"Then a great slaughter occurred of those who happened to be there: some of them were on the streets, for they had already left the houses and were running toward the tumult when they fell unexpectedly on the swords of the soldiers; others were in their own homes and fell victims to the violence of the Janissaries and other soldiers, without any cause, simply because they chanced to meet them... Sultan Mehmed, when he had carefully viewed the city and all its contents, went home to his palace weeping, and lamenting the destruction and change of the city."

Kritoboulos of Imbros, History of Mehmed the Conqueror, written c.1467. Kritoboulos was a Greek official who served the Ottomans after 1453 and wrote his history in Greek to present Mehmed II in a favourable light.