Synopses & Reviews
While the high culture of the Ottoman Empire has been extensively documented, very little research or writing has taken place on the everyday life of the ordinary people during the centuries of Ottoman rule. Suraiya Faroqhi now fills the gap. This book explores the rich city life of Ottoman times form the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. Buildings and their social significance, the interaction of peoples and the classes from the varying religions and ethnicities, the arts and crafts and even the banalities associated with everyday life: bathing, the market, loving and grieving, are all explored for the first time with scholarly rigor and a general sense of fascination with a disappeared world.
Review
"[Faroqhi is]...the person who is the best qualified to write on the day-to-day life of the Empire's population..."--
Journal of Islamic Studies"Subjects of the Sultan will serve us well in the classroom and remind us that, in spite of the incompleteness of the record, it is possible to 'see' the Ottomans."-- International Journal of Turkish Studies
Synopsis
To date no book has explored the day-to-day life of the common people during the centuries of Ottoman rule. Suraiya Foroqhi here explores the urban world of the Ottoman lands from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. She describes the social significance of the popular arts and crafts of the period and examines the interaction among the diverse populations and classes of the Empire. She also brings to life the banalities associated with everyday life, such as bathing, the market, loving and grieving--all explored for the first time.
About the Author
Suraiya Faroqhi is Professor of Ottoman Studies at the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, and the author of
Pilgrims and Sultans (I.B.Tauris).
Table of Contents
Part I: Culture: How it was Created and Disseminated * The Economic and Social Structure of the ottoman Empire in Early Modern Times * Images of the World and the Times * Borders and Those Who Crossed Them * Women's Culture * Part II: The Arts * Architects, Pious Foundations and Architectural Aesthetics * Town Life: Urban Identity and Lifestyle * Ceremonies, Festivals and the Decorative Arts * Readers, Writers and Storytellers * Food, Drink and Sociability * Part III: Cultural Change * Crises and New Beginnings, 1770-1839 * Elegance Alafranga, Social Criticism and Tomatoes: Transformations in the Culture of the Ottoman Upper Class, 1840-1914 * In Conclusion * Notes * Chronology * Bibliography * Index