” Nevertheless, he took himself and his project seriously. He went back, in the course of time, to Constantinople, with no other intent than to produce his imitation of Mr. Howells. And the reader will doubtless smile at the remoteness of resemblance between that perfect little book and this big one.

Aside, however, from the primary difference between two pens, circumstances further intervened to deflect this book from its original aspiration. As the writer made acquaintance with his predecessors in the field, he was struck by the fact that Constantinople, in comparison with Venice and I know not how many other cities, and particularly that Turkish Constantinople, has been wonderfully little “exploited”—at least in our generation and by users of our language. He therefore turned much of his attention to its commoner aspects—which Mr. Howells in Venice felt, very happily, under no obligation to do. Then the present writer found himself more and more irritated by the patronising or contemptuous tone of the West toward the East, and he made it rather a point—since in art one may choose a point of view—to dwell on the picturesque and admirable side of Constantinople. And soon after his return there took place the revolution of 1908, whose various consequences have attracted so much of international notice during the last five years. It was but natural that events so moving should find some reflection in the pages of an avowed impressionist. Incidentally, however, it has come about that the Constantinople of this book is a Constantinople in transition. The first chapter to be written was the one called “A Turkish Village.” Since it was originally put on paper, a few weeks before the revolution, the village it describes has been so ravaged by a well-meaning but unilluminated desire of “progress” that I now find it impossible to bring the chapter up to date without rewriting it in a very different key. I therefore leave it practically untouched, as a record of the old Constantinople of which I happened to see the last. And as years go by much of the rest of the book can only have a similar documentary reference.

At the same time I have tried to catch an atmosphere of Constantinople that change does not affect and to point out certain things of permanent interest—as in the chapters on mosque yards, gardens, and fountains, as well as in numerous references to the old Turkish house. Being neither a Byzantinist nor an Orientalist, and, withal, no expert in questions of art, I realise that the true expert will find much to take exception to. While in matters of fact I have tried to be as accurate as possible, I have mainly followed the not infallible Von Hammer, and most of my Turkish translations are borrowed from him or otherwise acquired at second hand. Moreover, I have unexpectedly been obliged to correct my proofs in another country, far from books and from the friends who might have helped to save my face before the critic. I shall welcome his attacks, however, if a little more interest be thereby awakened in a place and a people of which the outside world entertains the vaguest ideas. In this book, as in the list of books at its end, I have attempted to do no more than to suggest. Of the list in question I am the first to acknowledge that it is in no proper sense a bibliography. I hardly need say that it does not begin to be complete. If it did it would fill more pages than the volume it belongs to. It contains almost no original sources and it gives none of the detailed and classified information which a bibliography should. It is merely what I call it, a list of books, of more popular interest, in the languages more commonly read by Anglo-Saxons, relating to the two great periods of Constantinople and various phases of the history and art of each, together with a few better-known works of general literature.

