The Statue

"[In Chandax] there is a total of seventy fountains with the water of life. The best known is the King's Fountain (Fontana Morisini) which is in the square in front of the mosque dedicated to Defterdar Ahmet Pasha, in the centre of the bazaar. In the middle of a large basin, atop a small column, there is a human statue made of marble. Water spouts from its genitals for passers-by to quench their thirst. After the fall of the city, an elderly, intrepid warrior performed an operation, circumcising the statue's member with an axe. Thereafter, Defterdar Ahmet Pasha put a fountain in the basin issuing the water of life."

[Evlia Çelebi, Travelogue (1668-1671), Ekati 2005, p. 248 - in Greek]

The sculpture that suffered the misfortune of being circumcised by the fervent Muslim warrior was a statue of the god Poseidon that crowned the Fontana Morosini. The statue was later destroyed in its entirety; knowledge of it derives solely from eye-witness accounts and descriptions.