The Greek manuscripts in the old Seraglio at Constantinople

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The Greek Manuscripts

in the Old Seraglio at

Constantinople

by

STEPHEN GASELEE, M.A.,

Fellow and Librarian of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Cambridge

at the University Press
1916

Price One Shilling net

The Greek Manuscripts

in the Old Seraglio at

Constantinople

The Greek Manuscripts

in the Old Seraglio at

Constantinople

by
STEPHEN GASELEE, M.A.,

Fellow and Librarian of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Cambridge

at the University Press
1916

of

THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE OLD
SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE

It was announced that one result of the Young Turk
regime would be the publication of a careful and complete
catalogue of the small collection of Greek MSS. which was
known to exist in the Old Seraglio. Exaggerated stories of
them had long been current in the West: indeed they were
believed by some to be the remains of the Palace Library of
the Byzantine Emperors.

In the present state of the world's history it seems as
though the appearance of this catalogue might be long
delayed, and I have therefore thought it worth while to give
the results of a personal inspection of them seven years ago.
The following journal of my visit to Constantinople was
written on the spot and at once, and I have given it without
modification : the interest at present taken in all the political
moves of Turkey for the last decade will excuse the presence
of a certain amount of descriptive matter somewhat remotely
connected with the Classics. I happened to stumble upon
the last effort of Abdul Hamid to recover the power which
he had lost at the time of the Young Turk revolution, and
though almost ideally unfitted to describe any historical event,
I accidentally found myself in the middle of rather exciting
circumstances and wrote down just what I had myself seen,
as soon as I could put pen to paper, with the idea of keeping
my own observations clear in my own mind before I had had
time to talk to anybody else about them. The greater part
of all that follows was written on board the steamer on the

0/»r*» .,

4 THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE

way back through the Black Sea, and finished within the week
in the train across Europe.

In the Easter Vacation of 1909 I went to pay a visit to
some friends then living at Bucharest. I arrived there at the
beginning of Holy Week, and found that week sufficient to
see most of the sights of the city : I spent much time over
the wonderful gold hoard of Petrossa, the exuviae of some
Gothic king, with runic inscriptions. I attended the midnight
service on Easter Eve at the Metropolitan Church, where I
stood for more hours than I now like to count in evening-dress
and white kid gloves, holding in my hand a yellowish candle :
but I shall not soon forget the constant refrain of the splendid
choir, "Christos a inviat," in which Latin and Slavonic
elements meet — as they do in all that is best in Roumania —
with such wonderful and novel effect.

Leaving my big luggage behind, I packed a bag on the
Sunday afternoon and took the train for Constanza. It was
pitch dark when I arrived, and though I had taken with me
and read on the journey the Epistolae ex Ponto and the
Tristia of my favourite poet, I could not make out any of the
features of the place. I can only say, however, that, unless
the world's climate has notably changed since the beginning
of the Christian era, some of Ovid's descriptions of the place
must be received with caution. It is inconceivable that it was
ever cold enough for wine to be sold by the pound (though it
is true that in Cambridge we buy butter by the yard), and his
stories of its perpetual and extreme cold must be strangely
exaggerated : after all, Constanza is on the same latitude as
Bordeaux. After a calm and comfortable night down the
Black Sea, I arrived in Constantinople about mid-day on Mon-
day, April 1 3th. I did not want to go to the largest hotel, the
Pera Palace, chiefly because I wished to take my meals out,
and I put up at a comfortable little place, kept by Greeks,
called the Continental, and began to think about my manu-
scripts. Before leaving England I had obtained an official
letter by means of which I was able to get an Irade from the

OLD SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE 5

Sultan to allow me to enter the Old Seraglio and to examine
the thirty or so Greek manuscripts there.

