Ottoman Istanbul Research Articles

From an arasta bazaar to a piyasa street: the transformation of Direklerarası in Ottoman Istanbul from the 1720s to the 1920s

This article examines the transformation of Direklerarası Street, located on Istanbul’s historical Divanyolu, from the 1720s to the 1920s. Originally built in 1729 as an arasta to generate revenue for Ibrahim Pasha’s madrasa, it featured an innovative architectural style comprising rows of shops facing each other and colonnaded sidewalks. It served as a commercial and social centre for the Janissary Corps until their abolition in 1826. Around the 1860s, Direklerarası integrated into the entertainment and social milieu surrounding Beyazıt Square, particularly during the Ramadan months, and evolved into the primary promenade street of intramural Istanbul with the proliferation of literary cafés, teahouses, and theatres from the 1880s onwards. However, starting from the 1910s, changing socio-cultural and urban dynamics led to the decline of Direklerarası’s reputation and popularity. Conceptualizing Direklerarası as both a spatial entity and a reflection of the cultural dynamics of the late Ottoman capital, this article scrutinizes its transformation driven by social interactions, local entrepreneurship, and political interventions, focusing on spatial experiences, entertainment, spectacle, promenade culture, and clientele.

Early Acquaintances with Modern Mass Culture in Late Ottoman Istanbul: The Experiences of Child Audiences at Direklerarası

AbstractDireklerarası, the core of Ramadan entertainment in late Ottoman Istanbul, rose to prominence toward the end of the nineteenth century at about the same time as entertainment hubs in Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, and New York. Thanks to the legitimacy provided by the Holy Ramadan, which played a positive role in reducing public suspicion and uneasiness among Muslim families towards the products of early mass culture, Direklerarası seems to draw a larger children's audience compared to Pera and Galata, the epicenter of European‐style entertainment and a location where non‐Muslims were heavily populated. As a result, many children were introduced to emerging modern mass culture at Direklerarası, which offers a large variety of shows and spectacles grouped under the name of lubiyat in the Ottoman world, including theater, musical plays, juggling, circus, concerts, shadow theater and cinema. This article focuses on childhood experiences at Direklerarası using a wide range of primary sources from archival documents and official regulations to Ottoman periodicals and memoirs. It aims to discuss the moral and aesthetic concerns arising from the fact that the spheres of adults and children were not yet clearly separated from each other, as well as how this experience at Direklerarası was remembered later as a childhood memory.

The Külliye as Hypotext: a New Reading of Ottoman Imperial Mosques and Tombs

Abstract This article reflects on Istanbul as a palimpsest city, more specifically, about how architectural typologies, practices, visual tropes and narratives migrate through different contexts in time and space. As a city inherited from the Byzantine Empire, negotiating the intersection of past and present as well as topography and politics has been fundamental to shaping Ottoman Istanbul. The article explores the imperial city through one of its ‘original’ Ottoman structures, the religious and social complex known as külliye, in order to frame its agency, both formal and urbanistic, to reveal not only its extremely rich and imaginative iterations from the conquest of Constantinople to the Tanzimat but also the spatiotemporal relationships between them.

The politics of electricity use and non-use in late Ottoman Istanbul.

This article focuses on the earlier encounters and uses of electricity, its technology, and its infrastructure to understand how electricity formed a contested terrain of politics among the city's varying actors, such as state officials, financial investors, and consumers, in late Ottoman Istanbul, roughly between the 1870s and early 1920s. I contend that people used electricity as a political tool in their everyday lives even before they could access it physically. Electricity skepticism during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) increased Istanbul residents' inclination for an electrified future; the longer the sultan's prohibitions lasted, the more they fueled this inclination, causing problems about the use of electricity. In contrast to the previous regime's skepticism about electricity use, the Committee of Union and Progress (1909-18) administrators considered electricity a public service that a larger population could use rather than a source of energy for a small, privileged elite. The first urban-scale power plant was completed in 1914. However, the inability to import technical equipment and raw materials due to political and financial troubles caused by World War I (1914-18) and the Occupation Period (1918-23) hampered electricity production and consumption, causing serious problems in electricity use on public and private scales. Amid the wave of challenges, the city inhabitants witnessed numerous unpleasant encounters with electricity use; some perished in tram accidents, while others became criminals. At a time when much of society viewed electricity as a vital element for progress and economic growth, the prevalence of crowded trams, tram accidents, blackouts, and instances of electricity theft within the Ottoman capital called into question the notion of electricity as a technological promise and public good. Consequently, the initial enthusiasm for electricity's transformative potential waned due to tensions between expectations and daily realities, resulting in a cautious approach toward technological modernity.

