



Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, JoAnn Greenwood, and the
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THE NEAR EAST

[Illustration: THE MOSQUE OF SULEIMAN AT CONSTANTINOPLE]




    THE
    NEAR EAST

    DALMATIA, GREECE
    AND CONSTANTINOPLE

    BY
    ROBERT HICHENS

    ILLUSTRATED BY
    JULES GUERIN
    AND WITH PHOTOGRAPHS

    [Illustration]

    LONDON
    HODDER AND STOUGHTON
    1913




PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES BY THE DE VINNE PRESS




CONTENTS




                                                            PAGE
    CHAPTER I
    PICTURESQUE DALMATIA                                       1

    CHAPTER II
    IN AND NEAR ATHENS                                        49

    CHAPTER III
    THE ENVIRONS OF ATHENS                                    95

    CHAPTER IV
    DELPHI AND OLYMPIA                                       137

    CHAPTER V
    IN CONSTANTINOPLE                                        181

    CHAPTER VI
    STAMBOUL, THE CITY OF MOSQUES                            225




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


    The Mosque of Suleiman at Constantinople      _Frontispiece_
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

                                                            PAGE
    The Roman Amphitheater at Pola                             4
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Market-Place at Spalato                                9
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    Zara--Piazza delle Erbe                                   14

    The Harbor of Mezzo                                       17

    Spalato--Peristilio                                       24

    Trau--Vestibule of the Cathedral                          27

    Ragusa                                                    32

    The Rector's Palace and the Public Square at Ragusa       37
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Jesuits' Church and the Military Hospital, Ragusa     45

    The Parthenon at Athens                                   52
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Acropolis, with a View of the Areopagus and Mount
        Hymettus, from the West                               55

    The Theater of Dionysus on the southern <DW72> of the
        Acropolis                                             62

    The Temple of the Olympian Zeus at Athens                 65
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    In the Portico of the Parthenon                           70

    The Temple of Athene Nike at Athens                       75
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Stadium, Athens                                       82

    The Academy, Mount Lycabettus in the background           87

    The Acropolis at Athens, early morning                    92
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Temple of Poseidon and Athene at Sunium               98
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Temple of Athene, Island of AEgina                    103
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Theater of Dionysus, Athens                          108

    The Plain of Marathon                                    113

    A Monastery at the foot of Hymettus                      120

    Ruins of the Great Temple of the Mysteries at Eleusis    125

    The Odeum of Herodes Atticus in Athens                   133
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Site of Ancient Delphi                               140
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    Delphi--Gulf of Corinth in the distance                  143

    The Lion of Chaeronea, the Acropolis and Mount Parnassus  150

    Place of the famous Oracle, Delphi                       154

    View of Mount Parnassus                                  159

    Ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi                  165

    The Temple of Hera at Olympia                            170

    Olympia--Entrance to the Athletic Field                  175

    The Grand Bazaar in Constantinople                       184
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Bosphorous--Constantinople in the distance           190

    Galata Bridge, which connects Galata and Pera            193

    The Water-front of Stamboul, with Pera in the distance   200

    Looking down Step Street, Constantinople                 203

    Public Letter-writers in a Constantinople Street         208

    The Courtyard of the "Pigeon's Mosque"                   213
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    Street Scene in Constantinople                           221

    The Mosque of the Yeni-Valide-Jamissi, Constantinople    228
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Royal Gate leading to the old Seraglio               231
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    The Mosque of Santa Sophia                               238
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    In the Cemetery of Eyub, on the Golden Horn              241
        From a painting by Jules Guerin

    Interior of Santa Sophia                                 246

    St. George's Greek Church, now a mosque, Constantinople  251

    Street vista in Galata from end of bridge,
        Constantinople                                       258

    A view over Constantinople showing the Mosque of Santa
        Sophia                                               263




PICTURESQUE DALMATIA

[Illustration: THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATER AT POLA]




THE NEAR EAST




CHAPTER I

PICTURESQUE DALMATIA


Miramar faded across the pale waters of the Adriatic, which lay like a
dream at the foot of the hills where Triest seemed sleeping, all its
activities stilled at the summons of peace. Beneath its tower the
orange- sail of a fishing-boat caught the sunlight, and gleamed
like some precious fabric, then faded, too, as the ship moved onward to
the forgotten region of rocks and islands, of long, gray mountains, of
little cities and ancient fortresses, of dim old churches, from whose
campanile the medieval voices of bells ring out the angelus to a people
still happily primitive, still unashamed to be picturesque. By the way
of the sea we journeyed to a capital where no carriages roll through the
narrow streets, where there is not a railway-station, where the citizens
are content to go on foot about their business, and where three quarters
of the blessings of civilization are blessedly unknown. We had still to
touch at Pola, in whose great harbor the dull-green war-ships of Austria
lay almost in the shadow of the vast Roman amphitheater, which has
lifted its white walls, touched here and there with gold, above the sea
for some sixteen hundred years, curiously graceful despite its gigantic
bulk, the home now of grasses and thistles, where twenty thousand
spectators used to assemble to take their pleasure.

But when Pola was left behind, the ship soon entered the watery
paradise. Miramar, Triest, were forgotten. Dalmatia is a land of
forgetting, seems happily far away, cut off by the sea from many
banalities, many active annoyances of modern life.

Places that are, or that seem to be, remote often hold a certain
melancholy, a tristesse of "old, unhappy, far-off things." But Dalmatia
has a serene atmosphere, a cheerful purity, a clean and a cozy gaiety
which reach out hands to the traveler, and take him at once into
intimacy and the breast of a home. Before entering it the ship coasts
along a naked region, in which pale, almost flesh- hills are
backed by mountains of a ghastly grayness. Flesh-color and steel are
almost cruelly blended. No habitations were visible. The sea, protected
on our right by lines of islands, was waveless. No birds flew above it;
no boats moved on it. We seemed to be creeping down into the ultimate
desolation.

But presently the waters widened out. At the foot of the hills appeared
here and there white groups of houses. A greater warmth, like a breath
of hope, stole into the air. White and yellow sails showed on the breast
of the sea. Two sturdy men, wearing red caps, and standing to ply their
oars, hailed us in the Slav dialect as they passed on their way to the
islands. The huge, gray Velebit Mountains still bore us company on our
voyage to the South, but they were losing their almost wicked look of
dreariness. In the golden light of afternoon romance was descending upon
them. And now a long spur of green land thrust itself far out,