Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor

The Greeks, however, were now become an opulent and intelligent people; availing themselves of all the lights and advantages which the Turks neglected, they had accompanied the rest of Europe in the march of improvement, and determined to rely no longer on Russian faith−but to attempt their own emancipation. A mysterious society, called

Hetairia

, was ramified wherever a Greek community was established, who prepared for another insurrection. In the year 1815 a secret meeting was held at Constantinople, and it was resolved on. Six years after, the standard of revolution was raised by Ypselantes, in Moldavia. It was responded to by a general rising in other places, and, after a sanguinary conflict against the whole power of the vast Turkish empire, their independence was finally established, a new nation was recognized in Europe, and modern Greece for ever severed from their barbarian masters.

The utter impotence of the Turkish power was so clearly established by this event, that it was obvious nothing but a change of its institutions could save it from total dissolution. Mahmoud therefore was determined to effect this change, or perish in the attempt. His preliminary step was the extirpation of the Janissaries. This desperate militia now turned up their kettles in the Atmeidan and 40,000 men rushed round them. The sultan caused the standard of the Prophet to be displayed in the Mosque of Achmet, and all the well-affected flocked to it. He required a

fetva

 from the Sheik Islam, to authorise him to kill the Janissaries if they resisted: it was granted by the chief of the Faith, and he sent his adherent,

Kara Gehenna

, or “the black infernal,” to execute it. The Janissaries were surrounded with artillery, and he at once opened a discharge with grape-shot on the dense crowd. He battered down their

kislas

, or barracks, over their heads, and never ceased till this fierce and formidable body of men were left a monument in the midst of Constantinople, a mound of mangled flesh and smoking ashes slaked in blood. To perpetuate the utter destruction of this corps, and ensure its extinction, a firman was issued, obliterating its very name, and declaring it penal for any man ever to pronounce it.

Just before the destruction of the Janissaries at Constantinople, that of the Mamelukes had been effected in Egypt. These descendants of Christian slaves, equally formidable to the Porte, had been doomed to like destruction by the predecessor of Mahmoud. They were invited to a feast on board the Capitan Pasha’s ship, when the most formidable of their chiefs were seized and strangled. The remnant were induced, by solemn promises of protection to enter the fortress of Cairo, when every man of them was sacrificed in cold blood, without pity or remorse. Thus these two corps, originally formed and recruited from a Christian population, became, in the hands of the Osmanli, for many centuries, the most powerful and unrelenting opponents of the people professing the faith of their ancestors, and at length became so formidable to their employers as to render their own destruction necessary. Not a remnant of these extraordinary renegades, now exists in the world, and the very names of Mameluke and Janissary are condemned to everlasting oblivion.

The energetic and terrible sultan, having thus silenced opposition, and created unanimity to his plans, by putting to death every man that presumed to differ from him in opinion, proceeded rapidly with his reforms. A new order of things was every where established. The soldiers, who were a mere uncontrollable rabble, every one dressed according to his own fancy, and doing whatever seemed good in his eyes, were now clad in regular uniform, subject to discipline, and exercised in European tactics. Civil usages which stamped the Turks with barbarism, were abolished. Ambassadors, who represented infidel kings, were no longer dragged by the neck into the presence of the sovereign of the faithful like criminals, or sent to his prison like malefactors; but, above all, knowledge was no longer proscribed as an impious acquisition, and ignorance cherished as a venerable quality. Lancasterian schools were opened; literary works on various subjects were written by Turks, and published at the press at Constantinople, now revived for that purpose; and, finally, an innovation was introduced, supposed to be altogether hopeless and extraordinary, among a people so stubborn and prejudiced: to spread the lights of European knowledge with more rapidity, and present them daily to the eyes of every man, four newspapers were established in the capital, in Turkish, Greek, Armenian, and French, for the different people that compose the population; and thus 700,000 persons, the calculated number of inhabitants on both peninsulas, instead of being kept in utter darkness of every thing around them, are now constantly apprised of all that passes, not only in their own, but in every other country. The arts, the sciences, the improvements in social life, the incidents and events which happen in the world, are subjects to which the attention of the Turk is now turned, and the fictions of his “story-tellers” are superseded by the realities of life. Every day the distinctions which marked this great capital, as an Asiatic city on an European soil, are beginning to disappear, and it is probable that, in a few years, such an amalgamation of its inhabitants with those of other European cities will take place, that the strong characteristics which lately distinguished it will only be found in our pictorial representations.