I must add a word with regard to the spelling of the Turkish names and words which occur in these pages. The great difficulty of rendering in English the sound of foreign words is that English, like Turkish, does not spell itself. For that reason, and because whatever interest this book may have will be of a general rather than of a specialised kind, I have ventured to deviate a little from the logical system of the Royal Geographical Society. I have not done so with regard to consonants, which have the same value as in English, with the exception that g is always hard and s is never pronounced like z. The gutturals gh and kh have been so softened by the Constantinople dialect that I generally avoid them, merely suggesting them by an h. Y, as I use it, is half a consonant, as in yes. As for the other vowels, they are to be pronounced in general as in the Continental languages. But many newspaper readers might be surprised to learn that the town where the Bulgarians gained their initial success during the Balkan war was not Kîrk Kiliss, and that the second syllable of the first name of the late Mahmud Shefket Pasha did not rhyme with bud. I therefore weakly pander to the Anglo-Saxon eye by tagging a final e with an admonitory h, and I illogically fall back on the French ou—or that of our own word through. There is another vowel sound in Turkish which the general reader will probably give up in despair. This is uttered with the teeth close together and the tongue near the roof of the mouth, and is very much like the pronunciation we give to the last syllable of words ending in tion or to the n’t in needn’t. It is generally rendered in foreign languages by i and sometimes in English by the u of sun. Neither really expresses it, however, nor does any other letter in the Roman alphabet. I have therefore chosen to indicate it by î, chiefly because the circumflex suggests a difference. For the reader’s further guidance in pronunciation I will give him the rough-and-ready rule that all Turkish words are accented on the last syllable. But this does not invariably hold, particularly with double vowels—as in the name Hüsséïn, or the word seráï, palace. Our common a and i, as in lake and like, are really similar double vowel sounds, similarly accented on the first. The same rules of pronunciation, though not of accent, apply to the few Greek words I have had occasion to use. I have made no attempt to transliterate them. Neither have I attempted to subject well-known words or names of either language to my somewhat arbitrary rules. Stamboul I continue so to call, though to the Turks it is something more like Îstambol; and words like bey, caïque, and sultan have long since been naturalised in the West. I have made an exception, however, with regard to Turkish personal names, and in mentioning the reigning Sultan or his great ancestor, the Conqueror, I have followed not the European but the Turkish usage, which reserves the form Mohammed for the Prophet alone.

This is not a book of learning, but I have required a great deal of help in putting it together, and I cannot close this prefatory note without acknowledging my indebtedness to more kind friends than I have space to name. Most of all I owe to Mr. E. L. Burlingame, of Scribner’s Magazine, and to my father, Dr. H. O. Dwight, without whose encouragement, moral and material, during many months, I could never have afforded the luxury of writing a book. I am also under obligation to their Excellencies, J. G. A. Leishman, O. S. Straus, and W. W. Rockhill, American ambassadors to the Porte, and especially to the last, for cards of admission, letters of introduction, and other facilities for collecting material. Among many others who have taken the trouble to give me assistance of one kind or another I particularly wish to express my acknowledgments to Arthur Baker, Esq.; to Mgr. Christophoros, Bishop of Pera; to F. Mortimer Clapp, Esq.; to Feridoun Bey, Professor of Turkish in Robert College; to H. E. Halil Edhem Bey, Director of the Imperial Museum; to Hüsseïn Danish Bey, of the Ottoman Public Debt; to H. E. Ismaïl Jenani Bey, Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Imperial Court; to H. E. Ismet Bey, Préfet adjoint of Constantinople; to Kemaleddin Bey, Architect in Chief of the Ministry of Pious Foundations; to Mahmoud Bey, Sheikh of the Bektash Dervishes of Roumeli Hissar; to Professor Alexander van Millingen; to Frederick Moore, Esq.; to Mr. Panayotti D. Nicolopoulos, Secretary of the Mixed Council of the Œcumenical Patriarchate; to Haji Orhan Selaheddin Dedeh, of the Mevlevi Dervishes of Pera; to A. L. Otterson, Esq.; to Sir Edwin Pears; to Refik Bey, Curator of the Palace and Treasury of Top Kapou; to E. D. Roth, Esq.; to Mr. Arshag Schmavonian, Legal Adviser of the American Embassy; to William Thompson, Esq.; to Ernest Weakley, Esq.; and to Zia Bey, of the Ministry of Pious Foundations. My thanks are also due to the editors of the Atlantic Monthly, of Scribner’s Magazine, and of the Spectator, for allowing me to republish those chapters which originally came out in their periodicals. And I am not least grateful to the publishers for permitting me to change the scheme of my book while in preparation, and to substitute new illustrations for a large number that had already been made.