I went to bed that night little dreaming of what was to
take place before I awoke : on going down the next morning
the proprietor of my hotel asked me what I was proposing to
do ; and when I replied that I was going across to Stamboul
to begin seeing the sights of the town, he told me that there
had been a mutiny and that it would be impossible to pass
the Galata Bridge. Wishing, however, to see for myself, I
walked down from Pera, but was unable to get a dragoman
to accompany me on any terms whatever : the inhabitants of
Constantinople appeared to have a wholesome terror of any
movement connected with the army. I passed on to the
Bridge without difficulty, though the traders of the lower
quarters of Galata were shutting up their shops as rapidly as
possible, and I there fell in with a British officer on leave,
who, like myself, wished to see what was going on. On
arriving at Stamboul we turned to the left and went up
towards St Sophia : the streets were full of the lowest class
of the people, porters and hangers-on, with a liberal sprinkling
of Softas or theological students : and then we began to see
the mutineers. Bands of them were converging from all parts
of the town to the broad place in front of St Sophia and the
House of Deputies ; they were led, if led at all, by non-com-
missioned officers : and as they ran they loaded their rifles,
each holding his own firmly into the small of the back of the
man next in front of him. We heard that their officers,
meanwhile, were lying securely tied up in their barracks — a few
had been killed (only those who made some show of resisting
the mutineers) and some of the more discreet had managed
to slip into civilian clothes and leave their quarters. We
were admitted into St Sophia without difficulty, although
some kind of service was going on, and were able to look well
at the wonderful building : when we came out again on to the
place, shortly after mid-day, it was thick with troops, and we
could see perhaps a hundred Ulemas or priests going to and

6 THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE

fro amongst them. Some of the soldiers fired at the windows
of the House of Deputies, more, I think, to attract attention
than to do damage to life or limb, just as they fired in the air :
but their aim was not always of the best, and some of the
bullets whistled so close that we thought it prudent to retire
across the water to our hotel. It must be made clear, how-
ever, that the mutineers' attitude toward foreigners was what
a local paper called "d'une correctitude parfaite": they smiled
on us, as they did upon the Times correspondent, the
American Ambassador, and the first Dragoman of the Italian
Embassy, who were all. on the scene at different moments.

Returning in the afternoon, the situation had become more
critical. Romolo Spathari, a brilliant young Greek officer,
had been sent with 300 men against 20,000, and had met his
certain death like a hero ; as I reached the middle of the
square Nazim Pasha, the Minister of Justice, was killed on the
steps of the House of Deputies for refusing to give up his
revolver and Riza Pasha, the Minister of Marine, who was
with him, was wounded at the same time.

The actual murder was less unpleasant than might have
been expected ; the two ministers were driving away from the
House of Deputies when their carriage was stopped by the
mutineers, and they were forced to return : on the steps they
were a little jostled, and Nazim was foolish enough to draw
his pistol and to cover with it some of those who were pushing
him. Then it was all over in a minute: one man fired his
rifle into him at close quarters — two more shots (I think)
followed, and the work was finished with bayonets, to make
all certain. Yet there seemed little brutality about it, and the
body, when I went up to look, was not mangled or disfigured.

I also heard that Yahya Sadik Pasha and Mehmet
Arslan Bey, the deputy for Latakia, had both been killed in
mistake for Hussain Djahid Bey, the hated editor of the
Tanin, the organ of the Committee of Union and Progress.
That at least was the account given : but if the theory of
inspiration from the highest quarters has any grounds, it must

OLD SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE 7

be remembered that both of these were members of the
Committee, and this alone may have been the explanation of
their murder. The soldiers, primed by the Ulemas, had
formulated their demands to the Deputies — an amnesty,
changes in their officers and in the officials of the Chamber,
the banishment of certain publicists on the side of the Com-
mittee, the resignation of the Grand Vizier and the Ministers
of War and Marine, and above all the application of the
Shariat, or religious law. As everyone knows, they were
completely successful in their demands, and the new cabinet
was formed from the Liberal party, which is far more con-
servative than the Committee, and might perhaps be said to
represent an enlightened Tory government in this country.

The Shariat, if I understood its nature aright, is naturally
founded on the Koran, but has other contributory sources,
some depending upon tradition and some comparable to the
responsa prudenhim of Roman Law — the decisions of sages
on such debateable points as have appeared in the past. It
is far from being a bad code, though in one or two cases it
might appear vindictive to Western eyes : I was told for
instance that a thief caught flagrante delicto is to have his
hand slashed open and bound up with salt:petre : the result
being that the muscles stiffen and the hand cannot again be
used. As it affects non-mussulmans, the law is unexception-
able : it only exacts that in mussulman countries none shall
speak slightingly of Mahomet or the faith which he founded —
a course of conduct which is after all indicated by the merest
rules of courtesy as well as of good citizenship. In the
opinion of those best qualified to speak there appeared to be
nothing mutually exclusive in the Shariat and the Constitution
as drawn up, and the Committee of Union and Progress
deserved severe censure for having neglected the Law, or at
any rate the easy task of making the Constitution harmonize
with it. The immediate cause of the cry as to the neglect of
the Shariat was the murder of Hassan Fehmi, editor of the
Serbesti-. the soldiers and Softas insisted that the government

8 THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE

knew perfectly well who the assassin was, and were neglecting
the Shariat by refusing to bring him to justice and execution.

