The Antiquities of Constantinople. Gilles Pierre

the Descent. It rises easily to that part of the Promontory, where the second and third Hills join. In the lowermost part of the Valley runs the broad Way that faces Galata. This Way, on both Sides of it, is full of Merchants Houses, cover’d with a kind of transparent Slat, which have here and there a small Casement. The Merchants of Galata frequent the grand Bezestan, or Place of Exchange. ’Tis situate partly on the Head of the Valley, and partly on an Eminence of the third Hill. In the Year of our Lord 1546 it was wholly burnt to the Ground, except two Basilica’s roof’d with Brick-work, which were lock’d up every Night, and their Windows secured by Iron Bars, when the Fire was over. I was allowed after the Fire to view their grand Forum. I found it lie so much upon the Level, that it had but a small Ascent either from the West to the East, or from the South to the North. I observed that it stood upon more than five Furlongs of Ground; on the highest part of it, which lies to the East, I was permitted to see a Nymphæum, adorn’d with five and forty Marble Pillars, which supported a Brick Roof. The old Basilica, of which I could have no Prospect before, by reason of the Shops and publick Houses, the Fire had lain open to my View. I observed farther, that it had two additional Buildings like Wings, joining to the main Building, each of which was divided into sixty Apartments, which were all arched, and over the Roof cover’d with Lead, as their Shops and Places of publick Entertainment are. The inward Chambers of these Apartments, for Privacy, are always lock’d, and are secured by an Iron Door. The Basilica itself consists of fifteen large Apartments, in the Figure of a Dome, has four Doors, and is supported by eight Pillars; the Roof is Brick-work, and leaded at Top. The new Basilica is supported with twelve Pillars built of a square Stone; four Arches bear upon these Pillars, which support twenty small Roofs, built in the Form of a Dome. There stand round about sixty Merchants Warehouses, or Shops with arch’d Roofs. Within the Basilica there are two hundred and twenty more of these Warehouses, which are made after the following Manner. Round the Walls of the Basilica are built abundance of very broad Pews, where the Merchants expose their Goods to Sale, which they take out of Presses, (when they would shew them to their Chapmen) which have Boxes of Drawers in them, the Masters always sitting before them. These Presses are fasten’d to the Wall, have two Folding Doors, and are removable at Pleasure.

      Chap. XI.

