The next traveller that visited Babylon appears to have been Della Valle (A. D.1616). When at Bagdad he was led, by curiosity rather than business, to visit Babylon, which, says he, was well known to the people in that city, as well by its name of Babel, as by the traditions concerning it. "He found," says Rennell, "at no great distance from the eastern bank of the Euphrates, a vast heap of ruins, of so heterogeneous a kind, that, as he expresses it, he could find nothing whereon to fix his judgment as to what it might have been in its original state. He recollected the descriptions of the tower of Belus, in the writings of the ancients, and supposed that this might be the ruins of it." He then proceeds to give measurements; but better accounts have been received since.
The remains of Babylon have been visited in our times by several accomplished travellers, amongst whom may be especially noted Mr. Rich and Sir Robert Ker Porter. The former of these travellers has given the most distinct and circumstantial account; but, before we state what he has afforded us, we afford space for that passage of Sir Robert, in which he describes his first entry into the scene.
"We now came to the north-east shore of the Euphrates, hitherto totally excluded from our view by the intervening long and varied lines of ruin, which now proclaimed to us, on every side, that we were indeed in the midst of what had been Babylon.From the point, on which we stood, to the base of the Mujelibé, large masses of ancient foundations spread on our right, more resembling natural hills in appearance, than mounds covering the remains of former great and splendid edifices. The whole view was particularly solemn. The majestic stream of the Euphrates wandering in solitude, like a pilgrim monarch through the silent ruins of his devastated kingdom, still appeared a noble river, even under all the disadvantages of its desert-tracked course. Its banks were hoary with reeds, and the grey osier willows were yet there, on which the captives of Israel hung up their harps, and, while 'Jerusalem was not,' refused to be comforted. But how is the rest of the scene changed since then! At that time, these broken hills were palaces; those long, undulating mounds, streets; this vast solitude, filled with the busy subjects of the proud daughter of the East! now, 'wasted with misery,' her habitations are not to be found; and, for herself, 'the worm is spread over her.' The banks of the Euphrates are, nevertheless, still covered with willows, as they were in ancient times[126]."
For the following particulars we are, principally, indebted to Mr. Rich, several years British minister at Bagdad. "The town of Hillah, enclosed within a brick wall, and known to have been built in the twelfth century, stands upon the western banks of the Euphrates (latitude thirty-two degrees, twenty-eight minutes). It is forty-eight miles south of Bagdad. The country, for miles around, is a flat,uncultivated waste; but it is traversed, in different directions, by what appear to be the remains of canals, and by mounds of great magnitude; most of which, upon being excavated, are found to contain bricks, some of which were evidently dried in the sun, others baked by a furnace, and stamped with inscriptions in a character now unknown." "The soil of the plains of ancient Assyria and Babylonia," says Major Keppell, "consists of a fine clay, mixed with sand, with which, as the waters retire, the shores are covered. This compost, when dried with the heat of the sun, becomes a hard and solid mass, and forms the finest materials for the beautiful bricks for which Babylon was celebrated." Hillah is built of such bricks; but there are others of more ancient appearance, which, no doubt, belonged to ancient Babylon; since they are stamped with characters, which have been ascribed to the Chaldeans. Hillah, then, stands upon the site of ancient Babylon: that is, a portion of it.
Though this is certainly the case, there are no ruins at Hillah; the nearest being at a distance of two miles to the north, and upon the eastern side of the river. The first of these remains consists of a vast mound of earth, three thousand three hundred feet long, by two thousand four hundred feet broad, at its base, curved, at the south side, into the form of a quadrant. Its height is sixty feet at the highest part: and the whole appears to have been formed by the decomposition of sun-dried bricks, channelled and furrowed by the weather; and having the surface strewed with pieces of pottery, bricks, and bitumen. This mound is called Amran.
On the north of this mound is another square, of two thousand one hundred feet, having one of its angles,—to the south-west,—connected with the other by a ridge, three hundred feet broad, and ofconsiderable height. The building, of which this is a ruin, seems to have been finished in a very particular manner, for the bricks are of the finest description. "This is the place," says Mr. Rich, "where Beauchamp made his observations, and it is certainly the most interesting part of the ruins of Babylon. Every vestige discoverable in it declares it to have been composed of buildings far superior to all the rest, which have left traces in the eastern quarter: the bricks are of the finest description; and notwithstanding this is the grand storehouse of them, and that the greatest supplies have been, and are now, constantly drawn from it, they appear still to be abundant."
To the north of this ruin is a ravine, hollowed out by brick-searchers, about three hundred feet long, ninety wide, and one hundred and twenty feet deep. At the north end of this ravine an opening leads to a subterranean passage, floored and walled with large bricks, laid in bitumen, and roofed with single slabs of sand-stone, three feet thick, and from eight to twelve long. In this passage was found a colossal piece of sculpture, in black marble. "There I discovered," says Mr. Rich, "what Beauchamp saw imperfectly, and understood from the natives to be an idol[127]. I was told the same thing[128], and that itwas discovered by an old Arab in digging, but that, not knowing what to do with it, he covered it up again." On sending for the old man, and he having pointed out the spot, Mr. Rich set a number of men to work, and, after a day's hard labour, they laid open enough of the statue to show that it was a lion of colossal dimensions, standing on a pedestal. Its material was a gray granite, and it was of rude workmanship.
The mound, last described, is called by the natives the palace (El Kasr)[129]. The walls are eight feet thick, ornamented with niches, and strengthened by pilasters and buttresses, all built of fine brick, laid in lime cement of such tenacity, that it cannot be separated without breaking. Hence it is, that so much of it remains perfect. This remarkable ruin is visible from a considerable distance, and is so fresh, that it is only upon minute inspection, that Mr. Rich became satisfied, that it is really a Babylonian remain. Near this are several hollows, in which several persons have lost their lives; so that no one will now venture into them, and their entrances are, therefore, become choked with rubbish.
There are two paths near this ruin, made by the workmen, who carry down their bricks to the river side, whence they are transported to Hillah; and at a short distance to the north-north-east the celebrated tree stands, which is called by the natives Athelè,and which they assert to have once flourished in the hanging gardens; and which they as religiously believe God purposely preserved, that it might afford Mahomet a convenient shade, beneath which to tie up his horse, after the battle of Hillah! It is an evergreen, of the lignum-vitæ species. "Its trunk has been originally enormous; but at last, worn away by time, only part of its original circumference, hollow and shattered, supports the whole of its yet spreading and evergreen branches. They are particularly beautiful, being adorned with long tress-like tendrils, resembling heron-feathers, growing from a central stem. These slender and delicate sprays, bending towards the ground, gave the whole an appearance of a weeping-willow, while their gentle waving in the wind made a low and melancholy sound. This tree is revered as holy by the Arabs, from a tradition among them, that the Almighty preserved it here, from the earliest time, to form a refuge in after ages for the Caliph Ali; who, fainting with fatigue from the battle of Hillah, found a secure repose under its shade. The battle adverted to was fought within so short a period after the death of Mahomet, that, if any credit is to be given to the rest of the tale, the age of the tree must already have extended to a thousand years!"
