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Millets were organized around religious identity: Orthodox Christians comprised one millet under the
Orthodox patriarch in Istanbul, Armenian Christians were a second, and Jewish people a third. Other groups,
such as the Syriac-speaking Christians and the Coptic Christians of Egypt, were later given their own millets.
Millets had their own courts to settle their affairs; a dhimmi would appear in a sharia court only if dealing with
a Muslim in a legal or business matter, or with the state itself. The millet system was intended to give non-
Muslims a degree of autonomy and the ability to conduct their affairs according to their own customs and
norms.
Among the most striking measures imposed on Christian communities in the Balkans and Caucasus was the
devshirme (“gathering”), the enslavement of youth for state and military service. Conceived as a form of
taxation on the Christian territories of Ottoman-controlled Europe, this system gathered boys between eight
and ten years of age from specified villages, converted them to Islam, and gave them an education designed to
create an elite military force in the service of the sultan. They were selected for both their physical attributes
and their intelligence. The training was harsh and emphasized discipline, endurance, and loyalty to the sultan.
Most became part of an elite corps of soldiers known as the Janissaries (from the Turkish words yeni cheri,
meaning “new soldier”). Janissaries were expected to serve as bodyguards to the sultan, to whom they were
fiercely loyal and who paid them directly.
A small number of young men who demonstrated exceptional intellect were sent to the palace school to receive
language and other training in preparation for becoming the empire’s trusted administrative elite. The idea
was to create a self-perpetuating system of administrators and military leaders who had been raised by the
Ottoman state, and whose loyalty was not to their families, whom (in theory) they never saw again, but to the
sultan and the system of which they were a part. In this way, political infighting within the government could
be avoided because personal identity, ethnicity, and religion were suppressed and nepotism eliminated. The
devshirme system lasted until the late 1600s.
The Ottomans brought knowledge of horses, military organization, and statecraft to their early empire. They
followed their Seljuk predecessors in holding Persian culture and style in high esteem. While Arabic was
considered the language of learning and religion, Persian was often the language of poetry and literature, even
in the otherwise Arabic-speaking court of the Abbasid caliphs. The Ottoman Empire is often described as
Persianate, meaning its culture, including visual art and architecture, was heavily influenced by that of Persia,
but it was not Persian itself (Figure 4.13). Turkish was the language of administration and education; it was
written in an adapted version of the Perso-Arabic script, and it incorporated numerous loan words from both
Persian and Arabic. A parallel tradition of high poetry in Turkish called divan poetry also developed, which
used the rhyme schemes and poetic meters of Persian poetry. In the seventeenth century, during the long
conflict between the Ottomans and the Safavids in Iran, Turkish replaced Persian as a literary language, to
emphasize the Turkish nature of the Ottoman state and distinguish its culture from that of its rival.
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FIGURE 4.13 The Suleymanname. Persian literary and artistic styles greatly influenced the Ottoman Empire in the
sixteenth century. This illustration, made in the style of a Persian miniature, is part of the Suleymanname (The Book
of Suleiman), created at the court of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1561. It includes verses written in Persian by the
poet Fethullah Çelebi. (credit: “Sueleymanname nahcevan” by Unknown/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
Most people in the Ottoman Empire could not read or write. As in most of the early modern world, primary
education was considered the domain of religious institutions, not the state, although schools were often
endowed by members of the sultan’s family. Basic schools called mekteps taught young Muslims to recite the
Quran, and each millet was allowed to coordinate education for its own children. Schools tended to provide
education in the preferred local language, since Turkish was required only of those who interacted directly
with the state. This is one of the main reasons that Turkish did not eventually replace local languages like
Arabic, Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbo-Croatian-Bosnian, although in some places people who were not
ethnically Turkish did speak only Turkish. Local languages like Bosnian also incorporated many loan words
from Ottoman Turkish. Multilingualism was valued for trade and commerce and let European traders
communicate easily with local agents and business partners. It also allowed new immigrant groups to retain
their languages. For example, after Jewish people were expelled from Spain in 1492, many resettled in the
Ottoman Empire, particularly in Izmir, Salonica, and Istanbul, where they continued to speak Judeo-Spanish
4.2 • The Ottoman Empire 127
(often called Ladino).
