CONSTANTINOPLE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVI, Issue 279, 23 November 1912, Page 2

CONSTANTINOPLE.

SEAT OE TWO GREAT EMPIRES

LIFE OF OVER 2500 YEARS.

SIEGES IN 1 THE PAST,

Tho city of Constantinople, the capital of the Turkish Empire, which seems likely on any day to be entered and occupied by the Bulgarians, is one of the most ancient and famous cities in the world. The origin of Canstantinople under its first name of Byzantium carries the students of history back over 2500 years, or between 600 and 700 years before the • commencement of the Christian era. Byzantium was founded by immigrants from Meg^ara (Greece) in 667 8.C., and it rapidly rose to importance as a seat of commerce. After a period of subjugation to' Persia it was freed from that irksome yoke by Pausanias. - Along with other Grecian seaports it revolted from Greece in 440 8.C., but some forty, years later it renewed its alliance with Airiiens. APPEARANCE OF THE CRESCENT In 341 and 340 B.C. that city was unsuccessfully besieged by Philip of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. The defenders were aided on this occasion, according to the legend, by the supernatural appearance of a crescent in the sky, which revealed the presence of the invaders, and was forthwith adopted as the badge or crest of the city. The crescent thereafter remained as the emblem of the city. Under the rule of Alexander the Great -Byzantium retained a certain degree of independence. Later oa the city became tributary to the Gauls, but afterwards it attached itself to Rome. In the civil war be- , tween Septimus Severus and Resoennius Niger Byzantium sided with the latter. The town was therefore besieged by Sever us, who captured it in 1 195 A.D. after a brave defence of three years' duration, and reduced it to ruin. He subsequently rebuilt a portion of the city, and in. 330 A.D.. when Const atitine the Great removed to it the seat of the Roman Empire from the Tiber, it became, in its enlarged form, for a tirao the most august city in the world. CAPITAL OF TWO EMPIRES. Constantinople, thenceforth, has been famous in history, first as the capital of the Eastern Roman, Greek, or Byzantine Empire for more than 11 joenturies (from 338 till 1453), and secondly as the capital of the Turkish Empire since its capture by the, Ottoman forces in 1453. Its influence over the course of human affairs has been very great, and it is claimed that in this respect it- is rivalled only by Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem. To indicate its political dignity as the Roman capital it was named New Rome, while to perpetuate the name of its founder, it was styled Constantinople. The chief patriarch of the Greek Church in the city still signs himself "Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome." For upwards of a thousand years after it became the Roman metropolis, Constantinople was subjected; £p frequent attacks by various foes. Leaving out of account the assaults made upon, it in the course of the civil wars Within the Empire, its fortifications, which had been restored and strengthened from time to time by the Roman Emperors, were assailed by various forces from the 7th to the 15th century, the Bulgarians makiris: attacks upon it in 81$ and again 100 years later (in 913.) COMING OF THE TURK. At the beginning of the 14th century the state of the Byzantine Bna.pire was such as to greatly weaken its powers of defence against aggressive foes. In the city of Constantinople itself sedition and profligacy were rampant. Thus it was", that the Ottomans, who wero fast becoming a' powerful force in Asia Minor,, found on crossing into Europe no considerable resistance from the holders of the territory that they sought to conquer. Constantinople, itself, did not succumb to the first or the second attack, and continued- to remain the seat of the Roman Emperors for nearly 100 years after the Turks first crossed- the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles)., The third attempt, however, proved successful, as the appended summary..of the history of the victorious incursion of the since much- j hated and abused Turk into Europe will show. The Ottomans, to whom the generic term of Turk is by common usage now confined, are the descendants of the Oghuzan Turks, a. tribe of the great rurkish nation who, in the 13th century, inhabited the steppes ea&t of the GJaspian Sea. The tide of Mongol invasion, which was then setting in from the north-east, swept the Turks beFore it, and they, to the number of 50,000, under their chief Suleiman, led westward to Armenia. This ihief's grandson, Othmari (from whom ;he national name cif Ottoman was de•ived), inaugurated the wars of conjuest' which laid the foundation of he- independent power of the Turks, tiis son and successor, Orkhan, conunued the same aggressive policy, and ifter firmly establishing the1 Ottoman »wer in Asia Minor first gained a boting in 1355 by the capture of Galrpoli, Rodosfo; and other towns. The *reeks, with the usual contempt of ivilisation for barbarism, made light if these losses, but the Turks followd up their successes, and, in little nore than a decade they had penetraed right up to Adrianople, where lurad, the son of Orkhan, establishd his capital in 1367. Murad rapidly reduced the Byzanme Empire within the limits of Conand some neighboring disricts. A constant warfare againsfr ie Bulgarians, Servians, and others ■as waged by the Turks until 1395, hen Bayezid (son of Murad), after ipturxng Salonika and Larissa, beeged Constantinople. The attack, awever, was not successful. In 1422, Lurad 11. (grandson of Bayezid) ade another unsuccessful attack on onstantinople. SOW CONSTANTINOPLE FELL. The-realisation of the long-cherish-l project of conquering the city was i length accomplished by Mahammed . (son of Murad II.), who succeeded I s father in 1451. He began by * iilding on tho European side of the wpnprus the port known as Rumeli issar. Tradition avers that only 40 ys were needed for the completion the work, 6000 men being employed ' jht and day; guns and troops were rriedly put in, and all navigation ' the Bosphorus was stopped, ifter completing his preparations, ich included the casting of a monr cannon and the manufacture of >rmous engines of assault, Mohamd began the siege in 1453. Con- .1 ntine Palaeologus, the last becu- 1 it of the Imperial throne, took 'J .

