A three days' voyage brings one to Abydos, which is upon an arm of the
sea which flows between the mountains, and after a five days' journey
the great town of Constantinople is reached. It is the capital of the
whole land of Javan, which is called Greece. Here is the residence of
the King Emanuel the Emperor. Twelve ministers are under him, each of
whom has a palace in Constantinople and possesses castles and cities;
they rule all the land. At their head is the King Hipparchus, the
second in command is the Megas Domesticus, the third Dominus, and the
fourth is Megaa Ducas, and the fifth is Oeconomus Megalus; the others
bear names like these[41].

[p.20]

The circumference of the city of Constantinople is eighteen miles;
half of it is surrounded by the sea, and half by land, and it is
situated upon two arms of the sea, one coming from the sea of Russia,
and one from the sea of Sepharad.

All sorts of merchants come here from the land of Babylon, from the
land of Shinar, from Persia, Media, and all the sovereignty of the
land of Egypt, from the land of Canaan, and the empire of Russia[42],
from Hungaria, Patzinakia[43], Khazaria[44], and the land of Lombardy
and Sepharad. 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
Bagdad, the great city of Islam. In Constantinople is the church of
Santa Sophia, and the seat of the Pope of the Greeks, since the Greeks
do not obey the Pope of Rome. There are also churches according to the
number of the days of the year. A quantity of wealth beyond telling is
brought hither year by year as tribute from the two islands and the