Search

, Aḥmed , an Ottoman poet, born in Istanbul, the son of a judge named Meḥmed Bey who had come from Merzifun. His grandfather (according to Gibb, HOP, iv, 30) was a military judge named Muṣṭafā. Aḥmed Refīḳ mentions as his great-grandfather Ḳara-Čelebi-zāde [ q.v.] Maḥmūd Efendi, who also was a military judge. The genealogy given by Aḥmed Refīḳ is, however, wrong because he confuses Ḳaramānī Meḥmed Pas̲h̲a [ q.v.] with Rūm Meḥmed Pas̲h̲a. The statement that Aḥmed Nedīm is descended from D̲j̲elāl al-Dīn is therefore simply the result of confusion. Little is known of his life. He was a müderris …

, aḥmad , imperial historiographer of the Ottoman empire, born in ʿAyntāb (the modern Gaziantep) in south-eastern Anatolia about the year 1755. He was the son of Seyyid Meḥmed, a clerk of the court, who became famous as a poet under the name of Ḏj̲enānī. His family was one of the old-established ones in the place. In his early youth he acquired an equally fluent knowledge of Arabic and Persian, and this helped him in later years to achieve his fame as a translator ( müterd̲j̲im ) of well-known dictionaries. To begin with, Seyyid Aḥmed was the secretary of th…

, the names of two Ottoman poets. 1. ʿAbd al-Razzāḳ , known as Newres, or more accurately, Newres-i Ḳadīm, “Newres the Elder”, to distinguish him from ʿOt̲h̲mān Newres [see below], came from Kirkūk in northern ʿIrāḳ and was probably of Kurdish origin. He seems, however, to have come to Istanbul at an early age to prosecute his studies. Here he became a müderris but in the year 1159/1746 entered upon a legal career. According to the Sid̲j̲ill-i ʿot̲h̲mānī , he held the office of ḳāḍī in Sarajevo and Kütahya. His sharp tongue, which found particular expressi…

, the classical Neo-Caesarea in Bithynia, a town lying on the southern rim of the Pontic mountain chain of Asia Minor (the modern Turkish Kuzey Anadolu Dağlari) on the right bank of the Kelkit river. It is situated at an altitude of 350 m/1,150 feet in lat. 40°35′ N. and long. 36°59′ E. The nucleus of the town is picturesquely situated at the foot of a hill, crowned by the ruins of a mediaeval castle which was erected from the material provided by the numerous buildings of antiquity there. Here in remote antiquity was Cabira and after its decline …

(980-1044/1572-1635), the greatest satirist of the Ottomans. ʿÖmer Efendi, whose nom-de-plume ( mak̲h̲laṣ ) was Nefʿī came from the village of Ḥasan Ḳalʿa near Erzerūm (eastern Anatolia). Not much is known of his early life. He spent his early years in Erzerūm where the historian ʿĀlī [ q.v.], who was a defterdār there, became acquainted with him. During the reign of Aḥmed I, fate brought him to the capital Istanbul where he worked for a time as a book-keeper. He failed in an attempt to gain the sultan’s favour or that of his son, the unfortunate ʿOt̲h̲mān II, with some brilliant ḳaṣīdas . It wa…

, Athens, capital of Greece. The history of Athens in pre-Islamic times will not be treated here. The first closer—admittedly hostile—contact with the Muslims was made in 283/896, when Saracen pirates occupied the town for a short time (cf. D. G. Kambouroglous, ‘H ἄλωσις ’Αθηνῶν ὑπὸτῶν Σαρακηνῶν Athens 1934). Certain Arabic remains, and influences on the ornamental style in Athens, have been traced back to this event (cf. G. Soteriou, Arabic remains in Athens in Byzantine times, in: Praktiká ( Proceedings ) of the Academy of Athens , iv (Athens 1929), reproduced by D. G. Kambouroglous, l.c…

, also called Mārsiwān, a town in the Anatolian wilāyet of Siwas [q. v.] and in the sand̲j̲aḳ of Amasia [q. v.] at the beginning of the fertile plain of Ṣulu Owa, with 11,334 inhabitants (in 1927), of whom the Armenians have had to migrate, which produces a good deal of wine and makes some cotton. Merzifūn before the World War was the centre of activity of the Protestant missions in this region and contained the Anatolia College. The town most probably occupies the site of the ancient Phazemon (Φαζημών) in the district of Phazemonitis; the name is probably a development of Φαζημών. Ibn Bībī (cf. Rec…

