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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. III. GREATER IIERIIENIA
45
near the village of Gavraz, on the A ;ail Irmal". In the II th century, the King of Armenia, Senecherim, made his capital of Sebaste. It belonged after to the Seljul:id Turks, and was conquered in 1397 by Bayezid Ilderim with Tokat, Castambol and Sinope. (Cf. Vital Cui;zet. )
One of the oldest churches in Sivas is St. George (Sozzrp-h'work), occupied by the Greeks, but claimed by the Armenians ; it is situated near the centre of the town, in what is called the " Black Earth," the spot where Timur is said to have massacred the garrison. A few steps north of St. George is the Church of St. Blasius, occupied by the Roman Catholic Armenians. The tomb of St. Blasius, however, is shown in another part of the town, near the citadel mount, and the ruins of a very beautiful Seljukian Medresseh. (From a MS. Note by Sir H. Yule. The information had been supplied by the American Missionaries to General Sir C. Wilson, and forwarded by him to Sir H. Yule.)
It must be remembered that at the time of the Seljuk Turks, there were four Medressehs at Sivas, and a university as famous as that of Amassia. Children to the number of moo, each a bearer of a copy of the Koran, were crushed to death under the feet of the horses of Timur, and buried in the " Black Earth " ; the garrison of 4000 soldiers were buried alive.
St. Blasius, Bishop of Sebaste, was martyred in 316 by order of Agricola, Governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, during the reign of Licinius. Ilis feast is celebrated by the Latin Church on the 3rd of February, and by the Greek Church on the I ith of February. He is the patron of the Republic of Ragusa in Dalmatia, and in France of wool-carders.
At the village of Hullukluk, near Sivas, was born in 1676 Mekhitar, founder of the well-known Armenian Order, which has convents at Venice, Vienna, and Trieste.—H. C.]
CHAPTER III.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GREATER HERMENIA.
r. 'HIS is a great country. It begins at a city called
ARZINGA, at which they weave the best buchrams in the
world. It possesses also the best baths from natural
springs that are anywhere to be found.' The people of
the country are Armenians, and are subject to the Tartar.
There are many towns and villages in the country, but
the noblest of their cities is Arzinga, which is the See of
an Archbishop, and then ARZIRON and ARzIZI.2
The country is indeed a passing great one, and in the
summer it is frequented by the whole host of the Tartars
of the Levant, because it then furnishes them with such
excellent pasture for their cattle. But in winter the cold
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