From Haghia Sophia to Beyazit Square - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 137

again to the beginning of Divan Yolu; 100 metres or so up Divan
Yolu and on its left side, we see a tiny mosque, one of the oldest in the
city. It was constructed in 1491 for Firuz Ağa, Chief Treasurer in the
reign of Sultan Beyazit II. Firuz Ağa Camii is of interest principally
because it is one of the few examples in Istanbul of a mosque of the
“pre-classical” period, that is, of those built before 1500. This is the
architectural style which flourished principally in the city of Bursa
when it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire, before the Conquest.
In form, Firuz Ağa Camii is quite simple, consisting merely of a
square room covered by a windowless dome resting on the walls, the
so-called single unit type of mosque. The building is preceded by a
little porch of three bays, typical of the single-unit Bursa mosques,
while the minaret, unusually, is on the left-hand side. The tomb
of the founder, in the form of a marble sarcophagus, is on the terrace
beside the mosque. Firuz Ağa Camii is an elegant little building,
perhaps the most handsome of the early mosques of its type in the
city.
THE PALACES OF ANTİOCHUS AND LAUSUS
Just beyond Firuz Ağa Camii, there is a little park which borders an
open area excavated some years ago. The ruins which were exposed in
these excavations are so fragmentary that it is difficult to determine
their identity. It is thought that what we see here are the ruins of two
adjacent palaces, those of Antiochus and Lausus, two noblemen of the
early fifth century. The grandest of these is the palace of Antiochus,
an hexagonal building with five deep semicircular apses with circular
rooms between the apses. In the early seventh century, this palace
was converted into a martyrium for the body of St. Euphemia when
it was taken from Chalcedon to Constantinople. This lady was a
virgin, martyred in Chalcedon in about the year 303. We learn from
the Anonymous Englishman, writing in 1190, that St. Euphemia
performed an astonishing miracle during the Oecumenical Council
at Chalcedon in 451. According to his account, the two opposing
parties in the Council, the Orthodox and the Monophysites, decided
to resolve their dispute about the nature of Christ by placing their
formulas in the saint's casket and letting her decide. A week later