The 99.999999%

Today, I learned that childbearing used to be a race with the grand prize of having a pretty fantastic amount of power over other people's lives... and it prevented you from getting kicked out of your house.  At least, that's how things were at Topkapi Palace among the wives and "favorites" of the sultan.  The woman who produced the first heir eventually became the Sultan Mother, and for at least two centuries of Ottoman history, these women held far more power than the sultans themselves.  This is attributed to (and potentially caused) the laziness and dimwittedness of many of the sultans during this era, but it's still pretty interesting that the Sultan Mother did everything but wage war.

As you may have guessed, we explored the Topkapi Palace today, seeing how the 0.000001% lived and feeling very much like the 99.999999%.  Why no, I don't have 1,000-piece sets of china from Sevres given to me as gifts.  I also don't own an 86-carat diamond (known as the Spoonmaker's Diamond for its fabled discovery story), the supposed sword of David (as in, biblical David), or a giant to-scale replica of the Dome of the Rock made entirely out of mother-of-pearl.  Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures of any of these things, but you'll have to take my word for it that all gems were enormous; there were a whole lot of relics that pretty much covered the Who's Who of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and the things that sultans had bedazzled bordered on the absurd.

The Topkapi Palace is an enormous complex that began as a single, fairly modest palace (as palaces go), since the ruler at the time felt that decadence would be against his religious beliefs.  Each successive sultan added a room or a building for the next 400 years or so, resulting in a sprawl of bulidings in every architectural style, often constructed to celebrate a particular military victory or house a particular ceremony (i.e. the Circumcision Room, which I hope wasn't used more often than was necessary).  As you enter the complex, you first reach the First Courtyard.  This open space is deceptive; it used to be crowded with wooden buildings until they all burned down.  It still houses the Hagia Irene (Irene Church), which we did not explore, but is mostly just a beautiful and quiet place to walk.  Next, you buy tickets to enter the complex proper, which consists of the Second and Third Courtyards and their buildings.  

Once in the second courtyard, Topkapi Palace is your oyster.

Since we got there early and beat the crowds, we went to all the most popular places first to avoid inevitable lines.  We started with the harem.  Whenever you hear about this harem, guides are quick to point out that real life deviated from fantasy (when does it not?).  The sultan only slept with his wives and a very small, select group of the concubines.  The rest were sort of just... there and apparently were often released after a few years.  There was apparently a very strict structure in the harem, which was ruled by the Sultan Mother.  In fact, she basically got to pick which people her son slept with and married.  The harem was guarded by eunuchs and is a beautifully tiled labyrinth.  

It holds small mosques, long corridors, small squares, sleeping quarters, rows of faucets for ablutions, and then the lavish quarters of the Sultan Mother.  I'm pretty sure that this is from the Sultan Mother's quarters, but I have literally thought about the beauty of these windows since I was here four years ago, and they were equally stunning now.

  

Obviously, the photo does not do them justice, but they are the most perfect shade of aquamarine.  The harem also connects into the living quarters, privy, and ceremonial rooms of the sultan himself.  Imagine celebrating in this kind of style:

Anyway, the beautiful tiling of the harem is definitely one of my favorite parts of Topkapi Palace.  Next, we stopped by the treasury and the relic rooms, which I mentioned at the beginning of my post.  The wealth of the elite several hundred years ago was absurd.  I can't even imagine what birthdays were like. Did they celebrate birthdays?  Anyway, the sheer number of precious stones they crammed onto things was impressive.  You could notice how jewelry has improved over the years, though, particularly the ability to cut stones so that they reflect the light.

Next, we roamed the other rooms that were gradually added to the palace, like this one:

We also stopped by the various fountains, looked at an incredible number of decorative spoons, and pondered whether the bowls lined with rubies were just for show - I mean, what if one came loose and you chomped down on it?

As we left the palace, the midday call to prayer was just beginning.  We realized that it was done as a sort of conversation between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia - the call would alternate between the two buildings' spires.  We wandered back toward the main square by the Blue Mosque to check out the Hippodrome and a few other ancient structures, or at least what is left of them.  The hippodrome was built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus toward the end of the 2nd century and then extended by Constantine the Great.  It could seat between thirty and sixty thousand people, depending on which archaeologist you ask, and was the main attraction in Roman and Byzantine times.  It hosted chariot races, gladiator fights, musicians, dancers, and other public celebrations.  Successful chariot drivers were fabulously wealthy, could have anything they wanted, and were supported by clubs that quarrelled endlessly and jockeyed for position.  As Josh put it, chariot drivers were the NBA players of their day.  Today, only a small portion of the Hippodrome exists, and it is encased in glass at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art.  The rest was hauled away to build private homes, of which remain small patches of ruins.  

 

(This path used to be the Hippodrome track)

The other ancient structures were the obelisk and the serpent column.  The obelisk is from 1490 BC and was hauled here from Egypt.  The official posting offers the best description ever: "In the 4th century AD, an unknown Roman emperor who wanted to accomplish something impressive that would create excitement among his people had the colossal obelisk brought to Istanbul."  Ouch.  Way to forget his name and gloss over his accomplishments.  I mean, the thing is 25.6 meters tall.  That's like moving one of the moai from Easter Island, or one of those giant stones from Stonehenge.

The serpent column was also stolen; it was originally at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and was brought here in 324 by Constantine to stand in the middle of the Hippodrome.  Three intertwined serpents held a giant gold cauldron on their heads, but sadly the heads (and cauldron?) disappeared around 1700.

Since we were in the mood for historic art, we stopped by the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum.  We saw art from a variety of early Islamic nations, including a large number of beautiful illuminated manuscripts (a personal favorite).  The museum also holds the Damascus Documents, which represent one of the first written copies of the Qur'an.  There were a variety of other media, like sculpted wood, pottery, lamps, etc, all decorated with Arabic writing (presumably verses of the Qur'an).  Some were incredibly beautiful, especially the painted lamps.  There were a few pieces of art depicting people as well as some small sculptures of animals - I guess they didn't get the memo that such art is discouraged.  The exhibits also contained Keys to the Kabba, a sort of key-to-the-city to the holiest place in Mecca.  However, the majority was decorated in the typical Islamic style.  It did get a little bit repetitive, to be honest, but was still beautiful.  Near the end, there was a series of beautiful carpets and some beautiful furniture, all more modern than the previous exhibits.  It was a nice overview of art across the nearby regions.  My personal favorite from the entire museum was this astrolabe:

An astrolabe is a very ancient astronomical computer for solving problems relating to time and the position of the sun and stars in the sky.  The celestial sphere is projected onto the plane of the equator.  It also looks awesome.  Doesn't it just beg to be taken on an adventure?

Exhausted from a long day on our feet, we headed back to the hotel.  But there was one last surprise waiting for us.  A farmer's market!  I'm not sure how often this happens, but definitely take a look at the end of Gelinik Street on Wednesdays if you're ever in the city.  Gorgeous produce - including the freshest, happiest-looking eggplants I have ever seen - was lined up along the tables.  We gleefully picked out some produce and happily muched the whole way home.