Empire of Salons: Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman Lands
- 297 p., 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
A World Divided -- An Empire Connecting -- A Place in the Elite -- The Art of Conversation -- The Transmission of Knowledge -- An Empire Polarized.
"Historians have typically linked Ottoman imperial cohesion in the sixteenth century to the bureaucracy or the sultan's court. In Empire of Salons, Helen Pfeifer points instead to a critical but overlooked factor: gentlemanly salons. Pfeifer demonstrates that salons-exclusive assemblies in which elite men displayed their knowledge and status-contributed as much as any formal institution to the empire's political stability. These key laboratories of Ottoman culture, society, and politics helped men to build relationships and exchange ideas across the far-flung Ottoman lands. Pfeifer shows that salons played a central role in Syria and Egypt's integration into the empire after the conquest of 1516-17. Pfeifer anchors her narrative in the life and network of the star scholar of sixteenth-century Damascus, Badr al-Dīn al-Ghazzī (d. 1577), and she reveals that Arab elites were more influential within the empire than previously recognized. Their local knowledge and scholarly expertise competed with, and occasionally even outshone, that of the most powerful officials from Istanbul. Ultimately, Ottoman culture of the era was forged collaboratively, by Arab and Turkophone actors alike. Drawing on a range of Arabic and Ottoman Turkish sources, Empire of Salons illustrates the extent to which magnificent gatherings of Ottoman gentlemen contributed to the culture and governance of empire"--
Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Ghazzī 1499-1577
Salons--History--Syria--Damascus--16th century Salons--History--Turkey--Istanbul--16th century Political culture--History--Turkey--16th century Salons--History--Egypt--16th century Associations, institutions, etc.--History--Turkey--16th century
Turkey--History--1453-1683 Arab countries--Intellectual life Turkey--History--Ottoman Empire, 1288-1918 Damascus (Syria)--History--16th century Istanbul (Turkey)--History--16th century