Most of the next morning — the Wednesday — I spent
inside the Seraglio grounds : but before going in, I passed an
hour or so driving round Stamboul. No officers had appeared,
and the soldiers were still quite wild : they were mostly
walking through the streets in groups of three or four — some,
I regret to say, partly intoxicated (where was the Shariat
now ?) — firing off their rifles into the air, and it was by this
promiscuous firing that most of the damage was done. Late
the night before, it is true, a short engagement had taken
place between the mutineers and three regiments who had
been kept true to the Committee by Mahmoud Mukhtar Pasha,
the son of the old representative of Turkey in Egypt : he had
returned from the Asiatic side and held the War Office against
the mutineering troops : in the interchange of shots seven
soldiers were killed and three wounded, while there were more
than sixty casualties among civilians in the surrounding
streets. So small a body could of course do nothing against
20,000, and the three regiments soon yielded. Mahmoud had
a very narrow escape and his life was in danger for the next
twenty-four hours : on the Wednesday evening his house was
surrounded by 200 soldiers, with orders to shoot him at sight.
Hearing of this, the British and German Embassies did their
best : the first Dragoman of the British Embassy went first to
the new minister of War, who said that he was not yet in the
saddle, and was powerless, and then direct to the Sultan, who
sent him up to the beleaguered house with an order to the
effect that the soldiers were to disperse. They did not seem
anxious to obey, and meanwhile Mahmoud's English neigh-
bours smuggled him through their houses on to a yacht,
whence he was transferred first to a pinnace and then to the
German man-of-war lying in the Bosphorus, which took him
on board.

There was a short list of some kind which was of
assistance to me in going through the collection : and the

OLD SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE 9

following is the result of my rather hurried inspection. The
Roman figures give the (estimated) century in which each
MS was written unless actually dated.

1. Vellum, xii. Euclid. Heron of Alexandria on measures.

2. Paper, xni. Iliad, with scholia.

3. Paper, xv. Critobulus. History of the first seventeen years of

Mahomet II.1

4. Paper. 1465. Ivvayayrf \i£ea>v 'Avtwviov povdxov.

5. Paper, xiv. Eight astronomical treatises : by Maximus, Nico-

machus Gerasenus, John Philoponus, Isaac Monachus, etc.

6. Paper. 1474. Michael alxpaXaTos on the antiquities of Constanti-

nople.

7. Paper, xiv. Lexicon of Eudemus : Joh. Patricius on verbs : an

anonymous lexicon and grammar.

8. Vellum, xm. Catena patrum de veteri testamento, with rather

fine Byzantine miniatures, the warriors in conventional Roman
armour. The illuminations do not run all through the volume,
but in the latter part of the book there are blanks left for the
miniatures.

9. Paper, xv. Fourteen ycapyucai eicXoyal by different authors.

10. Paper, xvi. Aesop's fables, with the life of him by Planudes.

11. Paper, xv. Medical works : Galen, Hippocrates, Michael Psellus.

12. Paper, xv. irepl \idav IBicopdrav, and another treatise of the same

kind about plants.

13. Vellum. XIV. etjrfyrjo-is tov /3i'/3Aoi/ rav yfraXpav tov Aaveib. A

Byzantine miniature at the beginning, and a few more.

14. Paper, xv. Lexicon of St Cyril.

15. Paper. 1463. Michael Moschopoulos, Grammar.

16. Paper. XVI. Arrian, de ascensu Alexandri, and description of India.

17. Paper, xv. A miscellaneous collection, ntpl paylas.

18. Paper, xv. Anonymous, trepX ypapnariKfjs.

19. Paper. XIV. (a) Aristotle, irepl yeviaeats.

(b) Proclus, (pvcriicrf.

(c) Heron, yeaperpla.

(d, <?) Prognostics of weather.
{/) Palmistry.

(g) (Arrian?) tciktikov irpbs Tpa'iavov.
(h) Leon, ra/crtKa.

1 Much the best-known of the collection : it is the only JMS of the Greek
authority for the fall of Constantinople.

io THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE

(i) Heron, TrveupxtTiitd.

(J, k, /, m) Anonymous, arithmetical and medical.

(n) Adamantion, (pv(rioyva>p.ovmd.

