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Day 2, Sunday Oct 9, 2005 By Susan Casey scompost@juno.com
‘My Day’ --
write-up of Meli’s tour, In the Footsteps of Paul
ISTANBUL : the Basilica Cistern, the Turkish Islamic Art Museum,
the fabulous Aya.
Sophia, and the Topkapi Palace of the Ottoman empire. Dinner at an old
Ottoman House.
I have to start my story with breakfast. Turkish breakfasts are so different from any other breakfast I’ve ever had though they are similar to other Middle Eastern breakfasts I’m told. Black and green Turkish olives, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, yogurt, selection of white cheeses, sesame breads, sometimes a hard boiled egg, Turkish tea. I loved them. A great start for the day, filling and satisfying without being heavy. And I’m sure the daily yogurt helps ward off stomach upsets. Another batch of yogurt (ayran) at lunch, this time almost like buttermilk, completes the protection
First a description/history of Istanbul and Turkey in general, then the places we visited on Sunday, Day 2.
Istanbul (15 million population) is the most unique city in the world, and the only that straddles two continents -- half in Asia, half in Europe. Its history goes back to 1000 BC. I can think of only one other place where two continents are naturally separated by the narrow stretch of water – the straits of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa and there the distance is greater without a major city on each side. (the Panama Canal and the Suez canal are manmade and date back only a 100 years or so). The Bosporus which separates the two parts of the city is the major connector between Europe and Asia and the Far East. The Black Sea on the east/north touches on the Balkans, the various Russian countries, and-‘-stans’ and Asia to the east. The Bosporus connects to the Aegean and the Mediterranean through the Sea of Marmara. The Venetian trade to the east went through the Bosporus. The Greeks and the Romans looked on Istanbul as a natural extension of their empires. It has been the capital of three empires – Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman.
Over the centuries Istanbul has alternated between being a city state, a kingdom, an empire, back to kingdom and city state. It was a kingdom under the Persians (Darius), Greek/Hellenistic (Alexander the Great), Roman (Julius Caesar), Byzantine, and Ottomans. Because of it strategic location and its ability to collect taxes of boats that passed through the Bosporus each invading power wanted to cash in on this wealth and the wealth of Anatolia in the interior. Rather than fighting against superior forces, the rulers of Istanbul agreed to share the taxes with the dominant power of the time. Constantine left Rome, renamed the city after himself, declared the city the new Rome and for centuries Istanbul (Constantinople) was the capital of the Roman Empire. Istanbul became the center of the universe and it was the point from which all distances were measured. Rome was xxx stadii (a standard unit of measure) from Istanbul, Athens was xxx stadii. We visited this site and realized that Fremont is a Johnny come lately to being the center of the universe. (sorry, this is something only the Seattle area folks will appreciate)
In 390AD the Roman Empire to the west was dropped and it became the Byzantine Empire. Later, in the around 1200 AD the Crusades captured Istanbul – the focus being to destroy the eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine) not simply to wipe out Islam. Around 1100 years after Constantine, the Turkish Ottoman Empire was established in 11453. It lasted until World War I! And at its height covered the area that later became 26 countries stretching from Morocco to Russia.
Meli describes Istanbul as a very old woman who is now trying to look as she once did (e.g. the facades at the Hippodrome for Ramazan). In this metaphor, there are treasures from attics and basements, marbles and pillars from earlier temples have been recycled.
Basilica Cistern.
This cistern was built in 532. Since Istanbul is surrounded by salt water
it was necessary to bring in fresh water from areas away from the city. In
addition to collecting rain water from nearby roofs, aqueducts were built to
bring in water from as far away as 40 miles. The cistern is huge 70 x 140
meters, with 336 columns and could store 80,000 cubic meters of water.
Columns from earlier buildings were recycled into this building, including
two carvings of Medusa – one upside down, the other sideways. No longer was
a source of water for the city, the cistern for a time a place for teenagers
to paddle boats and make out.
"The Medusa was common throughout Anatolia and the eyes were blue to ward off evil. Over the centuries and as monolithic religions became dominant, the Medusa head was no longer acceptable. Everything except the blue eye motif was eliminated t – and this is what has become such a common form in the markets everywhere throughout Turkey."
Turkish and Islamic
Museum. Anatolia. Meli mentioned Anatolia and since she kept referring
to aspects of it throughout the trip I’ll include it here. Anatolia is the
center of Turkey – high plateau. The Black Sea is on the north, the Aegean
and Mediterranean on the west and south, a deep gorge on the east that
separates it from Iran, Armenia, and the rest of Asia. Iraq and Syria
border to the south and east. The Tigris and the Euphrates both have their
headwaters in Turkey. Anatolia has several meanings: 1) ancient Greek
word meaning land where the sun rises, 2) land of hope = rising of the
sun, and 3) Anna –mother + tola = full of, i.e. full of Mother Goddesses
common throughout early Anatolia. Religion is a factor of culture and that
culture has influenced the forms that religion incorporates. An example is
the migration of the full Medusa head to the blue eye sold in the markets to
ward off evil. With monotheism the actual head of the Medusa gargoyle would
not be used, only the eye. Other terms. A Turk has several meanings – 1)
a citizen of Turkey and 2) an ethnic meaning, from central Asia. Kurds are
from northern Iraq.
Aya Sofya. Now a museum
but it had formerly been first the greatest church in Christendom and then
with the Ottoman conquest in 1453 it became a mosque. Ataturk made it a
world monument museum in 1935. Completed in 537 it glitters with gold
mosaics. The dome is huge. (Almost 1000 years later Brunnelleschi was
trying to figure out how to build such a large dome in Florence) There are
eight pillars from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, an onyx urn from
Bergaman. Aya Sofya is so overwhelming that I can’t think of words to
adequately describe it.
The purpose of religion, according to Meli, is to make people happy. For the Hittites, the gods of fertility reflect the conditions of that period – farming, weather, seas, storms. Religion must meet the needs of the people. Architecture is the reflection of mentality and social status. The importance of Aya Sofya is that it connects architecture and religion. It is not horizontal but goes upward.
Topkapi Palace. We did a fast tour of this amazing, administrative complex and houses for the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. We were too late to see the Harem or the palace kitchens. In fact, we were exhausted and our minds and eyes were overwhelmed from all we had seen and learned this first full day in Istanbul.
A couple of quotes from the day:
The worst thing is life is ignorance because you then become a follower.
(from calligraphy in Aya Sofyia) ‘I have fallen into the ocean of rebel – Please help me out, God’
