BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS. 9
PLATE: COURT OF THE MOSQUE OF EYOUB. (9)
EYOUB
"It is a goodly sight to see
What Heaven hath done for this delicious land!"
BYRON
EYOUB
"It is a goodly sight to see
What Heaven hath done for this delicious land!"
BYRON
EYOUB, beautifully situated at the eastern extremity of the walls of Constantinople, and stretching down to the very lip of the harbour, is the "holy of holies" of the Turks. Its magnificent mosque and its picturesque cemetery are equally historical; while its position, overlooking the whole extent of the Golden Horn, and commanding a noble view far up the Bosphorus, is possibly unrivalled. Smoothly-rounded hills, feathered with trees varying in character, but all rich in beauty, form a back-ground eminently scenic; the lofty maple and the leafy plane-tree, the fan-like acacia and the rigid cypress, flourish side by side, and overshadow a wilderness of graves; while the suburb itself, unusually well-built an regular, circles a portion of the harbour with stately and pleasant dwellings.
The mosque, built of the purest white marble, with a court gloriously shaded by gigantic trees, and paved with the same material of which the edifice is composed, is the most sacred of all the Constantinopolitan temples; for on this spot tradition says that Abu Eyoub, the companion-in-arms of the Prophet, was slain, during the siege of the Saracens in 668, a fact which was revealed in a vision to Mahomet II. about 800 years afterwards. who, in commemoration of the event, laid the foundation of the present mosque, which is one of the most elegant in the capital; and is within these walls that every Sultan, on his accession, is invested with the sword of sovereignty. No infidel foot is permitted, under whatever pretence, to desecrate the mosque of Eyoub; and Christians are rarely, and always reluctantly, admitted even to the court.
At Eyoub, on the very verge of the water, stands one of the summer palaces built by the unfortunate Sultan Selim, and overlooking the lovely glen through which the Barbyses flows calmly onward, to lose itself in the harbour. It is now the property of the Sultana Asmè, the elder sister of the present Sultan.
"The decorations throughout are heavy, but of the greatest richness, and perfectly oriental in their character. What was formerly the reception-room of the ill-fated sovereign is entirely lined with gilding; the walls being niched and overhung with stalactited cornices similar to those which decorate many of our old cathedral tombs; and the weight of this elaborate ornament is relieved by a ceiling of faint blue, sprinkled with silver stars".(*)(*) The City of the Sultan