The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-04-26
Libraries of
Constantinople
Open to Antiquarians for the
First Time-Many Rare and
Valuable Manuscripts Will
Probably be Unearthed

ians and historians are now TO nave
for the first time since the Turks
took possession OF Constantinople the
opportunity for making a thorough
investigation Of the literary treasures
stored away in the great libraries
there.
The contents of the boolshelves Of
the st. Sophia and Palace ibaries
are known, but in the cellars under
the Palace library there are many
manuscripts in Arabic, Greek, Latin
and Eastern languages. These man
uscripts are in hopeless confusion
and no person with special aptitude
for research work has been permit
ted to examine them in recent years.
About thirty years ago a German
dragonan obtained permission from
the Sultan to spend week in those
cellars. In that time he was able to
make only & very superficial exan1-
nation of the manuscripts, but his
search, short as it was, revealed many
books in Greek and Arabic Of great
value Among the discoveries he re
ported were the lost books of Livy, the
great Roman historian.
Among celebrated British scholars
who are planning to go to Constan-
tinopIe to delve among the long-hid-
den manuscripts is Sir Edwin Pears, the
historian. who has spent many years
in Cocstaa,:noplc. Sir Edwin ioia
tie ...aaoc.atca Press correspondent
tisat at least six lncntns would be re-
quirea for the investigation. He does
moi. think the libraries have been
damaged by the Turks, who, he says,
are utterly indifferent to their val0e.
His only fear is that the manuscripts
will be found in sad state as result
Of neglect.
The fine libraries of the byzantine
Empire were taken by the Turks IN
1853. The greatest number OF books
are deposited, not in ST. Sophia's, as
popularly believed but in the Inper-
ial Palace about quarter of mile
from the church. Under Turkish rule
these libraries were added to from
time to time, the most notable acqul-
siticn resulting from the defeat by the
Turks Of the King oe Hungary. whose
collection of books was brought to
Constantinople and placed either IN
st. Sophia or the Palace library.
4sThe shelves of the Palace library
said Sir Edwin, 'have been constantly
picked over and the most important
manuscripts probably have been stol-
en- or destroy yed. AZ present, what IS
shown fS visitors is {. room about 3"
feet long and Is wide, nicely fitted u"
with glass cases containing books with
well-polished bindings. But there is
not book displayed which an archeo-
logist would consider worth having.
rha cellars, however, contain hun
dreds Of manuscripts which nave
never vet been satisfactorily examined
.'The library in st. Sophlas also
contains many unclassified works ano
it may be that they include 12anu-
-scripts of importance.
The greatest finds Of manuscripts
made in the vicinity Of Constantlnople
during the last half-century were not
in the Palace or st. Sophia libraries
but in local libraries belonging te
the Greek church. One Of these
which Sir Edwin terms the most I'M
portant theological find of the cen
eury, was book containing the
teachings of the Twelve Apostles.
document frequently quoted in the
early centuries of Christian literature
The last half OF the text mad beer
copied and preserved, but the com
plete copy was lost until about A.
years ago.
eat that time" Sir Edwin said
"the grand old scholar, Bishop Brien
MUS of Nicomedia, the modern lsnla
one of the few Greek scholars VIII
not only knows Greek well but is ~
authority on photography. was look
ing for the epistles Of ST. Clement.
..In the library Of the Church Of tn
Holy Sepuicher in Constantlnop;e hT
came across a small volume entitled
simply "Saint Clement" 1t contain
ed not only the epistles of st. Clemert
but the teachings Of the Twelve Apos
ties. lost since about 1850. Some au-
thorities date the book as early as 70
some as late as 120.
Another book of equal value was
discovered in the library of st. Sophia
in about 1875. called The Manuscripts
Of Critobolus.' This is the only record
we possess containing an account. froti
the Greek side, OF the siege Of Con
stantinople. 7 was the first to .a::e
advantage of this find in my writing.
of the siege. The book unearthed l'y
Critobolus was a life OF Mahomnacd
II revealed how the Greeks turned Ro
mans to save their Skins
Another library which Sir. Edwi'
plans to explore is at Mt. Athos, {
peninsula devoted to the Greek church
since 1100 It is situated between Con
startinop1e and Saloniki. About
fifteen years ago a Greek made some
interesting discoveries there. Sir Ed
win visited it shortly after the dis
covery of the teachings Of the Anos
ties, and learned from the librarian
that none Of the books were properly
classified.
st. Athos escaped moleStat ton by tn.
Turks. The only time the library va.
violated was in 1924 when a large
number Of manuscripts We're cut ur
cn1dinrc