Culture of the Ottoman Empire
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The culture of the Ottoman Empire evolved as the culture of pre-Ottoman Turks absorbed the cultures of conquered empires and their peoples, while at the same time being influenced to a great extent by the Islamic cultures, notably Arabic and Persian traditions and languages. For all of its history, the Ottoman Empire had a significant Jewish population, which absorbed and enriched Ottoman culture. It is almost impossible to speak of one Ottoman Culture as it had always been in change and constantly in relation to other cultures.
Early on as the Ottoman Turks drove out the Byzantines from Anatolia and later pursued them into Europe, the pursuit was a part of the Jihad (struggle) against Crusaders, and the first Ottoman rulers called themselves Gazi, or Warriors. But, as the Ottomans moved further west and the assimilation of the Greek and Balkan cultures progressed, the Turkic leaders themselves absorbed some of the culture of the conquered peoples. The alien culture was gradually added to the Turks' own, creating the characteristic Ottoman culture.
The Ottomans had a high tolerance of alien cultures and religions: The men of the ruling dynasty, the house of Osman, always took wives of various ethnic heritage, Turkish, Greek, Arab, Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian, thus themselves were mixed.
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[edit] Poetry
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[edit] Calligraphy
The Diwani script is a cursive style of Arabic calligraphy developed during the reign of the early Ottoman Turks (16th and early 17th centuries). It was invented by Housam Roumi and reached its height of popularity under Süleyman I the Magnificent (1520–66). As decorative as it was communicative, Diwani was distinguished by the complexity of the line within the letter and the close juxtaposition of the letters within the word.
See also
See external links:
- calligraphy
- manuscript illumination from the Turkish Ministry of Culture.
[edit] Architecture
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[edit] Decorative
[edit] Miniature
Main article: Ottoman miniature
[edit] Textiles
See external links:
[edit] Carpet
Among the Ottoman Turks the art of carpet weaving have environmental, sociological, economic, and religious reasons, which all of these effected the daily life and the decorative structures of the carpets. Turks used the carpets not just on the floors but also walls and doorways. This protected them from the temperature fluctuations between day and night, and through out the seasons.
Hereke carpets have very important place among world carpets. They are the best and finest silk rugs in the world. Carpets with Hereke designs look like magnificent cloths with fine weaving. There is an authentic Hereke designs and later carpet designers have influenced with the royal tastes and compositions. The first examples, found during the Seljuk period, were established in Usak, Gordes, Cairo, Bursa and Istanbul in 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Hereke factory, built through Ottoman industrial policy in 19th century, started to work on textiles, but later carpet weaving took the dominance.
Other significant designs include "Palace", "Yoruk" and "Turkmenian" carpets. They generally have the same functional characteristics, but differ in their styles. Stylised designs dominate "Yoruk" and "Turkmenian", whereas naturalism is prevalent in Palace due to the technological possibilities which gives way to more complex designs and motifs.
[edit] Jewelry
The jewelry of the Ottomans was unmatched by any in the world. By the 16th century the jewelry had dominated many parts of the world and the Ottomans were selling their jewelery to all the lands they had conquered. The jewelry they made was often very intricate and beautiful. They used gold and silver from the east and created masterpieces. Their high society people would wear jewelery people made to show the favour to them. Most jewellers and goldsmiths were Christian Armenians and Jews. An Armenian family had the rights to make coins.
[edit] Performance
[edit] Dance
Competing—successfully—with the women of the harem for the affection of the Ottoman noble were young males in various functions, chief among whom were the entertainers, known as köçeks. They traveled in troupes and were skilled in music, dancing, and erotic pleasures. The average troupe—named after its leader—would have about thirty dancers, though some had several hundred. When not on stage, köçeks would work in coffee-houses and taverns, where they would serve drinks, flirt, and be available for trysts with the clientele.
They were highly sought after by all nobles of all ranks, including the Sultan. Köçeks wore elegant and gaudy costumes, had long curly hair, and were immortalized in books discussing their qualities and ranking them by nationality, such as the Huban-nameh of Enderunlu Fazil.
 Istanbul 1908 - Bulgarians |
 Istanbul 1908 - Epirotes |
 Istanbul 1908 - Greeks |
[edit] Median (open stage show)
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[edit] Meddah (one person show)
Meddah or story teller was a single person show that played in front of a small group of audience like a coffeeshop audience. The play is generally about a single topic which the meddah (story teller) plays different personalities within the story. Depending on the person the meddah was impersonating in the story, he used an umbrella, or a handkerchief to signal the change of personality. The control of voice is the most important skill in this type of show. There is no time limitation on the shows. A good meddah has the skill to adjust the story depending on the interaction getting from the audience.
The stories are mostly conflicts between different parts of the society. Meddah were generally travelling artists that moved from one big city to another. The main path that used was the towns on the spice road. The dynamics of the tradition is supposedly goes back to the Homer's time. The methods of meddahs were same as the methods of that times artists who told the stories of Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey from one town to another, even though the stories were changed to Ferhat ile Şirin or Leyla ile Mecnun. Among the reportuars of the meddah also include true stories, that was modified depending the audience, artist and political situation.
The Istanbul meddahs were known integrate musical instruments to their stories. That was pointed as a difference to the east anatolian Dengbejin.
[edit] Karagöz (shadow play)
The Turkish shadow theatre, also known as Karagöz ("black-eyed") after one of its main characters, is descended from the Oriental Shadow theatre. Today, scholars generally consider the technique of a single puppeteer creating voices for a dialogue, narrating a story, and possibly even singing, all while manipulating puppets, to be an Indonesian invention. To this technique, people in the Ottoman Empire added Greek story-telling structures, hence developing an artform unique to Asia Minor. There are some who believe that the Turkish shadow theatre was influenced by Roma, while others claim that there was a Chinese influence, in the days when the Turks were still nomadic tribes.
[edit] Sports
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Turkish Wrestling is very old tradition among Turks.
- Cirit
- Gures
- Archery
- Cockfights
[edit] Turkish cuisine
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- Sherbet
- Logusa Sherbeti
- Fruit Sherbets
- Turkish Coffee
- Nargile (Narguile / Hookkah)
- Lokum (Turkish Delight)
- Sheker (Candies)
- Akide Shekeri
- Macun (Majoon)
- Pestil
- Sucuk
- Shish Kebab
- çörek
[edit] Science and technology
Timeline
18/07/1851 -Inauguration of the Academy of Sciences
[edit] Timeline
- 01/04/1847-Institution of the Ministry of Education founded
- Civil Service School founded 1859
- Imperial Ottoman Lycée at Galatasaray founded 1868
[edit] External links
- http://www.osmanlimedeniyeti.com Many articles about the Ottoman history and culture including art, culture, literature, economics, architecutre (in Turkish)
