Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18

has decreed. so it has usually consumed
everything and burned itself out before
the fire brigade arrives upon me spot.
This saves needless labor and prevents
finite beings SHINING by attempting
to thwart the will of the Innnite'
No building in Constantinople is more
justly famous than is Justinian's mar
velous old basilica st. Sophia, dedi-
Gated to Holy Wisdom" Since 1853,
when the Turks, led by the Sultan Ma
homet II, captured the city, it has been
a mosque. AS the Moslems literally
obey the Bible command to make unto
myself no craven image or the like
ness of anything" all the Greek Church
figures of saints and holy symbols have
been long covered with a thick coat of
whitewash, which masks, but has not
destroyed, the magnificent mosaics that
escaped the early Christian vandals
who looted the basilica of it's choicest
treasures long before the Turks occu-
pied Byzantium. st. Sophia's splendid
central dome is los feet in diameter
and at its base are forty arched win
dows, between two facing Mecca being
the tall nimbeh from which the Koran
is read aloud during the services.
The side aisles have galleries resting
on arcades formed of beautiful col
umns, the arches and vaults being COW
cred with superb colored mosaics on a
golden background. In the central
dome four colossal Seraphim with eight
wings each, in purple and blue, have
nau CnelT neauS covered with Whlte-
wash or fresco. but these Christian
symbols even to the oriental mind were
so abnormal they have been permitted
to remain all these centuries.
Greek or Armenian guides take visit
ors through the wonderful old mosque,
after duly slipping Il pair of huge bath
slippers over their shoes. The idea is
not that the Christian foot profanes
the sacred edifice as is so universally
believed in America, but it is a rule
observed in all mosques by even the
Turks themselves; their sanctuary
must be protected from the filth of the
streets, as the Aioslem sits upon the
mating floor, which he, like his Creek
Catholic prototypes. kisses devoutly
during his devotionS. All tourists will
recall the cash in the great column
said to have been made by the sword
of Mahomet ii and the red stain on
nearby majestic stone which he mark
ed with his cory hand, wet with the
life-blood of the unfortunate Christians
butchered in the sanctuary to which
they had tiocked for safety. A re-
Hgious legend is believed to the effect
that an angel with flaming sword
would annihilate the infidels if they
crossed the sacred threshold of the
basilica.
st. Sophia is situated close by the
famous old circus, the ancient hippo
drome, the large oblong area Stree
known the horse fair Here booths
are arranged, and horses and carria ges
stand ready for hire In the central
portion of the paved space spina of
the hippodrome rises The obelisk of
Theodosius, ninety-seven feet high,
originally erected m the Temple of the
Sun at Heliopolis, Egypt, by Thotmes
III. 1000 years before Christ. The
Emperor Theodosius, like his later inn
tator, the First Napoleon, appropriated
it when victorious in Egypt, and
brought the obelisk from the temple
to ornament his hippodrome in Con-
stantinople. Quite as wonderfully an
tique is the sunken serpent column -
not far away. The modern city, like
that of Rome, is much higher than the
ancient town, consequently the column
is far below the paving but by step
ping to the railing which preserves
the ancient relic the full length of the
column below may he seen. The three
bronze serpents coiled together which
form the column are headleSS, for after
the slaughter in st. Sophia the same
Sultan Mahomet II is said to have. de-
priyed them of their heads by one
blow of his ever ready sword; but no
matter how they were decapltated.
the heads of the reptiles are saIely
preserved in the imperial museum. Ihe
column formed the original base of the
Apollo, at the oracle of Delphi, ana
like Theodosius and other victors, both
ancient and modern, Constantine the
Great robbed the temple of it's treas
ure to adorn the hippodrome.
y
The splendid Mosque of Sultan An
med is noted not only for it's having
six minarets but for the exquisite
Persian tiles which ornament the in
terror. AS this mosque was erected
during the reigns of the three Ahmeds
first, second and third-there is a be-
lief that the great number of minarets
represent one for the first, two for the
second and three for the unfortunate
Sultan Ahmed III, who died by poison.
The turbeh, or tomb, house adjoining
the Mosque of Valdez Tekhan is well
worth a visit, for in the dome shaped
little building ornamented with splen-
did mosaics and rich draperies sleep
not only Mohammed T., the sultana
Valideh's son, but eight othe ltans
and their families, besides great
lady herself, who erected t, Z mosque
which lies close to the StaInbul end
of the Galata bridge, right in the midst
of the city'S noisieSt traffic.
All imperial tombs in the turbehs are
the same, being coffin-shaped wooden
catafalques slightly raised from the
floor. of a size proportionate to that of
the deceased, each being covered by the