| T. Allom. | S Lacey. |
THE ATMEIDAN, OR HIPPODROME; AND MOSQUE OF ACHMET.
WITH THE COLUMN OF CONSTANTINE AND EGYPTIAN OBELISK.
The word meidan signifies “a place,” and corresponds with the sense in which we use the latter term in our towns. There are many so called in Constantinople, but the most distinguished is the Atmeidan, or “Place of the Horse.” It was, under the Greek empire, called Hippodrome, which implies a horse-course. The Turks applied it to the same purpose, and translated the Greek appellation into their own language. It is described in the most gorgeous manner by the writers of the lower empire, as ornamented with marble colonnades, and surrounded by seats like an amphitheatre, where the courses were observed by the spectators. These things have disappeared under the Turks, and it is now a naked oblong area, with a very ruinous and neglected aspect. It has, however, still its attractions. It is almost the only open and airy public space within the walls of the city, and it is the only spot where the very few ornaments of this great capital, now extant, are to be seen in their original site and form.
The present area is an irregular quadrangle, about 260 yards long, and 150 wide. It is bounded on one side by the mosque of Sultan Achmet, from which it is separated only by an open screen, and from it this beautiful edifice, with its six elegant minarets, appears to the greatest advantage. On the others, by large but mean edifices, one of which is the menagerie of the Turkish empire. Among the gifts expected from the pasha of a distant province, are specimens of its wild animals; and lions, tigers, and other beasts are here enclosed and exhibited, as formerly in the tower of London. Among the animals here in the time of Busbequius, was an extraordinary elephant, which, he affirmed, “could dance and play ball.” They are not confined to cages, but allowed to walk about in large caverns, where the solitary magnificence of the animal would be strikingly exhibited, were it not that the foul odour exhaled from putrid offals, on which they feed, repels a stranger with insuperable disgust.
Down the centre are seen the splendid remains of the Greek empire. The first is the granite obelisk, still in high preservation, brought from the Thebaïd to Rome, and from thence to ornament the new city of Constantine. It is supported on brazen globes, resting on a sculptured pedestal bearing an inscription implying that it was erected by Theodosius. On one face is sculptured the machines by which the obelisk was raised to its present site, and is a curious display of the mechanical powers at that time in use. A singular circumstance occurred at its erection, which has since that time furnished an extraordinary auxiliary to mechanical powers. When the ponderous block was raised as high as the combination of cords and pulleys could draw it, it was found to want one inch of elevation to place it on the pedestal. The emperor and all the spectators supposed the labour and expense lost, and the case hopeless; when the ingenious artist who had undertaken to raise it, caused water to be thrown upon the cords by which the obelisk was suspended: an immediate contraction of the fibres took place, the cords shortened, and the immense weight was quietly raised to its place without any other mechanical Contrivance. Another is that called the Colossus: it was once covered with dense brass plates; and a Greek couplet on the pedestal, described what it formerly was, and the reason of its name−
“A brazen wonder of colossal size,
Which Rhodes could boast−lo! here is seen to rise.”
But the Turks have belied the inscription. They have carefully picked off the brass plates for their trifling value, and left nothing but an unsightly shaft of masonry and mortar in which they were embedded. But the most valuable remnant of antiquity existing here, or perhaps in any other country, is a colossal brazen twisted serpent, which once had a triple head, from whence issued wine, water, and milk. It had formed a shrine at Delphi, on which were placed the golden tripod and patera presented to the god of the temple by the Greeks, to commemorate the victories in the Persian war, and was removed to Constantinople as one of the most valuable remains of ancient art and historic recollection. It was so highly prized, that the Turks considered it as the talisman that protected the Greek empire; and when Mohammed entered the devoted capital in triumph, he struck off one of the heads with his battle-axe, to destroy, as it were, the delusion. It is now a truncated stump, and constantly battered with stones by the Turks, as if their ancient superstition and prejudice yet existed.
The illustration represents the present state of the Hippodrome, and gives an idea of its ancient use. The Turks have no trials of equestrian skill like those of the Greeks; but here they usually exercise their horses, and throw the djerid, a wooden pointless spear, which they cast to a distance, and catch as it recoils from the ground, with considerable dexterity. On one side is the palace of Ibrahim Pasha, now the head-quarters of the cavalry staff, who are seen among the equestrians.