When a sultan succeeds to the throne, instead of the ceremony of European sovereigns, placing a crown on the head, his dignity is conferred by the more appropriate one of girding a sword on the thigh. To this end, the mufti, vizir, and other officers, on horseback, assemble at the seraglio, from whence, accompanied by the sultan, they proceed to the mosque of Eyoub. When they arrive, some celebrated imaum delivers a discourse, exciting the sultan to the vigorous propagation of Islamism and the extirpation of infidels. This he swears on the Koran to do, and then, ascending a marble tribune, the mufti approaches, and girds on a sword, to enable him to perform his promise. From hence the cortege proceeds to the harbour, where a splendid vessel awaits, and the commander makes a bridge of his back, over which the sultan embarks. He then sails to the arsenal, and, while reposing there on a divan prepared for him, he finds a large purse under the cushion, which he receives as the first offering of his faithful subjects. He finally retires to his harem, where he remains several days to repose himself. Modern usage has neglected many ancient ceremonies of the inauguration, but girding on the sword at Eyoub is immutable and indispensable, and never omitted.
The Mausoleum and Mosque are seen enclosed in trees; the former is built of pure marble, the windows covered with gilded lattice, through which is seen the sacred tomb inside, consisting of a catafalque, surmounted with the supposed turban of the deceased. The mosque is a plain edifice, consisting only of a single dome with minarets. The walls of the interior are lined with marble, and the floor covered with carpets. Among the relics preserved is a fragment of marble, having impressed upon it the imprint of the Prophet’s foot, which the yielding stone received and preserved as a miracle. The tomb is surmounted by a railing of silver: near it is a sacred well, supplied by a stream, which confers immortality on those who drink it; but its course is hidden at present from mortal eye, and will only be revealed when man, unstained by sin, shall be worthy to taste it. A small portion of its virtues only is permitted to trickle into the well, which is endued with many salutary qualities. The precious water, therefore, is drawn up with silver buckets, and presented to the faithful in silver goblets. Round this, and every water of such reputed virtue, the person healed hangs up a part of his dress as a votiva tabula: and these rags of superstition are seen over holy wells in Turkey, as they are in Africa, Ireland, and other parts of the world.
The mosque and tomb of Eyoub are situated beyond the district called Blachernæ, on the west side of the harbour, near its head. The richness and fertility of the alluvial soil confer on this district a singular exuberance of vegetation. Nothing can exceed the luxuriance with which trees and fruits in their season blossom and mature in this place. Here flowers exhale the most delicious perfume, and the nightingale is heard to warble its sweetest notes, as if Allah had conferred upon the resting-place of a favourite all the richness of nature. In the midst of this rise the mosque and tomb of the Ansar, forming part of a street, composed of charitable or religious edifices, embosomed in the shade of a majestic cypress. Then there are the haunts of the turtle-doves, who flock to this sequestered place, as one suited to their nature; and their gentle cooing fills the air with a pensive and congenial sound, adding considerably to the effect of the solemn objects around them. These sacred edifices are held in such veneration, and so guarded from desecration, that an infidel is repelled from them with even more jealousy than from the precincts of Santa Sophia.
The time chosen for the Illustration is the return of the sultan from the mosque, after the ceremony of girding on the sword has been performed. Beside him, as supporters, are two Bin Bashis, or colonels of Ortas, in the old Janissary corps. These men wear, as part of their official dress, helmets of an enormous height, with a profusion of horse-hair plumes. This singular costume, the Turks say, is intended to conceal the person of the new sovereign from the aim of an assassin, should an attempt be made upon his life.
| T. Allom. | F. W. Topham. |
THE VALLEY OF UNKIAR ISKELESSI, OR—THE SULTAN’S STAIRS.
IN WHICH THE CELEBRATED TREATY WITH RUSSIA WAS SIGNED.
The most extraordinary title bestowed upon a sovereign is that which the Turks have conferred upon their own. They do not, when they speak of him, call him padescha or sultan, but Hunkair, which signifies “the manslayer,” and conveys, in one word, the sense they entertain of the absolute power he is supposed to possess over the lives and properties of his subjects, and the arbitrary manner in which he sometimes exercises it. The Turks confer it as a title of dignity, which conveys no reflection on the personal character; but during the revolution, the Greeks changed it to Kassapi, “the butcher,” conveying the same idea of a homicide, but meant as a term of bitter reproach.