Culture of the Ottoman Empire

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Culture
of the Ottoman Empire
Architecture - Ottoman Turkish - Music - Cuisine
Poetry - Prose - Miniature -
oil wrestling -


The culture of the Ottoman Empire evolved as the culture of pre-Ottoman Turks absorbed the cultures of conquered lands and their peoples, while at the same time being influenced to a great extent by the traditions and languages of Islamic cultures, notably Arabic and Persian. Throughout its history, the Ottoman Empire had a significant Jewish population, which absorbed and enriched Ottoman culture; which had always been in change and constantly in relation with other cultures.

A park in Istanbul
A park in Istanbul
Boat tour at Göksu Creek
Boat tour at Göksu Creek

Early on as the Ottoman Turks pushed out the Byzantines from Anatolia and later pursued them into Europe, the pursuit was a part of the Jihad (struggle) against the Crusaders, and the first Ottoman rulers called themselves Gazi, or Warriors. However, 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 mixed characteristic Ottoman culture.

The Ottomans had a great tolerance for different cultures and religions: The men of the ruling dynasty, the house of Osman, took wives from various ethnic groups and thus the Sultans themselves were of mixed racial and cultural heritage.

Contents

[edit] Poetry

Main article: Poetry of the Ottoman Empire

[edit] Calligraphy

The stylized signature of Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire was written in an expressive calligraphy. It reads Mahmud Khan son of Abdülhamid is forever victorious.
The stylized signature of Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire was written in an expressive calligraphy. It reads Mahmud Khan son of Abdülhamid is forever victorious.

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.

Arabic Diwani font

See also

See external links:

[edit] Architecture

Main article: Ottoman architecture

[edit] Decorative

[edit] Miniature

Main article: Ottoman miniature

[edit] Carpet

Among the Ottoman Turks, the art of carpet weaving had environmental, sociological, economic, and religious reasons, all of which effected the daily life and the decorative structures of the carpets. Turks used the carpets not just on the floors, but also on the walls and doorways. This protected them from the temperature fluctuations between day and night, and during the change of seasons.

Hereke carpets have a very important place among the world's most valuable hand-crafted carpets. They are the best and finest silk rugs in the world. Carpets with Hereke designs look like magnificent clothes with fine weaving. There is an authentic Hereke design, which influenced later carpet designers who developed additional compositions around this original theme, based on royal tastes. The first examples, found during the Seljuk period, were established in Uşak, Gördes, Cairo, Bursa and Istanbul in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Hereke factory, built through Ottoman industrial policy in 19th century, started to work on textiles, but later carpet weaving took the dominance.

Other significant designs include "Palace", "Yörük" and "Türkmen" carpets. They generally have the same functional characteristics, but differ in their styles. Stylised designs dominate "Yörük" and "Türkmen", whereas naturalism is prevalent in "Palace" due to the technological possibilities which give way to more complex designs and motifs.

[edit] Jewelery

The jewelery of the Ottomans was unmatched by any in the world. By the 16th century, Ottoman jewelery had dominated many parts of the world and the Ottomans were selling their jewelry to all the lands they had conquered. The jewelery they made was often very intricate and beautiful. They used gold and silver from the east and created masterpieces. Their high society people would wear jewelery people made to show the favour to them. Most jewellers and goldsmiths were Christian Armenians and Jews. An Armenian family had the rights to make coins.

[edit] Performance

[edit] Dance

Women and children dancing in the Harem of Topkapı Palace
Women and children dancing in the Harem of Topkapı Palace
A lady from the Ottoman court playing the Def at the Harem
A lady from the Ottoman court playing the Def at the Harem

Dancing was an important element of Ottoman culture, which incorporated the folkloric dancing traditions of many different countries and lands on three continents; from the Balkan peninsula and the Black Sea regions to the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa.

Dancing was also one of the most popular pastimes in the Harem of Topkapı Palace.

The female belly dancers, named Çengi, were mostly from the Roma community. Today, living in Istanbul's Roma neighbourhoods like Sulukule, Kuştepe, Cennet and Kasımpaşa, they still dominate the traditional belly dancing and musical entertainment shows throughout the city's traditional taverns.

There were also male dancers, named Köçek, who took part in the entertainment shows and celebrations, accompanied by circus acrobats, named Cambaz, performing difficult tricks, and other shows which attracted curiosity.

Istanbul 1908
Bulgarians

Istanbul 1908
Epirotes

Istanbul 1908
Greeks


[edit] Median (open stage show)

Median
Median


[edit] Meddah (one person show)

Meddah performing at a coffeehouse
Meddah performing at a coffeehouse

Meddah or story teller was a single person show that played in front of a small group of viewers like a coffeehouse audience. The play is generally about a single topic, and the meddah (story teller) plays different personalities within the story. Depending on the person the meddah was impersonating in the story, he used an umbrella, or perhaps a handkerchief, to signal the change of personality. The control of voice was the most important skill in this type of show. There was no time limitation on the shows. A good meddah had the skill to adjust the story depending on the interaction with the audience.

The stories were mostly conflicts between different parts of the society. Meddahs were generally travelling artists who moved from one big city to another. The main path traveled was along the towns of the spice road. The tradition supposedly goes back to Homer's time. The methods of meddahs were the same as the methods of that period's artists, who told the stories of Greek epics such as the Iliad and Odyssey from one town to another, even though the main stories were now Ferhat ile Şirin or Leyla ile Mecnun. The repertoires of the meddahs also included true stories, modified depending on the audience, artist and political situation.

The Istanbul meddahs were known to integrate musical instruments to their stories, which was a main difference between them and the East Anatolian Dengbejin.

[edit] Karagöz (shadow play)

Hacivat (left) and Karagöz (right)
Hacivat (left) and Karagöz (right)
Main article: Karagöz

The Turkish shadow theatre, also known as Karagöz ("Black-Eyed") after one of its main characters, is descended from the Oriental Shadow theatre. Today, scholars generally consider the technique of a single puppeteer creating voices for a dialogue, narrating a story, and possibly even singing, all while manipulating puppets, to be an Indonesian invention. To this technique, people in the Ottoman Empire added Greek story-telling structures, hence developing an artform unique to Asia Minor. There are some who believe that the Turkish shadow theatre was influenced by the Roma community, while others claim that there was a Chinese influence, in the days when the Turks were still nomadic tribes.

[edit] Sports

Turkish Wrestling is a very old tradition among the Turks.

Famous champion pehlivans of Turkish Wrestling
Famous champion pehlivans of Turkish Wrestling


Güreş
Cirit
Okçuluk
Horoz Dövüşü

[edit] Turkish cuisine

Coffee delight at the Harem
Coffee delight at the Harem
Main article: Turkish cuisine

[edit] Science and technology

Timeline

18/07/1851 -Inauguration of the Academy of Sciences

[edit] Timeline

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_Ottoman_Empire"
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