Constantinople Part 18

The most splendid part of the collection is that which was unearthed in Phnicia and chiefly near Sidon by Hamdy Bey from 1887 onwards.

The Satrap--representing an oriental potentate in life and in death--is of Parian marble, and was originally painted, and is in the Ionian style. Close by it was found the beautiful Mourners, an exquisite series of weeping women, which belongs to Attic art. The glorious "sarcophagus of Alexander," which represents the Macedonian fighting with the Persians, and hunting, is alone worth a visit to Constantinople to see. It is the work of a contemporary of Lysippus, fourth century B.C., and is one of the very finest examples we possess of ancient art. There is another sarcophagus which evidently copies the frieze of the Parthenon.

Then there is the Egyptian-like tomb of Tabnith, King of Sidon. But it would be absurd to try and describe, or still more to criticise, these splendid examples of ancient art in a little book like mine. The excellent catalogues sold at the museum are well worth buying. Here and in Chinili Kiosk, the oldest piece of Turkish house-building in Constantinople, which contains the rest of the collection, are treasures of every period of art. Among the inscriptions are the famous _stele_ from the temple of Jerusalem, and the Siloam inscription. There are exquisite examples of ancient gla.s.s and pottery and bronzes, among them the head of one of the serpents from the column. Among the statues are the great Hadrian from Crete, and the head and torso of Apollo, and the Nero, both from Tralles. There are two curious pieces of mosaic, but otherwise very little that is of late Byzantine work.

The museum, with its treasures scattered about the rooms and in the gardens, as yet hardly half known and studied as they deserve, may not unfitly serve to represent the endless interests of the great city, its a.s.sociations with every phase of the historic life of East and West. But the fascination of the imperial city which lies "betwixt two seas" lies in something besides her history. And the poets have known it.

"Dans un baiser, l'onde au rivage Dit ses douleurs; Pour consoler la fleur sauvage, L'aube a des pleurs; Le vent du soir conte sa plainte Au vieux cypres, La tourterelle au terebinthe Ses longs regrets.

"Aux flots dormants, quand tout repose, Hors la douleur, La lune parle, et dit la cause De sa paleur.

Ton dome blanc, Sainte-Sophie, Parle au ciel bleu, Et, tout reveur, le ciel confie Son reve a Dieu.

"Arbre ou tombeau, colombe ou rose, Onde ou rocher, Tout, ici-bas, a quelque chose Pour s'epancher ...

Moi, je suis seule, et rien au monde Ne me repond, Rien que ta voix morne et profonde, Sombre h.e.l.lespont!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: SARCOPHAGUS FROM THE ROYAL MAUSOLEUM AT SIDON _The Carving is copied from the Frieze of the Parthenon_]

FOOTNOTES:

[66] _Church of the Sixth Century_, pp. 298-301.

[67] Forchheimer and Strygowski (quoted by Lethaby and Swainson, p.

248).

[68] _De aedif._, i. 11.

[69] Grosvenor, _Constantinople_, vol. i., p. 399.

[70] Ball's _Translations_, 1729, pp. 147-8.

[71] _De Aedif._, i. 4.

[72] _Walls of Constantinople_, pp. 109, 110.

[73] I must here admit that in the _Church of the Sixth Century_ I wrongly suggested that these lions came from outside S. Sophia.

Further study convinced me of my error.