Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. I
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
Tenth talisman. Two figures of tin had been placed on another of the
six columns by the physician Jálínús (Galen). One was a decrepit old
man, bent double; and opposite to it was a camel-lip sour-faced hag,
not straighter than her companion: and when man and wife led no happy
life together, if either of them embraced this column, a separation was
sure to take place. Wonderful talismans were destroyed, they say, in
the time of that asylum of apostleship (Mohammed), and are now buried
in the earth.
Eleventh talisman. On the site of the baths of Sultán Báyazíd Velí
there was a quadrangular column, eighty cubits high, erected by an
ancient sage named Kirbáriyá, as a talisman against the plague, which
could never prevail in Islámból as long as this column was standing. It
was afterwards demolished by that sultán, who erected a heart-rejoicing
_hammám_ in its place; and on that very day one of his sons died of the
plague, in the garden of Dáúd Páshá outside of the Adrianople-gate, and
was buried on an elevated platform (_soffah_) without: since which time
the plague has prevailed in the city.
Twelfth talisman. In the Tekfúr Seráï, near the Egrí kapú, there was a
large solid bust of black stone, on which a man named Muhaydák placed
a brazen figure of a demon (_’afrít_), which once a year spit out fire
and flames; and whoever caught a spark kept it in his kitchen; and, as
long as his health was good, that fire was never extinguished.
Thirteenth talisman. On the skirt of the place called Zírek-báshí there
is a cavern dedicated to St. John, and every month, when the piercing
cold of winter has set in, several black demons (_kónjólóz_) hide
themselves there.
Fourteenth talisman. To the south of Ayá Sófiyah there were four lofty
columns of white marble, bearing the statues of the four cherubs
(_kerrúblir_), Gabriel (Jebráyíl), Michael (Míkáyíl), Rafael (Isráfíl),
and Azrael (Azráyíl), turned towards the north, south, east, and west.
Each of them clapped his wings once a year, and foreboded desolation,
war, famine, or pestilence. These statues were upset when the Prophet
came into existence, but the four columns still remain a public
spectacle, near the subterraneous springs (_chukúr cheshmeh_) of Ayá
Sófiyah.
Fifteenth talisman. The great work in the Atmeïdán (Hippodrome), called
Milyón-pár (Millium?), is a lofty column, measuring a hundred and fifty
cubits (_arshún_) of builders measure. It was constructed by order of
Kostantín, of various coloured stones, collected from the 300,000
cities of which he was king, and designed to be an eternal monument of
his power, and at the same time a talisman. Through the middle of it
there ran a thick iron axis, round which the various coloured stones
were placed, and they were all kept together by a magnet, as large as
the cupola of a bath (_hammám_), fixed on its summit. It still remains
a lasting monument; and its builder, the head architect, Ghúrbárín by
name, lies buried at the foot of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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