DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0154
66
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
THE SERAI BOURNOU.
" A rich confusion form'd a disarray
In such sort, that the eye along it cast
Could hardly carry any thing away,
Object on object flashed so bright and fast :
A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter,
Magnificently mingled in a litter."
Byron.
The celebrated Serai Bournou, occupying the obtuse point of the triangle
on which Constantinople is built, boasts, as perhaps its greatest peculiarity,
that it was once in itself a city. The ancient Byzantium was founded in the
year A. c. 660, by a Lacedemonian colony ; and a portion of the original walls
are actually standing at this day, and still serve to separate the palace gardens
from the public street. The mouldering but solid masonry which now girdles
the Imperial residence of the Caliphs, once belted a city; and the groves and
alleys that are to-day scantily traversed by slaves, eunuchs, and women, were
in times of old thickly peopled with an active, busy, and enterprising popu-
lation. -
Byzantium, enriched by the first Constantine, and made the key-store of a
new Empire, and the capital of a second Rome—Byzantium, where a hundred of
his august race feasted and governed in their turn, and which was ultimately
lost to Christendom by the last and bravest of the line—is now a mere Moslem
palace, where the echoes of the war-trumpet, and the neighing of the war-steed,
have been replaced by the twanging of the lute, and the voices of women ; even
its ancient name is never heard, and its broad sun-lighted honours have been
exchanged for silence and mystery.
It is asserted by historians that the capital of Byzantium was formerly
enriched with columns and statues, and that monuments, now no longer
in existence, were profusely collected within its walls: be that as it may,
the only remnant of classic antiquity now remaining is a stately column
of marble, formed of huge blocks piled upon each other to the height of
ninety feet, and standing upon a raised square platform, or terrace, planted
with trees, in an outer court of the palace; and known as the Column of
BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS.
THE SERAI BOURNOU.
" A rich confusion form'd a disarray
In such sort, that the eye along it cast
Could hardly carry any thing away,
Object on object flashed so bright and fast :
A dazzling mass of gems, and gold, and glitter,
Magnificently mingled in a litter."
Byron.
The celebrated Serai Bournou, occupying the obtuse point of the triangle
on which Constantinople is built, boasts, as perhaps its greatest peculiarity,
that it was once in itself a city. The ancient Byzantium was founded in the
year A. c. 660, by a Lacedemonian colony ; and a portion of the original walls
are actually standing at this day, and still serve to separate the palace gardens
from the public street. The mouldering but solid masonry which now girdles
the Imperial residence of the Caliphs, once belted a city; and the groves and
alleys that are to-day scantily traversed by slaves, eunuchs, and women, were
in times of old thickly peopled with an active, busy, and enterprising popu-
lation. -
Byzantium, enriched by the first Constantine, and made the key-store of a
new Empire, and the capital of a second Rome—Byzantium, where a hundred of
his august race feasted and governed in their turn, and which was ultimately
lost to Christendom by the last and bravest of the line—is now a mere Moslem
palace, where the echoes of the war-trumpet, and the neighing of the war-steed,
have been replaced by the twanging of the lute, and the voices of women ; even
its ancient name is never heard, and its broad sun-lighted honours have been
exchanged for silence and mystery.
It is asserted by historians that the capital of Byzantium was formerly
enriched with columns and statues, and that monuments, now no longer
in existence, were profusely collected within its walls: be that as it may,
the only remnant of classic antiquity now remaining is a stately column
of marble, formed of huge blocks piled upon each other to the height of
ninety feet, and standing upon a raised square platform, or terrace, planted
with trees, in an outer court of the palace; and known as the Column of