Zeyneb Hanım’s Vakıf: Property Substitution (istibdāl) in Ottoman Istanbul seen through an Eighteenth Century Imperial Edict from the Dominican Archives

Abstract In Ottoman Istanbul, a Muslim woman called Zeyneb Hanım who owned endowed and freehold properties undertook to transfer them in a process known as substitution (istibdāl). This study reveals details about the actor, her motivations, and her properties with their locations, dimensions, boundaries, and income, in addition to the legal processes and conditions of the property substitution through a single Ottoman archival source. A previously unpublished imperial edict (fermān) issued on evāsiṭ-i şaʿbān 1189/ 6–15 October 1775 and unusually preserved within Galata’s Dominican archives is the basis of this study.

Prohibition and Negotiation: Alcoholic Beverages and Taverns in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul

Prohibition and Negotiation: Alcoholic Beverages and Taverns in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul

Epistemic Transmission and Originality in Greek-Karamanlidika Publications Related to Makam Music in 19th-Century Istanbul

Ottoman Istanbul retained its position as the cultural center of the Greek community for centuries. During this period, Greeks interacted with multicultural societies in the city. Their musical culture and interests were also influenced by social interactions. As a result, they recorded some Ottoman musical pieces in various manuscripts from the 16th to the 20th centuries. In the 19th century Greek musicians, mainly cantors, started to publish a series of works on Ottoman repertoire and theory. First, Euterpi (1830) was published in Istanbul. Then a number of publications emerged prior to 1909, at which point O Rithmographos, the last theoretical work of the time, was published. At that time, both the reform of the Orthodox Church (1814) under the influence of modernism and the spread of the printing press facilitated the distribution of such books. In order to write makam music with an efficient technique, they drew upon some theoretical principles from European, Ottoman and church music alike. Since these theoretical adaptations were the result of both technical needs and cultural tendencies, the Greeks cultivated an epistemic originality in terms of makam theory and its history. Moreover, this was the reason that a symbiotic knowledge emerged, drawing upon the aforementioned sources. This study aims to demonstrate both the symbiosis and the originality by examining the musical knowledge embedded in Greek-Karamanlidika publications. The sources will be evaluated in terms of notation, terminology, theory (makam and usûl), repertoire and historical understanding of the makam tradition. The aim of the study is to carry out musicological research on those publications in light of the multicultural character of 19th-century Istanbul.

Capitalistic Urbanization in Late Ottoman Istanbul: Armenian Agencies

Capitalistic Urbanization in Late Ottoman Istanbul: Armenian Agencies

Bourgeois Wealth, Architecture, and Urbanization: The Azaryan Family in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Bourgeois Wealth, Architecture, and Urbanization: The Azaryan Family in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Baby Care in Ottoman Istanbul in the Process of Modernization

Dönüşüm çağı, en uzun yüzyıl gibi farklı ifadelerle betimlenen 19. yüzyıl Osmanlı’da her alanda çağdaşı Avrupa merkezi odaklı değişimlerin dönemidir. Yüzyılın sonlarında değişim merkezinde toplumun en küçük bireyleri çocuklar bulunmaktadır. Dinsel ve kültürel çeşitliliğin merkezi başkent İstanbul onların hayatında doğum, beslenme ve bakım aşamalarının geleneksellik ile yeniliklerin harmanlanarak hissedildiği yerin başlangıcıdır. Çalışmanın amacı, şüphesiz çağdaşı devletlerde olduğu gibi Osmanlı İstanbul’unda çocuk ölümlerinin çoğunluğunu oluşturan 0-2 yaş grubunun beslenme ve bakım plânını incelemektir. Alanında uzman hekimlerce kaleme alınan özellikle Besim Ömer’in bebek bakım kılavuzları araştırmanın başlıca kaynaklarıdır. Yine dönem değişimleri ve yansımalarının yakından izlendiği çoğunlukla kadın, çocuk dergi ve gazeteleri, hatıratlardan gereğince faydalanılmıştır. Bu kaynaklarda ağırlıkta kadın yazarların çağdaş bebek bakım yöntemlerine dair bilgi ve tecrübelerini aktarması hem cinslerini etkileme noktasında ilgi çekici bir ayrıntıdır. Bu çerçevede anne sütü temelli beslenme, sterilize edilen hayvan sütleri, çağdaş beslenme bakım araç-gereçleriyle bebek bakım yöntemlerinin ne kadarının Osmanlı evlerinde uygulandığı merak konusudur. Bir taraftan savaşlar ve sonuçları itibariyle son derece yoğun ve yorgun yıllar geçiren Osmanlı’nın diğer taraftan yaşadığı insan kayıplarını sağlıklı yenidoğan dünyaya getirme ve hayat kalitesini arttırma noktasında bebek bakım yöntemlerini geliştirmeye çalışması çağdaş tıbbın nimetlerinden faydalanması oldukça dikkate değer hususlardır.

