Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor

EYOUB SULTAN,—FOUNTAIN AND STREET OF TOMBS

T. Allom. G. Presbury.

The Turks recognize three persons distinguished by the name of Eyoub, or Job, and confound them together, with little regard to time or place. One was the patriarch of Uz, whose character resembles that given in our Bible, with some variations. The Koran and its commentators say, that his wife so overcame his patience, that he beat her with a palm branch; but, in recompense, when he was restored to health, she was restored to youth and beauty: and further, that Allah gave back his property in a summary manner, by raining down on his threshing-floor gold and silver, from two clouds sent for that purpose. Another was one of the captains of Alexander the Great, and also one of Solomon’s household. He was called Chederles, and his achievements resemble those of our St. George and the Dragon, as they are represented in the Christian churches of the East. Him they call Eyoub, or Job infari. The third, and him to whom the mosque is dedicated, is Abu Eyoub. When the Prophet was in peril, he was succoured by certain persons from Medina, who were there called Ansars, or “Auxiliaries.” One of them was named Job, or Eyoub, who became afterwards the personal companion of the Prophet. When it was determined to destroy the Christian capital of the Romans in Europe, a plenary indulgence of sins was promised to all the faithful who should proceed to accomplish that object, and the Ansar Eyoub set an example by enrolling himself in the Saracen army, which set out for that purpose in the year 672. He fell, with many thousands of his countrymen, before the walls of Constantinople, and received a magnificent funeral. His memory was had in veneration by the majority of his people, but the particular spot where his body was laid had unfortunately been forgotten, nor was it till after the lapse of 750 years that it was discovered. It was revealed by a vision, and, to identify the sacred spot for all posterity, a mosque was erected over it by Mahomet II., in which every succeeding monarch was to receive his inauguration.

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.

THE VALLEY OF UNKIAR ISKELESSI, OR—THE SULTAN’S STAIRS.

IN WHICH THE CELEBRATED TREATY WITH RUSSIA WAS SIGNED

T. Allom. F. W. Topham.

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.

On the shores of the Bosphorus, opposite Therapia, on the Asiatic side, is one of those lovely, and extensive valleys, which open on the strait, and add so much to its beauty. Here the sultans possessed a kiosk, to which they sometimes retired for recreation; and for their accommodation, a scala, or slip, was constructed on which they landed from the caïque: hence the valley has been called Hunkair iskellesi, or “the landing-place of the Manslayer;” an appellation rendered famous by the treaty recently made there.

This noble valley is distinguished by other circumstances. When Sultan Selim wished to excite a literary feeling among his subjects, and a printing-press was reared at Scutari, he converted his kiosk in this place into a manufactory, to supply it with paper. When first established, its arrangements corresponded with its former use, and its princely founder. The reservoirs for water were ornamented marble basins; and the whole gave the idea of a sultan’s palace given up for a mechanic’s workshop, and excited a feeling of respect and admiration for the enlightened and patriotic prince who had surrendered his splendid dwelling and delightful retreat for such a purpose.

Paper is an article to which a Turk annexes a certain degree of sanctity, and beyond that which it claims for its ordinary use. It is that on which, they say, the sacred name of Allah is written, and they never suffer it to be defiled, or used for any unworthy purpose. Wherever they see a fragment of it lying about, they carefully take it up, and throw it into some receptacle. It is often seen, in this way, stuffed into any hole or crevice in a wall which may present itself. With the same feeling, they have not yet suffered their Koran to be printed. They think it a profanation of the name of God, to have it squeezed, as it must be, in the press. The more sensible, however, assign what they consider a more reasonable cause. They call their sacred books, as we do, the Scriptures, or “Writings;” and, with an adherence to the mere letter, they say they could no longer be scriptures, if suffered to be printed.

The eminence on the right is the Jouchi Daghi, or “Giant’s Mountain,” impending over the valley. The reason assigned for this name is a singular one. Among the many persons of our Scriptures, recognized by the Koran, is Joshua the son of Nun; to whom its commentators attribute an immense stature. They affirm that he was sent against the Roum or Greek infidels, whom he defeated in a battle, during which the sun went down in his ordinary course, but immediately rose again; so they could not be saved. It was his custom to sit on this mountain, and bathe his feet in the waters of the Bosphorus below; and when he died, they could find no place large enough on the hill for his grave, so they buried only one of his feet. These extravagant fictions they support by two authorities. There is a dervish mosque on the summit, and a large enclosure beside it. In the enclosure is a tomb seven yards long, which they show as the evidence of the length of the foot buried there; and on the walls of the mosque is an inscription in Arabic, detailing the history of Joshua, whom they call Usha ben Nun. It concludes with a caution to the incredulous: “If any one doubt, let him look to this inscription, and believe.”

