An Ottoman Traveller E-Book

• Herausgeber: Eland Publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Evliya Çelebi is the greatest travel writer of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Istanbul in 1611, he started travelling in 1640 and continued for over forty years, stopping eventually in Cairo where he died in about 1685. He collected his lively and eclectic observations into a ten-volume manuscript the Seyahatname, or Book of Travels. For the first time in English, this selection gives a taste of the breadth of Evliya's interests: from architecture to natural history, through religion, politi, linguisti, music, science and the supernatural. While he made over a thousand complete recitations of the Koran in his lifetime, he also wrote with curiosity about Christianity, about his own impotence, about the anti at a world convention of trapeze artists and the feats of a Kurdish sorcerer who conjured a horse from a log pile.

Leseprobe

AN OTTOMAN TRAVELLER

SELECTIONS FROM THE Book of Travels of Evliya Çelebi

TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY

Robert Dankoff and Sooyong Kim

CONTENTS

Title Page

Introduction

Literary allusions

Glossary

VOLUME 1

Istanbul

1 Introduction: The dream

2 The Süleymaniye Mosque

3 The antiquity of smoking

4 Galata

5 Kağıthane

6 Guilds’ parade

7 Lağari Hasan Çelebi

VOLUME 2

Anatolia and beyond

1 Setting out

2 Hot Springs of Bursa

3 Return to Istanbul

4 Hamsi in Trabzon

5 Black Sea adventure

6 Tabriz

7 Cat-brokers of Ardabil

8 Oil wells of Baku

9 Cathedral of Echmiadzin

10 Ankara

VOLUME THREE

In the Retinue of Melek Ahmed Pasha

1 Nasreddin Hoca in Akşehir

2 Safed

3 Sheikh Bekkar the Naked on the road outside Damascus

4 The girl who gave birth to an elephant

5 Armenian

6 The cats of Divriği

7 Witchcraft in a Bulgarian village

8 Sofia

VOLUME FOUR

Safavid Borderlands

1 Diyarbekir

2 Bitlis

3 The ruined city of Ahlat

4 On ‘extinguishing the candle’

VOLUME FIVE

East Anatolia and the Balkans

1 Highwaymen in the Bolu Pass; return to Van

2 Escape from Bitlis

3 Diplomacy in Split (Spalato)

4 The bandit Yano

VOLUME SIX

Hungary and the German Campaign

1 An incident on the battlefield

2 Shkodër (Scutari)

3 The Samakov iron works

4 An adventure near Komorn; Tatar raid into Western Europe

5 Dubrovnik (Ragusa)

6 The great bridge at Mostar

VOLUME SEVEN

Habsburg Borderlands, Crimea and beyond

1 Raiding expeditions in ‘Germany’; a fabulous tree in Krokondar

2 The battle on the Raab River (Battle of Saint Gotthard, 1664)

3 Comparison of Austrians and Hungarians

4 A pleasure resort near Vienna; the free conduct of women

5 Vienna

6 Crimea

7 A meal of strange honey in Circassia

8 Kalmyks and cannibalism

VOLUME EIGHT

Greece and the Conquest of Crete

1 Return to Crimea

2 Report to the Sultan in Edirne

3 The Gypsies of Gümülcine (Komotini)

4 Athens

5 Balibadra: A great cypress tree and the five ethnic groups of the Morea 293

6 Siege of Candia: Ministrations to the wounded and Saint Green-Arm

7 A captive woman in Kolorya

8 Fair at Doyran

VOLUME NINE

Pilgrimage

1 Setting out on the Hajj

2 Brigands at the Alman Pass; Ephesus

3 Safed and the land of Canaan

4 Jerusalem

5 Sheikh Bekkar the Naked in Damascus

6 The Hajj caravan; Muzayrib, the Hajj bazaar

7 Medina

8 The People of Mecca

9 Uyun al-qasab

10 St Catherine’s Monastery on Mt Sinai

VOLUME TEN

Egypt and Sudan

1 Adam’s prayer for Egypt in ‘Hebrew’

2 Relation among Nile overflow, plenty and poverty, crowdedness of Cairo, people and donkeys

3 Snake medicine and snake charming

4 Rain, snow and hail in Egypt in 1083 (1672)

5 Crocodiles

6 The Cairo underworld and unusual trades

7 Trades and products lacking in Egypt

8 Chicken incubation; Sabil Allam stones

9 Exploring a pyramid

10 Weddings, circumcision, etc.

11 Mevlud of Seyyid Ahmad al-Badawi in Tanta

12 Mountain of the Birds

13 Map of the Nile

14 Meeting with Kör Husayn Qan

15 Meeting with Qan Girgis; encounter with two Bektashi dervishes

16 Elephants and monkeys

17 Envoi

APPENDIX

Outline of Journeys and Events in the Ten Volumes of the Book of Travels

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

Copyright

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustrations in the text

Süleymaniye Mosque by Melchior Lorck1(Royal Library, Copenhagen)

