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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



are at once distinct elevations and great 

 ridges which blend at their tops. It is 

 not everywhere easy to distinguish the 

 valleys between the first, second, and 

 third hills, since there man has most 

 modified nature. 



Few cities have equaled Constantino- 

 ple in importance. None in ancient or 

 modern times have exceeded it in dra- 

 matic interest. During centuries of the 

 Middle Ages it was the foremost city of 

 the world, surpassing every other in 

 populousness, strength, and beauty and 

 in the high development of its civiliza- 

 tion. To the Mussulman it ranks next 

 to Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. The 

 Christian must regard it with still greater 

 reverence. It was the first city distinct- 

 ively Christian, erected by the first Chris- 

 tian emperor on the ruins of vanquished 

 paganism. 



couNciivS 0^ the; undivided church 



Here, almost in sight of the dome of 

 Sancta Sophia, was wrought out the 

 theology of the undivided church by 

 her ecumenical councils. Here, in the 

 fourth and fifth centuries, preached that 

 galaxy of pulpit orators, the Chrysos- 

 toms and Gregorys, who in biblical and 

 pious eloquence have never been sur- 

 passed. Here, ever since its founda- 

 tion, is the chief seat of that venerable 

 communion which alone of Christian 

 churches uses no mere translation, crude 

 and imperfect, of the Gospels in its wor- 

 ship, but the vernacular of whose ritual 

 is even now daily chanted in the very 

 language in which the New Testament 

 was inspired. Here were developed the 

 first principles of Byzantine art, which as 

 handmaid of the Christian faith "has had 

 more influence than any other in the 

 church architecture of western Europe." 

 Here was framed that marvelous Jus- 

 tinian Code, digest and compendium of 

 all the laws known before, Avhich, how- 

 ever modified, still survives and sways in 

 all subsequent legislation. Here, in clois- 

 ters and libraries, while Europe was 

 buried in barbarism, were preserved the 

 precious volumes, and among her sons 

 were being nursed the world-famous 

 teachers to whom in their subsequent 

 dispersion is commonly attributed the in- 

 tellectual revival — the Renaissance. 



During more than eleven hundred years 

 after her consecration by Constantine, 

 Constantinople yielded but once to for- 

 eign attack, when in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury she was sacked by the Latin Cru- 

 saders. Many times assaulted by Persia, 

 which, resurrected under her Sassanide 

 kings, had reached a height of prosperity 

 and power ancient Persia hardly at- 

 tained ; by the Arabs, in all the fiery glow 

 of a new and till then triumphant faith ; 

 by innumerable hosts constantly renewed, 

 of Goths, Avars, Bulgarians, and Slavo- 

 nians — enemies as powerful and relent- 

 less as ever thundered at the gates of 

 Rome — Constantinople vanquished them 

 all, surrendering only at last to Sultan 

 Mohammed II and the Ottomans. No 

 other capital presents so sublime a spec- 

 tacle during the Middle Ages. Alone of 

 all the cities of Europe, she towered 

 erect, unsubmerged amid the wild tor- 

 rents of invasion. This record is the 

 highest tribute both to the preeminent 

 superiority of her position and to the 

 skill and heroism of her sons. 



the; unrivaled bosphorus 



Although 



"The world is rich in streams. 

 Renowned in song and story, 

 Whose waters murmur to our dreams 

 Of human love and glory," 



there is not one among them all which 

 rivals the Bosphorus, on whose banks the 

 great capital is located. 



To its associations it owes in part its 

 undisputed preeminence. There is hardly 

 a nation of the civilized world whose 

 blood has not mingled with its waters. 

 There is hardly a faith, hardly a heresy, 

 which by the devotion of its adherents 

 .and martyrs has not hallowed its banks. 

 Associations the most dissimilar, the most 

 incongruous, the most distant, elbow one 

 another in its every hamlet and village. 

 The German Emperor, William II, in 

 1889 disembarks at the same spot which 

 tradition makes the landing place of that 

 other youthful leader, Jason, with his 

 Argonauts, in that sublime voyage of the 

 fourteenth century before Christ. 



So sharply do its submarine banks de- 

 scend that large vessels hugging the land 

 too closely, though in deep water, often 



