DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0150
64
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
THE OCMEIDAN.
" The tough bow yields before the sinewy arm;
And, swift as lightning, through the yielding air
The winged arrow whistles to the mark."
The Ocmeidan, or Place of Arrows, is an extensive plain, situated behind
the village of Tatavola, called by the Greeks who inhabit it the hamlet of
St. Demetrius; and stretching along above the deep valley of this little Christian
colony, and beside the cemeteries of Pera.
The view which it commands, where it touches upon the harbour, is most
magnificent; the " Seven Hills" are all before it, with their galaxy of mosques
and palaces : two of them linked together by the hoary aqueduct of Valens, and
all gleaming in white marble, and overtopped by the dusky mountains of Asia
Minor. Beneath it spreads the Golden Horn, crowded witli shipping, and
traversed by a light floating bridge, seeming to the eye as frail and unstable as
that of El Sirat; but which is crossed by the Faithful from the Golden City only to
arrive at the infidel dwellings of the Franks, instead of the houri-tenanted valleys
of Paradise ; forming, meanwhile, an extremely pretty feature in the landscape.
A fringe of forest-trees descends to the very edge of the plain, which is full
of gentle undulations, and is rendered remarkable by being studded over at
irregular distances by columns of stone or marble, bearing inscriptions, and
not unfrequently lettered with gold. These columns, which have much the
appearance of funereal monuments, are simply records of the skill of the Imperial
Toxopholite who now sways the sceptre of the Ottoman empire, and whose
dexterity in the use of the " cloth-yard shaft" is presumed to be unequalled
Throughout his dominions. Archery is a sport to which Sultan Mahmoud is
much attached; and he is said to boast that, during the last forty years of his
life, he has never suffered a week to pass in which he has not practised his
well-worn bow. His proficiency in the science may therefore be inferred:
though it is certain that none, save an Imperial arm, could ever have
" Sped the winged arrow"
to such a distance, as some of the columnar records, to which allusion has just
been made, appear to testify.
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
THE OCMEIDAN.
" The tough bow yields before the sinewy arm;
And, swift as lightning, through the yielding air
The winged arrow whistles to the mark."
The Ocmeidan, or Place of Arrows, is an extensive plain, situated behind
the village of Tatavola, called by the Greeks who inhabit it the hamlet of
St. Demetrius; and stretching along above the deep valley of this little Christian
colony, and beside the cemeteries of Pera.
The view which it commands, where it touches upon the harbour, is most
magnificent; the " Seven Hills" are all before it, with their galaxy of mosques
and palaces : two of them linked together by the hoary aqueduct of Valens, and
all gleaming in white marble, and overtopped by the dusky mountains of Asia
Minor. Beneath it spreads the Golden Horn, crowded witli shipping, and
traversed by a light floating bridge, seeming to the eye as frail and unstable as
that of El Sirat; but which is crossed by the Faithful from the Golden City only to
arrive at the infidel dwellings of the Franks, instead of the houri-tenanted valleys
of Paradise ; forming, meanwhile, an extremely pretty feature in the landscape.
A fringe of forest-trees descends to the very edge of the plain, which is full
of gentle undulations, and is rendered remarkable by being studded over at
irregular distances by columns of stone or marble, bearing inscriptions, and
not unfrequently lettered with gold. These columns, which have much the
appearance of funereal monuments, are simply records of the skill of the Imperial
Toxopholite who now sways the sceptre of the Ottoman empire, and whose
dexterity in the use of the " cloth-yard shaft" is presumed to be unequalled
Throughout his dominions. Archery is a sport to which Sultan Mahmoud is
much attached; and he is said to boast that, during the last forty years of his
life, he has never suffered a week to pass in which he has not practised his
well-worn bow. His proficiency in the science may therefore be inferred:
though it is certain that none, save an Imperial arm, could ever have
" Sped the winged arrow"
to such a distance, as some of the columnar records, to which allusion has just
been made, appear to testify.