531 Ibid. bk. v. ch. x.

532 Crit. bk. v. ch. xi. It is possible that as some of the Latin writers spoke of the Turks as Teucri, in the belief that they were the descendants of the Trojans, Mahomet may have been under the same illusion.

533 Les Sultans Ottomans, par Halil Ganem, p. 129 (Paris, 1901).

534 Chalcondylas.

535 These and many other fictions of the like kind come from Spandugino and Sansovino.

536 Zorzo Dolfin (p. 985) says: ‘E homo non dedito a libidine, sobrio, in tempo del ramadan non vol aldir sobrieta; a nulla volupta, a nulla piacea e dedito saluo a gloria.’ This is in striking contradiction with Barbaro’s account, which in describing Mahomet says, ‘Che a un momento importantissimo alla vigilia della gran bataglia s’inebriò col capedan pascia secondo la sua usanza.’ Barbaro’s narrative is written immediately after the capture of the city, and, as usual, he is careless of the accusations which he brings against the Turks or Genoese.

537 Zorzo Dolfin, p. 936.

538 Les Sultans Ottomans, pp. 150 and 125.

539 The fascination of the old Greek stories still continues even among the poorest Greeks, and it is astonishing how generally they are known. I have often heard old Greek women, unable to read or write, tell children Greek paramythia which have evidently been handed down by oral tradition. A few years ago, in travelling among the mountains of Bithynia, I came on Easter Monday to a Greek village, far remote from any other, and away from all lines of communication, where they were performing a miracle-play. The villagers, dressed in their best, were all present as actors or spectators. The play itself was a curious mixture of incidents in the life of Christ and of others—and these formed the largest part—from Greek mythology. No one knew anything of its origin, and all the information obtainable was that the play had always been performed on Easter Monday.

540 See Aristarchi’s (the Grand Logothete) papers on Photius in the Transactions of the Greek Syllogos of Constantinople, and two volumes edited by him of that patriarch’s sermons and homilies, published 1901.

541 Heeren, in his Essai sur les Croisades, p. 413, quoted in Hallam’s Middle Ages, ascribes the loss of all the authors missing from the library of Photius to the Latin capture. Probably the statement is too sweeping.

542 Gibbon, vol. vii. 116.

543 See H. F. Tozer’s article on ‘The Greek-speaking Population of Southern Italy,’ in Journal of Hellenic Studies, x. p. 99.

544 ‘Nemo est qui Graecas literas novit.’ Quoted in Hodius, De Graecis illustribus, p. 8.

545 Hodius, De Graecis illust.

546 Hodius, p. 28.

547 Philelphi Epis. in 1451.

548 Filelfo died in 1481. Dethier gives the letter which he wrote to Mahomet praying for the release of his mother-in-law, a prayer which was granted.

549 Das Schriftwesen im Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 392 etc.

550 Burckhardt’s Renaissance in Italy, p. 192.

551 Gibbon selects some examples to show the anti-christian character of the classical enthusiasm. (1) At the Council of Florence, Gemistos Pletho said in familiar conversation to George of Trebizond that in a short time mankind would unanimously renounce the Gospel and the Koran for a religion similar to that of the Gentiles (Leo Allatius). (2) Paul II. accused the principal members of the Roman Academy of heresy, impiety, and paganism (Tiraboschi). I suspect the first charge of being grossly exaggerated or invented, but the fact that such a statement could be credited shows to what extent the classical reaction had gone.

552 It is curious that the non-progressive party in Oxford, who violently opposed the introduction of the new studies, called themselves Trojans. Roper’s Life of Sir T. More (ed. Hearne), p. 75. The archbishops of Chios and Pusculus invariably describe the Turks as Teucri.

553 Exuviae sacrae Constantinopolitanae.

554 Ducas, xliii.

555 αἱ πλείους δὲ αὐτῶν, οὐ πρὸς ἀπόδοσιν μᾶλλον ἢ ὕβριν &c. Crit. ch. lxii.

556 Hodius, De Graecis illustribus.

557 Aeneas Sylvius, in 1454, before the diet of Frankfort says: ‘Quid de libris dicam, qui illic erant innumerabiles, nondum Latinis cogniti?... Nunc ergo et Homero et Pindaro et omnibus illustrioribus poetis secunda mors erit.’

558 One such at least still remains at Zeirek Jami.

559 Probably more manuscripts existing as rolls (the original volumen) than in book form have disappeared. The Turks, for example, when they occupied Mount Athos during the Greek revolution, found the rolls very convenient for making haversacks. The books have perished mostly from neglect. The discovery by the present bishop of Ismidt of the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Διδαχὴ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων) in 1883, in the library of a monastery on the Golden Horn bound up with other manuscripts, the first of which only was indexed, gives hope that others of value may yet be found. The same remark applies to the recovery, about six years ago, of the Purple MS. of the Gospels, known technically as Codex N, and now at St. Petersburg.

