The City of Countless Names- Talismans of Constantinople

According to Evliya Çelebi, Ottoman historian and travel writer, of the 17th century, powerful artifacts guard Constantinople and provide for the cities inhabitants. These talismans come out of the city’s ancient past, most of them housed in Byzantine monuments. Celebi claims the talismans lost their powers when the Prophet, Muhammad, received his message from Allah.  As Victoriana uses analogs of real world religions, these talismans lost their magic when angels gave the Word to the Nithamiyeen.

Near the Basilica Cistern, four columns bore statues of four angels (Gabriel, Michael, Rafael, and Azrael), each facing a cardinal direction. The angels clapped their wings to warn of famine, war, pestilence, and death.

Although the columns remain, the statues fell from their pillars when the Nithyamieen received their Word.

Where the Avret-Bazari (the market of female slaves) used to be, stands a tall pillar called the Column of Arcadius. A statue of Arcadius stands at its zenith. According to Celebi, a statue of a beautiful lady also graces the top of the pillar. Once a year, the statue attracted thousands of birds by making a noise. The birds flew around the statue before falling to the earth in exhaustion, where the Byzantines collected the birds for food.

In 1715, an earthquake severely damaged the column (or as legend claims, when angels gave their message to the Followers of the Word). In fear of its collapse, the Ottomans dismantled the column, but its base remains to this day.

In Blachernae Palace, a brass statue of an Ifrit sits on a plinth made of black stone. Once a year, the statue spat out flames. People captured sparks of this fire, as it did not extinguish until its owner fell ill.

Now, the statue is gone from Blachernae Palace.

The red granite Obelisk of Theodosius remains in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. According to Celebi, the hieroglyphs on this transplanted Egyptian obelisk prophecy the future of the city; however Egyptologists translated the hieroglyphics as declarations of a wartime victory by Pharaoh Thutmose III.

The Column of Constantine stands in Tauk-Bazar (the poultry-market). Because an earthquake weakened the columns integrity, Sultan Mustafa II ordered bronze hoops wrapped along its120 ft height to preserve it. At the top, a statue of Apollo stood symbolizing the victorious Constantine. Supposedly, Constantine placed a talisman shaped like a starling at the top, and once a year the starling clapped its wings, attracting countless birds carrying enough olives to feed Constantinople’s inhabitants.

The column remains, but a great wind blew the statuary from its top in 1106 AD.

Near the Fatih mosque by the saddler’s bazaar, sits the Column of Marcian. Old stories say a white marble chest containing the daughter of Byzantius sat at the top, protecting her body from scavengers. Any young lover due to be wed can hug the column to gain protection from harm until their wedding day.

The column’s remains are tucked away in the garden of an old barrack’s used by the Janissaries, now a private home.

A great column protected Constantinople from plagues, but it was destroyed in the 15th century, to make room for the Beyazit Bathhouse.

The Walled Obelisk in the Hippodrome of Constantinople was once decorated by gems and bronze plaques showing the victories of Emperor Basil I. Supposedly, this column also had a powerful magnet strong enough to protect the city from Earthquakes.

The obelisk still stands, but Crusaders ripped out its glorious decorations in 1204. It’s doubtful the magnet survived.

In the neighborhood of Altimemer six sages of the ancient world built six magical columns.

The pillar made by Philip bears the image of a brass fly, whose humming scares all the flies out of the Constantinople. Similarly, the pillar made by Plato has the figure of a gnat, able to drive out all of the city’s gnats. Another pillar, built by Hippocrates has a stork, and once a year the figure cries out, killing all the storks within the walls of Constantinople, leaving those in the suburbs unharmed. The pillar built by Socrates holds a brass cockerel, which crowed once a day causing the all cockerels to crow, waking the city’s inhabitants in time for morning prayer. Pythagoras’s column bears a bronze wolf so terrifying; it kept wolves in the countryside around the city from attacking sheep. The two young lovers made of brass on the column by Aristotle could solve any marital strife provided one of the partners embraced it. Galen also placed two statues on his pillar, an old decrepit man, and a sour faced hag. If a husband or wife unhappy in marriage embraced this column, they were sure to separate.

These six talismans are now gone.

Long ago an ancient sage built a brass three-headed dragon to scare all venomous animals out of Constantinople. Over time, the statue sunk into the earth near the Hippodrome of Constantinople, but not before the Sultan Selim II smashed the jaw of the head facing west. Scorpions, snakes and other venomous animals appeared in the western half of the city, and now they can be found in every building. If anyone destroys the two remaining heads, insects and reptiles will take over Constantinople.

Adventure Ideas

Basically, this is a list of powerful artifacts from Constantinople’s past villains can weaponize, power hungry cultists seek, and the highest bidder buys. Go have some fun.

In case the past 3 posts did not convince you Constantinople’s past contains plenty of fodder for adventures, this post should take care of that. We’ll revisit most of these sites again in more detail when we look at some of the sites around the city.  Next week, we’ll look at Constantinople’s populations, ethnicities, and communities.