The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
History
The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
Angora formed our nineteenth halting place from Constantinople. It
is a town of Galatia, and was, at one time, the head-quarters of the
Tectosages, a Gallic tribe. Pliny and Strabo both mention it, but it is
not improbable that the present city covers only a part of the ancient
town. The Kanûns[133] call it Anquira.
Here we saw a very beautiful inscription,[134] containing a copy of
the tablets in which Augustus gave a summary of his achievements. We
made our people copy out as much as was legible. It is engraven on the
marble walls of a building now ruinous and roofless, which formerly may
have formed the official residence of the governor. As you enter the
building one half of the inscription is on the right, and the other
on the left. The top lines are nearly perfect; in the middle the gaps
begin to present difficulties; the lowest lines are so mutilated with
blows of clubs and axes as to be illegible. This is indeed a great
literary loss, and one which scholars have much reason to regret; the
more so as it is an ascertained fact that Ancyra was dedicated[135] to
Augustus as the common gift of Asia.
Here we also saw how the famous watered stuff, or mohair, which is
woven of the hair of the goats I have already described, is dyed; and
how, when water has been poured on, it takes those waves from the
action of the press, from which it derives its name, and for which
it is prized. The stuff which bears the mark of a very large wave,
and keeps its pattern, is considered the best; but if, in any part,
smaller and uneven waves occur, although the colour and material be
precisely the same, it is worth less by several gold pieces on account
of the flaw. Elderly men among the Turks, when they are of high rank,
are generally distinguished by dresses made of this material. Solyman
prefers it to any other dress for state occasions, wearing that which
is of a green colour; a hue which, according to our notions, is hardly
becoming to a man of advanced years; but their religion, and the
example of their prophet Mahomet, who wore it constantly, even in his
old age, gives it favour in the eyes of the Turks. Among them black
is considered a mean and unlucky colour, and for any one in Turkey to
appear dressed in black is held to be ominous of disaster and evil.
On some occasions the Pashas would express their astonishment at our
going to them in black clothes, and make it a ground for serious
remonstrance. No one in Turkey goes abroad in black unless he be
completely ruined, or in great grief for some terrible disaster. Purple
is highly esteemed, but in time of war it is considered ominous of a
bloody death. The lucky colours are white, orange, light blue, violet,
mouse colour, &c. In this, and other matters, the Turks pay great
attention to auguries and omens. It is a well-known fact that a Pasha
has sometimes been dismissed from office because his horse stumbled,
under the idea that it portended some great misfortune, and that,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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