The Sultan and His Subjects - Volume 2 Author:Richard Davey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. THE CHRISTIANS IN CONSTANTINOPLE. The city of Byzantium, so the mythological story goes, was founded by Phidalia, the bride of Byzas, a son of ... more »the sea-god Poseidon by the nymph Keroessa. For ten years she watched her creation rise upon that exquisite site, which earth and sea combine to make a paradise, too often, alas ! turned by man's lust and cruelty into a hell. When the city was completely built, Phidalia called it after her husband Byzas— hence Byzantium. Never had city so tragic a story, of abnormal crime, of devastating fires, of horrible massacres, of violent earthquakes, of deadly plagues, of fearful and protracted sieges. But it has been a history, too, of high artistic and commercial prosperity, of exceptional religious and intellectual activity, of unparalleled pageantry, Pagan, Christian, and Islamic. A history, in a word, full of the most vivid contrasts, of the brightest sunshine, and the deepest gloom. Even in remote antiquity Byzantium was a market of the greatest importance, where Greek, Phoenician, and Roman traders sought Oriental goods, which, ontheir return home, they scattered throughout Central and Northern Europe, thereby accounting for the frequent mention in the myths, legends, and histories of countries so remote as Scotland and Scandinavia, of such articles of Eastern origin as ermine, sable, silk, gems, incense, and spices. It is not, however, until the sixth century of the Christian era that we obtain positive information concerning the state of commerce in Byzantium. From this date to the end of the last century the Venetian and Genoese archives—those of Monte Cassino and of the Vatican, and of the Dominican, Franciscan, and Jesuit missions, and the voluminous series of printed and manuscript works of Italian travel in the E...« less