125 
COfSTANTliOH E. 
Conftantine, and that of Plviloxenus. One of the former 
is now occafionaiiy full, as it receives the brook Cydaris. 
The arcade is fupported by numerous columns’ of gra¬ 
nite, with fculptured plinths, and capitals of the Corin¬ 
thian order. In the latter the Turks employ Ipinners of 
fijk, and call it, with Afiatic amplification, “ the thou- 
land and one pillars,” though they will be found to 
amount only to two hundred and twelve, all of fine mar¬ 
ble, and juft proportions. 
With an equal care of the health and convenience of 
their fubjefts as that exerted by the Roman government, 
public baths have been eftablilhed or continued, fince the 
Turks have been mailers of Conftantinople. Mohammed 
II. when he founded his mofque, and attached to it a le- 
minary of learning and a hofpital, added the contiguous 
baths of Zeuxippus to the ample munificence of his plan. 
Long appropriated to the fervice of the indigent, he ex¬ 
tended the utility of them by increafing the accommoda¬ 
tion and number of attendants. At this time a hundred 
and thirty public baths are enumerated within the city 
walls. 
The ufe of baths in Conftantinople refembles the luf- 
trations of the ancients, and is widely different from our 
idea confined to total or partial immerfion, As their 
conftruCtion is feldom varied, it is the more eafy to give 
afuccinft account of them, and the mode of adminilter- 
ing a luxury fo contributory to happinefs and health. 
Two rooms of competent fize are covered with domes, 
thickly ftudded with fmall hemilpherical glafies, which 
admit a dim light. The firft ferves as a veftibule and 
drefting-room, and that beyond it is heated by concealed 
ftoves as a fudatory. The hammam, or bath, (whence the 
name of Hummums, in Covent-garden, London,) is ufually 
heated to one hundred degrees of Farenheit’s thermome¬ 
ter. Few men can bear to remain in tiie inner room 
more than twenty minutes. Women ftay, from cuftom, 
a much longer time. In the middle is placed a marble 
flab, upon which the bather is feated, whilft two men 
with perfumed foap, and a ftrigil of camel’s hair-cloth 
fixed to their hands, perform a complete ablution. They 
knead the mufcles, and give pliancy to the joints, by 
fnapping them with the force of an eleftrical Ihock ; but 
the whole operation is condufted with the molt fcrupu- 
lous neatnefs and decorum. After bathing it is culto- 
mary to go into an adjoining room, like a colfee-houfe, 
excepting that beds are prepared in rows, where an hour 
is (pent, coffee and pipes of tobacco are given, and it is 
then judged fafe to encounter the open air. For ail this 
accommodation not more than a pialtre (twenty pence) 
is required, even from a Frank vifitor. 
Women never go alone to the baths.. As fome of them 
are capacious enough to admit of feveral harems at the 
fame time, they become the molt fafliionable refort of fe¬ 
males in fuperior life, and hours are palfed there in con- 
verfation and in partaking of elegant refrelhments. The 
animated defeription of thefe aflemblies given by our no¬ 
ble countrywomen, lady M. Wortley Montague, and lady 
Craven, are ftriClly correft. The Turkilh ladies do not 
perform their lultrations in lilenceh they have a kind of 
choral exultation called the Ziraleet, confifting of the 
words lillah ! liliah ! lillah-i molt rapidly pronounced, 
which may be occafionaiiy heard in palling the baths near 
the itreets. What is to all a luxury, is peremptorily en¬ 
joined to all by the laws of Iflamilin. No married woman, 
whatever be her rank, is exempted from attending the 
bath every Thurfday ; nor is poverty an excufe, for cer¬ 
tain baths are gratuitoufiy ferved. Many, however, adopt 
the cultom w.ith fuch frequency and excefs, that health 
and beauty are made the inevitable facrifice. Few houfes 
cl conftquence are unprovided with a commodious bath. 
