The One True Emperor on Earth
As sultan, Süleyman the Magnificent was portrayed as the Shadow of God on Earth, the Caliph of Islam, the Last World Emperor, the distributor of crowns to other rulers and the purveyor of justice.
Ottoman Empire
Birth of an Ottoman Traveller
Evliya Çelebi was born on 25 March 1611.
Ottoman Empire 2.0?
Across the Balkans, relics of Ottoman glory and decline, such as mosques, bridges and hamams, exist in various states of disrepair. Can they be brought back to life?
Heads Will Roll
Getting and keeping the throne in the Ottoman Empire was no easy task. For a new sultan, the most foolproof method of securing power was to kill all other claimants.
‘The Turkish Lawrence of Arabia’
The dramatic life of the outlaw and special agent Eşref Bey epitomises the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Disaster at Djerba
During a period of European peace, Spain sought to establish control of the Mediterranean. Yet a disastrous attempt to oust the Ottomans from North Africa threatened to accelerate the westward advance of Islam.
Opening and Closing of Turkey’s Past
Over the last 30 years, western ideas about the Ottoman Empire have been transformed, just as Turkish attitudes towards the West have become increasingly negative, writes Erik Zurcher.
The Sultan’s Clock-Organ, 1599
Lansing Collins describes how, in honour of a previous gift sent in the other direction, Elizabeth I presented Sultan Mohammed III with an elaborate clock, surmounted by singing birds that shook their wings.
Bears in the Bosporus
The arrival in 1833 of a Russian fleet signalled Russian control for several years of the Bosporus and of the Turkish Empire, writes Lansing Collins.
Nicaea, Byzantine City
Anthony Bryer takes a visit to Nicaea; The seat of early Church Councils and, for a while, of the Byzantine Emperors, it has a history stretching from the reign of Alexander the Great to the present day.