560 The influence of Byzantine art upon the West does not fall within the limits of my task. But every one interested in the subject is aware that during some centuries its influence was dominant. In the composition of pictures as well as in their drawing and treatment Western artists for a long time copied those of Constantinople. In painting, Byzantine influence prevailed throughout Italy from Justinian to the middle of the fourteenth century. Giotto, who died in 1336, was, says Kugler, the first to abandon the Byzantine style. In the intervening centuries the monasteries of Constantinople, Salonica, and Mount Athos were the central ateliers of painting, and furnished the models for artistic activity to all Europe. The mosaics in the church of San Vitale at Ravenna are magnificent illustrations of what Byzantine art was in the time of Justinian. Those in Hagia Sophia, as well as its general plan of colour-ornamentation, are still unsurpassed. Those of the Kahrié Mosque belonging to the fourteenth century are interesting and show a deep feeling for colour-combination as well as accuracy of drawing. Byzantine architecture in like manner greatly influenced the builders of churches in Western lands. The front view of St. Mark’s in Venice in the thirteenth century placed side by side with that of the Kahrié Mosque at the present day shows that the plan of the earlier one was familiar to the architect of the other, and, as has been pointed out by an architect who has made a careful study of the two buildings, when St. Mark’s differs from the Kahrié, the difference may be found in details reproduced from another church in Constantinople, that of the Pantocrator. The resemblance between St. Mark’s and the Kahrié illustrates Mr. Fergusson’s observations on the decoration of the exteriors of Byzantine churches. He points out that while the interior of Hagia Sophia is ‘the most perfect and most beautiful church which has yet been erected by any Christian people,’ the exterior was never finished (Fergusson’s History of Architecture, ii. 321). The Kahrié of to-day resembles St. Mark’s of the thirteenth century before the exterior casing was added to it.

The question of the influence of Byzantine art and architecture on the West has often been dealt with. For a list of books on the subject see Karl Krumbacher’s Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, pp. 1124–27.

561 Hallam’s Middle Ages, ch. vi.

562 Angeli Johannis Epistola, p. 62.

563 See, for example, Cuspinianus, De Turcorum Origine; the author was in the employ of the emperor Maximilian I. and insists again and again on the necessity of resisting the Turk and the certainty of being able to do so with success. Almost every European traveller in Turkey during two centuries, beginning with La Brocquière and Tetaldi, made similar representations.

564 One of the best illustrations of the degraded position assigned to woman in Mahometan countries is found in the fact that the popular belief is that she has no soul. The influence of such a belief is of course fatal to the progress of the race. I am well aware that Khaireddin Pasha and other progressive Mahometans have maintained that this belief is contrary to the teaching of the Koran, and that Mr. Hughes and other well-informed students of the sacred writings of Islam agree in this opinion. Still, my statement as to the popular belief is not affected by these researches into the original teaching. It is not alleged that the houris of Paradise are the representatives of earthly women. The sensual rewards promised to faithful men are clear and unmistakeable. The rewards to women in the Koran have to be searched for and are the result of interpretation. As a confirmation of the truth of my statement I may refer to the interesting interview given by Sir Edward Malet in Shifting Scenes (1901), p. 67. He describes a meeting which he had with Tewfik, the Khedive of Egypt, at a very critical moment, when indeed the latter’s life was in hourly danger. He represents Tewfik as saying: ‘Death does not signify to me personally. Our religion prevents us from having any fear of death; but it is different with our women. To them, you know, life is everything: their existence ends here; they cry and weep and implore me to save them.’

As to the custom of repudiating a wife, two learned Moslems, one Turkish and the other Indian, and both enlightened men, assure me that repudiation, though a general custom, is contrary to the teaching of Islam, which only recognises divorce. Both, however, admit that the practice is general, though they consider it irreligious or—what is the same thing in the Sacred Law of Islam—illegal.

565 I may add here that the great value of Christian missions from the West in the Turkish Empire, those of the Latin Church and of the American Protestant Churches alike, lies not only in their educational work but still more in their holding up to the members of the Eastern Churches higher standards of truthfulness and morality. Their influence has been already very useful. They have kindled a desire for instruction, and have infused new life in many of the members of the ancient Churches. While Greeks, Bulgarians, and Armenians look with intense distrust on any attempts to proselytise, they have all been awakened by these missions to the necessity for education. Considering the means at their disposal, I think it may be fairly said that no other people during the last half-century has done so much for education as the Greeks. The desire of every Greek who makes money seems to be to found a school in his native place. In Constantinople several large and excellent institutions, both for boys and girls, exist, all of course unaided by the Government, and in other cities of the Turkish empire like efforts have been made by patriotic Greeks. In Bulgaria one of the first acts of the newly enfranchised state was to establish an efficient system of education. The Armenians are not behind either, and their efforts, perhaps to a greater extent than those of the other two peoples mentioned, are directed to bringing their priests into line with those of the West. In 1896 the American missionaries in Turkey met in a ‘summer school’ on the island of Proti, near Constantinople; the late Armenian patriarch visited them, and, having spent a day in listening to their discussion on questions of teaching and Biblical scholarship, declared that he would be ready to sacrifice his life if his own priests could have the advantage of such gatherings.

566 ‘Pontes qui ad moenia ducunt dirumpunt.’ Pusculus iv. 137.