, Alb. Vlora, Valona, town in southern. Albania. (see arnawutluḳ ) Awlonya, usually called Valona, is today a town of about 10,000 inhabitants. It lies in the bay of the same name, and is some 2½ m. (4 km.) inland from the harbour. It played an important part in antiquity as Aulon (hence Avlona). Concerning its history in the Middle Ages, cf. Konst. Jireček, Valona im Mittelalter , in: Ludwig v. Thallcózy, Illyrisch-albanische Forschungen , i, Munich and Leipzig 1916, 168/87. In June 1417, the Ottoman armies entered the area of Valona, and occupi…

Mollā , a famous Ottoman jurist, whose real name was Meḥmed b. Farāmurz b. ʿAlī. According to one statement he was of Turkoman (tribe of Warsaḳ) descent and born in the village of Ḳarg̲h̲i̊n (half way between Sīwās and Toḳat); according to others, however, he was of “Frankish” descent and the son of a “French” nobleman who had adopted Islām. According to Saʿd al-Dīn his father was of Romaic ( Rūm ) descent. K̲h̲osrew became a pupil of the famous disciple of Taftazānī, Burhān al-Dīn Ḥaydar of Herat (cf. Isl ., xi, 61 and Saʿd al-Dīn, Tād̲j̲ al-tawārīk̲h̲ , ii, 430), and …

, the common European form of the name given to the light wooden warships built in Nassau or Hohenau (Lower Austria), the “Nassauer” or “Hohenauer”, Magyar naszád , pl. naszádok , Slav, nasad , which were used on the Danube. They were usually manned by Serbian seamen who were called martalos [ q.v.] (from the Magyar martolóc , martalóz , lit. “robber”). According to a Florentine account, this Danube flotilla in 1475 consisted of 330 ships manned by 10,000 “nassadists” armed with lances, shields, crossbow or bow and arrow, more ¶ rarely with muskets. The larger ships had also cannon. …

, Ottoman theologian and translator, was born in Anatolia but migrated while still quite young to Cairo where he studied all branches of theology and attained a high reputation. He died there in 1070/1659. He wrote a series of theological treatises, some of which are detailed by Brockelmann, II2, 407-8, S II, 432. His most important work, however, is his free translation and edition of S̲h̲āhrastānī’s celebrated work on the sects, his Terd̲j̲eme-i Milal we-niḥal which he prepared at the suggestion of a prominent Cairo citizen named Yūsuf Efendi (cf. Brockelmann, I2, 551, S I, 763). It…

, Turkish name for Lepanto, or Naupaktos, in Greece. It is on the Gulf of Corinth, has a picturesque position, but is—these days—an impoverished small town, called Epaktos by the people and Lepanto by the Italians. It is surrounded by crumbling walls which date from the times of Venetian rule, and is dominated by a fortress. In the Middle Ages, Aynabak̲h̲ti̊ ruled over the Gulf of Corinth, and in 1407 it came under Venetian rule (cf. Vitt. Lazzarini, L’acquisto di Lepanto, 1407, in: Nuovo Archivio Veneto , XV (Venice 1898), 267-833; in 1483 it was unsuccessf…

, Ottoman historian. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbdī Pas̲h̲a came from Anadolu Hisarī on the Bosporus, was educated in the Serāy, and finally attained the post of imperial privy secretary ( sirr kʿātibi ). In Muḥarram 1080/June 1669 he was promoted to the office of nis̲h̲ānd̲j̲i with the rank of a vizier, and later was appointed ḳāʾim-maḳām of the capital. In April 1679 he became governor of Bosnia, next year again nis̲h̲ānd̲j̲i, in March a so-called vizier of the cupola, in August 1684 governor of Baṣra (cf. Hammer-Purgstall, vi, 379). Deposed in 1686, he was in the next y…