The Natural Limits to Extraterritoriality: Contested Sovereignty in a Periphery of Ottoman Istanbul

This article examines a dispute between a French missionary hospital and Ottoman state officials over water and cultivated fields in Şişli, a periphery of Istanbul. It uses micro-history to illuminate the spatial and material implications of extraterritoriality and to reveal the role this legal privilege played in the urbanization of Ottoman cities. While European residents within Ottoman territory conceived of extraterritoriality as allowing geographic enclaves, Ottoman authorities resisted the legal fragmentation of the city and considered that all natural resources remained under the sultan’s sovereignty. These diverging understandings of extraterritoriality, in the context of asymmetric relations between European powers and the Ottoman empire, framed an urban dispute that resulted in sanitation reforms, the construction of walled enclosures, and negotiations to clarify the property rights of foreigners. In the process, Şişli became incorporated as an urbanized neighborhood of Istanbul.

Bağlantıları Haritalandırmak: Geç Dönem Osmanlı İstanbul’unda Yaşayan Müzisyenlerin Ağ Analiz Yöntemiyle İncelenmesi

The core idea of this paper is to represent the social networks of musicians, which lived in late Ottoman Istanbul. The networked society, as a social term, aims to depict communities in ongoing interactions and hence gives prominence to ties and connections between members of the society in question. To digitally visualize those links, there are innovative devices such as Gephi software. Through various algorithms, the program converts the relational database of musicians and digitally visualizes this database in many different forms. The powerful layouts offer compelling evidence of the channels of musical knowledge that were transmitted from masters to disciples as well as between musicians. Moreover, the visual depiction of musician networks would permit us to interpret the influential, isolated musicians and the interactions between the main and the sub-clusters in the whole network. This paper offers an innovative approach to the musician communities of late Ottoman Istanbul.

Renunciation of Inheritance in Istanbul Bāb Court Registry No. 3: Takhāruj

In the Ottoman Qadi Registers, it is seen that inheritance was shared in various ways. One of these is the takhāruj method. Takhāruj is an Islamic inheritance law term that refers to the renunciation of inheritance rights by heirs in exchange for property or for nothing. Based on court records, it is possible to see how people in Ottoman Istanbul three and a half centuries ago fought over their inheritance rights. Some of the heirs who did not receive their inheritance rights preferred to settle their inheritance through takhāruj. As can be seen in the documents, none of the heirs who made settlements through takhāruj could receive their original shares or a part of their shares, and they made settlements with other heirs in return for certain amounts. This study aims to analyze the takhāruj documents in the Istanbul Qadi Registers Bâb Court Registry No. 3 (H. 1077/M.1666-1667) and to evaluate the content and results of the takhāruj cases that were reflected in the court. İn this research, the methods of problem identification, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation of the results were applied. Accordingly, 14 takhāruj cases were identified by scanning the Bāb Court Registry No. 3. The language (diplomatic) and content of the takhāruj documents, the parties involved in the takhāruj document, the identities of those who made settlements with this method, the amounts and with whom they renounced their inheritance rights were determined. It is observed that some of the heirs renounced their rights to the inheritance specified in the document and made a settlement with the person who held the inheritance. In all of the takhāruj cases in this register, the heirs made a settlement with the other heir in exchange for the amount of money specified in the document instead of their inheritance shares in the inheritance. In four of the 14 cases, the heirs settled for cash and some previous debts. In three of these cases, the participants were non-Muslims. In six of these cases, only women, in six cases, only men, and in two cases, both male and female heirs settled with the heir who seized the inheritance (wāzı al-yad) through takhāruj. In five of these cases, the mediation of mediators (tawassut al-muslihīn - wasātat al-muslimīn) resulted in the settlement of the case through takhāruj, and in two of these five cases, there was a great deal of dispute between the heirs (munāza‘āt al- kasīra). An analysis of takhâruj cases shows that it is not possible to claim that the settling party agreed to the settlement voluntarily. As is evident in some of the cases, some heirs consented to the settlement by takhāruj because they could not receive their rights from the other heirs who held the inheritance despite their demands. It is always possible for heirs to consent to takhāruj because the Sharī'ah courts do not intervene in inheritance matters without a request (although the right to intervene is reserved in some cases), the kassāms collect a certain amount of tax called resm-i kısmet from the inheritance if the heirs demand division, and the uneasiness of bringing family matters to court. Since takhāruj documents are in the nature of a charge, the release of the other party’s liability by the one who consented to the settlement was recorded, and possible future inheritance claims were prevented. Although takhāruj, which is seen as one of the ways to solve historical problems related to inheritance, seems to solve problems as a type of settlement, the satisfaction of the party consenting to takhāruj is questionable. Historical records also show that inheritance disputes are an ancient problem of humanity.

