Note: Currently, it has roughly been over ten days since I returned home to California. Knowing that I could not do justice to the history I was witnessing off hand, I decided to wait and write these last blog entries until I had the proper resources in front of me to reference. I did take copious notes and took thousands of pictures to keep my journey to Istanbul as thoroughly documented as possible. So bear in mind that this has been thought about extensively. It is only now that I have had the time to put this to type.
August 2, 2010
After passing over the threshold of Byzantium (the Theodosian Walls), through what I think was once the Gate of St. Romanus, we were officially in what was once the grandest city in the world: Constantinople. We drove down Adnan Menderes Boulevard and took a left onto Atatürk Boulevard, which took us through one of the magnificent stone arches of Emperor Valens’ still-standing Aqueduct. Not a minute later we passed over the Atatürk Bridge going across the famed Golden Horn. To look to my right and see down the Golden Horn was inspiring. One can see the entrance to the Egyptian Market, the silhouettes of the minarets of the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque, as well as Tower of Galata, and the countless other mosques which were once the most famous churches in all of Christendom (Church of the Holy Apostles, etc.). I could not wait to get my feet in gear and walk this ancient capital, as any given foreigner would have since the days of the Roman Empire.
Perfect. My happiness was radiant.
Now across the bridge, the bus lumbered next to Galata (the quarter that was once designated to be exclusively for the Genoese merchants), and then into Beyoğlu (Pera), a settlement that is literally nestled against the back walls of Galata. This is where the famous Taksim district is that the Nobel Prize winning author, Orhan Pamuk, spent so much of his childhood. This was also where our hotel for the night was.
As apart of the package from the Balkan Heritage dig, they offered a deal for a certain amount of Euros, to see Istanbul over a span of two days. There were only five of us total who opted to participate in this ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity. However, there was no way I would be historically satisfied with my Byzantine love in a matter of just two days. Absolutely no way. So I decided to hang with the other four for the two days, and then stay for the rest of the week to explore the rest of Constantinople myself. I figured that would be a nice amount of time to complete my checklist of Byzantine sites.
Knowing that I would stay for a while also allowed me to relax and bask in the ruins of the stage of my favorite story in all of history. What more could one want? Nothing. That is what I say.
First and foremost, I should mention that once we carried our luggage through the sinuous (and rather damp) alleyways of Pera, we reached our Hotel. It was called, Hotel Not Worth Mentioning, because we were all so tired and ready to pass out that none of us bothered to remember the place. We just went through a long night of unpaved trails and cacophonous tour guides. We just wanted to be somewhere quiet and rest.
If only we were allowed to do so.
Our English-esque speaking tour guide told us that we had a half hour before we had to be back on the bus to site-see Istanbul for the morning. Are you joking? Our eyes were about to fall out of our saggy/exhausted eyelids, and our irritation level was dangerously precarious. The last thing we all wished for… was to be back on that blasted bus being utterly lost in translation.
Well, we did pay for it...
And it would be a good broad overview...
So, putting on our positive caps, we decided not to let the lack of sleep hinder us from enjoying Istanbul. Now, it was time for breakfast – which was not included in the total cost. At this point my traveling partner for the day, Denise Kulp, and I, were in need of something to lend us more energy to get through the morning. We paid the five Euros for breakfast and were told to descend a shady looking flight of stairs that opened up into the basement of the hotel. When we got there we were surprised at what was displayed before us. Platters upon platters of food, both hot and cold; an assortment of juices and freshly baked breads; eggs that were segregated into baskets that were aptly marked ‘cooked 5 minutes’ and ‘cooked 3 minutes’. And then the coffee, oh, the coffee was remarkable. We were in such shock from the liveliness of the smells that we could not find the cups for the coffee. We were kids in a candy store because Bulgaria had scarred our appetites so ruthlessly. We had become accustomed to cucumbers, tomatoes, and mangy fruit. This breakfast was so remarkable; one could have thought that we were in Willy Wonka’s magical land of Turkish breakfast. As odd as that sounds, it was true. It was absolutely the ideal way to begin our first day there.
As 9 o’clock came around we headed back down the alleyways to our bus. The first stop was the Hippodrome. Before I dive into the bit about the Hippodrome, let me just state that this is one of the most amazing areas of old Constantinople. It is an area that composes of the Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque (on the site of the Great Palace and baths), Justinian’s Basilica Cisterns, the Milion, and the Augustaion, which was a plaza dedicated to the Caesars of the empire. If there ever was an epicenter of Byzantium, it was here.
The Milion: The point where all roads in the Byzantine Empire begin
View of the Hagia Sophia from near where the Augustaion was situated
The neat thing about this area is that even though it is relatively built over, extensively, you can still get a good sense of how it must have looked during the days of the Byzantine Empire. For example, the track of what was once the Hippodrome, where the Blue’s and Green’s raced their horses along the circuit for glorious supremacy, is now a paved road that circumvents the middle island that use to display the empire’s most famous of monuments. Judith Herrin paints a nice summary of what it might have looked like: “…[the] Hippodrome became an open-air museum adorned with protecting, symbolic and victorious Greco-Roman images. Statues of Pagan gods (Zeus, Heracles), wild and fantastic animals, and rulers including Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Augustus, and of Rome, in the form of a wolf with Romulus and Remus. Four ancient bronze horses were set up above the starting gates at the entrance to inspire competitors…”
Tuthmosis III Obelisk from the Temple of Karnak, Luxor, Egypt
Unfortunately, all that remains from Byzantium today is the naked brick-obelisk of ‘the Purple Born’ Constantine VII, another ‘real’ obelisk from Karnak, and the stalk of the serpent column, which was dedicated after the Greek victory over the Persian’s at Plataea (497BC) from Delphi. The Venetians took the better-looking portion of that for themselves during the Fourth Crusade. Luckily, that does not matter, because the stories that took place within this area more than make up for the physical loss.
Obelisk from Karnak with Constantine VII's stripped Obelisk in the background
At its greatest moment of ridiculous spectacle, the Hippodrome was the stage for the celebration of Justinian the Great’s Consulship (this is before he became emperor). The world-renown Byzantinist, Lord Norwich, states the he had, “…20 lions, thirty panthers and a number of other wild exotic beasts that were fought and killed. In total 3,700 pounds of gold was spent on decorations, stage machinery, and on the people themselves”. At its lowest moments of ridiculous spectacle, the place witnessed the Nika Riot in 532AD, in which the place became the scene of a massive massacre. During this riot, Justinian nearly lost his diadem (imperial crown) due to his unpopularity with the citizens. However, after being consulted by his wife and empress, Theodora, he decided to have his two top generals take care of the dissonance that had amassed several days prior from the arrest of the leaders of the Blue and Green teams. Lord Norwich states, “…at a given signal, [the men of Belisarius and Mundus] burst in simultaneously on the shouting, screaming mob, taking it completely by surprise. No quarter was given: Greens and Blues were slaughtered without discrimination… Narses, had stationed his men at the principle exits with orders to cut down all who tried to escape… the angry shouts in the great amphitheater had given place to the groans of wounded and dying men; soon those grew quiet, until silence… its sands now sodden with the blood of the victims.”
The ground in which we had trodden that morning was once special and meant a great deal to the Byzantine identity.
It was chilling to think about these things while being within its presence.
A dismal day for a photograph. The Golden Horn has seen better weather
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