EMPERORS AND SULTANS OF CONSTANTINOPLE,

FROM THE DEDICATION OF THE CITY TO THE PRESENT DAY

Those individuals only of each dynasty are noticed who reigned at Constantinople

GREEK DYNASTY

Family of Constantine

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus I. was born in Britain, A.D. 272; crowned at Rome, 306; transferred the seat of empire to Constantinople, and dedicated the city to Christ, 330; died 337, after a reign of thirty years and nine months. The place of his birth is doubtful; by some said to be Dacia; by others, Britain, of which his father was governor, where he married Helena, a British lady. Among other evidence is the panegyric of Eumenes, “Oh, Britain! blessed of all lands, who first beheld Cæsar Constantinus,” &c. Constantine was esteemed an eloquent preacher, and one of his sermons has come down to us. He left behind him three sons, who succeeded him.

Flavius Julius Constantinus II. Junior, succeeded his father: he was born at Arles, 312; crowned, 337; and was killed in 340 in battle, and his body cast into the river Alsa.

Flavius Julius Constantinus was born in Pannonia, 318; crowned, 326; and died of apoplexy, 361.

Flavius Julius Constans I. was born 330; crowned, 333; and died, 350. The manner of his death is disputed: he either was killed in battle, or put an end to his own life, to escape his enemies.

Flavius Claudius Julianus, nephew of Constantine the Great, was born at Constantinople in 332; crowned, 361; and died, 363. He was killed in battle in Persia, by an arrow from a Persian horseman. He endeavoured to extinguish Christianity, and obtained the name of the

Apostate

. In him the family of Constantine terminated.

Family of Jovian

Flavius Jovianus was born in Pannonia in 324; crowned, 363; and died, 364. He was suffocated by the fumes of charcoal. He revived Christianity, but lived only seven months and twenty-one days after he came to the throne.

Family of Valentinianus

Flavius Valerius Valentinianus I. was born in Pannonia in 321; crowned, 364; and died, 375, of apoplexy.

Flavius Gratianus was born in Belgium in 359; crowned, 367; and killed in battle, 385. The empire was now divided into Eastern and Western; Valentinianus II. was nominated to the latter, and Valens to the former.

Flavius Valens was born in Pannonia in 328; crowned, 376; and burnt to death in a cottage in Thrace by the Goths, 378.

Family of Theodosius

Flavius Theodosius I. was born at Seville in Spain in 335; crowned, 379; and died, 395, of a dropsy. He obtained the name of the

Great

 for his achievements. Among others, he restored peace in Britain, when disturbed by the Picts. To encourage the arts, he erected a splendid column at Constantinople, to rival that of Trajan at Rome. It was cast down by an earthquake, and no longer exists.

Flavius Arcadius was born in 379; crowned, 395; and died, 408. He followed his father’s example in erecting a splendid column: both have been prostrated by earthquakes. His brother Honorius succeeded to the Western empire.

Flavius Theodosius II. junior, was born in 401; and died, 450. He was nominated to the empire the year after his birth. He reestablished public schools at Constantinople, with a view to revive literature, and published the Theodosian code of laws. In his reign the Romans abandoned Britain, never to return.

Marcianus was born in Thrace, of obscure parents, in 387; crowned, 450; and died, 456. He erected a pillar at Constantinople, which still stands. In early life, he found the body of a man, and buried it; but he was accused of the murder, and would have been executed, had not the real murderer appeared, and saved him.

Family of Leo

Flavius Leo I., (Macela,) was a native of Thrace, called to the empire in 457, and died in 474, after a reign of seventeen years and six months. He was the first Christian potentate of the East crowned by an ecclesiastic. After him, the ceremony was generally performed by the patriarch. He obtained the name of

the Great

.

Flavius Leo II. minor, was born 457; and died 474, aged 17, having reigned but ten months. He was the grandson of Leo I.

