Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire

by Suraiya Faroqhi

Overview

The cultural heritage of the Ottoman Empire has traditionally been presented to us through its monuments and high arts. Our understanding of its culture has thus come from a world created by and for sultans, viziers and the elite of the Empire. But what of the world of the craftsmen and tradesmen who produced the monuments and artefacts? Or the townspeople who prayed in the mosques, drank water from the sebils or passed by the mausolea in the ordinary course of their lives? How did they live and die? To date no book has adequately explored the day-to-day life of the common people during the centuries of Ottoman rule. In this new edition Faroqhi explores the urban world of the Ottoman lands from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, describing the social significance of the popular arts and crafts of the period and examining the interaction among the diverse populations and classes of the Empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781850437604
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/29/2005
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.77(d)

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

Editorial Reviews

This study was originally published in German in 1995 (Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich). Faroqhi (Ottoman studies, Ludwig- Maximilians U., Munich) looks beyond the cultural world of the sultans, viziers, and <'e>lite of the Empire (which is more commonly studied) to examine the cultural world of the common people. Her discussion is arranged in three sections on how culture was created and disseminated, the arts, and cultural change. More specifically, she addresses such topics as women's culture; architecture; town life; ceremonies, festivals, and the decorative arts; and food, drink, and sociability. The final two chapters discuss crises and new beginnings, 1770-1839; and transformations in the culture of the Ottoman upper class, 1840-1914. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"[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

From the Publisher