j despair could devise for the defence of the doomed city. He made an appeal |to the Pope for the aid of Western Christendom, but this was frustrated through the anti-Catholic spirit of the Greeks. The defenders were dispirited and torn by sedition and. dissensions, arid the emperor could rely on little more than 8000 fighting nienj whilst the assailants, 200,000 strong, were animated by the wildest fanatical zeal. The siege had • lasted 53 days when, on May 29th, 1453, a tremendous assault was stiecessiful. The desperate efforts of the Greeks were unavailing, Constantino himself falling amongst the foremost defenders of the breach, and the Sultan then triumphantly entered the palace of the emperors. THE CITY'S TWO PARTS. Constantinople consists of two distinct parts—Stamboul or Constantinople (Pera, Gatata, and Top-hana). The two. are separated by the Golden Horn, a creek about five miles long and half a mile wide at the, entrance, a safo and spacious harbor, and so deep that the largest ironclads of the Turkish navy can lie quite close to the shore. Stamboul, or Turkish Constantinople, lies on the southern side of the G_plden Horn, and Christian Constantinople lies on the' north side ; the two are connected by-a couple of rude but convenient bridges. The old walls, in courses of stone* and red brick, and 14 miles in circuit, show that the modern Turkish city occupies much the same area as the capital of the first Christian emperor. Within these walls the' city rises, like Rome, upon seven low hills, crowned by noble mosques/ with a wilderness of picturesque, .tumble-down, filthy,' wooden houses and bazaars .climbing up their sides. RELICS OF THE PAST. In Stamboul are nearly all tie monuments and antiquities worth seeing in Constantinople. First is Agia Sophia, Saint Sophia, the Church dedicated by Constantine to "Eternal Wisdom," rebuilt with added splendour by Theodosius (415) and by Justinian (538-568), and now converted into a mosque. Outside it is not worth, a second glance; but within, j ai^y grace of its stupendous dome, and the beauty of its marbles and mosaics, despite all the ravages of Moslem and; tourists' desecrations, tascinate and amaze the vision. Next but not less-beautiful, is the Suleymaniya, the mosque which the Great buleyman erected in 1550-5. Scarcely I a? S S jately. 'm the mosque of Sultan Ahmed I. in the Hippodrome, distinguished without by its six minarets (instead of the usual four.) The mosque of the conqueror Mahomed 11. is also notable. There are over 200 i other mosques in Constantinople, and an even larger number of ohapels, besides hundreds of medresses or mosque colleges. _The Fanar, or Greek quarter of btamboul, recalls the memory of famous Fanariote statesmen in the Turkish service. The Hippodrome (now called At-Meydan, or "Horse Manege"), originally a circus surrounded by marble seats, long since removed, still shows remains of antiX? *&T. such M tlle famo«s column of ™ i ™'^ Serpents which once stood i at the Temple of Polphi, and an 1.