567 Professor van Millingen’s Byzantine Constantinople, p. 96.

568 Esquisse Topographique, p. 25.

569 Critobulus, Book II. ch. i.

570 Knolles, History of the Turks, p. 341 (written in 1610, edition of 1621).

571 P. 28.

572 1078, Dethier’s edition.

573 Byzantine Constantinople, p. 96. In the same manner Dethier, commenting on Pusculus, iv. line 169, says: ‘Pseudoporta Charsaca vel Pempti omnium celeberrima et in fortificatione calx Achilles erat. Hic enim ab utra parte, nempe a Porta Polyandrii [Adrianople Gate] et a Porta Sancti Romani in vallem Lyci linea recta murus descendit, idque contra omnem legem artis fortificationum.’

574 The Anonymous Chronicle, in verse, of the Latin Capture (edited by Joseph Mueller and Dethier), line 390.

575 Threnos, 610–613.

576 Dethier and the elder Mordtmann considered (in error, as the learned son of the latter and Professor van Millingen agree) that they had proved that the Pempton was the Chariseus. See, in addition to the sentence just quoted from the Threnos, the archaeological map of the Greek Syllogos and also Dethier’s note on Pusculus, iv. line 172.

577 Ch. xxiii.: πρὸς ταῖς καλουμέναις πύλαις τοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ.

578 Ahmed Muktar Pasha’s Siege of Constantinople (1902).

579 Esquisse Topographique, pp. 12, 21.

580 Book i. ch. 20.

581 Belagerung und Eroberung Constantinopels im Jahre 1453.

582 Πολιορκία.

583 Constantine, the last Emperor of the Greeks.

584 Les derniers Jours de Constantinople.

585 Book iii. ch. x.

586 248–9.

587 ἐκ τοῦ λιμένος τῆς χρύσης πύλης ἐκτός.

588 E.g. in the ancient account of the regions of the city given in the Notitia utriusque Imperii the Aurea Porta is mentioned as in the 12th Regio—that is, near the Seven Towers. Upon this Pancirolus remarks ‘The Greeks call it [i.e. the Aurea Porta] Ὡραία.’ Ducas might have been told that the fleet went to the Ὡραία πόρτα and understood it to be the Aurea Porta or the Golden Gate.

589 ‘Intuentibus nobis,’ p. 90.

590 ‘Teucrorum rex ex colle Perensi proconspicit,’ p. 90. It must be remembered that all across the Horn was Pera, and that Galata is properly Galata of Pera.

591 ‘Rex qui ex colle circumspicit,’ p. 90.

592 ‘Cogitavit itaque ex colle Galatae Orientali plaga vel eas lapidibus machinarum obruere vel a cathena repellere,’ p. 91.

593

‘Nec flare quievit
Structa donec statuit super aequora, Bosporus arctat
Litora ubi geminae telluris.’
Book iv. 413.

594 ‘Deserit illic ventus eas; cecidere sinus sub moenibus arcis,’ iv. 415.

595 ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκ τῶν τείχων ἄνωθεν ταῦτα θεωροῦντες, p. 248.

596 Vol. vii. p. 184.

597 Other contemporary authors give us distances which enable us to get an approximate length of a stadium: e.g. Chalcondylas says that the walls of Constantinople were 111 stadia, or a little over 13 English miles, in circuit. Critobulus gives the total length of walls as 126 stadia and the length of the landward walls as 48. Both his figures are somewhat too high, unless they are intended to give the measure of the sinuosities of the walls. But the statements both of Chalcondylas and Critobulus as well as that of Leonard, if his intention is to represent a measure about a ninth or tenth of a furlong, are all pretty nearly accurate.

598 Book iv. line 550.

599 Book ii. line 974.

600 Byzantine Constantinople, p. 234.

601 Note to Pusculus, p. 237.

602 P. 138.

603 ‘Die letzten Tage von Byzanz,’ in the Mitteilungen des deutschen Exkursions-Klubs in Konstantinopel.

604 εἰς πυγάς.

605 Esquisse de Constantinople, by Dr. Mordtmann, sect. 71–75.

606 Mr. Theodore Bent, who had paid greater attention to the archæology of the Greek Islands and to their present condition than any other Englishman, called my attention to the fact that the churches on the highest peaks not dedicated to St. George were usually dedicated to St. Elias, or to the Transfiguration, and suggested that there may have been a confusion in the minds of the islanders between Elias and Helios, the aspirate in the latter word being silent in modern Greek.

607 Valuable suggestions and information are given by Mr. Sathas in reference to the survival of paganism in Documents inédits, Athens, vol. i. Lord Beaconsfield in Lothair shows a true insight into the actual condition of Greek Christianity when he represents Mr. Phœbus as describing what he proposes to do with an island which he has leased in the Aegean. He will restore paganism, will set up the statue which he has sculptured of the American Theodora in a grove of laurel still much resorted to, and will have processions in the beautiful pagan fashion. The people are still ‘performing unconsciously the religious ceremonies of their ancestors.’ Lothair, ch. xxvii. and xxviii.

INDEX