The Cisterns of Constantinople

Constantinople, today's Istanbul, is known for its Byzantine churches and its rainwater cisterns. I remember cisterns from my childhood, much smaller than the cisterns I am going to tell you about. I remember that many years ago we went to Halki (Heybeliada) to spend the summer. Under almost every house there was a cistern. The cisterns were shared and filled with rainwater that came from the roof. On top of these cisterns was a lid, sometimes with a hole, and a pulley with a rope to lower a bucket and fill it with water from the cistern. This water was used for cooking and also for housework. Drinking water was bought from the water-seller (saka). These sakas could sometimes be seen at night near the more distant cisterns, filling their waterskins with this water too. I am not sure, but perhaps they filtered the water in their own way so that it would have a good taste.

The cisterns were very important in the centres inside the city too. In those days there were no apartment buildings as today. The houses were more like family dwellings, I mean that large families lived in one house with all the members of the family. The women of these families shared the kitchen, and if they had a terrace on the floor above, it was for hanging out the washing. There too, the laundry had to be well washed — washed by hand, of course — and the white linen had to be spotless, without any stain. Gossip was not lacking, and daughters-in-law did not always get on with their mothers-in-law. Let us return to our Byzantine cisterns, large, immense, which can still be visited and seen. One of these cisterns is the Sunken Cistern of the 6th century of our era (Yerebatan Sarnıcı), a fairly large and elegant cistern built by the emperor Justinian in the year 532. It has 336 columns, and almost all have capitals of different styles and bases of different sizes to support them. Two of these bases bear the face of the Medusa.

Who is this Medusa? In Greek mythology the Medusas were invented by the writer Hesiod in the book Theogony, the History of the Gods. An interesting part of the story of the Medusas is written by Ovid in his book called 'Metamorphoses'. Without going into details, Greek mythology holds that a young hero, Perseus, was sent to the Medusa, who had hair in the form of snakes and an invincible power to turn to stone anyone who looked at her. Perseus thought of a plan to kill her without being attacked. One day when the Medusa was sleeping, Perseus took his shield (magen) to use it as a mirror and placed it before the sleeping Medusa. When the Medusa awoke, she opened her eyes and saw herself in the shield. At once she was petrified, and Perseus could cut off the Medusa's head to bring it to the goddess Athena. Athena always wore this head of the Medusa as a medallion on her breast. Mythology with its tales is a bottomless well.

Another cistern nearby is the Cistern of the Thousand and One Columns. The name already gives an idea of its size. Of course one should not trust every name one is given and everything one reads: these columns were only 224, and today 212 remain. It was built by the Emperor Constantine. The columns are interesting for being formed of two separate columns, fitted one on top of the other. Today this cistern is a museum and can be visited. Another cistern near there is the Şerefiye Cistern, recently restored and opened to public visits. The cistern also serves as a concert hall, and it is the only cistern with a modern lift at the service of the public. Şerefiye is under the building next to the Municipal Conservatory. This cistern was built by the emperor Theodosius in the years 428-443 of our era.

Another cistern, again in the old city, in the centre of Sultanahmet, is very original and lies under a shopping centre called Nakkaş. It was restored by the owners of this same centre. Byzantine cisterns are many in Istanbul. One of them is near Edirnekapı and is known as the football ground of the Karagümrük team. This cistern was one of those that were open to the sky. Another cistern that is not visited lies under the Zeyrek church/mosque. From outside, along the road, only the strong walls of the cistern are seen. It seems that in Istanbul we have more than 100 cisterns. Water is one of the primordial elements of life. In Turkish they say 'Su gibi aziz ol!' — 'Be blessed like water!'