Flavius Zeno, (Tarasicodista,) was born in Isauria, in 426, succeeded Leo II. as sole emperor, and died in 491, having reigned seventeen years. Some affirm he was buried alive by his wife. The term Tarasicodista was an Isaurian name, which he changed for Zeno. Under him, the Western Empire was entirely destroyed, and Odoacer, king of the Heruli, was proclaimed king of Italy. For fifty years after, till the time of Justinian, the reigns of the emperors are obscure and indistinct.

Family of Anastatius

Flavius Anastatius, I. (Dicorus,) was born at Dyrrachium, in 430, and was killed by lightning in his palace in 518, having reigned twenty-seven years and eleven months. He was distinguished for running a wall from the Euxine to the Propontis, and including a triangular space, called the “Delta of Thrace.”

Family of Justinus Thrax.

Flavius Anicius Justinus I. was born in 450, in Illyria, called to the throne on the death of Anastatius, and died in 527, after a reign of eight years and seven months.

Flavius Anicius Justinianus I. was born in Dacia, in 482, and died in 565, after a long reign of thirty-seven years and seven months, which was devoted to useful objects. Besides the erection of the church of St. Sophia, he introduced the culture of silk into Europe, and caused to be drawn up the codes, pandects, institutes, and, a few years after, the digest of laws, forming a system of civil jurisprudence, which is an everlasting monument of his reign. Under him, Proclus, a second Archimedes, set fire to the Gothic fleet by means of a concave mirror of brass.

Flavius Anicius Justinus II. junior, (Curopalata,) was born in Thrace, crowned on the death of his uncle Justinian, and died in 578, after a reign of twelve years and ten months. He had been superintendent of the palace, and hence the title Curopalata.

Family of Tiberius

Flavius Anicius Tiberius, I. called the New Constantine, was born in Thrace, and died in 582, after a reign of three years and ten months.

Flavius Mauricius Tiberius II. was born in Cappadocia, in 539, and was killed in 602, having reigned twenty years and three months. In his reign Augustine and his monks proceeded to preach Christianity in Britain, and the Saxon heptarchy commenced.

Family of Phocas

Flavius Phocas was crowned in 602; he died in 610, after a reign of eight years. He murdered his predecessor Mauricius, and decapitated him and his five children: he was himself assassinated by his successor Heraclius. He is represented as a monster among the emperors: his person small and deformed; his hair and eyebrows red and shaggy; and his cheeks disfigured with scars; his temper was savage; his pleasures brutal; and he was grossly ignorant, not only of letters, but his own profession−war. From the time of Justinian, the pleadings of the courts had been in Latin, but from the reign of Phocas, they were held in Greek, and the writings formed a barbarous mixture of Greek and Latin characters.

Family of Heraclius

Flavius Heraclius, son of the præfect of Africa, sailed to Constantinople, and having put Phocas to death, was crowned in 610. He died in 641, of dropsy, after a reign of thirty years and five months. He was distinguished for his conquests over the Persians, and for his pilgrimage to Jerusalem to restore the true cross; the ceremony resulting from it is still called “the Elevation of the Cross.” In his reign Mohammed fled from Mecca to Medina, and the era of the Hegira commenced.

Flavius Heraclius II. or Constantinus III. was born in 612; and died by poison in 641; having reigned but one hundred and three days. He was associated in the empire with his brother Heracleonas.

Flavius Heraclius Constans II. was born in 630; and was smothered in a bath in 668; after a reign of twenty-seven years.

Flavius Constantinus IV., (Pogonatus,) died in 685; after a reign of seventeen years. He was called Pogonatus, or “the Bearded,” because when he went against the tyrant of Sicily to avenge his brother’s death, he would not suffer his beard to be cut till he had effected his purpose. In his reign the city was besieged by the Saracens, and their fleet destroyed by the Greek fire.

Flavius Justinianus II., (Rhinometus,) was born about the year 670, and was killed in 711; he reigned first ten years. He was called Rhinometus because he was seized by his enemy Leontius, who cut off his nose. After a reign of seven years he was deposed, and then restored, and reigned six more. With him and his young son was extinguished the race of Heraclius, after enjoying the sovereignty for one hundred years.

Filepicus Bardanes, was blinded, and deposed one year and six months after his coronation.

