Turkey | Istanbul | Theodosian Land Wall

While wandering through Istanbul I stayed in a hotel in the Topkapi district, hard by the Theodosian Land Wall of Istanbul. This area is about three miles west of Sultanahmed, the heart of old Istanbul. The hotels out here are a lot cheaper than closer to the center, and the pace is a lot less frantic, especially on the quiet side street where I am staying. There are numerous small restaurants and tea shops in the immediate area if one cares not to roam, but it is only a fifteen or twenty minute ride on the metro to the Area of the Grand Bazaar and Sultanahmed, in case one wants to immerse oneself in the hubbub of the city. And of course Topkapi is a convenient starting point for wandering along the ancient Theodosian Land Wall of Istanbul. 

As John Julius Norwich points out in Volume 1 of his magisterial three-volume history of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantium: The Early Centuries:

It is one of the clichés of Constantinople [Istanbul] that it should, ideally, be approached by the sea. Only then, we are told, can the uniqueness of its geographical position be properly appreciated, to say nothing of that famous skyline of dome and minaret which has symbolized, for as long as any of us can remember, the Mysterious East. With this opinion we cannot easily disagree; but, for those of us on whom Byzantium will always cast a more powerful spell than Islam, there is another approach every bit as satisfying and very nearly as spectacular. No one, surely, whose first arrival has been by road from Edirne, can ever forget that first astonishing sight of the Land Walls, looming up from the surrounding plain . . . 

The Theodosian Land Wall was constructed during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450 A.D). According to one account the wall was completed in 413 A.D. In the following centuries innumerable invading armies, including those led by Notorious Badass Attila the Hun, would throw themselves against the Land Wall, but no one ever succeeded in breaching it until May 29, 1453, when the Ottoman armies led by Sultan Mehmed II broke through and seized the city. Thus the Land Wall had stood involiate for at least 1040 years. 

The Land Wall extends from the Sea of Marmara on the south 3.4 miles to the Golden Horn on the north. Topkapi, where I stayed, is about in the middle, making it a convenient starting point for walks to either end. 

 The heavily restored Theodosian Land Wall near Topkapi (click on photos for enlargements)

  The Theodosian Land Wall near Topkapi

 One of the many towers in the wall

 Unrestored ruins

Unrestored ruins and a section of restored wall

 The wall has suffered through many earthquakes in its 1000 year-plus history. Whether this crack in a tower is a result of an earthquake is unclear.

 Tower in the Wall

  Tower in the Wall

  Tower in the Wall

 Section of wall

Section of the Land Wall approaching the Golden Horn. This part of the wall was built later and is not considered part of the Theodosian Wall. 

Some areas along the outside of the wall are now used as truck gardens

 Truck gardens

  Truck gardens

 Produce from the truck gardens

 Flower beds and markets along the outside of the wall

 Street running along the inside of the wall

 One of the numerous gates in the wall

  One of the numerous gates in the wall

Topkapi Gate. My hotel was just inside this gate. 

Turkmenistan | Merv | Mausoleum of Hamadani

In an earlier post I mentioned Ghujdawani (d.1179), the first of the Seven Khwajagan of the Bukhara Oasis. Al-Ghujdawani’s teacher was Abu Ya`qub Yusuf ibn Ayyab ibn Yusuf ibn al-Husayn al-Hamadani (to give his full name). Yusuf al-Hamadani was born in 1062 in a village near the city of Hamadan in what was then Khorasan, now Iran. At the age of eighteen he moved to Baghdad where he quickly attained the reputation as one of the leading scholars of his time. 

According to a biographical Sketch of Hamadani: 

Later in his life he secluded himself and left the world behind. He became an ascetic and engaged in constant worship and mujahada (spiritual struggle). He associated with Shaykh Abdullah Ghuwayni and Shaykh Hasan Simnani, but his secret was given him by Shaykh Abu `Ali al-Farmadhi. He made progress in self-denial and contemplation until he became the Ghawth (Arch-Intercessor) of his time. He was known as the Rain of Realities and Truth and Spiritual Knowledge. He finally settled in Merv. Through him countless miraculous events occurred.

Hamadani (center)

Hamadani died and was entombed at Merv. His mausoleum is today one of the most sacred and perhaps the most popular pilgrimage site in Turkmenistan.