When Mr. Kinneir visited Hillah the girth of the tree was, two feet from the ground, four feet seven inches. Its height twenty feet.
Nine hundred and fifty yards from the side of the river, and about a mile to the north of what is called the palace, stands the most remarkable ruin of the eastern division. This is called Mukallibè, a word signifying "overturned." This was visited, in 1616, by Della Valle, who determined it to be the tower of Belus; and this opinion has been adopted, erroneously, by Rennell and other writers. It is of anoblong shape, irregular in its height and the measurement of its sides, which face the cardinal points; the northern side being two hundred yards in length; the southern side, two hundred and nineteen; the eastern, one hundred and eighty-two; and the western, one hundred and thirty-six. The elevation of the highest angle, one hundred and forty-one feet. This mound is a solid mass. Near its summit appears a low wall, with interruptions, built of unburnt bricks, laid in clay mortar of great thickness, having a layer of reeds between every layer of bricks. On the north side are vestiges of a similar wall. The south-west angle, which is the highest point, terminates in a turret; or, rather, heaps of rubbish, in digging into which, layers of broken burnt brick, cemented with mortar, are discovered, and whole bricks, with inscriptions on them, are here and there found. The whole is covered with innumerable fragments of brick, pottery, pebbles, bitumen, vitrified scoria, and even shells, bits of glass, and mother-of-pearl! When Mr. Rich saw all these, he inquired of the Turk, that acted as guide, how he imagined the glass and mother-of-pearl came there?—"They were brought here by the deluge," answered the Turk.
In describing this mound, Major Keppell says, that he found it full of large holes. "We entered one of them, and found them strewed with the carcases and skeletons of animals recently killed. The ordure of wild beasts was so strong, that prudence got the better of curiosity; for we had no doubt as to the savage nature of the inhabitants. Our guides, indeed, told us, that all the ruins abounded in lions and other wild beasts." Mr. Rich found, also, quantities of porcupine quills; and most of the cavities, he says, are peopled with bats and owls.
The pile on the Mujelibé is called Haroot and Maroot, by the Arabs; and they believe that, nearthe foot of the pyramid, there still exists, though invisible to mankind, a well, in which those two wicked angels were condemned by the Almighty to be suspended by the heels until the end of the world, as a punishment for their vanity and presumption.[130]
In another part of the ruins were found a brass pike and some earthen vessels (one of which was very thin, and had the remains of fine white varnish on the outside);—also a beam of date-tree wood. Continuing the work downwards, the men arrived at a passage, in which they discovered a wooden coffin; opening which they found a skeleton, perfect in all its parts. Under the head was placed a round pebble, and a brass ornament was attached to the skeleton. On the outside, another brass ornament was found, representing a bird: and a little farther on, they discovered the skeleton of a child. No skulls were found, either here or in the sepulchral urns that were at the bank of the river.
Mr. Rich, also, found a number of urns, in the bulwark on the banks of the river. These contained ashes, and bones in small fragments. Comparing these remains with the skeletons found in the Mujelibé, he judiciously remarks, that the two modes of sepulture decidedly prove what people they were who were so interred. "There is, I believe," he adds, "no reason to suppose that the Babylonians burnt their dead: the old Persians, we know, never did." It was the common usage with the Greeks. "From this he infers," says Porter, "that the skeletons in the Mujelibé were the remains of the ancient people of Babylon; and the urns in the embankment contained the ashes of Alexander's soldiers."
From the south-east angle of the Mujelibé, a mound extends in a circular direction, and joins the Amran at its south-east angle, the diameter of the sweep being two miles and a half. This is supposed to have been the fortified enclosure that is described by Herodotus as encircling the palace.
To the north of the Mujelibé there are no ruins of any importance. A few low mounds, however, are observed, occurring at intervals, on each side of the road from Hillah to Bagdad; but they are of an insignificant character, and, from their situation, they are supposed to have been burying-places outside the city, rather than buildings within its walls.
The Mujelibé is supposed to have been a Babylonian mausoleum, rather than a temple of worship. In respect to the other ruins, it is probable that the Kasr and adjacent mounds are the remains of the royal palace, with its hanging gardens, enclosed with the circular mound, which formed the outer wall of the palace mentioned by Herodotus, and described more in detail by Diodorus.
Two or three miles upwards from the river, are the remains of what have, hitherto, been considered remains of canals. A recent traveller[131], however, seems inclined to believe, that they are the remains of streets. His reasoning is probable. Canals would go all one way; but most of these cross each other at right angles, with immense spaces of open and level ground on each side of them.
We are now to note something in regard to what appears on the west side of the Euphrates. "The loose and inaccurate accounts of some modern travellers," says Mr. Rich, "have misled D'Anville and Rennell into the belief of there being considerable ruins on the western side of the river, similar to those on the eastern." This, however, does not appear tobe the case; that is, near to the river. But although there are none in the immediate neighbourhood, by far the most stupendous and surprising mass of all the ruins of Babylon is situated on this side, about six miles from Hillah. This is the tower of Babel, otherwise the temple of Belus. It is called by the Arabs,Birs Nemroud; by the Jews Nebuchadnezzar's Prison. The shape of this vast ruin is oblong, having the appearance of a fallen or decayed pyramid. It is two thousand two hundred and eighty-six feet in compass at the base; and, on the west side, it rises conically to the height of one hundred and ninety-eight feet. "I visited the Birs," says Mr. Rich, "under circumstances peculiarly favourable to grandeur of effect. The morning was at first stormy, and threatened a severe fall of rain; but, as we approached the object of our journey, the heavy clouds separating, discovered the Birs frowning over the plain, and presenting the appearance of a circular hill, crowned by a tower, with a high ridge extending along the foot of it. It being entirely concealed from our view, during the first part of our ride, prevented our acquiring the gradual idea, in general so prejudicial to effect, and so particularly lamented by those who visit the pyramids. Just as we were within the proper distance, it burst at once upon our sight, in the midst of rolling masses of thick black clouds, partially obscured by that kind of haze whose indistinctness is one great cause of sublimity; whilst a few strong catches of stormy light, thrown upon the desert in the back ground, served to give some idea of the immense extent, and dreary solitude, of the wastes in which this remarkable ruin stands."
Two stages of building are visible on the eastern side. The lowest is sixty feet high, and is broken in the middle by a deep ravine, and intersected on all sides by channels, made by the winter rains. Thesummit of this first stage was once flat; but it is no longer so; its margin having crumbled down so as to give this side the appearance of a cone. The second stage rises above the first, also, in a conical form, but much more steep; the summit being marked by a perpendicular fragment of brick work; which is probably the base of the third stage.
