Constantine Tolmen
a great oblong stone, 33 feet long, 18 wide, and 14 thick, poised on the points of two upright rocks in in Cornwall, England.
CONSTANTINOPLE CONSTANTINOPLE ("city of Constantine"), called by the Turks STAM- BOUL; a celebrated city of Turkey in Europe; capital of the Turkish empire; on a promontory jutting out into the Sea of Marmora, having the Golden Horn, an inlet of the latter, on the N. and the Bosporus on the E. The city proper is thus surrounded by water on all sides excepting the W., where is an ancient and lofty double wall 4 miles in length, stretching across the promontory. On the opposite side of the Golden Horn are Galata, Pera, and other suburbs, while on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus entrance is Skutari. Occupying the extreme point of the promontory on which the city c stands is the Seraglio or palace of the Sultan, which, with its buildings, pavilions, gardens, and groves, includes a large space.
Of the 300 mosques, the most remarkable are the royal mosques, of which there are about 15, esteemed the finest in the world. First among these is the Mosque of St. Sophia, the most ancient existing Christian Church, converted into a mosque in 1453 on the capture of the city by the Turks. Another magnificent mosque is that of Soliman; after which are those of the Sultana Valide, built by the mother of Mohammed IV., and of Sultan Achmet, the most conspicuous object in the city when viewed from the Sea of Marmora.
Constantinople has but one remarkable square, called the At-Meidan, occupying the site of the ancient Hippodrome.
There are about 130 public baths in the city, mostly of marble, of plain exterior, but handsome and commodious within.
The few manufactures are chiefly confined to articles in morocco leather, saddlery, tobacco-pipes, fez caps, arms, perfumes, gold and silver embroideries, etc. The foreign commerce is considerable.
The harbor, the Golden Horn, which more resembles a large river than a harbor, is deep, well-sheltered, and capable of containing 1,200 large ships, which may load and unload along the quays. It is about 6 miles long, and a little more than half a mile broad at the widest part. The exports consist of silk, carpets, hides, wool, goats'-hair, and valonia.
The suburb Galata is the principal seat of foreign commerce. Here are situated the arsenals, the dock-yard, and the artillery barracks, extending along the Bosporus for nearly 1½ miles. It is an ancient place. Pera occupies the more elevated portion of the promontory of which Galata forms the maritime port.
Both it and Galata have now much of the appearance of a modern European town. Constantinople occupies the site CONSTELLATION of the ancient Byzantium, and was named after Constantine the Great, who rebuilt it about 330 A. D. It was taken in 1204 by the Crusaders, who retained it till 1261; and by the Turks under Mohammed II., May 29, 1453-an event which completed the extinction of the Byzantine Empire. See BYZANTINE EM- PIRE and BYZANTIUM. In 1915 the British and French fleet and forces attempted to capture Constantinople by attacking in the Dardanelles, but failed. With the collapse of the empire in October, 1918, Constantinople was occupied by an Allied military commission. Pop. about 1,000,000.