obelisk brought from JReliapolis in Egypt in the reign of Theodosius; whilst hard by are the Burnt Column, the column of Thepdosius, and ;the Seraskier's;' Tower;;, Among the re- . mains of; Mahomc^dah splendour the Old Seraglid (Eski Serai) is the most important,- though it has not been a royal residence since the days of Mahmud 11. Its first gate, Bab-i-Humayun or "Sublime Porte/ has given its name to the Turkish Government in its foreign relations. THE CHRISTIAN QUARTER. Christian Constantinople, on the north side of the Golden Horn, comprises Galata, Pera, and Top-hana. Galata is pre-eminently the merchant quarter, founded by a colony of Genoese merchants in 1216. yThe Tower of Galata, a Genoese erection, serves the same purpose as the Seraskier's Tower on the opposite side in giving alarms of fires. A tunnelled railway drags passengers up the steep ascent of Pera. Pera is the aristocratic quarter; here are all the embassies and consulates. The steep and badly paved Grande Rue is lined with fair if expensive shops, and boasts a rude opera house^ many cafes and restaurants, besides most of the principal hotels, and possibly the worst-morals in Europe. Turks preponderate at Tophana, which is so named from its cannon foundry; the magnificent palace of Dolmabagche is on the brink of the Bosphorus. Other suburbs are Kasim Pasha, on the Golden Horn, the seat of the admiralty; Haskoi, and the picturesque village of Eyyub. Along the European shore of the Bosphorus are the summer resorts of Therapia and Biyukdere. The Asiatic shore is also lined with settlements from Scutari to Candili. The palace of Yildiz Koshki stands at the top of the hill of Beshiktash, beyond Pera. FIRES AND EARTHQUAKES. Constantinople has been the scene of several large fires and serious earthquakes. Fires which occurred in 1865, 1866, and 1870 swept away square miles of old wooden houses on both., sides-'of. the Golden Horn. In the fire of 1870 two-thirds of Pera was laid in ruins, some 3000 houses being entirely destroyed, whilst 40,000 people were left without shelter. The city was naturally much improved by the rebuilding operations, handsome stone houses in many cases taking tho place of the old wooden or clay structures. ' In the, year 557 A.D. the city was struck by a terrible earthquake, in the course of which all its prominent buildings were destroyed, and thousands of people perished. Another serious earthquake was that of 1509. In that year, according to the testimony of several historians, thousands of people were overwhelmed by falling buildings. There have been earthquakes since then, attended by loss of life; but none of them comparable to the two foregoing. The city was not affected to any extent by the last earthquake in Turkey, which occurred three months ago.

Matters were quite lively on the local wharf just prior to the departure of the Home liner Kia Ora for Wellington at noon on Thursday (states the Picton Press). A number of firemen returned to the steamer in a variety of moods. Some were jolly, some merely "obfuscated," while others made no secret of the fact that they were "looking for stouch." One came in contact with our local, guardian of the peace, and soon lost all desire to transgress further. Two others had a lively set-to on the wharf, but were separated after landing a few telling blows. One of the combatants climbed aboard, and hurled challenges at his opponent below. These were promptly accepted., and an adjournment was m.ado to the fore part of the ship. Stripped to; the waist, the two firemen went at it, "hammer and tongs." Another fireman, with a strong Scotch accent and a strong vein of humor, flourished a • Union Jack, and informed his audience, that it was the.good old flag he fought for in the Boer War. He continued to amuse the crowd until the vessel was well out of ear-shot. Whon last seen, he had entwined the "Good Old Flag," as he called it, round his capacious waist. And 'now it is rumored that the flag of one of Picton'a motor launches is missing.