On the west side, the structure rises at once from the plain like a pyramid; the face being broken in different directions, partly by the torrents, and partly by what seems to have been some convulsion of nature. At the foot of the northern side, vast masses of solid brick-work are scattered over the rubbish. The building is seen to most advantage to the south; for on that side it is by far the most perfect. The tower there rises by high and distinct stages (four), receding one within another, in proportion to their respective elevations. "Here is a ruin," says an elegant writer, "corresponding, in a most surprising degree, with the tower of Belus, as described by Herodotus. The total circumference of the base is two thousand two hundred and eighty-six feet instead of one thousand nine hundred and sixty, the square of a stadium. The east and west sides remain of the original breadth nearly, and a greater portion of rubbish from the top crumbled down upon their sides, the north and south are thereby elongated; the present height of the ruin, to the top of the wall, is two hundred and thirty-five feet—less than one-half of the original height—consequently thedébrisround the base might be expected to be much more considerable, so as to make the circumference of the base greater than it appears to be. But it must be remembered, that Alexander the Great, when he took possession of Babylon, after the defeat of Darius, employed ten thousand men for two months in removing the rubbish, preparatory to removing the tower[132]. It is probable they had only cleared the south side, before the work was abandoned; which would account for the south face being more perfect than any of the others. If we add to this, that vast quantities of the bricks have been taken away by the natives of the country, for building modern towns, the circumstance that the base so little exceeds the dimensions, given by Herodotus, will no longer appear unaccountable."
On Sir Robert Ker Porter's second visit to the Birs Nimrod, his party descried several dark objects moving along the summit of its hill, which they construed into dismounted Arabs on the look out, while their armed brethren were lying concealed under the southern brow of the mound. "Thinking this very probable," says Sir Robert, "I took out my glass to examine, and soon distinguished that the causes of our alarm were two or three majestic lions, taking the air upon the height of the pyramid. Perhaps I had never seen so sublime a picture to the mind, as well as to the eye. They were a species of enemy which my party were accustomed to dread without any panic fear; and while we continued to advance, though slowly, the hallooing of the people made the noble beasts gradually change their position, till, in the course of twenty minutes, they totally disappeared." The party then rode close to the ruins, every now and then observing the broad prints of feet the lions had left in the soil. This naturally brought to Sir Robert's recollection that part of the scriptures, wherein it is said, "Wild beasts of the desert shall be there."
At a short distance from the Birs, and parallel with its eastern face, is a mound, not inferior to thatof the Kasr in elevation, but much longer than it is broad. "On the top of it are two oratories," says Mr. Rich. "One, called Mekam Ibrahim Khalib, and said to be the place where Ibrahim was thrown into the fire by order of Nemroud, who surveyed the scene from the Birs; the other, which is in ruins, Makam Saheb Zeman; but to what part of Mehdy's life it relates, I am ignorant."
"They call it," says Sir R. Ker Porter, "'Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency. The lady of kingdoms, given to pleasure, that dwelleth carelessly, and sayeth in her heart,I am,and there is none else beside me!' But now, in the same expressive language, we may say, 'She sits as a widow on the ground. There is no more a throne for thee, O daughter of the Chaldeans!' And for the abundance of the country, it has vanished as clean away as if 'the besom of desolation' had, indeed, swept it from north to south; the whole land, from the outskirts of Bagdad to the farthest stretch of the sight, lying a melancholy corpse."
Round the Birs are traces of ruins to a considerable extent; and near the town of Hillah there are several remarkable places; but as they do not bear any very particular relation to Babylon, we here close our account, entirely agreeing with Mr. Rich, that it is evident, from what remains of that celebrated city, and even from the most favourable account handed down to us, that the public edifices which adorned it were remarkable more for vastness of dimensions than elegance of design, and solidity of fabric than beauty of execution.
Though Babylon has universally been considered as the largest city that ever existed on the earth, there are some and even very good reasons to believe, that it was never so large as Nineveh. "It wasintended, indeed," says one of the historians, "that Babylon should have exceeded Nineveh in every thing; but Nebuchadnezzar did not live long enough, nor the Babylonish empire last long enough, to finish the scheme that had been drawn of it." The houses were not contiguous, but all built with a void space on each side between house and house, so that the larger part was not built upon. The houses of Nineveh, however, were contiguous. Nineveh, also, had a greater population; for, in the time of Jonah, it had one hundred and twenty thousand souls, "who could nor did not know their right hand from their left." That is, one hundred and twenty thousand infants[133]. But though Nineveh was the oldest city and the largest, Babylon has in all subsequent ages enjoyed the greatest celebrity[134].
BalbecBALBEC.
Those ruined shrines and towers, that seemThe relics of a splendid dream;Amid whose fairy lovelinessNought but the lapwing's cry is heard;Nought seen but (when the shadows, flittingFast from the moon, unsheath its gleam)Some purple-wingedSultana[135]sittingUpon a column motionless,And glittering like an idol bird.* * * * *But nought can charm the luckless Peri;Her soul is sad—her wings are weary—Joyless she sees the sun go downOn that great temple, once her own[136];Whose lonely columns stand sublime,Flinging their shadows from on high,Like dials, which the wizard, Time,Had raised to count his ages by.
These lines lead us to some beautiful observations by Sir John Malcolm:—
"Among the traces of a great nation's former glory," says he, "there is none upon which the mind dwells with more serious thought than on the magnificent ruins of its ancient palaces. How forcibly are we reminded of our condition, when told that an edifice, in the erection of which a kingdom's wealth had been exhausted; which was adorned with everyornament that the art of the world could supply, and whose history was engraven on the imperishable rocks with which it was constructed, was not only fallen into decay, but that its founder was unknown, and the language in which its history was inscribed was no longer numbered among the tongues of man!" These observations are peculiarly applicable to the present state of Balbec.
This city stood in the road between Tyre and Palmyra; its history is, nevertheless, so lost in obscurity, that, considering the splendour and magnificence of its remains, we are astonished! Scarcely any thing of its history is known; and even its existence appears to have been unknown for many centuries to the Romans.
Tradition states that it was built by Solomon; and for the truth of this the Jews quote the following passage from the Book of Chronicles[137]:—"Also he (Solomon) built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fencied cities, with walls, gates, and bars; andBaal-ath."
For the greater confirmation, it is thought that Balbec is meant when Solomon says—"the tower of Lebanon, that looketh towards Damascus." The Arabs go even so far as to assert, that this city was built by the king as a residence for the Queen of Sheba; and Sir William Ouseley quotes a passage, wherein it is mentioned that a tradition in Persian implies, that Solomon often passed his day at Balbec, and his night at Istakr.
The names Heliopolis and Balbec are words of different languages, which have nearly the same signification. The sun was worshipped by the ancient inhabitants of the country, under the name of Baal. Balbec signifies the vale of Baal; and Heliopolis the city of the sun.
