Benjamin of Tuleda had a very positive view on Constantinople. He describes the city as, "It is a busy city and merchants come to it from every country by sea or land, and there is none like it in the world except Baghdad, the great city of Islam." Constantinople is shown to be largely influential on a worldwide scale, and merchants come from every country by sea or land. This shows his view of Constantinople as a thriving center of trade and commerce. Benjamin also describes Constantinople as being very wealthy, "And in this church {Hagia Sophia} there are pillars of gold and silver, and lamps of silver and gold more than a man can count." His description shows that Constantinople had much wealth from its enormous prosperity in trade and commerce. This wealth is clearly reflected in the Hagia Sophia and its pillars and lamps of silver and gold. This also shows the importance of the church and the influence of Christianity on the citizens of Constantinople.
I think this description cannot be trusted, because that Benjamin describes everything in a positive way. Benjamin arrived in Constantinople during a period of political decline. Therefore, I assume that the city would have had many negative things going on during that time period, and it is hard to believe that the city would be as perfect as described by Benjamin. Therefore, I cannot trust this description.
No comments:
Post a Comment