Day 13: Aya Sofya

There's so much on the agenda today. But first let's start with a brief history lesson.

Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul. When am I?

The first real "city" on this spot was established by Greek colonists in 659 B.C. Sure, there had been small Hittite and Anatolian villages before that, but the first real settlement was made by a Greek named Byzas. The city was called Byzantium. That lasted about 60 years before Persians drove them out. The Persians' rule ended in 334 B.C., courtesy of Alexander the Great. After his death, the region sort of swished to and fro without much stability until Roman Emperor Vespasian took control in 73 A.D. As part of the Roman Empire, it suffered its share of imperial rivalry and intrigue. One quarrel even caused the city to burn to the ground in 196.

Emperor Constantine chose Byzantium to be his new capital in 330 A.D. He called it Nova Roma. The people called it Constantinople. When Emperor Theodosius died in 395 A.D., the thriving eastern part of the empire decided to leave the decaying western portion to fend for itself. This new "Byzantine Empire" would last for more than a thousand years. The greatest Byzantine emperor was Justinian (527-565).

By the 11th century, the Crusades were wreaking havoc all over the region. Muslim Selçuks took control of nearly every part of the Byzantine Empire, but, try as they may, could not push the Christians out of Constantinople. A funny (tragic) thing happened during the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204). Christian crusaders sacked their own brethren's city and carried off its treasure. It took 50 years for the Byzantines to push their European "friends" out. The Selçuks gave way to Ottoman Turks, but still the Christians resisted. By the mid-1400s, the Orthodox Christians of the east had severed ties with the Catholic Christians in the west. There was no help coming, and Ottoman sultan Mehmet II smelled blood. In 1453, he set about conquering Constantinople once and for all. For two months, he laid siege to the city. The Byzantines had built strong city walls, and they stretched a chain across the Golden Horn to keep out enemy ships. But clever Mehmet had a plan: pull the ships out of the water, drag them across greased logs, and deposit them on the other side of the chain. All in one night! His crazy plan worked. By the next day, he controlled the best fortified city of its time. The reign of Ottoman sultans would last until the end of the first World War.

Our first stop today will be the massive Aya Sofya. It was built by Emperor Justinian as a church. It would be converted into a mosque by the Ottomans and into a museum by Atatürk.

There are four brick minarets. Notice how they transition from round to square for stability.

Let me give you some perspective. The Statue of Liberty could do jumping jacks in here.

The scaffolding was a huge distraction, but you could still see that the interior was enormous.

There are two floors.

By the way, Islam does not permit human figures in religious art. So, they use a lot of calligraphy as decoration.

This is the Miracle Column of St. Gregory. For centuries, people believed that this column "wept" holy water. You would stick your thumb in the hole, turn your hand a full 360 degrees, and if it came out damp, your prayer would be answered.

To the right of the apse (alter removed by the Muslims), is a staircase called a mimber. The imam stands only halfway up in deference to Mohammed.

The second floor is referred to as the Upper Galleries. It has a beautifully painted ceiling. To reach the second floor, you climb a spiraling collection of straight ramps. Why ramps and not stairs? For the emperor's horse or litter carriers, of course. He couldn't be expected to walk.

Here's an example of one of the many mosaics on the second floor. It would have been plastered over either during the iconoclast era (when "icons" were out of vogue in Christianity) or when it was converted into a mosque.

You had to really be there to appreciate the fine detail.

This mosaic had a funny backstory. Jesus is in the middle with Empress Zoe on the right and her husband on the left. Her first husband died, and she remarried. Rather than redo the entire mosaic, they just changed his name. But he was soon dead, too. Then, her perfidious nephew seized power and had her face "defaced". She returned to power and had it restored. She then married a third time. His name is the one you see here.