That Balbec derived, not only its religion, but its very name, from Heliopolis in Egypt, is rendered certain by a passage in Macrobius:—"In the city called Heliopolis, the Assyrians worship the sun with great pomp, under the name of the Heliopolitan Jove; and the statue of this god was brought from a city in Egypt, also called Heliopolis, where Senumens or Senepos reigned over the Egyptians, by Opios, ambassador from Delebor, king of the Assyrians, together with some Egyptian priests, of whom Partemetis was the chief, and it remained long among the Assyrians before it was removed to Heliopolis."
The same author adds, "that he declines giving the reason for this fact, or telling how the statue was afterwards brought to the place, where in his time it was worshipped, more according to the Assyrian than the Egyptian rites, as circumstances foreign to his purpose."
As Balbec has never been the seat of a monarch, antiquaries are greatly at a loss to conceive how the expense of these magnificent structures could have been supplied by private or municipal liberality. The orientals, however, explain the prodigy by a never-failing expedient,—they were constructed by the fairies or genii!
That these temples did not exist when Pompey went through Heliopolis to Damascus is probable, because the writers of that time, who mention less remarkable structures with admiration, take no notice of any such building; and it is certain that they did exist in the time of Caracalla; because Heliopolis is to be seen on many of his coins; and vows in favour of him and his empress are recorded in two inscriptions, the remains of which are still to be seen on the pedestals of the columns of the great portico of the temple.
That Heliopolis was constituted a colony by Augustus Cæsar, is rendered probable, by some medals which still remain, and in which it is called, "Colonia Julia Augusta;" but it was not till the time of Septimius Severus that the temple was impressed on the reverse of the coins.
When we consider the extraordinary magnificence of the temple of Balbec, we cannot but be greatly surprised at the silence of the Greek and Roman authors in respect to it. Mr. Wood, who has carefully examined all the ancient authors, has found no mention of it, except in a fragment of John of Antioch, surnamed Malala, who attributes the building of it to Antoninus Pius. His words are:— "Ælius Antoninus Pius[138]built a great temple at Heliopolis, near Libanus, in Phœnicia, which was one of the wonders of the world." Some Roman medals also have been found, upon the reverse of which is a representation something similar to those temples, with the inscription:—Colonia Heliopolitana Jovi Optimo Maximo Heliopolitano.
One circumstance, however, militates against the idea that Antoninus Pius was the builder of these temples; viz., that Julius Capitolinus says nothing about them, though he gives a list of that emperor's buildings, and speaks of others of much less consideration. It must, however, be remembered, that the work of Julius Capitolinus is known to be so extremely defective, that though Antoninus reigned one-and-twenty years, and transmitted to posterity the character of one of the best princes that ever ruled, yet the particulars, that merited such extraordinary praise, are utterly unknown.
Gibbon thus remarks upon the different fortunes of Balbec and Emesa:—"Among the cities which are enumerated by Greek and oriental names in thegeography and conquest of Syria, we may distinguishEmesaandHeliopolis; the former as a metropolis of the plain; the latter as the metropolis of the valley. Under the last of the Cæsars they were strong and populous; the turrets glittered from afar; an ample space was covered with public and private buildings; and the citizens were illustrious by their spirit, or at least by their pride; by their riches, or at least by their luxury. In the days of paganism, both Emesa and Heliopolis were addicted to the worship of Baal, or the sun: but the decline of their superstition or splendour has been marked by a singular variety of fortune. Not a vestige remains of the temple of Emesa, which was equalled in poetic style to the summits of Mount Libanus; while the ruins of Balbec, invisible to the writers of antiquity, excite the curiosity and wonder of European travellers."
In the reign of Heraclius its garrison was strengthened, that it might be enabled to withstand the Arabs; and when Christianity gained the ascendancy under Constantine, he shut up many pagan temples; but it was Theodosius, who converted its temple into a Christian church, the walls of which are still standing. The conversion of it into a fortress was the work of the Caliphs, when this part of the world fell under the government of the Caliphs, called the Ommiades; an incurious and therefore an ignorant race, during whose time nothing is recorded of Balbec, although it was then a considerable city. The ancient name, Balbec, during this time was restored, instead of Heliopolis, which was probably a translation of Balbec, or at least substituted for it, when it passed out of the possession of its own native oriental inhabitants.
In Ebn Haukal's[139]oriental geography, Balbec ismentioned thus:—"Beyond the borders of Demeshk is Baalbek, situated on an eminence. Here are the gates of palaces, sculptured in marble; and lofty columns, also of marble. In the whole region of Syria there is not a more stupendous or considerable edifice than this[140]."
The approach to this ruined city is thus described by Mr. Bruce:—"The form of Mount Libanus, as seen from the plain of Bekka, is this: first, a range of mountains, extremely proper for culture, and of no considerable height, sloping easily to the plain, and covered with trees that are not very thickly planted. On the other side of these rises a chain of mountains of an extraordinary height, bare for the most part, and stony, cut in every rain, and covered with snow, except in summer. Thus they continue till they descend much more steeply on the other side towards the sea. The valleys within this high chain of mountains, which on one side run parallel with the sea-coast, and on the other form the east side of the plain of Bekka, are mostly narrow; but abundantly fertile, were they in the hands of better people, under a better government; industry being here always followed by oppression."
Mr. Carne describes his arrival thus:—"The sun set on the vast temple, and the mountains around it, with indescribable grandeur; the chain of Anti-Libanus, in front, was covered with snow; and the plain, wild and beautiful, stretched at its feet farther than the eye can reach: the pigeons, of many-coloured plumage, flew in clusters round the ruined walls, at whose feet were a variety of trees and flowers, amidst which ran a clear and rapid stream."
We now pass to Mons. La Martine:—"On reaching the summit of the breach, we knew not where tofix our eyes. On every side we beheld marble doors of prodigious dimensions, windows and niches, bordered with exquisite sculpture, richly ornamented arches, fragments of cornices, entablatures, and capitals. The master-work of art; the wrecks of ages, lay scattered as thickly as the grains of dust beneath our feet. All was mystery, confusion, inexplicable wonder. No sooner had we cast an admiring glance on one side, than some new prodigy attracted us on the others. Every attempt, we made to interpret the religious meaning of the monuments, was immediately defeated by some newly-discerned object. We frequently groped about in this labyrinth of conjecture. One cannot restrict, in one's fancy, the sacred edifices of an age, or a people of whose religion or manners nothing certain can be known. Time carries his secrets away with him, and leaves his enigmas as sports for human knowledge. We speedily renounced all our attempts to build any system out of these ruins; we were content to gaze and admire, without comprehending any thing beyond the colossal power of human genius; and the strength of religious feeling, which had moved such masses of stone, and wrought so many master-pieces."
