The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-16
Turkeys Most Famous Walls.
Those Which Encompass Constantnope Have Gust Been
Studied by the Powers.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

tnlS partlcular portion OF Europe with
great interest of late. The wiles Of the
sultan in putting off the concert OF
| powers demands in regard to the set
! tlement of the terms Of peace with
Greece have led to the report that the
Pearl of the Orient would be besieged
| in his walled city and forced to accede
to the demands.
| While the modern European armies
would doubtless find Constantinople
and it's walls an easy conquest, there
was a time when for decades they
proved an impossible barrier. These
walls are of great historic interest, and
a never-ending source of wonderment
to visitors. The walk Of between four
| and five miles outside and along the
landward walls OF Constantinople is
one of the historic walks of Europe.
The long double line of majestic towers,
now dropping into the quiet valley, and
then rising as in a stately march to the
crest of the hill, presents a scene pic
turesque and inspiring that cannot be
surpassed.
The history of Constantinople itself,
until it's final capture in i455 by the
Ottoman Turks under the great Mo-
manned, is little more than one long
which these famous walls have sus-
tanned. Twenty-three times-historic
records say-have the walls of Theodo-
sius been long and fur1ously besieged
by Huns and Slavs, by Persians and
Avars, by Arabs and Bulgarians, by
Russians, Genoese, and Venetians, by
Crusaders and Latins and Greeks, and
finally by the Ottoman Turks. The ire
mendous breaches these warriors made
are now fianked with ivy and labur-
mum, acacias and Judas trees.
The battlemented walls and the
stately towers today stand silent; and
all around by moat and gate and tow
err "the brake grows high where once
the legionS trod." Where the neigh
boring Mar.nora, on a summer day like
a pavement of turquoise, washes with
her quiet blue waters the marbled sea-
ward towers, many proud and classic
navies have shouted and grappled I'M
derneath cloudless skies. Many roy
al argosy lies far beneath the tran
quill surface, many a navy Of the days
of old.
The great earthquake which occurred
in Constantinople two years ago did
little damage to st. Sophia, but did not
permit the famous and picturesque
walls to remain uninjured. I noted af-
forwards that the Golden Gate of the
Seven Towers and the Edirnen .Kapus1
the Adrianop1e gate-suffered espe-
cially; but nature, as if trying to make
amends, has already begun to heal over
the naked wounds with her kindly and
prolific growth of ivy and creepers.
| The imperial city of Constantine the
Great is in the form of triangle
blunted at the apex, which is named
| Seraglio Point, and lies towards the
east On the northern side is the Colo
en- Horn, dividing Stamboul from Pera
and Galata; on the southern is the oed
of Marmora These are natural pouh-
diaries. and so the city is limited by
the sea and It's inlet on all SIDES eX-
cept the west The western boundary
of the city has fer nearly fifteen nun
dred years consisted of the quaoruple
line of walls which the Roman Enpe-
ror Theodosius II. constructed IN the
wear 412 of the Christian era. IheSe
walls run almost directly north anu
south from the citadel and palace OF
| R1ocbernae on the Golden Horn, &c
| the citadel of Heptapyrgion, or yea
Kouleh or the Seven Towers, on the
| Sea of Marmora.
The citadel of Blachernae is fortlheo
by the somewhat complex walls OF
| Manuel Commenus, Heraclius, and Lee
| the Armenian, and it has five towers
| of which those of Arenas and Isaac
| AngeI11s are the most interesting ano
| important In the eleventh ano
| twelfth centuries, under the Emperors
| Alexius and Manuel Comment ano
| their successors, the Palace OF Blacn.
| ernae became, owing to its strong ano
| beautiful position, the favorite imper-
| ial residence. Many historic and dip.
| lomatic scenes have been witnessed
| within its massive walls.
| Historian and novelist alike recorC
| that here were held the momentous in
| teryieWs between the Greek Emperor
| Alexius Comments, Peter the Hermit
| the instigator, and Godfrey de Boull-
| len, the leader of the first crusade
| during the winter of 1861 Here, too
! in 1903. the leaders Of the fourth cru
SADIE carried on negotiations with the
| dethroned Emperor Isaac Angelus
which resulted in the assault and cap
| ture Of the city by the crusaders un
der the blind old Venetian Doge, Henry
| Dandalo and the restoration OF the
| imprisoned monarch to his throne.
| The tribunal of Valens, or the So
called Palace Of Belisarius-the great
general of observation-disclosures at the
| inner corner of the castelluln, or cita.
| del. Of Blachernae, just where the long
| walls and moat of TheodoS1us beg1r
| to run towards the south 1t is one Of
the few remaining specimens of pure
Byzantine civil architecture, and upor
| this style the Venetian palaces were
probably moulded.
From this point the moat and the
| long line of Theodosian walls begins
| and extends to the Marmora, nearly
| four miles away. The inner wall
| about thirty-six feet high and siXteer
| feet thick, was fanked with l16 towers
about $50 feet apart, and or this num-
Der hundred remain. The outer wall
about thirty-one feet high and th1rteer
feet thick, was supported by seventy
eight smaller towers Of various forms
round, square heXagonal and Octag
onal, and placed equi- distant from the
larger towers. OF these seventy-one
either wholly or partly, are still to be
seen.
The moat is from sixty-three tt
sixty-five feet wide. AS it is nov
partly filled with mould, it's 'origina
depth cannot be stated with certainty
| but near the Marmora, in front of the
| Golden gate, it's depth today is more
than thirty-two feet. It's present func
ton, for nearly it's whole length, /:
that of a series of profitable vegetable
gardens. The moat is also divided int
many rectangular sections by trans
verse walls. a work rendered neces
sary by the declivity of the ground tt
prevent the water from running int
the valley.
In these walls there were formerly