(Cisterna Basilica) with its 420 columns show what covered cisterns were, on a grand scale. The latter is still in use.1

Byzantine Constantinople was a great commercial centre. To equip it more fully for that purpose, several artificial harbours were constructed along the southern shore of the city, where no natural haven existed to accommodate ships coming up the Sea of Marmora. For the convenience of the imperial court, there was a small harbour in the bend of the shore to the east of Chatladi Kapu, known as the harbour of the Bucoleon. To the west of that gate, on the site of Kadriga Limani (the Port of the Galley), was the harbour of Julian, or, as it was named later, the harbour of Sophia (the empress of Justin II.). Traces of the harbour styled the Kontoscalion are found at Kum Kapu. To the east of Yeni Kapu stood the harbour of Kaisarius or the Heptascalon, while to the west of that gate was the harbour which bore the names of Eleutherius and of Theodosiur I. A harbour named after the Golden Gate stood on the shore to the south-west of the triumphal gate of the city.

The Modern City.—As the capital of the Ottoman empire, the aspect of the city changed in many ways. The works of art which adorned New Rome gradually disappeared. The streets, never very wide, became narrower, and the porticoes along their sides were almost everywhere removed. A multitude of churches were destroyed, and most of those which survived were converted into mosques. In race and garb and speech the population grew largely oriental. One striking alteration in the appearance of the city was the conversion of the territory extending from the head of the promontory to within a short distance of St Sophia into a great park, within which the buildings constituting the seraglio of the sultans, like those forming the palace of the Byzantine emperors, were ranged around three courts, distinguished by their respective gates—Bab-i-Humayum, leading into the court of the Janissaries; Orta Kapu, the middle gate, giving access to the court in which the sultan held state receptions; and Bah-i-Saadet, the Gate of Felicity, leading to the more private apartments of the palace. From the reign of Abd-ul-Mejid, the seraglio has been practically abandoned, first for the palace of Dolmabagché on the shore near Beshiktash, and now for Yildiz Kiosk, on the heights above that suburb. It is, however, visited annually by the sultan, to do homage to the relics of the prophet which are kept there. The older apartments of the palace, such as the throne-room, the Bagdad Kiosk, and many of the objects in the imperial treasury are of extreme interest to all lovers of oriental art. To visit the seraglio, an imperial iradé is necessary. Another great change in the general aspect of the city has been produced by the erection of stately mosques in the most commanding situations, where dome and minarets and huge rectangular buildings present a combination of mass and slenderness, of rounded lines and soaring pinnacles, which gives to Constantinople an air of unique dignity and grace, and at the same time invests it with the glamour of the oriental world. The most remarkable mosques are the following:—The mosque of Sultan Mahommed the Conqueror, built on the site of the church of the Holy Apostles, in 1459, but rebuilt in 1768 owing to injuries due to an earthquake; the mosques of Sultan Selim, of the Shah Zadeh, of Sultan Suleiman and of Rustem Pasha—all works of the 16th century, the best period of Turkish architecture; the mosque of Sultan Bayezid II. (1497-1505); the mosque of Sultan Ahmed I. (1610); Yeni-Validé-Jamissi (1615-1665); Nuri-Osmanieh (1748-1755); Laleli-Jamissi (1765). The Turbehs containing the tombs of the sultans and members of their families are often beautiful specimens of Turkish art.

In their architecture, the mosques present a striking instance of the influence of the Byzantine style, especially as it appears in St Sophia. The architects of the mosques have made a skilful use of the semi-dome in the support of the main dome of the building, and in the consequent extension of the arched canopy that spreads over the worshipper. In some cases the main dome rests upon four semi-domes. At the same time, when viewed from the exterior, the main dome rises large, bold and commanding, with nothing of the squat appearance that mars the dome of St Sophia, with nothing of the petty prettiness of the little domes perched on the drums of the later Byzantine churches. The great mosques express the spirit of the days when the Ottoman empire was still mighty and ambitious. Occasionally, as in the case of Laleli Jamissi, where the dome rests upon an octagon inscribed in a square, the influence of SS. Sergius and Bacchus is perceptible.

For all intents and purposes, Constantinople is now the collection of towns and villages situated on both sides of the Golden Horn and along the shores of the Bosporus, including Scutari and Kadikeui. But the principal parts of this great agglomeration are Stamboul (from Gr. εἰς τὴν πόλιν, “into the city”), the name specially applied to the portion of the city upon the promontory, Galata and Pera. Galata has a long history, which becomes of general interest after 1265, when it was assigned to the Genoese merchants in the city by Michael Palaeologus, in return for the friendly services of Genoa in the overthrow of the Latin empire of Constantinople. In the course of time, notwithstanding stipulations to the contrary, the town was strongly fortified and proved a troublesome neighbour During the siege of 1453 the inhabitants maintained on the whole a neutral attitude, but on the fall of the capital they surrendered to the Turkish conqueror, who granted them liberal terms. The walls have for the most part been removed. The noble tower, however, which formed the citadel of the colony, still remains, and is a striking feature in the scenery of Constantinople. There are also churches and houses dating from Genoese days. Galata is the chief business centre of the city, the seat of banks, post-offices, steamship offices, &c. Pera is the principal residential quarter of the European communities settled in Constantinople, where the foreign embassies congregate, and the fashionable shops and hotels are found.

Since the middle of the 19th century the city has yielded more and more to western influences, and is fast losing its oriental character. The sultan’s palaces, and the residences of all classes of the community, adopt with more or less success a European style of building. The streets have been widened and named. They are in many instances better paved, and are lighted at night. The houses are numbered. Cabs and tramways have been introduced. Public gardens have been opened. For some distance outside the Galata bridge, both shores of the Golden Horn have been provided with a quay at which large steamers can moor to discharge or embark their passengers and cargo. The Galata quay, completed in 1889, is 756 metres long and 20 metres wide; the Stamboul quay, completed in 1900, is 378 metres in length. The harbour, quays and facilities for handling merchandise, which have been established at the head of the Anatolian railway, at Haidar Pasha, under German auspices, would be a credit to any city. It is true that most of these improvements are due to foreign enterprise and serve largely foreign interests; still they have also benefited the city, and added much to the convenience and comfort of local life. There has been likewise progress in other than material respects. The growth of the imperial museum of antiquities, under the direction of Hamdy Bey, within the grounds of the Seraglio, has been remarkable; and while the collection of the sarcophagi discovered at Sidon constitutes the chief treasure of the