(p) Anonymous, (pvcrioyvapaviKa.

(J>) Prognostics of weather.

(q) Ammonius on the Astrolabe.

(r) John Philoponus on the Astrolabe.

(s, t) Anonymous, dogmatics.

(«) Anonymous, raKruca.

20. Paper, xvi. Philoxenus Syrianus on Aristotle's Politics and

Metaphysics.

21. Vellum, xii. Gospels (a lectionary) in a very fine Byzantine hand.

Headings in gold.

22. Paper. Late XV. Pythagoras, firrj xpwa with i^y^o-is : Phocylides :

Cato's Sentences translated by Maximus Planudes.

23. Paper, xv. Lexicon Graeco-Latinum.

24. Paper. XVI. Aarivov tivos Xpi<rro(p6pov 'Avaeplvov irep\ rav vrjaav

npos 'lop8dvr)v rbv Kap8i)vd\iov ttjs 'Pco/xai'ic^f 'EK>cXi;(riaf.

25. Paper, xv. Polybius 1-5.

26. Paper, xv. Eudemus, Lexicon.

27. Paper, xv. Ptolemy, Geography : Dionysius, Periegesis.

28. Paper, xiv. John Cantacuzene, History.

29. Paper, xv. Xenophon, Cyropaedia.

30. Paper, xv. Lexicon Latino-Graecum et Graeco-Latinum.

31. Paper, xv. Hesiod, Theogony with commentary.

32. Paper, xv. Pindar, Olympians.

33. Paper, xv. Oppian, Halieutica.

Even these few rough notes are enough to show that we
have here no remnants of the Imperial Library, but some
more humble collection. It is made up of the kind of books
that might have belonged to some doctor or other professional
man in Constantinople in the 16th or 17th century, and
displays a taste reasonably wide but not very deep. We
must hope for a real catalogue some time in the future when
the world is quieter.

When I came out of the museums at about two o'clock, the
firing was still proceeding merrily — in fact, it was increasing,
for small parties of soldiers were now passing through the
streets even of Pera, firing as they went, to the great alarm of

OLD SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE u

many of the visitors. The mob meanwhile, headed by Ulemas
and Softas, rushed to the offices of the Shourai Ummet and
the Tanin, the two organs of the Committee, and threw all,
papers, furniture, presses, and type, out of the windows : it
then behaved in the same fashion at the office of the Committee
of Union and Progress. Among the papers they found it is said
that there were many of an extremely compromising nature,
dealing, for instance, with the removal of Hassan Fehmi and
other opponents of the Committee. By this time accidents
from the falling bullets were becoming frequent : on the bridge
as I returned a man within two feet of me fell like a log : a
bullet had come down just behind his right ear and out again
by the lower jaw. He was taken in a cab to the hospital, and
I know not whether he recovered or no. It was estimated
that in the course of the three days more than two million
rounds were fired ; perhaps fifteen people were purposely
murdered ; and about thirty were accidentally killed and
over five hundred wounded.

After the Wednesday, the exciting events were merely
sporadic. The whole of the Thursday morning I was examin-
ing my Manuscripts in the Library of the Seraglio, and all
seemed to be quiet : on my return to Pera that afternoon
I was the witness of an exciting and tragic adventure that
took place in front of Tokatlian's restaurant.

Two soldiers began to quarrel — I could not see why — and
one of them attempted to wrest the other's revolver from him :
the second attempted to level his rifle at his opponent and fired.
The ball missed its aim, and struck in the head a young Greek
who was passing, killing him instantly : the aggressor then
ran for his life, while the first soldier prudently retired down a
side ally. At that moment a patrol, also soldiers, came round
the corner of the street and pursued the fleeing man at full
gallop ; I could not see the end, but they caught him at the
next corner, and put an end to him at once with bayonets and
revolvers. The body lay in the gutter for two or three hours :
it was finally removed to the courtyard of a neighbouring

12 THE GREEK MANUSCRIPTS IN THE

mosque, while the unfortunate Greek was taken to an Orthodox
Church, the Hagia Trias, at the end of the Rue de Pera.

