EYOUB 11
PLATE: CEMETERY & MOSQUE OF AYUB (EYYUB)
"Delighted at the successful issue of his experiment, Omer Effendi summoned the Arabs to his presence, and showed them the Fèz; when, instantly suspecting the masquerade that had betrayed them, they simultaneously turned towards the Armenian; and throwing their turbans on the ground, and tearing their hair, they cried out, 'Yaccoup! Yaccoup!' (Jacob! Jacob!)
"The superintendent having dismissed them, after causing them to be liberally remunerated for the time which they had spent at Constantinople, sent them back to Tunis; while Avanis Aga, elected Head Dyer of the Imperial Manufactory of Eyoub, now enjoys the high honour of deciding on the exact tint to be worn by Mahmoud the Powerful, the 'Light of the Sun,' and 'Shadow of the Universe.'" (*)
By far the most interesting feature of Eyoub is, however, its beautifully-situated cemetery, occupying the slope of a thickly-wooded hill. After the necropolis of Scutari, that of Eyoub is the most venerated by the Turks; and to the stranger it is rendered peculiarly interesting by the fact, that it contains the tombs of the "Tiger-Pasha," Ali of Tepeleni, whose life, revolt, and death, form a wild and thrilling romance; and those of his three sons, and his grandson; who, in accordance with Eastern ideas of expediency, shared his punishment; and whose trunkless heads now lie in the burial-ground of Eyub, beside his own. On a parapet wall directly facing the Selyvria gate, five oblong blocks of marble of unequal height, and crowned with turbans, are ranged side by side in a conspicuous situation. That which covers the head of the traitor himself is thus inscribed: - "Here lies the head of the once celebrated Tepedelenly Ali Pasha, Governor of the Sangiac of Yanina; who for more than fifty years pretended to independence in Albania." The others simply record the name and rank of the respective victims, and terminate the inscription very naïvely with the words, "who has been put to death by the cutting off of his head;" without attempting to perpetuate any accusation of crime of misdemeanour; their unlucky relationship to the rebel Pasha being accounted a sufficient treason.
When on a visit at the Fanar, of Greek quarter of the city, I had once a momentary glimpse of the widow of this celebrated rebel. She was the daughter of a Greek papas, or priest, of Yanina, of great beauty and some erudition, to whom the Pasha was reported to have been passionately attached; though she is accused (it is doubtful with what justice) of having stipulated to receive her "thirty pieces of silver" for betraying him to the Government. Be this as it may, it is certain that she possessed great influence over his mind; and that it was entirely by her arguments and entreaties that he was dissuaded from the desperate intention of blowing her, himself, and his treasures, up with gunpowder, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Sultan;