Education past the basic primary level was generally accessible mainly to the wealthy. Some boys from average
and poor families managed to attend local schools, but most people needed their children to help with
agricultural work or assist in their father’s business. Boys from elite families went to private schools, and girls
from similar families were educated at home by a private tutor. This was also the case among the millets.
Millets provided schools for members of their community; a private school for Greek Christians opened in
Istanbul in 1454, for example. The further education of exceptionally bright children from the lower classes
might be sponsored by a wealthy local patron or landowner, often with the condition that the children go to
work for the patron’s business after finishing school.
Following the construction of a lavish palace complex in Istanbul in the early 1460s, important changes took
place in the royal court and the Ottoman style of government. Over the next century, successive Ottoman
sultans ruled less frequently from constantly moving military encampments—as had been their practice—and
took up longer periods of residence at the new palace, later given the name Topkapi. One result of this change
to a more stable home was the reentry of women into the public and political life of the Ottoman court, which
had once been more usual in the Seljuk state.
After Sultan Bayezid I’s wife had been captured and held hostage by the Mongol conqueror Timur in the 1400s,
it became the practice for sultans not to marry but to simply take concubines, women who did not have the
same legal status as an official wife and whose chief purpose was to bear children for the sultan. Suleiman I
defied this tradition to marry Hurrem, a young woman from Ruthenia (now western Ukraine) who had been
captured and enslaved by Crimean Tatars. While a captive, Hurrem was eventually taken to Istanbul and
purchased by Suleiman’s mother as a gift for her son. As Hurrem Sultan, she became one of the most
important and influential women in Ottoman history, setting a precedent for the powerful wives and chief
concubines who followed her in what became known as the Sultanate of Women (Figure 4.14).
FIGURE 4.14 Hurrem Sultan. This sixteenth-century oil painting of Hurrem Sultan (a), who was known as Roxelana
in Europe, identifies her with the Latin words for “Suleiman’s wife.” In this mid-sixteenth-century woodcut (b),
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Sultan Suleiman wears a four-tiered helmet encrusted with diamonds and pearls. The design was modeled on the
three-tiered tiara of the pope. (credit a: modification of work “Portrait of Roxelana, Khourrem” by Jak Amran
Collection, Istanbul/Wikimedia Commons,Public Domain; credit b: modification of work “Sultan Suleyman the
Magnificent Wearing the Jewel-Studded Helmet” by Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1942/The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Public Domain)
The wife or mother of the reigning sultan had unequaled power over the imperial family and frequently gained
popularity by funding public monuments and buildings for use by the public, including soup kitchens, bath
houses, fountains, and schools. Many of these were vaqfs, charitable endowments intended to help the poor or
to serve religious purposes. Wealthy women (and men as well) often donated land or buildings along with
funds to assist the public.
Outsiders who sought favor often wrote letters to or sent female relatives to plead their case with the sultan’s
wife or mother. She in turn might transform her popular influence into political power by conspiring with
palace administrators like the palace’s chief eunuch, becoming one of the most powerful people in the empire.
The chief wife and the sultan’s mother were often rivals for political prominence; clashes could occur between
them and also with the sultan’s chief (male) advisers at court. The Sultanate of Women lasted more than a
century, ending in the late seventeenth century when a number of sultans died unexpectedly in a short period.
The result was instability in the palace and a weakening of the interpersonal relationships between the
imperial family and outside advisers upon whom the Sultanate of Women had relied.
A Visit to Hurrem Sultan by a Genoese Noblewoman
During the reign of Sultan Suleiman, high-ranking delegations were often sent between Istanbul and its trading
partners in Genoa and Venice. It then became customary for the chief delegate’s wife to visit Hurrem Sultan in
the harem. One of them later described the event as follows.
