SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS
THE TILES OF THE HAGIA SOFIA
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THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS THE TILES OF THE HAGIA SOFIA  

THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
In the fading winter light the ancient ruins of the immense city wall rise beside us on our left as we travel by whirling dervish taxi from the airport into the outskirts of the European side of Istanbul. To our right the edges of sea and river bind the historic waterway that extends across the horizon in a gleaming sheet. The reddish boulders of the wall are so battered, so vast, they seem constructed of papier machè, scenery left over from some epic movie set. There are small doors, unglazed windows, let into the serpentine bulk; whole dwellings set into the wall's crumbling width, others braced on its heights -- to all intents and purposes abandoned for aeons. Occasional narrow streets breach the majestic ramparts in plebeian fashion, darting through the ruins of a forgotten gate into the crowded neighborhoods of the Old City, winding and turning toward mosque and minaret. Now the wall stalks toward us, down to the six-lane highway, pauses dumbly, then begins a brief march on the other side of the pavement, beside the Sea of Marmora. In our imaginations we see it as it was, invincible, the massive stone girdle seventeen miles long that held Constantinople inviolate for centuries.
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THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS THE TILES OF THE HAGIA SOFIA  


OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS
The noisy, ancient city wanders on either side of the great waterway of the Golden Horn, a polluted, crowded sprawl that counts a thousand years as yesterday. Enormous, rounded mosques mushroom along the skyline, accompanied by the hauntingly graceful sentries of as many as six minarets, sharp needles to stitch the floating veils of heaven. Inside each mosque dully crimson woven silk rugs, soft as velvet, are spread to cover vast areas where the Faithful, in stocking feet, prostrate themselves toward Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet. The enormous semicircle of the ceiling seems to float high overhead, supported by a circle of judiciously placed columns. To the sides of the mosque, behind the columns, separated by arabesques of wrought-iron balconies, Moslem women kneel, hair hidden beneath softly patterned scarves. Stained glass windows filter light through panes of blue and red.
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
POETRYREPAIRS 13.02: 019
Poetry endangers the established order  of the soul - Plato

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THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS THE TILES OF THE HAGIA SOFIA  


THE TILES OF THE HAGIA SOFIA
Inside the superb structure that is the Hagia Sofia, the Byzantine Christian church that burned to ground in the 4th century, was rebuilt in all its magnificence in A.D. 603, tiny gold, silver and brightly colored tiles form incredible pictures of Savior and Saint, Virgin Mary and Child. When Constantinople fell to the Moslems, the Christian populace fled to shelter in the great church, believing in sanctuary, praying for a miracle to save them. The Moslems had no more respect for Christ and the Cross than the Christians had for Allah and His sacred symbol; under the mighty dome of the Hagia Sofia they raped and slaughtered cowering Christians with complete aplomb, mercilessly exercising their rights as conquerors. The only miracle was the decision of Suleiman the Magnificent to have the tiled portraits of saints and deities smoothly plastered over, rather than destroyed, for the Prophet has said that art should not imitate life; that no animals, no human figures are to be reproduced in any form. Rather, beauty is evoked in abstract designs of flowers, fruits and plants, the intricate curves of Arabic script. Suleiman commanded that the resplendent tiles be covered, rather than torn from the walls and broken, as a lesser sultan might have insisted. For hundreds of years the Hagia Sofia was a mosque, hiding beneath its plain blank walls a unique treasure that would reappear to the world after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul
POETRYREPAIRS 13.02: 019
SUE LITTLETON: Poems of Istanbul

THE THEODOSIAN WALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE
OF MOSQUES AND MINARETS
THE TILES  OF THE HAGIA SOFIA
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