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Metal
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Silver 925
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Diameter |
38,61
mm. |
Weight |
31,47
gr. |
Type of
Issue |
Proof |
Edge |
Reeded |
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TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA
The Maiden's
Tower (Turkish: Kız
Kulesi),
also known as Leander's
Tower (Tower
of Leandros)
since the medieval Byzantine period,
is a tower lying on a small islet located at the southern entrance
of the Bosphorus strait
200 m (220 yd) from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul, Turkey.
After the naval victory at Cyzicus, the
Ancient Athenian general Alcibiades possibly built a custom
station for ships coming from the Black Sea on a small rock in
front ofChrysopolis (today's
Üsküdar).[2] In
1110 Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus built a wooden
tower protected by a stone wall.[2] From
the tower an iron chain stretched across to another tower erected
on the European shore, at the quarter of
Mangana in Constantinople.[2] The
islet was then connected to the Asiatic shore through a defense
wall, whose underwater remains are still visible.[2] During
the siege of Constantinople in 1453,
the tower held a Byzantine Garrison commanded by the Venetian
Gabriele Trevisano.[2] After
the conquest of the city, Sultan Mehmet II used the structure as a watch
tower.[2] The
tower, mistakenly known as Leander's Tower after the legend
of Hero and Leander (which took
place in the Dardanelles), was destroyed during
the earthquake of 1509, and burned
in 1721.[2] Since
then it was used as a lighthouse, and the surrounding walls were
repaired in 1731 and 1734, until in 1763 it was erected using
stone.[2] From
1829 the tower was used as a quarantine station, and in 1832 was
restored by Sultan Mahmud II.[2] Restored
again by the harbour authority in 1945,[2] the
most recent restoration began in 1998, and steel supports were
added around the ancient tower as a precaution after the 17 August
1999 earthquake.[3]
The interior of the tower has been
transformed into a popular café and restaurant, with an excellent
view of the former Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman capital.[4] Private
boats make trips to the tower several times a day.[5]
There are many legends about the
construction of the tower and its location. According to the most
popular Turkish legend, an emperor had a much beloved daughter and
one day, an oracle prophesied that she would be killed
by a venomous snake on her 18th birthday. The emperor, in an effort
to thwart his daughter's early demise by placing her away from land
so as to keep her away from any snakes, had the tower built in the
middle of the Bosphorus to protect his daughter until her 18th
birthday. The princess was placed in the tower, where she was
frequently visited only by her father.
On the 18th birthday of the princess,
the emperor brought her a basket of exotic sumptuous fruits as a
birthday gift, delighted that he was able to prevent the prophecy.
Upon reaching into the basket, however, an asp that had been hiding among the
fruit bit the young princess and she died in her father's arms,
just as the oracle had predicted. Hence the
name Maiden's Tower.
The older name Leander's
Tower comes from another story about a maiden: the
ancient Greek myth of Hero and Leander. Hero was a priestess
of Aphrodite who lived in a tower
at Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Leander (Leandros),
a young man from Abydos on the other side of the
strait, fell in love with her and would swim every night across the
Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp every night at
the top of her tower to guide his way.
Succumbing to Leander's soft words,
and to his argument that Aphrodite, as goddess of love, would scorn
the worship of a virgin, Hero allowed him to make love to her. This
routine lasted through the warm summer. But one stormy winter
night, the waves tossed Leander in the sea and the breezes blew out
Hero's light, and Leander lost his way, and was drowned. Hero threw
herself from the tower in grief and died as well. The
name Maiden's Tower might also have its origins
in this ancient story.
Due to the vicinity and similarity
between the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, Leander's story was mistakenly
attributed to the tower.
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