Istanbul Quotes
The Hagia Sophia was the greatest architectural and engineering enterprise of that era and remained so for centuries. The Church was so massive that there was a permanent city of 7000 people on the second level balconies with wide ramps so that horses and carts could go to the upper level. The dome was the largest unsupported dome for centuries and historians are still ignorant of exactly how it was constructed. It changed the history of architecture. The reference to Solomon referred to the building of the original Jewish Temple in Jerusalem which was up to then considered the greatest building ever constructed.
The Ottoman Turks had already conquered the Eastern Roman empire outside of Byzantium. They had overwhelming superiority and it was just a matter of time when they would take the city. Surrender would have been the sensible course, but religious passion against surrendering the holy city capital of Christendom to the Muslims was dominant in the Emperor and some of the leadership. But the morale of most was very low—and for good reason. The Ottomans soon captured the city.
This is a good example of how religious zeal has sometimes caused rulers to really do stupid things. Rather than try and negotiate a deal with the Sultan and pay an annual tribute or other such diplomatic solution as was common at the time, he was convinced that God would make sure that the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire—a holy city would not fall to the infidel and allow all the holy relics to fall into the hands of the heathen. In reality he would not fight for the inhabitants; he would force the inhabitants to fight for him and his view of the will of God. The message was taken by the young Sultan to be a personal challenge to him and to his God. See {634805} for his response to Constantine.
The Turks could not take the city then, but they did 56 years later in 1453.
This is a very important quote for it shows the young, pragmatic, pluralistic, tolerant politician who ran for the Mayor of Istanbul. As he acquitted power he became an insular, ego maniac, intolerant, authoritarian, paranoid, and often irrational. But in his earlier years he was an outstanding leader and politician. In this quotation he instructed his campaign followers to not berate or physically assault those Muslims who drank alcohol in reseraunnts, but instead to salute them and bring them into the movement by being tolerant of all the various degrees of orthodoxy to islam. The the fundamentalist drinking alcohol is a serious sin, but doing so in a public place is a danger to the community norms and morality. He used to advocate a big tent.