A circumstance almost as incredible, in modern times, has rendered the Giant’s Mountain famous. It is now ten centuries since the Russians, in their log-boats, made the first attempt on Constantinople, and their squadrons advanced to the Balkan Mountains. As they became a more civilized and powerful people, the attempts were made with more probability and perseverance; and Peter the Great, having Archangel on the White Sea, and St. Petersburg on the Baltic, conceived the hopes of rounding his vast empire by annexing Constantinople as his southern port, and so commanding all the seas that encircle it. Since that time, the great policy and ambition of the Russians seemed directed to this object; but while all Europe were anxiously watching their hostile approaches, and the desperate struggles of the Turks to resist them, people saw with astonishment a large fleet and an immense army quietly approach the capital, and disembark, not as enemies, but as friends and protectors; and, after an interchange of amity and good will between these deadly enemies, the one departed as peaceably as they came, and the other erected a monument as an everlasting memorial of their visit. It was at this interesting moment the Illustration was made, while the tents of the Russians whitened the mountains above, and the treaty of Hunkair Iskelessi was signed in the valley below. It represents the splendid caïque of the sultan returning from a friendly visit to his new allies, and the crowded boats of the Bosphorus “suspending the dashing oar,” as the homage paid to his passing.

On the left of the picture is the great Aqueduct, striding across the valley of Buyukderé, and leading the waters of the Bendts, or reservoirs, to Pera;—a part of that great hydraulic system, by which the precious and necessary fluid is conveyed from the shores of the Black Sea for the ablutions of the faithful in the great city.

ENTRANCE TO THE BOSPHORUS FROM THE BLACK SEA.

VIEVED FROM THE GIANT’S MOUNTAIN

T. Allom. J. C. Bentley.

This spot recalls many interesting recollections of mythology, history, and natural phenomena. Here it was the Symplegades opened to invite, and closed to crush, the stranger who dared to intrude on these forbidden seas. Here it was the Greeks entered on the expanse of the Euxine, and disclosed new regions and new sources of wealth to their enterprising countrymen: and here it was the disruptured mountains first gave a passage to the waters of a vast internal ocean, which have continued ever since to pour down with impetuosity through the great chasm. As evidence of the first of these facts, the Cyanean rocks are still seen, but now firmly fixed in immovable positions; the one bound to the European, and the other to the Asiatic shore: as evidence of the last, the debris of a volcano are every where scattered about over a great extent. Besides scoria and rocks in various states of calcification, columns of basalt lie strewed along both shores; and immediately beyond the bay of Cabacos on the Asiatic shore is a basaltic formation of great beauty and regularity, supporting the promontory of Youm Bournou, with a colonnade as regular as that at Staffa in Scotland, or the Giants’ Causeway in Ireland. If, as the Vulcanists say, these are undoubtedly the productions of fire, here are still the proofs of that mighty rupture that formed the Bosphorus. From the awful convulsions connected with it, this entrance to the Bosphorus was called by the Greeks ἱερον, or “the Sacred;” it is now called by the Turks, Boghaz.

Its present aspect presents a singular and beautiful prospect. The blue and limpid Bosphorus, now expanding into bays, and now cooped between promontories, here suddenly expands into an apparently interminable ocean. The promontories which swell out are clothed with a bright and permanent verdure, covered with villages, fortresses, and beacons, whose white walls and battlemented towers crown them with their turreted diadems, and harmonize well with the bright tints of green and blue from sea and land. These are called phanaraki, from phanar, the Greek for light-house, and kui, the Turkish for town. On the most conspicuous eminence is seen a memorial of the enterprising spirit of the Genoese, a dilapidated castle, still in tolerable preservation, which they erected at one end of the Bosphorus, when they built the town of Galata at the other. Over the entrance, and on other parts of the front, are perfect monogrammal inscriptions, which evidently belong to the Greeks of the Lower Empire, whoever were the architects of the edifice.

All parts of these shores command delightful views, and are refreshed by the invigorating breeze which is wafted through the Boghaz from the Euxine, and ventilates this region in the greatest heats of a sultry summer. The thermometer sometimes stands here ten degrees lower than at Pera; and the panting inhabitant of the city escapes with delight, to breathe the bracing air of this cool and refreshing vicinity. The Frank ambassadors, instead of congregating in summer at Belgrade, as in the time of Lady M. W. Montague, have with more taste and judgment fixed their residence here; and Buyukderé is filled with their summer palaces. From this village the high land stretches away in a direction across the Bosphorus, and presents a front to the opening of the Euxine.