The ruins of Balbec do not present a crowd of fallen edifices, spread over a large extent, like those of Palmyra; they consist only of three distinct buildings, which stand not far from each other, in a plain at a short distance from the inhabited part of the town. As in the instance of Palmyra, where we shall have to make a similar remark, it is impossible to convey an adequate idea of these works of art, without the accompaniments of plates[141]. We adopt, therefore, an abstract of the account of M. Volney,since his description is, perhaps, the best that we have:—"In entering the principal gate, which faces the mountain on the east, we come to an hexagonal court, which is one hundred and eighty feet in diameter. This is strewed with broken columns, mutilated capitals, and the remains of entablatures and cornices. Around it is a row of ruined edifices, which display all the ornaments of the richest architecture. On passing through this court towards the west, we enter a large square, three hundred and fifty feet wide, and three hundred and thirty-three in length. Along each side of this court runs a sort of gallery, divided into various compartments, seven of which may be reckoned in each of the principal wings. It is not easy to conceive the use of this part of the structure; but it does not diminish our admiration at the beauty of the pilasters, and the richness of the frieze and entablature; neither is it possible to avoid remarking the singular effect which results from the mixture of the garlands, the large foliage of the capitals, and the sculpture of wild plants, with which they are every where ornamented. At the west end of this court stand six enormous columns, which appear to be totally unconnected with the rest of the building. On a more attentive examination, however, we discover a series of foundations, which seem to mark out the peristyle of a grand temple, to which these columns belonged. Pococke supposes this temple never to have been finished. We must examine them narrowly before we can conceive all the boldness of the elevation, and the richness of their workmanship. Their shafts are twenty-one feet eight inches in circumference, and fifty-eight high; so that the total height, including the entablature, is from seventy-one to seventy-two feet. These six pillars are all that now remain of twenty-four[142].
The southern side of the grand temple has, at some distant period, been blocked up to build a smaller one, the peristyle and walls of which are still remaining. This temple presents a side of thirteen columns by eight in front, which, like all the rest of the ruins, are of the Corinthian order[143]. To reach the smaller temple from the larger one, you must cross trunks of columns, heaps of stone, and a ruinous wall. After surmounting these obstacles, you arrive at the gate, where you may survey the enclosure, which was once the habitation of a god; but instead of the awful scene of a prostrate people, and sacrifices offered by a multitude of priests, the sky, which is open from the falling in of the roof, only lets in lightto show a chaos of ruins covered with dust and weeds. The walls, which supported the roof, are thirty-one feet high, and without a window. There are tablets in the form of lozenges, on which are represented Jupiter seated on his eagle, Leda caressed by the swan, Diana with her bow and crescent, and several busts which seem to be figures of emperors and empresses.
The number of lizards to be seen is so great, that Mr. Bruce says, that those he saw one day in the great court of the temple of the sun amounted to many thousands; the ground, the walls, and stones of the ruined buildings being covered with them. Besides these two, there is a smaller temple of very great beauty. The building itself, exclusive of the pillars, by which it is surrounded, is only thirty-two feet in diameter; and the height is divided into two parts, in the lower of which the architecture is Ionic, and in the higher Corinthian. The grace and lightness of the exterior of this edifice has induced several competent critics to call it "a perfect gem of art."
In respect to the six columns, "In order to reach them," says M. de La Martine, "we had to pass external boundary walls, high pedestals, terraces, and foundations of altars. At length we arrived at the feet of the columns. Silence is the only language of man, when what he feels outstrips the ordinary measure of his impressions. We stood in mute contemplation of these six columns, and scanning with our eyes their diameter, their elevation, and the admirable sculpture of their architraves and cornices. Their diameter is six feet, and their height upwards of seventy-two. They are formed out of two or three blocks, which are so perfectly joined together, that the junction lines are scarcely discernible[144]. They are composed of light yellowstone, presenting a sort of medium between the polish of marble and the deadness of turf. When near them, the sun lighted them only on one side, and we sat down for a few moments in their shade. Large birds, like eagles, scared by the sound of our footsteps, fluttered above the capitals of the columns, where they have built their nests; and returning, perched upon the acanthus of the columns, striking them with their beaks, and flapping their wings like living ornaments, amidst these inanimate wonders, all of which appear to resemble works of dwarfs."
Branching off to the southward of theavenue, you come to the stumps of some fluted columns sticking above the sand on either side of a small simple gateway; and a few paces to the westward, on an eminence, are the ruins of the small temple just now mentioned; and from thence is enjoyed the magnificentcoup-d'œilof all the ruins and the vast desert.
Beyond the circular colonnade lie the prostrate remains of a very magnificent building, constructed of a species of marble superior to the generality of that used in these ruins. The walls are constructed of large single stones, nicely fitted one above another. Richly ornamented windows extend around the walls, and some columns of one entire piece, twenty-two feet in length and about nine in circumference, lie prostrate on the ground.
"About fifty yards distant from the temple," says Mr. Maundrell, "is a row of Corinthian pillars, very great and lofty, with a most stately architrave and cornice at the top. This speaks itself to have been part of some very august pile; but what one now sees of it is but just enough to give a regret, thatthere should be no more remaining. Here is another curiosity of this place, which a man need be well assured of his credit, before he ventures to relate, lest he should be thought to strain the privilege of a traveller too far. That which I mean is a large piece of an old wall, which encompasses all these structures last described. A wall made of such monstrous great stones, that the natives hereabouts, (as it is usual in things of this strange nature,) ascribe it to the architecture of the devil. Three of the stones, which were larger than the rest, we took the pains to measure. We found them to extend sixty-one yards in length; one twenty-one; the other two each twenty yards; and in the breadth of the same dimensions. These three stones lay in one and the same row to the end; the rest of the wall was made also of great stones, but none I think so great as these. That which added to the wonder was, that these stones were lifted up into the wall more than twenty feet from the ground."
Besides these ruins, there are several very large subterraneous passages, which lead under the great citadel, immense vaults of very massive architecture, constructed in a very beautiful manner. Some of these, no doubt, were tombs; and this leads us to remember, that Mr. Browne says[145], that when he was at Zahhlé, he met with a young man, a Druse, who told him, that near Balbec, a few years ago, in digging, the body of a man was found interred in a kind of vault, having a piece of unstamped gold in his mouth; near him a number of leaden plates marked with characters, to them unknown. These were sold and melted. La Martine says, that not far from Balbec, in a valley of the Anti-Libanus, human bones of immense magnitude have been discovered; and that this fact is so confidently believed among theneighbouring Arabs, that the English consul in Syria (Mr. Farren), a man of extensive information, proposes to visit those mysterious sepulchres.
The walls of the ancient Heliopolis are traceable in many directions, and show that the city must have been of a very considerable extent. "These walls," says Mr. Wood, "like most of the ancient cities of Asia, appear to be the confused patch-work of different ages. The pieces of capitals, broken entablatures, and, in some places, reversed Greek inscriptions, which we observed in walking round them, convinced us that their last repairs were made after the decline of taste, with materials, negligently collected as they lay nearest to hand, and hastily put together for immediate defence."
The stone of which the temple is built was brought from the neighbouring quarry, at the bottom of which there is a single stone lying seventy feet in length, fourteen in breadth, and fourteen feet six inches in thickness. Its weight, according to these dimensions, must be above 1130 tons! It would require, we are told, the united strength of sixty thousand men of our time to raise this single stone!