Friday, my last whole day, was perfectly quiet : I went to
the Selamlik and spent the greater part of the day in visiting
various Mosques on the Stamboul side, as well as the Metro-
politan Church of the Phanar, where I was fortunate enough
to see the Patriarch Joachim. The only incidents were the
disarming by the soldiers of one or two officers who appeared
in the streets with revolvers, and the murder of the captain of
one of the ships of the Turkish navy. This man had foolishly
ordered the guns of his vessel to be trained on Yildiz Kiosk,
and commanded the marines to be ready to fire if he gave the
word. When the mutiny was at its height, he left his boat :
when they found him on Friday they took him up to Yildiz,
where the Sultan shewed himself at a window : he sent an
aide-de-camp, ordering the troops to hand him over to the
proper ministers of justice : but before this order could arrive
the soldiers and sailors had killed and decapitated him. That
afternoon we began to learn of the movement of troops favour-
able to the Committee from Salonica towards Constantinople :
and when I left the next morning at 10 o'clock by boat for
Constanza, it was said that the advance guards had arrived at
Chertaldja, but of all that has occurred since that date I know
no more than anybody else who followed the daily papers.

As to the causes and inner history of the revolt, I had
many opportunities of consulting those who were on the spot
and had the best qualifications to speak on the subject — not
only Englishmen living at Constantinople, but Greeks and
Armenians with an intimate knowledge of Turkish, who had
passed freely among the mutineers and consulted with them
as to their grievances and demands. It was their opinion
that in the first place it was a most significant fact that the
soldiers had plenty of money. Probably no troops in the
world are so badly paid as the Turkish privates — they do not
even often get the miserable pittance which is their due. Yet
in their first manifesto they said they were willing to wait

OLD SERAGLIO AT CONSTANTINOPLE 13

indefinitely until their demands were conceded, having plenty
of food and sustenance. I saw them buying bread and cigar-
ettes : many, as I have said, were able to get drunk : some
were buying revolvers and small pistols for hand-to-hand con-
flicts. The money appears to have come from the Softas,
themselves a miserably poor class ; but whence did the Softas
get it ? There seems to be little doubt that the high ecclesi-
astical authorities were not the source : the Sheikh-ul-Islam
was not even particularly pleased at the turn events took, and
was not a rich man. I do not think there can be much doubt
that the money came by underground channels from Yildiz
itself, and if this is the case much is explicable that would
otherwise be dark. The day before the mutiny broke out the
Sultan sent openly .£10,000 to troops which were being dis-
banded in Asia Minor : and, it is nearly certain, I think, that
he devoted a greater sum to the soldiers in Constantinople
itself. It is true that his civil list had been immensely cut
down since the days of the Constitution ; but he must have
had immense reserves from the time when the public treasury
and his private list were one and the same, and I imagine
that he took his share of every Turkish loan before the money
reached its destination. He certainly had investments of great
size in most countries of the world : it would be by no means
disproportionate to his resources that every private soldier
should have fifteen shillings or so each — riches to them — and
the non-commissioned officers more pro rata. His position
was temporarily very greatly improved by the mutiny ; and
without any abrogation of the liberties of his subjects — at least
such liberties as they deserve — he regained a considerable
amount of power. He had the skill to see the right moment
arrive — the moment when the clergy were becoming exaspe-
rated at the neglect of the sacred law, and the people of the
city furious at an editor's murder rightly or wrongly attri-
buted to the Committee because he attacked them in the
Press and criticised their undoubtedly high-handed and
unskilful proceedings. The unanimity of the outbreak must

14 GREEK MANUSCRIPTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE

clearly have been the result of organisation — soldiers do not
otherwise come together at three o'clock at night from all parts
of the town to air their grievances : and the whole seems to have
been a coup, successful, at least as far as the capital itself
was concerned, beyond the wildest hope of its organizer.

At the Selamlik, or public prayers, on the Friday of that
eventful week the monarch was in better spirits and more
cheerful and alert than ever before. He appeared particularly
delighted to see Europeans present, and ordered coffee and
cigarettes to be sent us. He had gained his end for the moment.

When I come to speak of my own opinion of the whole
movement, I shall perhaps be on more debateable ground.
I was never able to have much sympathy for the Committee
and the effects they produced : the best results of the previous
revolution might have been brought about by other methods.
The constitution of the Chamber of Deputies was sadly
jerrymandered : the Turkish Empire consists of three times
as many Arabs as Turks, whereas in the Chamber the
proportion was just reversed : the Christians — especially the
exceedingly numerous Greeks — had hardly any representation
at all. The abolition of espionage and certain forms of
extortion was all to the good : but on the other side must be
placed the fact that life and property in Constantinople were
less secure after the revolution than before: and political
murder by an oligarchy, however high-sounding their title,
is not much superior to banishment by a tyrant.

Cambridge: Printed at the University Press

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