CONSTANTINOPLE* 
3 
have only to view the dresses worn by Greeks themselves, as 
they are frequently represented upon the gems and coins of 
the country, as well as those used in much earlier ages. # 
There is every reason to believe, that the Turks themselves, 
at the conquest of Constantinople, adopted many of the cus¬ 
toms. and embraced the refinements of a people they had sub¬ 
dued. Their former habits had been those of Nomade tribes; 
their dwellings were principally tents; and the camp, rather 
than the city, distinguished their abode. Hence it followed, 
that with the houses, the furniture, and even the garb of the 
Greeks would necessarily be associated; neither do the di¬ 
vans of Turkish apartments diOfer from those luxurious couches 
on which the Greeks and Romans were wont to repose. At 
the capture of Constantinople, a certain portion of the city 
was still retained in undisturbed possession by those Grecian 
families whose services to the conqueror obtained for them 
privileges which their descendants enjoy even at this hour;f 
yet, in their domestic habits, and in all things, except their re¬ 
ligious ceremonies, there is nothing which distinguishes them 
from their fellow citizens the Turks. The temples of the 
citizens, we further know, were appropriated to the new reli¬ 
gion. X The sumptuous baths of the vanquished were not less 
prized by the victors. Few, if any, of the public buildings 
were destroyed; and, from the characteristic disposition of 
oriental nations to preserve things as they are, we may reason¬ 
ably conclude, with the exception of those edifices which 
have yielded to the attacks of time, of earthquakes, and of 
fire, Constantinople presents one at least of the cities of the 
ancients, almost unaltered. Passing thence into Asia, the tra- 
4 I omit also the number of pillars and arches in the cisterns. ’ Ka] -to TrAnftos icov h 
ftinaTs Hiovwv xai.d'\W5wy. In the next, the baths are described, which appear to 
have been as numerous then in Constantinople, as now. ‘ But why should 1 speak con¬ 
cerning the baths ; the number of which , were 1 to relate it , would be incredible P 
±( <5f mpl Aotnp&v civ AiymjJT <Sv -to urtoPoujjt?vo-v |y otuto ttA'oOoj cbncrtsHcu kP 
Wdipole's MS. Journal 
* The dress worn by the popes of Rome upon solemn occasions, corresponds with 
the habits of the Roman emperors in the lower ages : and from a representation of 
the portrait of Manuel Palaeologus, as taken from an antient manuscript, and pre¬ 
served in Bandurius, (Vid. Imperium Orientate, tom. ii. p 991. ed; Par. 1711.) it ap¬ 
pears that there is little difference between the costume of a Greek emperor in the 
fifteenth century, and a grand signior in the ninteenth.—The mark of distinction 
worn upon the head of the Turkish sultan's, and other grandees of the empire, of 
which the calathus was an archetype, is also another remarkable circumstance in the 
identity of ancient and modern customs. 
t They live in a part of the city which, from its proximity to the lighthouse, goes 
by the name of phanar 
t Of which the church of St. Sophia is a particular instance: and it may be added, 
that the crescent which blazons the Turkish banner, is the most antient svmbol of By 
zantium, as appears by the medals of the city. 
