I have seldom spent a morning of more absorbing interest than that which I passed among the Mosques of Constantinople.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Antiquities of Constantinople—Ismäel Effendi—The Atmeidan—The Obelisk—The Delphic Tripod—The Column of Constantine—The Tchernberlè Tasch—The Cistern of the Thousand and One Columns—The Boudroum—The Roman Dungeons—Yèrè-Batan-Seraï—The Lost Traveller—Extent of the Cistern—Aqueduct of Justinian—Palace of Constantine—Tomb of Heraclius—The Seven Towers—An Ambassador in Search of Truth—Tortures of the Prison—A Legend of the Seven Towers.
The antiquities of Constantinople are few in number; and when the by-past fortunes of Byzantium are taken into consideration, not remarkably interesting. I shall consequently say little upon the subject, and the rather that more competent writers than myself have already described them; and that these reliques of departed centuries are not calculated to be treated a tutto volo di penna. But, as it is impossible to pass them over altogether in silence, I shall merely endeavour to describe their nature and the effect which they produced upon myself.
Perhaps the most curious remain of by-gone days now existing, and certainly that which is the least known, is Yèrè-Batan-Seraï, literally the “Swallowed up Palace,” anciently called Philoxmos. I had heard much of this extraordinary old Roman work, but we had repeatedly failed in our attempts to visit it, from the fact of its opening into the court of a Turkish house, whose owner was not always willing to submit to the intrusion of strangers.
We were not, however, fated to leave Constantinople without effecting our purpose; which we ultimately accomplished through the medium of one of the Sultan’s Physicians, who provided us with such attendance as insured our success. Ismäel Effendi, Surgeon-in-chief of the Anatomical School attached to the Seraï Bournou, volunteered to become our escort, and we gladly availed ourselves of his kindness. He was a fine, vivacious, intelligent young man, endowed with an energy and mobility perfectly Greek, combined with that gentle and quiet courtesy so essentially Turkish: and we were, furthermore, accompanied by one of his friends, who spoke the French language with tolerable fluency; and a soldier of the Palace Guard, to prevent our collision with the passers-by; a precaution which the rapid and virulent spread of the Plague had rendered essentially necessary.
We first directed our steps to the Atmeidan, or Place of Horses, the ancient race-course of the Romans; in which stands a handsome Egyptian obelisk of red granite, placed there by Theodosius, and resting upon a pedestal of white marble, whereon are coarsely represented his victories in very ill-executed alto relievo. The obelisk is sixty feet in height, and elaborately ornamented with hieroglyphics.
Near it are the remains of the Delphic Tripod; the brazen heads of the serpents are wanting; and it is asserted that one of them was struck off by Sultan Akhmet at a single blow of his scimitar.