Page:The travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch - Volume I.djvu/50

22 the top of the arches and tabernacles; the multitude of crosses upon its walls and entablatures; the variety of figures and paintings of the festivals of Our Lord, which are on the ceiling of the cupolas; the diversity of colours of the mosaic figures, gilt and painted upon it; the number of its doors; the size of the brazen crosses upon them; the multitude of its windows; and, what am I saying?— it is not possible for the human intellect to describe the detailed account of its beauties.

 

St. Sophia we went to see the Mosque of the late Sultan Ahmed, who was so famous for his refractoriness. Its floor is formed of unpolished marble, as cut from the quarry. Afterwards we walked over the Esplanade, or Public Walk of Constantinople, which is celebrated throughout the world. It is called the At Maidan; that is, the Field of the Horse, or Race Ground, (Ἱππόδρομος,) and is in front of the Mosque. We viewed, erected upon a stone pedestal, the admirable Pyramid, called the New Tekelli Dash; which is one entire piece of stone, squared, and of a grey colour, inclining to red. On the four sides, it has engraved certain scientific shapes or figures and likenesses of animals, which are all philosophic words (Hieroglyphics). The Pyramid is fixed upon four cubes of brass; and has under it a cube of white marble, in one piece, the length and breadth and height of which is fourteen spans on each side square; and, on each side, it is sculptured with personal forms, every side presenting a different group. Its height from the base to the summit, that is, the height of the pillar and its pedestal, is equal to that of the minarets of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed.

At the distance of a stone's throw from this Pyramid is a pillar of thick brass, twisted together in three rolls, as if it were three serpents or dragons entwined upon each other. Upon the top are three serpents heads, stretched with open mouths towards the three sides of the city: the lower jaw of one of them is broken. It is pretended, that the deceased Sultan Othman broke it with his mace; and also, that this pillar has been a protection, since the time of the Emperor Constantine, against the entrance of serpents into the city, one and all: and it is related, as an historical fact, that when, upon this occasion, this single head was broken, the side of the city to which it stretched was immediately invaded by serpents: but they do no injury.