      Of the third Hill

      THE third Hill is bounded on each Side by two Valleys: That which lies to the East, divides it from the second Hill, the Western Valley divides it from the fourth. The Ridge of this Hill is above a thousand Paces in Length. It shoots from the Top of the Promontory Southward, Northward to the Bay of Ceras, almost in an equal Height. The second Hill on the contrary falls with a surprizing Descent, from the utmost Height of the Promontory, to the lowest Plain on the Bay Shore. The third Hill, at the Top of it is a Level of a great Length. It extends itself at the Foot of it, more by three hundred Paces to the North, than the Foot of the second Hill. It is not in all Places of an equal Breadth; at the Top of the Promontory itself ’tis every way about eight hundred Paces. Here ’tis that the Seraglio stands. On that part of the Plain which lies to the East, stands the Merchants Forum, a Caravansera, and the Sepulchre of Bajazet the Emperor. On the South Side of it is an open Area, round which stand the Booksellers Shops. On that part of it which lies Northward, stand the Works which the Emperour Solyman is now building, namely his Tomb, a Caravansera, and a magnificent and expensive Mosque. They are built not only upon the natural Situation of the Ground there, but also upon artificial Foundations. This Hill, on three Sides of it, descends upon three lesser Hills. For on that Side of it which lies Eastward, where stands the Tower of Hirena, a small Hill jets out into the second Valley. The long Projecture of this Hill, on the Ridge of it towards the Bay, makes another small Hill which lies Northward, and from that Side of it which points Westward, where stands the Church of St. Theodore, there shoots another little Hill out of the Middle of it, to the Plain which lies on the Sea Shore. Two Sides of this Hill descend in a double Declivity, one in a strait, and the other in an oblique Line. The Eastern Side of the third Hill, after it has extended itself to thirteen hundred Paces Distance, abates somewhat of its winding Descent, but the nearer you descend to the Plain, it falls with a more direct and confined Declivity. The Descents falling from the Ridge of the Hill to the Valley differ very much, the uppermost of them hanging over a very deep Valley, rise to the Height of five hundred Paces, the lowest three hundred of which are very steep, the three hundred Paces above them are scarce half of that Steepness. The other Descents of this Hill are not so shelving, where the Valley rises higher. The Western Side of the Hill, as to its Declivities, is like the Eastern. The Northern Side of it has several Descents: For a lesser Hill, shooting from the Ridge of this Hill, is five hundred Paces high, the lower most three hundred of which fall so precipitately, that the Buildings which stand upon them, are all under-propp’d, the two hundred Paces above them fall with an easy Descent. The Descents on this Side of the Hill, the farther they lie from the Plain on the Sea Shore, the more are they lengthen’d by a sideling Fall, which rises on the Eastern Side of the Hill. The Plain on the Shore, as discontinued by the Inlet of the Bay, is not above two hundred Paces in Breadth, but at the Foot of the Hill, in other Parts of it, it sensibly widens up to the Entrance of the Valleys. The Grand Seraglio, seated on the Side of this Hill, when I first arrived at Constantinople, was little less than six thousand Paces in Compass, but is at present more closely straiten’d, since the Caravansera’s have been built there by the Sultan Solyman, and the burying Place for the Women (which is at least half the Ground) has been taken out of it and enclosed. The left Side of the Promontory, which lies behind the third Hill to the South, jets out with two lesser Hills; from one of which that shoots Eastward, the Side of the Promontory which winds round Westward to the other Hill, which is seated a little above the Foot of the Promontory; and at the Bottom of this Hill, the Promontory admits the third Valley, which lies behind it, and from thence stretches full North. The left Side therefore of the third Hill hath a double Descent; the one towards the South, which is six hundred Paces high, another extending itself South South-west, seven hundred Paces high; but at full West it falls very short of that Height. The Plain that lies between the back Southern Parts of the third Hill, and the Shore of the Propontis, is in no part of it less than three hundred Paces broad, nor above seven hundred Paces long. The Plain of the Valley which encloses the Foot of the Hill Westward, and which divides the seventh Hill from the Promontory, reaching from the Shore of the Propontis, where the Walls are not encompassed by the Sea, is almost upon a Level, and is in every part of it five hundred Paces in Breadth. The three Hills I have mention’d, may very properly be called the Promontory of the Bosporus; for they hang over the Sea in such a manner, that whether you sail to Constantinople out of the Black Sea, or the Propontis, you may see them at a great Distance, prominent over the Chaps of the Bosporus. The third Valley seems to separate the other three Hills, which lie farther into the Continent from these. The Reason why I place six Hills in the Promontory of the Bosporus is, because these latter Hills all stand in a Row near the Bay, and are join’d together both at the Top and the Sides of them. The Plain which unfolds itself on the Ridge of the third Hill, descends gently into a Plain which hangs over the third Valley, and is six hundred and twenty Paces in Length, and as many in Breadth.

      Chap. XII.

      Of the third Valley

      THE third Valley, which lies between the third and the fourth Hill, seems to be a double Valley; for in the Middle of it, it rises high, which makes it doubtful whether it be a part of the Valley, or the Promontory. That the Height of it is a part of the Valley, seems plain from the Height of the Arches, which reach from one Side of the Valley to the other; and it may be look’d upon to be the Ridge of the Promontory, from the Descent of the extreme Parts of it falling to the right and left, on each Side of the Promontory. On the right Side of which, it descends into a very low Plain, which, at its first Entrance, is three hundred Paces broad, and continues on upon a Level to the Length of five hundred Paces more; and though it sinks at Bottom into an equal Depth, yet the Pitches or Sides of it, in some Places, are higher than in others. For where the Plain is most hollow, there one of the Sides of it is three times higher than the other. From this Plain you ascend by easy Steps to the Top