The stones used at Balbec are the largest that have ever been moved by human power. The largest in the pyramids of Egypt do not exceed eighteen feet. But here, of those that compose the sloping wall, which surrounds the temple on the west and north, three occupy a space of one hundred and seventy-five feet and a half; viz., the 1st, fifty-eight feet seven inches; the 2nd, fifty-eight feet eleven inches; and the 3rd, exactly fifty-eight feet long; and each of these is twelve feet thick.
"When it is considered," says La Martine, "that some of these blocks of hewn granite are raised one above another to the height of twenty or thirty feet from the ground;—that they have been brought fromdistant quarries, and raised to so vast a height to form the pavement of the temple;—the mind is overwhelmed by such an example of human power. The science of modern times cannot help us to explain it, and we cannot be surprised, therefore, that it is referred to the supernatural."
"The shades of evening," continues this accomplished traveller, "which slowly descended the mountains of Balbec, and obscured, one by one, the columns and the ruins, imparted an additional air of mystery to the picturesque and magical effect of these wonderful works of man and time. We felt the full insignificance of human nature; and while contemplating the mass and eternity of these monuments, we compared man to the swallows, which build their nests for a season in the interstices of these stones, without knowing for whom, or by whom, or for what purpose, they were collected together. The power which moved these masses, and accumulated these blocks, is unknown to us. The dust of the marble, which we trod under our feet, knows more than we do, but can tell us nothing; and in a few centuries to come, the generations who may, in their turn, visit the wrecks of our monuments now existing, will ask, without being able to answer, why we laboured without being able to build and carve. The works of man are more durable than his thoughts; movement is the law of the human mind; the definite is the dream of man's vanity and ignorance; God is an object which incessantly recedes from us, as we endeavour to approach him. We are continually advancing, but we never arrive. The Deity, whose divine figure man seems to embody in his imagination, and to enshrine in his temples, continually enlarges, and exceeds the narrow boundaries of our minds, and our edifices; leaves the temples and the altars to crumble into dust; and summons manto seek him where he is most plainly manifested, viz., in intelligence, in virtue, in nature, and in eternity."
We now give place to observations, made by travellers on the relative merits of the architecture, employed in these magnificent edifices. "When we compare the ruins of Balbec," says Mr. Wood, "with those of many ancient cities, which we visited in Italy, Greece, and Egypt, and in other parts of Asia, we cannot help thinking them the remains of the boldest plan we ever saw attempted in architecture."
"The enormity of the scale," says Mr. Buckingham, "and the magnificence of design, seen throughout the whole of the architecture, with the boldness of the drawing, and the exquisite finish of the sculpture, impressed me with an idea of a labour more than human. I should conceive that in no country was to be found so superb a monument of the inimitable perfection of ancient architecture. The temples and the tombs of Egypt were here equalled in the enormity of the masses, that composed them; and the chamber of the Pyramids rivalled in the closeness of the masonry; while the monuments of Athens itself, in the age of Pericles and Praxiteles, were at least equalled in the richness and beauty of the sculptured ornaments, that adorned them. It appeared to me, that the temples of Edfou, Tentyris, and Thebes, fell far short of this, as a whole; for here the ponderous strength of the Egyptian, and the chastened elegance of the Grecian school, are both most happily combined."
Mr. Addison appears to have entertained a different opinion:—"Those ruins," says he, "though so striking and magnificent, are yet, however, quite second rate, when compared with the Athenian ruins; and display, in their decorations, none of the bold conceptions and the genius which characterise the Athenian architecture. There is a peculiar sameness in the decorations of the figures, entablatures, and cornices. The ornaments are all alike, and the festoons of grapes, and vine-leaves hung on goats' and horses' heads, the pendent bunches of grapes and Cupids, however rich in appearance, and beautifully chiselled, can never excite such feelings, as one small portion of the Panathenian frieze of the Parthenon, or one of the Metopes, representing a battle between a Centaur and a Lapithæ. There is a genius in these latter, a combination of talent, a soul, fire, and spirit, which are looked for in vain in the Balbec remains. The great Panathenian frieze of the Parthenon, which extended all around that temple, with its hundreds of horses and warriors, its spirited grouping, and faithful delineation of forms and attitudes; and above it the wars of the Centaurs and Lapithæ, possessed a most exciting interest. The vine-branches and wheat ears of the temple of Balbec, although unquestionably very beautiful, yet appear tame in comparison; and cannot certainly be put in competition with these master-pieces of architectural decoration."
"Several artists have observed," says Mr. Wood, "a similitude between some European buildings, and some parts of the ruins of Palmyra and Balbec; from which they have, perhaps, too hastily concluded, that the former were copied from the latter. The portico of the Louvre at Paris has been compared in this light to the ruins of Palmyra; as also with the portico at Balbec; but we cannot discover any foundation for inferences so injurious to the memory of the architect, who built that noble structure, which is as justly admired as it is unaccountably neglected."
We now return to the page of M. de La Martine:—"Round this platform is ranged a series of chapels,decorated with niches, admirably sculptured, friezes, cornices, and vaulted arches; all displaying the most finished workmanship, but evidently belonging to a degenerate period of art. But this impression can only be felt by those whose eyes have been previously exercised by the contemplation of the pure monuments of Athens and Rome. Every other eye would be fascinated by the splendour of the forms and the finish of the ornaments. The only fault is too much richness; the stone groans beneath the weight of its own luxuriance, and the walls are overspread with a lace-work of marble."
The town is, at present, so ruined, that there are not counted more than fifty habitable dwellings in it; though the whole number within the walls may be estimated at five hundred.
The state of the city is deplorable. The emirs of the house of Harfoushe had already greatly impaired it, when an earthquake, in 1759, completed its destruction; insomuch, that though in 1751 there were five thousand inhabitants, not twelve hundred are remaining; and all these poor, without industry or commerce, we are told, and cultivating nothing but a little cotton, some maize, and a few watermelons.
Even the ruins are altering every day. Dawkins and Wood found nine large columns standing; but Volney, in 1784, found only six. They reckoned twenty-nine at the lesser temple; but now there are only twenty. There were, originally, thirty-four,—eight in front, and thirteen along each of the sides. The others were overthrown by an earthquake. Nature alone, however, has not effected this devastation. The Turks have had their share in the destruction of the columns; the motive for which was merely that of procuring the iron cramps, which served to join the several blocks of which eachcolumn is composed. Famine, the pestilence, and the sword, gradually thinned the inhabitants. The population of five thousand, which the town contained in 1751, has now dwindled down to barely two hundred persons: nor does each house continue to possess, as it did in the time of Maundrell, "ten or fifteen cows, besides goats and sheep, the goats being of an uncommon species, worth from 30l.to 35l.a piece!" The description left by Maundrell was faithful at the time he visited those ruins; but since that period several important parts have been destroyed, and even the place of the temple at the end of the great court, which was probably the principal edifice of the whole, cannot at this day be made out[146].