Entertainers at the circumcision of the sultan’s sons33(Topkapı Palace Museum)

A wandering dervish89 (National Library of Sweden)

Diyarbekir by Matrakçı Nasuh111 (Istanbul University Rare Works Library)

Map of Split (Spalato)139 (Newberry Library, Chicago, 171.5 M858 12(a)1)

Bridge at Mostar171(Courtesy of Special Collections, Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library)

The Tatar Khan217(National Library of Sweden)

The Parthenon, Athens by Christian Hansen257(akg-images)

The Great Mosque, Medina301(The Stapleton Collection/Bridgeman Art Library)

An Ethiopian Woman369(The David Museum, Copenhagen)

LITERARY ALLUSIONS

A notable feature of Evliya’s literary style is the plethora of references to Islamic and Persian lore. He could assume that his audience – the Ottoman elite – would instantly recognise allusions to Koran and Hadith, and to such Persian classics as Firdawsi’s Book of Kings (Shahnama, completed in 1010) and Sa‘di’s Rose Garden (Gulistan, completed in 1258).

Especially the legendary Persian kings and heroes served as templates; the mere mention of their names was enough to lend a rich associative gloss to whatever is under discussion. Thus Jamshid, an early king and culture hero, stands in for majesty and inventiveness; Kay Kavus for fine cuisine; Farhad for mining and engineering. Chosroes (Khusraw) is famous for his monumental vault, which still stood near Baghdad; while his beloved Shirin is associated with fine royal structures. The tyrant Zahhak stands in for a grim executioner, hence ‘sword of Zahhak’.

A mountain suggests Mt Qaf which, in the traditional geography, surrounds the inhabited world; or else Bisutun, a lofty range in Iran. A strong fortress or dam elicits a comparison to the Wall of Iskandar, referring to the rampart against Gog and Magog constructed by Alexander the Great, who was identified with Dhu’l-qarnayn – ‘The Two-Horned’ – mentioned in the Koran (18:83). Or a mighty fortress is likened to that of Qahqaha (near Alamut in Iran); while a glorious palace is likened to Khawarnaq (near Najaf in Iraq). A fountain may evoke that of Salsabil, mentioned in the Koran (76:18), and a river that of Kawthar (108:1); while a beautiful garden invariably recalls that of the many-columned city of Iram (89:7). In Muslim lore, this last was built by Shaddad ibn Ad, who for Evliya serves as another example both of a great builder and a tyrant.

Mani – the founder of the Manichaean religion, but remembered for the artistry with which he adorned his book of revelation, the Arzhang – is often conjured up in connection with painting or any fine handiwork. (Evliya apparently thought that Arzhang was the name of another painter.) The other figure invariably mentioned in this connection is Bihzad, the famous master of the Persian miniature, who lived in Herat in the fifteenth century. Evliya also mentions more recent Persian masters such as Shah Quli, Vali Jan and Agha Riza. When it comes to calligraphy, first place goes to the Persian Yaqut Musta‘simi (d. 1298); then the Turks take the palm with Karahisari (d. 1556) and Sheikh Hamdullah (d. 1519); and also the master of paper cutouts, Fahri Çelebi of Bursa (d. 1611?).1 Musical performances, on the other hand, invariably recall those of Sultan-Husayn Bayqara, who presided over the Timurid court of Herat in the late 15th century.

There are frequent allusions to pre-Islamic sacred history, from Adam to Jesus. A seductress is dubbed Zulaykha, referring to the figure known as Potiphar’s wife in the Old Testament who tried to seduce Joseph. (In the Koran she is simply called ‘His master’s wife’ – 12:23.) The Biblical Korah (Qarun in the Koran, 28:76) is proverbial for great wealth. Also in the Koran he is joined with Haman and Pharoah as figures of tyranny (29:39, 40:24), and Evliya follows suit, sometimes adding the Umayyad caliphs Marwan and Yazid to the list. Loqman, on the other hand, is proverbial for wisdom (31:12).

