Victory Day

     August 30th is Victory day in Turkey. It marks the successfull ousting of allied forces from present-day Turkey by Turkish nationalists. Most notable of these nationalists is the revered Mustafa Kemal. Kemal would later take on the title Atatürk, which I believe translates to "Father of Turkey." Atatürk's image is everywhere from statues to classrooms to billboards throughout Turkey. As a foreigner, I know little about this country's complex past and present. The most I can hope to gain is a glimpse and the best thing I can do is avoid any political conversation I might happen to encounter. This is my policy in any country.

     Today, banks and government institutions are closed. I have the day off which has given me the opportunity to hunt down some pictures and go grocery shopping. As I waited for the bus with Rae, a large group of proud Turks on motorcycles drove down the seaside boulevard honking and waving Turkish flags.We exchanged a silent look of admiration for the pride of this young country (88 years). Rae dug in her purse for the bus number that would take us to the Kipa market. The sky rumbled and we turned back to look at the Aegean. Nine helicopters flying in precise military formation flew low over the city and everyone around us cheered. I immediately thought of watching the Blue Angels from atop my Uncle's chiropractic office back home.

    Here are some pictures from my experiences in Istanbul. First is the Hagia Sophia:

     Words cannot describe the humbling effect this place has on a person. The dome is approximately 55 meters tall (180ft). There are many eccentricities and unique elements to the Hagia Sophia. The first church was inagurated by Constantius II in 360 and called the "Magna Ecclesia" or Great Church. It served as a principle place of worship within the Byzantine empire. The patron of the city John Chrysostom came into conflict with then empress Aelia Eudoxa. At that time, the roof was wooden and in 404 riots in Constantinople broke out which eventually resulted in most of the original church burning down.
       Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II inagurated the second church in October 415. That church also had a wooden dome which, you guessed it, burned down in 532 during the Nika Revolt. Several blocks survive from this church. They look like this:

     This piece was originally part of a grand entrance to the church. It had 12 lambs representing the 12 apostles. This piece and one other were discovered in 1935.
     So, when did they finally construct something that would last? In February, 532, the structure which stands today was built. Justinian I decided he was going to do things right. Hellenistic columns were brought from the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Stones were brought from quarries in Porphyry, Egypt. Green marble came from Thessaly. Black stone was brought from the Bosporous region. Yellow stone came from Syria.
     The place is amazing for any number of reasons but for me, it's a great way to compare Christian and Islamic art forms side-by-side. When Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, it was immediately converted into a mosque. Mosques are not allowed to have graven images of any kind. This is an interesting contrast to western cathedrals which generally have illuminated mosaics and various allegorical tales cataloged on their walls and stained-glass windows. All art in mosques is generally Arabic calligraphy, the language of the Koran which is forbidden to be translated. Atatürk made Turkey a secular state and turned the mosque into a museum in 1935. Now the two art forms can be viewed side-by-side.

      I know this post is already pretty history-heavy but I've got to mention the Basilica Cistern which is just a few hundred feet away from the Hagia Sophia. The Cistern is the largest of hundreds that are beneath all of Istanbul. It was built during the reign of Justinian I that I mentioned earlier. Imagine a chamber about 450' x 200' filled with water. It's supported by 336  marble columns.

     The cistern was used for water until just after the Ottoman conquest in 1453. It was actually completely forgotten about when the ottomans decided they wanted to use other water filtration methods. A westerner named P. Gyllius came to Istanbul to study Byzantine art and stumbled on the cistern when he heard rumors that people had been obtaining water by dipping buckets into holes in their basements. According to rumor, he was invited into a hospitable Turkish household and witnessed the husband fishing from the comfort of his basement. Gyllius lowered himself into the cistern and made it known to the Western world.
       The other thing about the cistern is the Medusa blocks:

     There are two of them supporting columns in the northwest corner of the cistern. Nobody knows why or how they got there. Like anything else, there are any number of wild and unsupported speculations on it. I'll tell you my favorites.
     Legend has it that Medusa was in love with Perseus, one of many half-mortal sons of Zeus. Unfortunately for her, Athena was also in love with Perseus. Being a war goddess, Athena wasn't inclined to work out differences over a hot cup of chamomile tea and instead opted to turn Medusa's hair into snakes- forever cursing her to be a hideous monster who turned people to stone with her gaze. Harsh. To make matters worse, Athena would eventually instruct Perseus to decapitate his former secret-admirer in order to use her tragic power that, unbeknownst to him,  was simply the result of the most epic cat-fight of all time.
     Medusa heads were said to be used to protect sacred places by the Byzantines. Paradoxically, the heads would often be turned sideways or upside-down to prevent her gaze from turning people to stone. So...nevermind. My theory is that these blocks happened to be the right size to prop the cistern columns up and whoever moved them just looked at them as old car parts because Istanbul is so awash in ruins. Anyway they look neat.
     We ended our tour of Istanbul with a cruise on the Bosphorous that I mentioned in a previous post. This is what the back of my head looks like on the boat:

I wish I had more pictures of the beautiful scenery. We were essentially surrounded by ancient architecture, good food and better Rakı. That's all for now.