The hands of the natives have, no doubt, committed many ravages. Faccardine, prince of the Druses, destroyed or injured several parts of these ruins; but when he afterwards visited Italy, and contracted a taste for its architecture, he is said to have bitterly lamented the sacrilege he had committed at Balbec[147]. "It is in fact man, not nature," says an elegant writer, "that has wrought this change. No blight has seared the soil, or poisoned the air, but a degrading despotism has as effectually dried up the sources of social prosperity, as if some elementary convulsion had suddenly turned the clime of beauty cold and dark, and struck the teeming earth with hopeless barrenness. Indeed, Turkish oppression has done what no unkindness of nature could have effected. The splendours of Palmyra rose, under the breath of a free commerce, in the midst of a sandy desert; but nothing has been able to preserve that and many other great cities from crumbling into heaps of ruins, at the death-touch of the gloomy tyranny, that now hangs like a pall over the land."
We must now give place to what Mons. de La Martine says, in regard to the Bishop of Balbec:—"We proceeded very little farther that day. The road diverged from these ruins, and led us to others. We passed over some vaults, and arrived at a small house. This was the palace of the Bishop of Balbec, who, clothed in his violet-coloured pelisse, and attended by some Arab peasants, advanced to meet us, and conducted us to his humble door. The poorest peasant's cottage in Burgundy, or Auvergne, possesses greater luxury and elegance than the palace of the Bishop of Balbec. It was an ill-built hut, without either window or door, and through the decayed roof the rain worked its way, and dropped on the mud floor. This was the bishop's dwelling! But at the further end of the yard, which adjoined the house, a neat wall, newly built of blocks of stone, and a door and window in ogives of Moorish architecture, each ogive being constructed of finely-sculptured stones, attracted my attention. This was the church of Balbec, the cathedral of that town, in which other gods have had splendid temples; the chapel in which the few Arab Christians, who live here amidst the wrecks of so many different faiths, worship, under a purer form, the universal Creator."
The bishop was a fine old man with hair and beard of silver, a grave and benevolent cast of features, and a sweet and well-modulated voice. He was the perfect image of a priest of poetry or romance, says the traveller; and his aspect, which denoted peace, resignation, and charity, was well suited to the scene of ruins and meditation in which he lived.
The traveller afterwards describes a delightful scene. He and his friends were sitting by moonlight near the bishop's hut. "We were silent. Suddenly a soft plaintive strain, a slow modulated murmur stole through the grotesque ogives of theruined wall of the bishop's house. This vague and confused sound swelled higher and higher, until we distinguished it to be a chant from the united voices of choristers; a monotonous, melancholy strain, which rose, fell, and died away, and was alternately revived and re-echoed. This was the evening prayer, which the Arab bishop was chanting with his little flock, in the skeleton of that which once had been his church; viz., a heap of ruins piled up by a heap of idolaters. We were totally unprepared for music of this sort, where every note was, in fact, a sentiment or a sign from the human breast. How little did we expect it in this solitude, in the bosom of the desert, issuing, as it were, from mute stones, strewed about by the combined influence of earthquakes, barbarous ignorance, and time! A hallowed emotion inspired us, and we joined with religious fervour in the sacred hymn, until the last sighs of the pious voices had died away, and silence again reigned over the venerable ruins."
We conclude with the words which Seller in his history of Palmyra adopts from Cicero: "Whenever we see such remains of venerable antiquity, such lasting records of the names and achievements of great persons, we are admonished to take care so to regulate our actions, that we may convince the world we have settled our prospect upon the rewards of future ages, and not on the flatteries of the present; and so remember, that monuments being erected to the memory of those who have lived well in this world before they left it, put us in mind, that there is nothing here permanent and immutable; and that it is the duty of considering man to aspire towards immortality[148]."
"On which side soever," says an elegant traveller, "you approach Constantinople, whether ascending by the Dardanelles and the sea of Marmora, or descending from the Black Sea by the Bosphorus; whether you arrive by crossing the plain of Thrace, or come in sight from the opposite hills of Asia, she presents herself, indeed, like 'the queen of cities.'"
The history of this city being that of an empire, we shall confine ourselves to a few particulars, and then pass on to give some account of its monumental antiquities. We do this the more readily, since those antiquities are far from being of the first order.
According to Ammianus, Byzantium was founded by the Athenians; according to Justin, by the Lacedæmonians; according to Paterculus, by the Milesians; according to others, by a colony of Megara, under the conduct of Byzas, 658B. C.
Byzantium received a great accession of inhabitants in consequence of a decree passed, in gratitude to the Athenians, for having compelled Philip of Macedon to raise the siege of their city[149].
In subsequent times Constantine the Great (from whom it was called Constantinople), seeing its proud situation, created it into a capital jointly with Rome; from which time the Roman empire was distinguished by the titles Eastern and Western. In this position it stood, till the city was sacked by the Turks under the guidance of Mahomet the Second.
The manner in which the Turks first gained a footing in Europe is thus described in Bucke's Harmonies of Nature:—"Orcan having made himself master of the shore skirting the sea that separated Asia from Europe, his son Solyman resolved, if possible, to gain the castle of Hanni (Sestos), then considered the key of Europe: but the Turks had neither pilot, ships, nor boats. Solyman stood meditating on the beach, one fine moonlight night, for some time. He had come thither with about eighty followers on a hunting expedition. Beholding the towers of Hanni rising over the opposite shore, he resolved to secure them for his father and himself. He communicated his thoughts to his followers. Wondering at his resolution, they regarded him as frantic. He persisted;—and they made three rafts fastened on corks and bladders of oxen. When the party had finished their task, they committed themselves to the waters; and with poles instead of oars, succeeded in gaining the opposite shore: the moon shining brilliantly as they stepped off the rafts, almostimmediately under the walls of Hanni. As they marched along the beach, they met a peasant going to his work, it being now morning. This man hated his prince; and being bribed by a sum of money, he told Solyman of a subterranean passage leading into the castle. The little band availed themselves of this information, and quietly entered the walls. There was no regular garrison, and the few inhabitants were still asleep. They fell an easy prey, therefore, to the adventurers. Having thus gained the first object of their enterprise, they assembled the pilots and vessel-owners of the town; and, offering them considerable sums of money, induced them to steer their vessels to the opposite shore. Some thousand men were then embarked, and in a few hours they were wafted under the castle walls. This was the first landing of the Turks in Europe: they ever after kept possession of this castle: ninety-six years after, they sacked the city of Constantinople."