Hamadan, 6th Sefer, 1332.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Chapter I
Stamboul [1]
Chapter II
Mosque Yards [33]
Chapter III
Old Constantinople [74]
Chapter IV
The Golden Horn [113]
Chapter V
The Magnificent Community [148]
Chapter VI
The City of Gold [189]
Chapter VII
The Gardens of the Bosphorus [227]
Chapter VIII
The Moon of Ramazan [265]
Chapter IX
Mohammedan Holidays [284]
Chapter X
Two Processions [301]
Chapter XI
Greek Feasts [318]
Chapter XII
Fountains [352]
Chapter XIII
A Turkish Village [382]
Chapter XIV
Revolution, 1908 [402]
Chapter XV
The Capture of Constantinople, 1909 [425]
Chapter XVI
War Time, 1912-1913 [459]
Masters of Constantinople [545]
A Constantinople Book-Shelf [549]
Index [555]

ILLUSTRATIONS

Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror[Frontispiece]
From the portrait by Gentile Bellini in the Layard Collection
PAGE
A Stamboul street[5]
From an etching by Ernest D. Roth
Divan Yolou[9]
A house in Eyoub[11]
A house at Aya Kapou[12]
The house of the pipe[13]
That grape-vine is one of the most decorative elements of Stamboul streets[21]
A waterside coffee-house[23]
“Drinking” a nargileh[26]
Fez-presser in a coffee-house[27]
Playing tavli[29]
The plane-tree of Chengel-kyöi[31]
The yard of Hekim-zadeh Ali Pasha[35]
“The Little Mosque”[37]
From an etching by Ernest D. Roth
Entrance to the forecourt of Sultan Baïezid II[40]
Detail of the Süleïmanieh[41]
Yeni Jami[43]
Tile panel in Rüstem Pasha[50]
The mihrab of Rüstem Pasha[51]
In Rüstem Pasha[52]
Tiles in the gallery of Sultan Ahmed[53]
The tomb of Sultan Ahmed I[57]
In Roxelana’s tomb[59]
The türbeh of Ibrahim Pasha[63]
The court of the Conqueror[64]
The main entrance to the court of Sokollî Mehmed Pasha[65]
The interior of Sokollî Mehmed Pasha[67]
The court of Sokollî Mehmed Pasha[69]
Doorway in the medresseh of Feïzoullah Effendi[70]
Entrance to the medresseh of Kyöprülü Hüsseïn Pasha[71]
The medresseh of Hassan Pasha[72]
St. Sophia[77]
From an etching by Frank Brangwyn
The Myrelaion[83]
The House of Justinian[86]
The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus[90]
Interior of the Studion[93]
Kahrieh Jami[97]
Mosaic from Kahrieh Jami: Theodore Metochites offering his church to Christ[98]
Mosaic from Kahrieh Jami: the Massacre of the Innocents[101]
Giotto’s fresco of the Massacre of the Innocents, in the Arena chapel, Padua[101]
Mosaic from Kahrieh Jami: the Marriage at Cana[104]
The Golden Gate[109]
Outside the land walls[111]
A last marble tower stands superbly out of the blue[112]
The Golden Horn[115]
From the Specchio Marittimo of Bartolommeo Prato
Lighters[118]
Sandals[119]
Caïques[121]
Sailing caïques[122]
Galleons that might have sailed out of the Middle Ages anchor there now[123]
The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus[125]
From a Persian miniature in the Bibliothèque Nationale
The mihrab of Pialeh Pasha[131]
Old houses of Phanar[133]
The outer court of Eyoub[135]
Eyoub[137]
The cemetery of Eyoub[141]
Kiat Haneh[145]
Lion fountain in the old Venetian quarter[153]
Genoese archway at Azap Kapou[155]
The mosque of Don Quixote and the fountain of Sultan Mahmoud I[165]
Interior of the mosque of Don Quixote[167]
The admiral’s flag of Haïreddin Barbarossa[169]
Drawn by Kenan Bey
Grande Rue de Pera[180]
The Little Field of the Dead[181]
The fountain of Azap Kapou[183]
Fountain near Galata Tower[185]
The Kabatash breakwater[187]
Fresco in an old house in Scutari[191]
The Street of the Falconers[199]
Fountain in the mosque yard of Mihrîmah[201]