I was received by many eunuchs in splendid costume blazing with jewels, and carrying scimitars in their
hands. They led me to an inner vestibule, where I was divested of my cloak and shoes and regaled with
refreshments. Presently an elderly woman, very richly dressed, accompanied by a number of young
girls, approached me, and after the usual salutation, informed me that the Sultana Asseki [the sultan’s
chief wife] was ready to see me. All the walls of the kiosk in which she lives are covered with the most
beautiful Persian tiles and the floors are of cedar and sandalwood, which give out the most delicious
odor. I advanced through an endless row of bending female slaves, who stood on either side of my path.
[. . .] The Sultana, who is a stout but beautiful young woman, sat upon silk cushions striped with silver,
near a latticed window overlooking the sea. Numerous slave women, blazing with jewels, attended upon
her, holding fans, pipes for smoking, and many objects of value.
When we had selected from these, the great lady, who rose to receive me, extended her hand and
kissed me on the brow, and made me sit at the edge of the divan on which she reclined. She asked many
questions concerning our country and our religion, of which she knew nothing whatever, and which I
answered as modestly and discreetly as I could. I was surprised to notice, when I had finished my
narrative, that the room was full of women, who, impelled by curiosity, had come to see me, and to hear
what I had to say.
The Sultana now entertained me with an exhibition of dancing girls and music, which was very
delectable. When the dancing and music were over, refreshments were served upon trays of solid gold
sparkling with jewels. As it was growing late, and I felt afraid to remain longer, lest I should vex her, I
made a motion of rising to leave. She immediately clapped her hands, and several slaves came forward,
in obedience to her whispered commands, carrying trays heaped up with beautiful stuffs, and some
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
4.2 • The Ottoman Empire 129
silver articles of fine workmanship, which she pressed me to accept. [. . .] I was led from the room in
precisely the same manner in which I had entered it, down to the foot of the staircase, where my own
attendants awaited me.
—Eva March Tappan, The World’s Story: A History of the World in Story, Song, and Art
• How does the narrator describe her visit to the harem? Does she seem impressed? What kinds of details are
important to her?
• How are Hurrem Sultan’s power and position reflected in the way people behave toward her and around her?
Other than the sultan’s mother or wife, women in the Ottoman Empire played no role in politics. They were
active in other areas of life, however. Unlike European women before the nineteenth century, married and
unmarried Ottoman women could buy, inherit, and own property and bequeath their wealth to others upon
their death. They could borrow and lend money and sue to protect their rights in court. Marriages were usually
arranged by parents, but at least in theory, women had to consent to the match and could later obtain a
divorce. Elite and middle-class women’s time was occupied in raising their children and supervising their
households. If they lived in towns or cities, they socialized with other women, often meeting them at
bathhouses. On their rare ventures out in public, they wore veils as a sign of their status.
Women from the working class might manufacture goods in their homes and peddle them in the streets.
Although they could invest in businesses, they were largely excluded from the official guild system, which
admitted only male artisans. There were a number of female-dominated trades, however, such as nursing and
dancing, and women often made a living doing laundry. They also belonged to the various Sufi orders. Of
course, the lives of both Muslim and non-Muslim women differed depending on where in the Ottoman Empire
they lived. The lives of peasant women were different from those of city dwellers, and besides caring for the
home and children, they might assist their male relatives with chores on the farm.
The synthesis of the Ottoman Empire’s diverse cultural base is perhaps most evident in its cuisine, which
incorporated cooking styles and ingredients from places all over the world including Greece, Iran, the Balkans,
the Arabian Peninsula, and central Asia. Following the discovery of the Americas, Ottoman cooks were among
the first to incorporate ingredients from there, such as maize, peppers, tomatoes, and pumpkins, into their
dishes. The Ottomans also likely introduced foods from elsewhere in Asia, like sesame, into the kitchens of the
Middle East. Many dishes, such as rice pilafs from Egypt, Iran, and central Asia and Indian tandoori casseroles,
were elegantly re-created for the imperial court in the kitchens of Topkapi Palace and then adopted in less
extravagant versions by people throughout the empire. Food was an important symbol of power and
generosity, and Topkapi could host up to four thousand people for a banquet. Each year, the sultan provided a
lavish feast for the Janissary corps, the Ottoman Empire’s most elite troops. At one point in the eighteenth
century, ten thousand troops were fed at once (Figure 4.15).
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