 Right across the road from the Hamadani Mausoleum Complex are the ruins of ancient Merv (click on photos for enlargements)

Although the surrounding area is parched and bleak desert a riot of flowers blooms within the complex itself

 Flowerbeds in the complex

 The mausoleum of Hamadani (center)

 The mausoleum of Hamadani (right)

 The tomb of Hamadani

 Another view of the tomb of Hamadani

 High school students praying before the tomb of Hamadani 

Pilgrim circumambulating the mausoleum of Hamadani

Pilgrim praying before the tomb of Hamadani

There are persistent rumors in esoteric circles that the area around Hamadani’s mausoleum also serves as a Portal To Shambhala. This must remain conjecture. Although I did receive Shambhalic vibrations while I was there I did not encounter any portals. This may, of course, be a result of my own inadequacies. 

Turkmenistan | Tagtabazar | Yekedeshik Cave Complex | Part 2

The Yekedeshik Cave Complex is located high above the east bank of Murghab River about fourteen miles north of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. “Yekedeshik” is supposedly an archaic Turkish word meaning “single orifice”. The name refers to the single entrance to entire complex. There are five floors to the complex, although only the top two are now open to the public. The entrance opens into the fourth floor. The fourth and fifth floor contain forty-four rooms, so it is probable that the entire complex has well over 100 rooms. The chambers were carved out of soft sandstone with what were apparently pick-like implements. 

The really surprisingly thing about the complex is how little is know about who built it, for what purpose, and when. Almost everything said about the caves is speculation. Legends and tall tales abound of course. One legend maintains that the caves are not of human provenance at all, but were instead created by jinns, which according to Arab and Muslim mythology are spirits of a lower rank than angels who can appear in both human and animal form. Another legend maintains that the caves were built and used as living quarters by the troops of the Greek adventurer Alexander the Great when they passed through this region in the fourth century B.C. According to this variant, the original caves were once thirty miles long and the current caves are just remnants of a much larger complex. Also according to this legend, the caves extended far into what is now Afghanistan and were later used for smuggling. 

Russian scholars who have studied the complex have opined that it was once a monastery, but even they hesitate to say whether it hosted Buddhists or Christians. Both Buddhism and Christianity were practiced in this area prior to the arrivals of Arabic Muslim invaders in the 650s A.D. Remnants of a Buddhist monastery can still be seen amidst of the ruins of ancient Merv 125 miles north of here, and there are many remains of Buddhist culture in Afghanistan just to to the south. Buddhism may have been in decline by the time the Arabs arrived, and what Buddhists did remain were probably stamped out, since they were viewed as idolators. Christians, on the other hand, were, like Muslims, “People of the Book” and thus tolerated by the Arab invaders. Indeed, from 553 A.D. to the eleventh century, some four hundred years after the arrival of Islam, Merv was a headquarters of the Nestorian Christian Church, sometimes called the Church of the East. A Nestorian college or seminary was operating in Merv as late as 1340. 

There is of course the possibility that the complex was first a Buddhist Monastery and later converted into a Christian monastery after Buddhism was stamped out. It is also not outside the realm of possibility that it once housed some heretical Islamic sect. No one has offered an opinion on when it was abandoned. Local people no doubt knew about the caves after they were no longer inhabited, but the complex did not come to the attention of the scholarly world until the early twentieth century when Turkmenistan became part of the Soviet Union.

The single entrance to the five-floor complex; hence the name “Yekedeshik”—One Orifice

Floor plan of the complex open to the public

The main gallery of the complex is about 120 feet long. Rooms are on either side.

A typical room in the complex

The rooms were apparently excavated with pick-like tools. The pick marks can clearly be seen here. 

Another room in the complex. The graffiti is modern.

Room with what could conceivable be an altar at one end

Linked rooms

Another view of linked rooms

Another view of linked rooms

Another view of linked rooms with curious wall concavities in the foreground

Curious wall concavities. It is tempting to think they were meditation chambers, but there is really no evidence for this. 

Vertical holes in the floor. The caretaker maintains they were used to store grain, flour, oil, honey, and other foodstuffs. Conceivably they could have also been used to store water. 

Another view of the vertical holes

Indentations in the floor. It is not clear what purpose they served. 

Portal linking two rooms and a storage hole

Stairway to a second floor room

Second floor room and stairway. This room also has an altar-like construction at one end.

A second floor room