Inside the Seraglio

Inside the Seraglio PDF Author: John Freely
Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781784535353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Originally published: London: Viking, 1999.

Inside the Seraglio

Inside the Seraglio PDF Author: John Freely
Publisher: Tauris Parke Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781784535353
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Originally published: London: Viking, 1999.

Inside the Seraglio

Inside the Seraglio PDF Author: John Freely
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857728709
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
This is the story of the House of Osman, the imperial dynasty that ruled the Ottoman Empire for more than seven centuries, an empire that once stretched from central Europe to North Africa and from Persia to the Adriatic. The capital of this empire was Istanbul, ancient Byzantium, a city that stands astride Europe and Asia on the Bosphorus. And it was in the great palace of Topkapi Sarayi that the sultans of this empire ruled. Inside the Seraglio - a classic of Ottoman history - takes us behind the gilded doors of the Topkapi and into the heart of the palace: the harem, where the sultan would surround himself with his wives, concubines, eunuchs, pages, dwarfs and mutes and where all the tempestuous events of empire were so often played out. This is the history of a remarkable palace in all its colour and opulence and the story of its influence on a great empire.

Seraglio

Seraglio PDF Author: Janet Wallach
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780385490467
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Transporting readers to the menacing yet majestic world of eighteenth-century Turkey, biographer and Middle East expert Janet Wallach brilliantly re-imagines the life of Aimee Dubucq, cousin of Empress Josephine, in her first novel "Seraglio. At the age of thirteen, when en route from France to her home in Martinique, Aimee Dubucq is kidnapped by Algerian pirates. Blonde and blue-eyed, the genteel young girl is a valuable commodity, and she is soon placed in service in the Seraglio - the Ottoman Sultan's private world - in Topkapi Palace. As Dubucq, renamed Nakshidil ("embroidered on the heart") discovers the erotic secrets that win favor of kings and deftly learns the affairs of the empire, she struggles to retain her former identity, including her Catholic faith. Overtime Nakshidil becomes the intimate of several powerful sultans: wife to one, lover and confidante to another, and adoptive mother to a third. Her life often treads the tenuous line between sumptuous pleasures and mere survival until her final years when she is awarded control of the harem as the valide, mother of the Sultan. With phenomenal research and a mesmerizing voice, Janet Wallach provides a powerful and passionate glimpse of East-West history through one woman's distinctly European eyes.

The Seraglio

The Seraglio PDF Author: James Merrill
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN:
Category : Fathers and sons
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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The Steel Seraglio

The Steel Seraglio PDF Author: Mike Carey
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504065484
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
“A confident One Thousand and One Nights for our present . . . Furious pop entertainment—full of sex, passion, violence, and magic.” —Slant magazine This is the story of the legendary City of Women, told through the tales of those who founded it, championed it, and made it flourish. When the city of Bessa undergoes a violent coup, its lazy, laissez-faire ruler, Bokhari Al-Bokhari, is replaced by the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. With little use for the pleasures of the flesh, Hakkim sends his predecessor’s 365 concubines to a neighboring sultan as a gift. But when the new sultan discovers the concubines are harboring Al-Bokhari’s youngest son—a child who might grow up to challenge his rule—he repents of his mercy and sends his soldiers to slaughter the seraglio down to the last woman and child. What he doesn’t count on is a concubine trained in the art of murder—or the courage and fortitude of the women who will rise up with her to forge their own city out of the unforgiving desert. It’s an undertaking beset with challenges: hunger and thirst, Hakkim’s relentless hate, and the struggle to make a place for themselves in a world determined to underestimate and undermine them. Through a mosaic of voices and tales, we learn of the women’s miraculous rise, their time of prosperity—and how they carried with them the seed of their own destruction. “A thrilling tale.” —Publishers Weekly “A masterful, engaging and utterly fascinating story by three wonderful writers.” —SFRevu.com “The Steel Seraglio brings its alternate world of struggle, politics and magic very much to life.” —Locus

Byzantine Monuments of Istanbul

Byzantine Monuments of Istanbul PDF Author: John Freely
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521179058
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book is about the Byzantine monuments of Istanbul, most notably, Haghia Sophia. The remains of the land and sea walls, the Hippodrome, imperial palaces, commemorative columns, reservoirs and cisterns, an aqueduct, a triumphal archway, a fortified port, and twenty churches are also described in chronological order in the context of their times. These "monuments" are viewed in relationship to the political, religious, social, economic, intellectual and artistic developments of the Byzantine dynasties.

The Sultan's Seraglio

The Sultan's Seraglio PDF Author: Ottaviano Bon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
"From 1604 to 1607, Ottaviano Bon was the Venetian representative to Istanbul where he recorded every aspect of life at the Topkapi Palace. The result was published under the title, "The Sultan's Seraglio", and it provides an account of the period of Ahmet I. It covers such topics as: life in the harem; the exchange of gifts between Turkish and Western dignitaries; the menu at official state banquets; the buying of slaves in the weekly slave market; and the great religious festivals and circumcision ceremonies. All the various Ottoman hierarchy are described in great detail, including the viziers, the aghas and the "itchoglans", as also are the mutes and the clowns who were the Sultan's constant companions and accompanied him on boat trips down the Bosphorus to his palaces and gardens."--bookdepository.

The Present State of the Ottoman Empire

The Present State of the Ottoman Empire PDF Author: Sir Paul Rycaut
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781015053427
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Harem

The Harem PDF Author: N. M. Penzer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789354042652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description


The Harem

The Harem PDF Author: Norman Mosley Penzer
Publisher: Dover Publications
ISBN: 9780486440040
Category : Harems
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
For nearly four centuries, the Ottoman sultans dwelt amid the secret splendors of Topkapi Palace. Access to the Grand Seraglio--which served as the empire's administrative, legislative, and judicial center and an academy of fine arts, as well as the ruler's home--was jealously guarded, even after the sultans ceased to reside there in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1936, a distinguished scholar of Orientalism, Norman Mosley Penzer (1892-1960), was afforded a rare opportunity to step inside the Grand Seraglio; in this eagerly embraced and much-consulted volume, he reveals what he found. Constructed between 1459 and 1465 at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Topkapi Palace stands in present-day Istanbul, near the confluence of the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, and the Marmara Sea. Penzer surveyed the entire palace from end to end during numerous visits over the course of two years, and he presents photographs and floor plans that provide a comprehensive view of Topkapi's structure. Penzer's illustrations of the opulent gardens, chambers, and pavilions come to imaginative life with his explorations of day-to-day palace life--particularly among the women of the harem and their eunuch guards. His evocative accounts of the manners, dress, and politics of Turkish court life continue to influence the scholarly work of the twenty-first century, and this classic history remains indispensable to studies of harem life.