DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9695#0102
34 VOYAGES AND PASSAGES FROM ANNO 1608
Thirdly: I walked another tyme alone as farre as
Aurat Bazar, or the market of Weomen", and there I saw
the Historicall pillar2.
Fourthly: I saw another High columne of marble3.
It stoode (as I take it) towards the Haven, bound about
His Pilgrimes, Book ix. ch. 16, p. 1627; Delia Valle, Voyages, vol. i.
p. 37 ; Thevenot, Travels into the Levant, Part i. p. 22; Dumont,
A New Voyage to the Levant, p. 151 ; Le Bruyn, Voyages au Levant,
vol. i. pp. 158— 159 ; Chishull, Travels in Turkey, p. 40.
1 Avret-bazar, about one mile west of the Hippodrome. The
district is still so called.
"A large and spacious place...towards the Port of Selimbria,
called by the Turkes Aurat Bazar (which is as much to say, the
market place of women, for thither they come to sell their Workes
and Wares)." Voyage of John Sanderson in Purchas His Pilgrimes,
Book ix. ch. 16, p. 1629.
2 So called from the military scenes sculptured on its base. The
pedestal now only remains.
Compare the description of the Historical Column by Busbequius
(Busbek) in 1555, Travels into Turkey, p. 49, "Constantinople doth
gratifie us with the Sight of two memorable Pillars; One...in the
Forum, called by the Turks, Aurat-basar, i.e. The Womens Court,
wherein, from Bottom to Top, is engraven the History of a certain
Expedition of one Arcadius, who built it, and whose Statue, for a long
time, stood on the Top of it. And yet it may rather be called a
Stair-case, than a Pillar, because it goes winding up like a Pair of
Stairs."
Evliya Efendi in his account "of the wonderful Talismans within
and without Kostantineh," Travels in Europe, vol. I. Part i. p. 16,
gives the following interesting legend in connection with the Historical
Column :—" First talisman. In the Avret-Bazari (female slave-
market), there is a lofty column (the pillar of Arcadius) of white
marble, inside of which there is a winding staircase. On the outside
of it, figures of the soldiers of various nations, Hindustanies, Kur-
distanies, and Multanies, whom Yanko ibn Madiyan vanquished,
were sculptured by his command ; and on the summit of it there was
anciently a fairy-cheeked female figure of one of the beauties of the
age, which once a year gave a sound, on which many hundred
thousand kinds of birds, after flying round and round the image, fell
down to the earth, and being caught by the people of Rum (Romelia),
provided them with an abundant meal. Afterwards, in the age of
Kostantin, the monks placed bells on the top of it, in order to give an
alarm on the approach of an enemy: And subsequently, at the birth
of the Prophet, there was a great earthquake, by which the statue and
all the bells on the top of the pillar were thrown down topsy-turvy,
and the column itself broken in pieces : but, having been formed by
talismanic art, it could not be entirely destroyed, and part of it
remains an extraordinary spectacle to the present day."
3 The Burnt Column (Jemberli Tash).
Thirdly: I walked another tyme alone as farre as
Aurat Bazar, or the market of Weomen", and there I saw
the Historicall pillar2.
Fourthly: I saw another High columne of marble3.
It stoode (as I take it) towards the Haven, bound about
His Pilgrimes, Book ix. ch. 16, p. 1627; Delia Valle, Voyages, vol. i.
p. 37 ; Thevenot, Travels into the Levant, Part i. p. 22; Dumont,
A New Voyage to the Levant, p. 151 ; Le Bruyn, Voyages au Levant,
vol. i. pp. 158— 159 ; Chishull, Travels in Turkey, p. 40.
1 Avret-bazar, about one mile west of the Hippodrome. The
district is still so called.
"A large and spacious place...towards the Port of Selimbria,
called by the Turkes Aurat Bazar (which is as much to say, the
market place of women, for thither they come to sell their Workes
and Wares)." Voyage of John Sanderson in Purchas His Pilgrimes,
Book ix. ch. 16, p. 1629.
2 So called from the military scenes sculptured on its base. The
pedestal now only remains.
Compare the description of the Historical Column by Busbequius
(Busbek) in 1555, Travels into Turkey, p. 49, "Constantinople doth
gratifie us with the Sight of two memorable Pillars; One...in the
Forum, called by the Turks, Aurat-basar, i.e. The Womens Court,
wherein, from Bottom to Top, is engraven the History of a certain
Expedition of one Arcadius, who built it, and whose Statue, for a long
time, stood on the Top of it. And yet it may rather be called a
Stair-case, than a Pillar, because it goes winding up like a Pair of
Stairs."
Evliya Efendi in his account "of the wonderful Talismans within
and without Kostantineh," Travels in Europe, vol. I. Part i. p. 16,
gives the following interesting legend in connection with the Historical
Column :—" First talisman. In the Avret-Bazari (female slave-
market), there is a lofty column (the pillar of Arcadius) of white
marble, inside of which there is a winding staircase. On the outside
of it, figures of the soldiers of various nations, Hindustanies, Kur-
distanies, and Multanies, whom Yanko ibn Madiyan vanquished,
were sculptured by his command ; and on the summit of it there was
anciently a fairy-cheeked female figure of one of the beauties of the
age, which once a year gave a sound, on which many hundred
thousand kinds of birds, after flying round and round the image, fell
down to the earth, and being caught by the people of Rum (Romelia),
provided them with an abundant meal. Afterwards, in the age of
Kostantin, the monks placed bells on the top of it, in order to give an
alarm on the approach of an enemy: And subsequently, at the birth
of the Prophet, there was a great earthquake, by which the statue and
all the bells on the top of the pillar were thrown down topsy-turvy,
and the column itself broken in pieces : but, having been formed by
talismanic art, it could not be entirely destroyed, and part of it
remains an extraordinary spectacle to the present day."
3 The Burnt Column (Jemberli Tash).