European women’s gaze on both Ottoman Istanbul and the(ir) other

In 1869, the year the Suez Canal was completed, visits to Egypt and, therefore voyages to the Orient were increased. Crowned royals such as Prince and Princess of Wales, French Empress, Prince of Prussia, Austrian Emperor, Prince and Princess of Holland, and Duke of Aosta went on these voyages, which included cities like Alexandria, Cairo, Istanbul, and Athens. What makes these crowned royal’s travels to the Orient in 1869 distinguishing and worth investigating is the presence of women. Examining on the Istanbul part of the voyages, this research accepts women as historical actors. It aims to interpret European women’s gaze on both Ottoman Istanbul and their ‘other’, local Muslim women, through their time-space experiences. This paper focuses on travel narratives produced by the women in the suite of British and French crowned royals in the 1869 travels to decipher women’s real time-space experiences. Levant Herald (LH), a local newspaper published daily in Istanbul, was also examined to grasp locals’ perspectives simultaneously. While emphasizing the [un]met expectations of both counterparts’ (guest/local), this paper discovers diversifying positionalities of women towards their other and reveals their heterogeneous gaze. Although women’s gaze -and thus narratives- contain many orientalist codifications, their gender privileged time-space experiences challenge and disrupt some of the stereotypes and prejudices prevalent in the male-dominated literature of the period.

Approaching Orthodox Sacred Space in Ottoman Istanbul: the Wanderings of Protestant Humanists Through the Byzantine Monuments of Constantinople

This paper deals with the reception of the Byzantine churches of Constantinople by Protestant scholars who visited the building complex of the Pammakaristos, then the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, as well as other churches within the Patriar

Representing the Sung Poetry of Ottoman Art Music in a Critical Digital Edition in TEI XML

The research project “Corpus Musicae Ottomanicae” dedicates itself to the critical editions of Near Eastern music manuscripts that saw increasing production from the early 19th century onwards to record music especially centered in Ottoman Istanbul. The principal way to write down this originally oral tradition was in Hampartsum notation, invented around 1812 by an Armenian of the same name before it became discontinued with the introduction of Western staff notation from 1830 onwards. Within the project’s scope, there are three areas of research and deliverables: the indexing of sources in a catalog, the music edition under consideration of modal and rhythmic principles of Ottoman music, and the text edition of sung poetry mainly in Ottoman Turkish written in various scripts. Overarching are the digital humanities to present the research output in a holistic approach. This paper will focus on the design of representing the text edition in TEI XML format.

Iranian Merchants as a Religious Community in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Iranian Merchants as a Religious Community in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Greeks, Jews, and Music Sociality in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Greeks, Jews, and Music Sociality in Late Ottoman Istanbul

Kursar, Vjeran. Croatian Levantines in Ottoman Istanbul. Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2021. 258 Page. ISBN: 9789754286670.

The presence of Catholic communities in Istanbul date back to the pre-Ottoman period, and their number increased in the Ottoman economic and political context. Even though the Levantines have been the subject of numerous popular history works, we can observe a relatively smaller academic interest in the issue. This article is a review of a recent academic book on Croatian Levantines in pre-modern and modern Ottoman Istanbul penned by an Ottoman historian from a fresh perspective.

Review: Painting in Stone: Architecture and the Poetics of Marble from Antiquity to the Enlightenment

Review: <i>Painting in Stone: Architecture and the Poetics of Marble from Antiquity to the Enlightenment</i>