Page 30 - The Lugdunum Auction 24

His first decisive decision was to use the services
of the Hungarian engineer and master cannon-
founder Orban, whose services, declined by the
Byzantines, were welcomed with great interest
and support by Mehmed.

Orban’s Basilic, called “ The Royal Gun”,
was an 8-meter-long bronze cannon, with a
barrel so large, that a man could crawl in it. It
was able to send stone projectiles weighing
more than half a ton over a distance of more Orban‘s Basilisk
than one and a half kilometers.

Although needing more than 200 men and 90 Oxen to be moved and being able to shoot only 3 projectiles
per day, it was the only weapon able to breach the exceptional fortifications of the city.

Mehmed’s second decisive decision proved that
he was both a clever military leader and a very
his-torically literate ruler and it was a turning
point in the Siege of Constantinople.
In the night from the 21st to the 22nd of
April 1453, as the Ottoman fleet had been
unable to destroy the great iron chain that was

blocking the access to the Golden Horn,
Mehmed had a great and ambitious idea: if the
ships were unable to reach the Golden Horn
by sea, they would do it by land.
And as had Ancient Greeks and Romans done
70 boats carried over land
in some of their decisive battles, Mehmed ordered
his men to carry 70 boats over dry land on wooden logs to bypass the great iron chain. This logistic
achievement proved to be decisive to the final victory of Mehmed, as it opened a new front and
divided the byzantine defending forces. Leading, one month later, to the fall of Constantinople, on
29th of May 1453.

Symbolic Power

Although Mehmed’s military successes clearly
proved he was an exceptional military leader, he
soon realized that his vision of attaining world-
wide recognition could not be achieved solely
through military conquests. He, therefore, sought
to promote his authority through the arts, as he
believed this could be a powerful instrument to
reflect his prestige and authority, both within and
outside his empire.
This medal illustrates Mehmed’s desire to be
seen as a humanist prince, whose figure would
not be considered complete, without an
interest in art, and especially in portrait medals. Ottoman miniature
On this medal, Mehmed is clearly represented as an Ottoman Sultan, wearing a turban and a cape, thus
making him undoubtedly an Eastern and Muslim figure. However, the Latin legends as well as the natu-
ralistic way Mehmed is represented, with his realistic portrait, clearly differentiates this medal from the
traditional Ottoman art of idealistic Islamic portraits as can be found illustrated on Ottoman miniatures
of the time.

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