, Ottoman Grand Vizier and poet, was born in 1065/1655 or 1066/1656 in Eyyūb, a suburb of Istanbul, the son of a certain Ḥasan Ag̲h̲a. He entered the chancellery of the Reʾīs Efendi as a probationer ( s̲h̲āgird ), and through the poet Yūsuf Nābī [ q.v.] received an appointment as maṣraf kātibi , i.e. secretary for the expenditure of the palace. In 1095/1684, through the influence of his patron, the newly appointed Ḳapudān pas̲h̲a [ q.v.] Muṣṭafā Pas̲h̲a, he became dīwān efendi, i.e. chancellor of the Admiralty. He took part in his chief’s journeys and campaigns (against Chios…

, former residence of an Ottoman sand̲j̲aḳ-bey in Albania. In Ottoman times Delvina (so in Turkish and Albanian; Gk. Δέλβινον, Délvinon) formed a sand̲j̲aḳ of the Rumelian governorship. It stands 770 ft. above sea level, about 10½ miles from the shores of the Ionian sea, and consists of one single bazar street set in the midst of olive, lemon and pomegranate trees, surmounted by the ruins of an old, perhaps Byzantine, stronghold. The inhabitants numbered about 3000 before 1940, of whom two-thirds…

, an Ottoman poet and mystic. S̲h̲ams al-Dīn Meḥmed known as Miṣrī Efendi, S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Miṣrī, whose mak̲h̲laṣ was Niyāzī, came from Aspūzī, the former summer capital of Malaṭya (cf. Ewliyā Čelebi, iv, 15; von Moltke, Reisebriefe , 349), where his father was a Naḳs̲h̲bandī dervish. Niyāzī was born in 1027/1617-18. The statement occasionally found that Sog̲h̲anli̊ was his birthplace is not correct. His father instructed him in the teaching of the order, then he went in 1048/1638 to Diyārbakr, later to Mārdīn where he studied for three years and finally to Cai…

, Ottoman Grand Admiral, came according to St. Gerlach, Tage-Buch (Frankfurt a/M. 1674, 448), from Tolna in Hungary and is said to have been the son of a shoemaker, probably of Croat origin. Almost all contemporary records mention his Croat blood (cf. the third series of the Relazioni degli ambasciatori Veneti al Senato , ed. E. Albèri, Florence 1844-5, and esp. iii/2, 243: di nazione croato, vicino ai confini d’Ungheria; 357: di nazione croato; iii/3, 294: di nazione unghero; 418). Following the custom of the time, his father was later given the name of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān an…

, Turkish name for Pátrai, Patras (fourth largest town on the Greek mainland and the largest on the Morean peninsula), situated on the gulf of the same west of the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth (Turkish Kordos , [ q.v.]), capital of the Nomos Achaia, seat of a bishop. It had about 85,000 inhabitants in 1951. The name Baliabadra comes from Παλαιαὶ Πάτραι, or rather Παλαιά Πάτ ρα ( Pâtra is even today the colloquial name for the town), i.e., Old Pátra(i), apparently because from the 14th century onwards New Pátra(i) denoted the fortress under whose protection the old settle…

, an Anatolian sea-port on the south coast of Asia Minor. Mersīna, the port and capital of the former sand̲j̲aḳ of the same name (with an area of 1,780 sq. m.) in the wilāyet of Adana [q. v.] on the south coast of Anatolia, is 40 miles from Adana, to which a railway runs. The name Mersīna comes from the Greek myrsíni (μυρσίνη), myrtle, because this tree grows in large numbers in this region. The regularly built town, founded only in 1832, with about 21,171 inhabitants (1927) is only of importance as a port for the export of silk, corn and cotton. The clim…

, Ottoman statesman, twice grand vizier. Midḥat Pas̲h̲a was born in Stambul in Ṣafar 1238 (beg. Oct. 18, 1822), the son of Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī ʿAlī Efendi-Zāde Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Ḥāfiẓ Meḥemmed Es̲h̲ref Efendi, a native of Rus̲h̲čuk The family seem to have been professed Bektas̲h̲īs and Midḥat Pas̲h̲a also had a leaning towards them. His earliest youth was spent in his parents’ home at Widdin, Lofča (Bulgaria) and later in Stambul, where his father held judicial offices. In 1836 he was working in the secretariat of …