Anastatius II., (Artemius,) was crowned in 713; resigned; and was put to death by Leo Isaurus, when he attempted again to recover the crown.

Theodosius III. was crowned in 715; resigned. His sanctity in retirement was such, that he was reputed to work miracles.

Family of Leo Isaurus

Flavius Leo III., called Conon, died of a dropsy in 741; after a reign of twenty-four years and eleven months. He was called the Isaurian, from the country whence his family came to Constantinople. He began the first reformation in the Greek church, by causing all images to be pulled down, and excluded from places of worship as idolatrous.

Flavius Constantinus V., (Copronimus,) was born, 719; and died, 775; after a reign of thirty-five years and eleven months. He was in derision called Copronimus, because he defiled the font at his baptism. During his long reign he followed up the reformation of his father, and was seconded by the people, who formed themselves into associations, called Iconoclasts or “image breakers,” and destroyed every such idolatrous representation. He also suppressed monasteries. The writers of the Latin church represented Copronimus as “chained with demons in the infernal abyss;” while the Greeks venerated his tomb, and prayed before it as that of a heaven-directed saint. In his reign, historians first dated from, the birth of Christ.

Flavius Leo IV., (Chazarus,) was born at Constantinople in 750; and died of a fever in 780, after a reign of five years. He followed up the reformation, and the Latin writers affirm that he sacrilegiously took a crown with precious stones, from the church of Santa Sophia, and when he placed it on his head, his face burst out into carbuncles, similar to those in the crown, as a punishment for his impiety, and this caused the fever of which he died.

Flavius Leo Constantinus VI. was born at Constantinople in 771; and died in 797; after his eyes had been put out, he reigned seven years. In concert with his mother, Irené, he restored the worship of images, for which he is highly praised by Latin writers.

Flavius Nicephorus I. was born in Seleucia; he was drawn into an ambush by the Bulgarians, and killed in battle in 811; having reigned nine years and nine months.

Flavius Stauricius was presented with the diadem by his father Nicephorus in 803. He was grievously wounded in battle, and, after lingering in hopeless pain, he became a monk, and retired to a monastery, where he died in 812.

Michael I., (Rhangabe Curopalata,) married the daughter of Nicephorus; was proclaimed emperor in 811, on the death of his father-in-law; but was deposed, and died in a monastery, after a reign of one year and ten months.

Family of Leo the Armenian

Flavius Leo V., (Armenus,) was born in Armenia, and crowned in 813; and was assassinated while celebrating divine service in his palace in 820; after a reign of seven years and five months.

Family of Michael Balbus

Flavius Michael II. (the Stammerer,) was born in Phrygia, crowned in 820; and died in 829, of a dysentery, having reigned eight years and nine months. He was named Balbus from a hesitation in his voice. He revived the reformation by expelling images from churches.

Flavius Theophilus, called Augustus by his father, was born in 820, crowned in 829, and died in 842; having reigned twelve years and three months. He vigorously continued the reformation of the church, and is thus described,

Is impietatis paternæ æmulus cultores imaginum persecutus est.

Flavius Michael III., (Ebriosus,) was born in 836; crowned in 842; and was assassinated in 867. He acquired the name of Ebriosus, or the Drunken, from his constant intemperance. He suffered his mother, Theodora, to introduce images into churches. The sister of the king of Bulgaria having embraced Christianity, he and all his subjects, by her persuasion, became converts in this reign. Clocks were then first brought from Venice to Constantinople.

Family of Basilius Macedo

Flavius Basilius I., (Cephalos,) was born in Macedonia, crowned in 866, and died in 886. He was called Cephalos from the size of his head. He was a zealous promoter of image worship. In his reign, Alfred king of England died.

Flavius Leo VI., the Philosopher, was crowned by his father at the age of five years in 870; and died in 911. He devoted a long reign of twenty-five years, after his father’s death, to literary pursuits, and composed works which have come down to us: amongst others, a “Treatise on Tactics.”

Flavius Constantinus VII., (Porphyrogenitus,) the son of Leo VI. by his fourth wife, was born in 905; crowned in 913; and died in the year 959, of poison, administered by his own son. He was called Porphyrogenitus, or born in the purple, because an apartment in the palace was li