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 (or Holy War) against Christianity, and the first Ottoman rulers called themselves Gazi, or Holy 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. It is impossible to speak of one Ottoman Culture as it is always in change and constantly in relation to other cultures.
The Ottomans had a high tolerance of alien cultures and religions: The men of the ruling Dynasty, the house of Osman, always married women with mixed heritage, Turkish, Greek, Arab, Russian, Serbian, thus themselves were mixed.
The Arts
Poetry
Compared to Arabian and Persian literature translations, the poetical literature of the Ottoman Turks, the most illustirious family of the third great race of Islam, has been, only a few exceptions, almost entirely neglected by European counter parts. The cause of this is hard to ascertain, given the facts of the Ottoman Turks, muslim neighboors, being in Europe for upward of six centuries and in close contact with various European peoples. Antipathy on Turkish race and religious bigotry on Islam are virulent and hard to kill (unhappily, they exist to this day, scarcely less unjust and cruel than in bygone times). It is difficult not to think clash of civilizations are in some measure responsible for the gross ignorance that almost universally prevails, in Europe at any rate, regarding Turkey and all things Turkish.
Poetry has been cultivated in Turkey with greater assiduity than any other branch of literature. Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall, in his great work, Die Geschichte der Osmanischen Dichtkunst, gives translated extracts from two thousand two hundred Ottoman poets. Comparatively few of these Ottoman versifiers are regarded as really great poets. Perhaps Aşık Paşa is not very far behind his great prototype, the immortal Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the author of the Mesnevi. The gazels of Baki, in elegance of diction and depth of feeling, rival those of Hıfzı; and the romances of Lami'i yield not one whit in loveliness to the works of Jami or Nizami. The reason we do not count Ottoman poetry or poets among really great poets is that most of the works are not translated to European languages.
Music
- Classic Turkish Music
- Public Music
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.
Decorative
Miniature
See external links:
Textiles
See external links:
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 temprature 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 designes 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 were find during the Seljuk period, were established in Usak, Gordes, Cairo, Bursa and Istanbul in 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Hereke factory, build through Ottoman industrial policy in 19th century, started to work on textiles, but later carpet weaving took the dominance.
Other significant designes include "Palace", "Yoruk" and "Turkmenian" carpets. They generally have the same functional characteristics, but differ from 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.
Jewelry
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Architecture
Performance
Dance
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Istanbul 1908 - Bulgarians
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Istanbul 1908 - Epirotes
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Istanbul 1908 - Greeks
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.
Median (Open Stage Show)
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Meddah (One Person Show)
Meddah or story teller was a single person show that played in front of a small group of audiance like a coffee shop 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 is impersonating in the story, he used an umbrella, or an hancercife 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 audiance.
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 audiance, 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.
Karagöz (Shadow Play)
- Karagoz
Costumes
The fashion during the ottoman empire was covered in these pages. The fashion was more of expression of ones feelings and cultural values during the ottoman period than what is represented through modern fashion values.
Lifestyle
The Ottoman court life in many aspects assembled ancient traditions of the Persian Shahs, but had many Greek and European influences.
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Telling a problem to a typist -
A street -
The galata bridge -
Hebrew getto
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Traditions
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The culture that evolved around the court was known as the Ottoman Way. To get a high position in the empire, one must be skilled in the Way. It included knowing both Persian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish and how to behave in court, in front of the sultan, and on formal and religious occasions. The Ottoman Way also used to separate the nobles from the lower classes. Peasants and villagers were called Turks, while nobles were Ottomans. Sometimes though, people would get mad at other and this caused many disputes between the people.
In general, Turks take their shoes off in the house. There are slippers that are designated to home use. This custom was carried through centuries as the Turkish babies have been free to move and adults can rest on the floor. This custom aimed in keeping the carpet and kilim clean. Women and girls take up carpet and kilim weaving as a means of earning money.
There is a religious holiday that families present candies to guests.
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Household life at Palace
The Harem was a small world in itself, ruled by the Sultana (Empress/Queen). It was the administrative center of Empire. The Sultana was the mother of the current sultan (Walida Sultana). She also selected the concubines for her son. The concubines could live in or around the palace for their entire life, and it supported them with whatever they needed. Women not found suitable by the Sultana for the sultan were married off to eligible bachelors from the Ottoman nobility or sent back home. Female servants did all the chores such as serving food and making the beds. Male (sometimes Eunuch) white and black servants did the hard work such as shopping, guarding the palaces and maintaining the gardens, the braziers and candelabras.
You can not see the face of the bride. Religious and political leaders are at the front.
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Every prince has his own place. It is a tradition to take the bride from her house and take it to where she will be building her new familiy.
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Sports
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Turkish Wresling is very old tradition among Turks.
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- Cirit
Food And Drinks
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- Raki
- Turkish Caffee
- Hooka
Science and Technology
Timeline
18/07/1851 -Inauguration of the Academy of Sciences
Education
Timeline
- 01/04/1847-Institution of the Ministry of Education founded
- Civil Service School founded 1859
- Imperial Ottoman Lycée at Galatasaray founded 1868
Social Issues
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External links
- http://www.osmanlimedeniyeti.com Many articles about the Ottoman history and culture including art, culture, literature, economics, architecutre (in Turkish)