Travelling the ft resets of Conftantinople our attention 
is attrafifed by columns, the proud remains of Grecian 
triumphs. Ot the three ftill to be feen, the inoft perfect 
is called by the Turks the “ burnt pillar,” as having fo 
frequently fuffered conflagtation ; but, fince the great 
,Vol. V. No. 259. 
fire in 1779, they have inclofed the.bafe.with ftone for its 
farther prefervation. It was erefted by Conlbntine, and 
compofed of porphyry blocks with Circles of embolfed 
brafs to conceal the joints. The height is ninety feet, 
and the circumference thirty-three. It is thefe ftruCtures, 
and the clallical remains of other Grecian edifices, that 
'give to Conftantinople its molt folemn and majeftic ap¬ 
pearance. ‘The ftatue of Apollo was converted into that 
of Conftantine, by bis fon, and after the earthquake in. 
115-©, which precipitated it from the top, the whole was 
completely repaired by Manuel Comnenus. At prefent 
no ftatue remains, the porphyry is difcoloured and cracked 
by the fire, and the hoops are robbed of their former fur- 
faces. The column ereited. by the emperor Marcian may 
be now feen in a fmall inclofure or garden. The fliaft is 
difproportioned to the capital, which is unclaflically rich 
in ornaments of the Corinthian order. But for the. moil 
celebrated and beft deferring admiration, we live a cen¬ 
tury too late. In the forum of Arcadius, on the bill 
called Zcrolopbus, about the year 410, that emperor erected 
a fuperb column of white marble, covered with a feries of 
bas reliefs I’pi rally defigned over its fhaft. Their fubjeft 
was the victory of his father Theodofius over the Scy¬ 
thians. Soon after the taking of the city, in 14j3.au 
able artift was allowed to make >a drawing of it, from 
which we are enabled to decide on its excellence, in 
1695, becoming ruinous both from earthquakes and fire, 
and threatening the demolition of neighbouring houfes, 
the fliaft was entirely taken down. The bafe now remain¬ 
ing is about fourteen feet High, but the fculpcures are 
defaced. Having been the entrance of the flairs, it is 
now made a kind of hut by a poor Turk. When perfeft, 
it was the rival of the majeftic pillars of Trajan and An¬ 
toninus at Rome, nor did it iofe by the companion, 
either in richnels of material, fymmetrical elevation, or 
.perfection of art, in proportion as the«arts then flourilheu. 
It was evidently copied from them with an emulation of 
coft and magnificence; and what the Goths had fpared, 
and the Saracens would not have overturned, has now 
yielded to the calamities of nature. 
Nearly in the center of the city, on the third hill, 
Hands the old palace, ejki ferai, built or appropriated by 
Mohammed II. who lurrounded it with an oCtangular 
wall, extremely lofty, and nearly a mile in circumference. 
When he quitted, it for that - now called the feraglio, it 
was applied to the reception of the wives and harem of 
the deceafed fultans. On the demile of a fultan they are 
immediately removed into this retreat from the world, 
from which they are fecluded for life, if they had been 
noticed by him; where they are bound to monadic feve- 
rity in one refpeCl only. The mother of a prince not im¬ 
mediately fucceeding to the throne of Ofman, is indulged 
with feeing him only at the feaft of beyram, but on his 
accefiion is liberated, and exerts as queen-mother the very 
decifive fway- of fecret influence, of which the prefent 
reign is no uncommon inftance. The hekim bafhi, or 
chief phylician, is the only man who is admitted within 
thefe devoted walls, and bis attendance is rarely required, 
and under the ftrongeft reftriflions. When a fultan dies, 
the young ladies who are declared to have been unknown 
to him, are generally bellowed as wives upon fome of the 
courtiers of his fuccelfor. Of the palaces of the Greek 
emperors, thofe of the Boucoleon and Hebdomon were 
the principal. Theodofius the Younger conftruCted the 
former with a fplendour worthy of the mailer of the 
eallern world. Its fite upon the city walls facing the fea 
of Marmora, and not far diftant'from the Atmeydan, is 
ftill to be traced by detached members of architecture. 
On the fide of the harbour, the walls from the Phanal 
gate in the Greek quarter, to the hebdomon, or palace of 
Conftantine, appear to be of the originalconftruCtion as 
far as the oblique gate, from whence the mafonry is more 
regular, confilting of altermte courfes of Roman tiles 
and hewn (lone, with larger and more frequent towers. 
Their form varies; an imp -rfeil fquare, the femicircu- 
K k hr* 