Hızır (Arabic: al-Khidr) is associated with the Water of Life that bestows immortality; and he comes to the rescue of those in distress, especially seamen. These traits are based on interpretations of the Koranic figure identified simply as ‘one of Our servants’ (18:65) who guided both Moses and Dhu’l-qarnayn/Iskandar. David – both a king and a prophet – is patron saint of ironsmiths stemming from his association with ‘the armourer’s craft’ in the Koran (21:80). Someone sleeps like the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, referred to in the Koran as Sleepers of the Cave (18:9).

Other allusions are to figures or events in Islamic history. Any cave – or something that just resembles a cave – calls up the Cave of Orphans, which probably refers to the cave near Mecca where the Prophet Muhammad and his companion Abu Bakr took refuge from their enemies. Salman – known as the Pure (Pak) or the Persian (al-Farisi) – was a Companion of the Prophet who became the patron saint of barbers and was thought to have a role in the initiation of various craft guilds. Bilal the Ethiopian was the Prophet’s muezzin, and so the patron saint of Evliya himself in that role. Hassan ibn Thabit, known as the Prophet’s poet, serves as a figure for poetic skill. Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas, a leading Companion of the Prophet and commander of the Arab armies during the conquest of Iraq, was the patron saint of archers; Amr Ayyar al-Zamiri, the Prophet’s messenger, of runners and tumblers. A certain Mahmud Piryar Veli was the patron saint of wrestlers, Kassab Cömerd that of butchers.

Ma‘di-karib, associated with the semi-legendary exploits of the Prophet’s uncle Hamza, was proverbial for his large appetite; while Ma‘noghlu, a Druze rebel in Mt Lebanon whom the Ottomans executed in 1635, was proverbial for his imprisonment. Abu Muslim, leader of the Abbasid cause in the eighth century, was known as a halberdier and so his name gets associated with hatchets. The ascetic and saintly Rabi‘a al-Adawiya (d. 801) was a model of chastity. The philosopher Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (d. 1037) had a reputation as a great physician, but also as a great magician. And an elephant can be qualified as Mahmudi, named for Mahmud of Ghazna (reg. 998–1030) who famously used elephants in his military exploits.

Sunnis as well as Shi‘is recalled the trials of Husayn and his followers, who were martyred at Karbala in Iraq in the year 680; and so the Plain of Karbala is a figure for all who suffer thirst or are wounded in battle. The villain of the Karbala drama was the Umayyad caliph Yazid, whose name is enshrined in the pejorative term Yazidi for a certain heretical group.

1 On Fahri and Ottoman paper cuts, see Atasoy 2002, 73-79.

VOLUME ONE

Istanbul

EVLIYA BEGINS THE Book of Travels with a volume devoted to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and his birthplace. The volume opens with an account of the dream he has on his twentieth birthday, 19 August 1630, in which the Prophet Muhammad blesses his desire to travel. It proceeds with a historical and geographical survey of Istanbul, including its suburbs along the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.

The opening volume of the Book of Travels is like a guidebook to Istanbul as well as a tribute, offering a vast panorama of life in the city, with descriptions of buildings, monuments and gardens, dress and cuisine, types of occupations and social groups. It also provides a template for Evliya’s narrative and descriptive styles, which aim both to instruct and amuse. And as the centre of his world, Istanbul would become the touchstone and measure of everything he witnessed during his travels.

We have included here Evliya’s description of one of the great imperial mosques of the city; also the churches and taverns of Galata; and the pleasure park of Kağıthane.

The systematic nature of Evliya’s account is reflected in the chapter divisions – a feature found only in this and in the final volume. By far the longest is chapter 270, comprising the 47 guilds of Istanbul craftsmen and merchants parading before the sultan. The excerpts included here (furriers, circumcision barbers, tightrope walkers) give the flavour of these sections that are such rich sources for Ottoman life.

1. Introduction: The dream

In the Name of God the Compassionate the Merciful, and to Him we turn for help.

Praise be to God who has ennobled those honoured with worship and travel, and has vouchsafed for me the path to the holy places and shrines. May blessings be upon him, who laid the foundations of the fortresses of Sharia (the sacred law of Islam), and established them on the basis of prophethood and tariqa (the mystical path of Sufism), and upon his good and pure family. And may abundant blessings and the most excellent salutations be upon him, the protector endowed with exceptional character, the most noble and perfect of creation, the model for prayer who said, ‘Pray as you saw me,’ the infallible guide, Muhammad, who spoke Arabic best. In his honour, God, the Lord of the Realms and Creator of the Heavens, made the earth a pleasant home for the sons of Adam and made them the most noble of all the creatures:

Blessed be God, who ordered all affairs by His will,

Without oppression, and without injustice!