14/10/2016
Kiz Kulesi, Istanbul
One of Istanbul's landmarks: the Kız Kulesi with the Süleymaniye Mosque in the background.
The Kız Kulesi (or Maiden's Tower in English), also known as Leander's (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. 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 of Chrysopolis (today's Üsküdar). On this site in 1110 Emperor Alexius Comnenus built a wooden tower protected by a stone wall. From the tower an iron chain stretched across to another tower erected on the shore, at the quarter of Mangana in . The islet was then connected to the Asiatic shore through a defense wall, whose underwater remains are still visible. During the siege of Constantinople in 1453, the tower held a Garrison commanded by the Venetian Gabriele Trevisano. After the conquest of the city, Sultan Mehmet II used the structure as a watch tower. 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. 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. From 1829 the tower was used as a quarantine station, and in 1832 was restored by Sultan Mahmud II. Restored again by the harbour authority in 1945, the most recent restoration took place in 1998, when steel supports were added around the ancient tower as a precaution after the 17 August 1999 earthquake.
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. boats make trips to the tower several times a day.
Many legends surrender this tower, one of them is the earlier mentioned legend of Hero and Leander: It is a myth relating the story of Hērō, a priestess of Aphrodite who dwelt in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Dardanelles, and Leander, a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. fell in love with Hero and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp 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. These trysts 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. When Hero saw his dead body, she threw herself over the edge of the tower to her death to be with him.
As mentioned earlier, the legend took not place in this tower, but somewhere in the Dardanelles (which was known as the Hellespont). But throughout the years the legend was placed at the Kız Kulesi, instead of somewhere in the Dardanelles, 250 km southwest of the Kız Kulesi.
Another legend is the one of the girl that would be killed by a venomous snake: According to the most popular legend, a sultan had a much beloved daughter. One day, an oracle prophesied that she would be killed by a venomous snake on her 18th birthday. The sultan, 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 to protect his daughter until her 18th birthday. The was placed in the tower, where she was frequently visited only by her father.
On the 18th birthday of the princess, the 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.
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