Amidst these lovely undulating grounds, so varied in form as to command an extensive prospect, while the observer feels almost unseen, parties of pleasure are continually assembled. No true mussulman is unconscious of nature’s charms, on the contrary, his highest enjoyment is in the contemplation of a solemn, silent, and wide-spread landscape. It is this that attracts such numbers to the agreeable heights of Buyukderé, and pleads an apology for the presence of the old Seraskier and his suite, who are represented as partaking of the rural festivities of this happy, healthy spot.

ANCIENT ARCHWAY & CAVERN IN THE BALKAN MOUNTAINS

Drawn fron Nature by E. Hervé. Esq. Engd by W. H. Capone.

The extent of country from the Danube to the Propontis, is generally a flat plain, with occasional irregularities of surface, divided by an immense ridge of lofty mountains, rising perpendicularly, like a stupendous wall, and dividing the level space into two nearly equal parts. That on the south side, extending from the mountains to the sea, was called Thrace, and, in modern times, by the Turks, Roum-Eli, or the country of the Romans. That on the north, extending from the mountains to the river Danube, was formerly named Mœsia, but now Bulgaria. This chain of mountains excited the admiration of the ancients, who attributed to it an elevation greater than any mountain in the then known world. They supposed it was the ridge from whence the revolted giants attempted to scale the heavens, and they called it Hæmus from a Greek word signifying “blood,” because one of the impious invaders was slain by a thunderbolt, and the torrent of his gore stained the mountains. They further affirm, that both the Euxine and Ægean seas could be seen at once from its summit. The length of this chain is as remarkable as its height; it extends for more than five hundred miles, one end resting on the Black sea, and the other on the Ægean. It is now called the Balkan, a Turkish or Sclavonian word, which implies difficult defiles, because it opposes a natural rampart to an invading army, and is the most advanced bulwark of Constantinople. For a long time it was considered impassable by any ordinary force, and the Greek and Turkish empire rested in confidence behind it; but a few years only have passed, since the Russians proved its insecurity, and, to the astonishment of Europe, as well as of the Turks, they scaled this mighty barrier, and established themselves at the other side.

Except in a few places, the whole extent of the ridge is impassable−−steep precipices, rugged and abrupt ascents, lofty rocks and impending crags, render the general face of the mountains so difficult, as to repel all attempts to climb them. The chain may be said to consist of three branches; two lower ridges rising at each side parallel to the great one. The intervening valleys are exceedingly beautiful: they form extensive sequestered tracts, shut out, as it were, from the rest of the world, and abounding in every production that the fecundity of nature could supply, or the most elaborate industry produce. Some of these spots exhibit, in the wildness of the descent, all the beauties of a cultivated taste: pure streams of clear water rippling over pebbled beds, skirted by copse-wood, and margined by swards of the richest grass, through which the road winds like a gravel-walk in the young plantations of an English demesne; in other places, expanding into broad meadows filled with sheep and horned cattle, or corn-fields covered with growing grain in various stages. In the midst of these pastoral scenes are many villages of singular appearance; and cottages scattered about without any regularity or arrangement. They are built of wicker-work. An oblong space is marked out, circular at one end, and square at the other; round this area, wattles or short poles are stuck in the ground, and between them, strong willows are interwoven, so as to form a large basket; on this, poles are laid for the roof, or some of the wattles are left long enough to be bent for the purpose. The top is then thatched with straw, and the basket-work plastered with mud of a light grey colour. The entrance is at the square end, where the roof projects considerably, and is supported on pillars, the whole exhibiting a pretty and elegant cottage, with a portico and colonnade in front. The floor is spread with thick striped woollen carpets, on which the family sit by day and sleep by night. In winter the fireplace is supplied with logs set on end, to receive a fire six or seven feet high of blazing wood. Every cottage is secured with a wicker-work enclosure, generally filled with corn-stacks and cattle; and the peasantry of this wild and remote region enjoy a cleanliness, comfort, and abundance, that render them some of the happiest on the continent of Europe. Among other objects of cultivation on the Low Balkans, is the rose which produces the attar, and from hence it is sent to Constantinople, where it is sold in the bazaars, and exported to other countries: the refined and elegant of polished nations becoming indebted to these simple peasants for the richest and most exquisite perfume in nature.