Tiles in the mosque of the Valideh Atik[203]
Chinili Jami[204]
The fountains of the Valideh Jedid[205]
Interior of the Valideh Jedid[207]
The Ahmedieh[209]
Shemsi Pasha[211]
The bassma haneh[213]
Hand wood-block printing[215]
The Bosphorus from the heights of Scutari[217]
Gravestones[221]
Scutari Cemetery[223]
In a Turkish garden[230]
A Byzantine well-head[232]
A garden wall fountain[233]
A jetting fountain in the garden of Halil Edhem Bey[235]
A selsebil at Kandilli[236]
A selsebil of Halil Edhem Bey[237]
In the garden of Ressam Halil Pasha[239]
The garden of the Russian embassy at Büyük Dereh[241]
The upper terrace of the French embassy garden at Therapia[243]
The Villa of the Sun, Kandilli[249]
An eighteenth-century villa at Arnaout-kyöi[252]
The golden room of Kyöprülü Hüsseïn Pasha[253]
In the harem of the Seraglio[261]
The “Cage” of the Seraglio[263]
A Kara-gyöz poster[271]
Wrestlers[275]
The imperial cortège poured from the palace gate[281]
From a drawing by E. M. Ashe
Baïram sweets[289]
The open spaces of the Mohammedan quarters are utilised for fairs[295]
Sheep-market at Yeni Jami[299]
Church fathers in the Sacred Caravan[305]
Housings in the Sacred Caravan[306]
The sacred camel[307]
The palanquin[308]
Tied with very new rope to the backs of some thirty mules ... were the quaint little hair trunks[309]
A Persian miniature representing the death of Ali[311]
Valideh Han[313]
Blessing the Bosphorus[321]
The dancing Epirotes[325]
Bulgarians dancing[336]
Greeks dancing to the strains of a lanterna[337]
The mosque and the Greek altar of Kourou Cheshmeh[348]
Wall fountain in the Seraglio[354]
Selsebil in Bebek[355]
The goose fountain at Kazlî[356]
The wall fountain of Chinili-Kyöshk[357]
Shadrîvan of Kyöprülü Hüsseïn Pasha[359]
Shadrîvan of Ramazan Effendi[360]
Shadrîvan of Sokollî Mehmed Pasha[361]
The Byzantine fountain of Kîrk Cheshmeh[365]
The two fountains of Ak Bîyîk[368]
Street fountain at Et Yemez[371]
Fountain of Ahmed III in the park at Kiat Haneh[373]
Detail of the fountain of Mahmoud I at Top Haneh[374]
Fountain of Abd ül Hamid II[375]
Sebil behind the tomb of Sultan Mehmed III[377]
Sebil of Sultan Ahmed III[379]
Cut-Throat Castle from the water[384]
The castle of Baïezid the Thunderbolt[385]
The north tower of the castle[387]
The village boatmen and their skiffs[397]
In the market-place[399]
Badge of the revolution: “Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Equality”[405]
Cartoon representing the exodus of the Palace camarilla[412]
Soldiers at Chatalja, April 20[428]
Macedonian volunteers[437]
A Macedonian Blue[439]
Taxim artillery barracks, shelled April 24[441]
They were, in fact, reserves posted for the afternoon attack on Tash Kîshla[443]
Burial of volunteers, April 26[446]
Deputies leaving Parliament after deposing Abd ül Hamid, April 27[447]
Mehmed V driving through Stamboul on his accession day, April 27[451]
Mehmed V on the day of sword-girding, May 10[453]
Arriving from Asia[460]
Reserves[461]
Recruits[462]
Hand in hand[463]
Demonstration in the Hippodrome[465]
Convalescents[480]
Stuck in the mud[482]
The aqueduct of Andronicus I[484]
Fleeing from the enemy[485]
Cholera[498]
Joachim III, Patriarch of Constantinople[501]
The south pulpit of the Pantocrator[503]
Portrait of John VII Palæologus as one of the Three Wise Men, by Benozzo Gozzoli. Riccardi Chapel, Florence[505]
Church of the All-Blessed Virgin (Fetieh Jami)[515]
The lantern-bearers[517]
The dead Patriarch[519]
Exiles[523]
Lady Lowther’s refugees[526]
Peasant embroidery[532]
Young Thrace[533]