Mahomet II.[150], surnamed "the Great," was born at Adrianople in the year 1430, and was, in the thirteenth year of his age, called to the throne by the voluntary abdication of his father, Amurath II. On his accession, Mahomet renewed the peace with the Greek emperor Constantine, to whom he, at the same time, agreed to pay a pension for the expenses and safe custody of his uncle Orcan, who had, at a previous period, withdrawn to the court of Constantinople for safety. The carelessness of the sultan in the observance of this clause of the treaty excited the complaints of the emperor, with the imprudent threat that, unless the pension was regularly paid, he would no longer detain Orcan. This threat afforded the sultan a pretext for rekindling the war. Mahomet determined to complete the conquest of the feeble empire by the capture of Constantinople; andto terminate, by one terrible catastrophe, the strife of many ages between the Moslems and the Greeks. Every preliminary measure having been completed, Mahomet at length appeared before Constantinople, on the 2d of April, 1453, at the head of three hundred thousand men; supported by a formidable artillery, and by a fleet of three hundred and twenty sail, mostly store-ships and transports; but including eighteen galleys of war, while the besieged could not muster more than ten thousand effective soldiers for the defence. This vast disparity of force leaves little room for admiring the prowess and military skill of the victorious party. The besieged made, however, so obstinate a defence, under the brave emperor, Constantine Palæologus, that for fifty-three days all the efforts of the assailants were unavailing. The defenders of the city had drawn strong iron chains across the entrance of the port; and Mahomet saw, that unless he could get some of his vessels into the Golden Horn, his success was doubtful, and that, at best, the defence might be greatly protracted. He, therefore, contrived to conduct a part of his fleet, for ten miles, over the land on a sort of railway, from the Bosphorus into the harbour, and caused a floating battery to be constructed and occupied with cannon. This sealed the fate of the imperial city.
On the day of the last assault, Mahomet said to his soldiers:—"I reserve to myself only the city; the gold and women are yours." The emperor (Constantine) accomplished all the duties of a general and a soldier. The nobles, who fought around his person, sustained, till their last breath, the honourable names of Palæologus and Cantacuzene. His mournful exclamation was heard—"Cannot there be found a Christian to cut off my head?" and his last fear was, lest he should fall alive into the hands of his enemies. He threw away his imperial dress, rushed into thethickest of the fight, fell by an unknown hand, and his body was buried under a mountain of the slain: nor was it afterwards recognised.
The houses and convents were deserted; and the trembling inhabitants flocked together in the streets, like a herd of timid animals. From every part of the city they rushed into the church of St. Sophia. In the space of an hour the sanctuary, the choir, the nave, the upper and lower galleries, were filled with the multitude of fathers and husbands, of women and children, of priests, monks, and religious virgins; the doors were barred on the inside, and they sought protection from the sacred dome, which they had so lately abhorred as a profaned and polluted edifice.
The doors were, soon after, broken with axes; and the Turks encountering no resistance, their bloodless hands were employed in selecting and securing the multitude of their prisoners. Youth, beauty, and the appearance of youth, attracted their choice. In the space of an hour, the male captives were bound with cords, the females with their veils and girdles. The senators were linked with their slaves; the prelates with the porters of their church; and young men of a plebeian class with noble maids, whose faces had been invisible to the sun and their nearest kindred.
In this common captivity the ranks of society were confounded; the ties of nature were cut asunder; and the inexorable soldier was careless of the father's groan, the tears of the mother, and the lamentations of the children. The loudest in their wailings were the nuns, who were torn from the altars with naked bosoms, outstretched hands, and dishevelled hair. At a similar hour, a similar rapine was exercised in all the churches and monasteries; in all the palaces and habitations of the capital. The male captives were bound with cords, and the females with theirveils and girdles, and driven, to the number of sixty thousand, from the city to the camp or fleet, where those, who could not obtain the means of purchasing their ransom, were exchanged, or sold, according to the caprice or interest of their masters.
The disorder and rapine lasted till the sultan entered in triumph through the gate of St. Romanus. He was attended by his vizirs, his bashaws, and guards. As he rode along, he gazed with satisfaction and wonder on the strange, though splendid, appearance of the domes and palaces, so dissimilar to the style of oriental architecture. He proceeded to the church of St. Sophia; where, observing a soldier in the act of breaking up the marble pavement, he admonished him with his scymetar, that if the spoil and captives were granted to the soldiers, the public and private buildings had been reserved for the prince.
From St. Sophia he proceeded to the august, but desolate, mansion of a hundred successors of the first Constantine; but which, in a few hours, had been stripped of the pomp of royalty. A melancholy reflection on the vicissitudes of human greatness forced itself upon his mind, and he repeated an elegant distich of Persian poetry:—"The spider has wove his web in the imperial palace; and the owl hath sung her watch-song on the towers of Afrasiel[151]."
"The finest point from which Constantinople can be viewed," says M. de La Martine, "is from a belvidere, built by M. Truqui, on the terrace roof of his house. This belvidere commands the entire group of the hills of Pere-Galata, and the little hillocks which surround the port on the front side of the water. It is the eagle's flight over Constantinople and the sea. Europe, Asia, the entrance of the Bosphorus, and the sea of Marmora, are all underthe eye at once. The city lies at the feet of the spectator. If (continues Mons. de La Martine) we were allowed to take only one point of the earth, this would be the one to choose. Whenever I ascend to the belvidere to enjoy this view (and I do so several times a day, and invariably every evening), I cannot conceive how, of the many travellers who have visited Constantinople, so few have felt the beauty which it presents to my eye and to my mind. Why has no one described it? Is it because words have neither space, horizon, nor colours, and that painting is only the language of the eye? But painting itself has never portrayed all that is here. The pictures, I have seen, are merely detached scenes, consisting of a few lines and colours without life: none convey any idea of the innumerable gradations of tint, varying with every change of the atmosphere, and every passing hour. The harmonious whole, and the colossal grandeur of these lines; the movements and the intertwinings of the different horizons; the moving sails, scattered over the three seas; the murmur of the busy population on the shores; the reports of the cannon on board the vessels, the flags waving from the mast-heads; the floating caiques; the vaporous reflection of domes, mosques, steeples, and minarets in the sea; all this has never been described;"—nor ever can be!
The whole circuit of Constantinople, however, calculated at somewhat more than twelve miles, present, even to diligent research[152], very few remains of antiquity. The truth is, the Turks have availed themselves of the marbles and fragments of the Greeks in the construction of their own public edifices; and the antiquities of Constantinople are re-produced to the eye under entirely different forms and constructions, in the mosques and minarets, the fountains and cemeteries of the Osmandys. Many a beautiful work, ofthe ancient Greek chisel, has thus been embedded in a wall, or cut down and defaced to make a Turkish tombstone; and many an edifice, constructed in accordance with the pure styles of architecture, has been levelled and used as a quarry. But still, it must be confessed that some of the Turkish buildings, and more particularly some of the imperial mosques which have risen in their places, are distinguished by grandeur and beauty. Of these imperial mosques there are fourteen, each lofty, and magnificent in its general dimensions, and built from base to dome with excellent and enduring materials; chiefly of white marble, tinged with grey. Besides these, there are sixty ordinary mosques, varying in size and beauty, but all considerable edifices; and then two hundred and more inferior mosques and messdgids[153].