Bulgaristan’daki Osmanlı Vakıf Kütüphanelerinin Tarihi Seyri ve Osmanlı Sonrası Kaderi. – Vakıflar Dergisi, 60, 2023, 123-141, 2023
Bulgar topraklarında yüzyıllar süren Osmanlı hakimiyeti boyunca biriken zengin kitap koleksiyonla... more Bulgar topraklarında yüzyıllar süren Osmanlı hakimiyeti boyunca biriken zengin kitap koleksiyonlarının kaderi, sosyal ve siyasi yaşamın dinamikleri tarafından belirlenmiştir ki, savaşlar, devlet ve siyasi rejim değişiklikleri, ideolojik konjonktür kaçınılmaz olarak bu mirasın tam olarak korunmasını olumsuz yönde etkilemiştir. Bildiğimiz arşiv ve anlatı kaynaklarına göre, Bulgaristan topraklarında yaklaşık 40 tane büyük Osmanlı vakıf kütüphanesi kurulmuş ve faaliyet göstermiştir. 1878 yılında Bulgaristan Prensliği'nin kuruluşundan sonra bu koleksiyonların önemli bir kısmı Sofya'ya aktarılmış ve böylece Milli Kütüphane'nin zengin koleksiyonu oluşmuştur. Kitapların bir kısmı da 93 Harbi ya da Balkan Savaşı sırasında kaçan bazı kütüphaneciler tarafından ya da Osmanlı yetkililerinin ısrarı üzerine İstanbul'a getirilmiştir. Bulgaristan'da Rus işgalinin kısa sürdüğü dönemde (1877-1879) bazı kitaplar Rusya'ya götürülmüştür. Makalede, Bulgaristan topraklarında yüzyıllar boyunca biriken Osmanlı kitap mirasının yok edildiği veya dağıldığı, farklı yönlerde hayatta kalmaya çalıştığı çalkantılı savaş ve savaş sonrası dönem üzerinde daha ayrıntılı olarak durulacaktır.
The Unimagined History of an Imagined Bridge over the Danube between Giurgiu and Ruse. – Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Europeenes, LXI, nos. 1-4, 2023, p. 151-192, 2023
The paper deals with a construction project discussed between Romania and the Ottoman Empire betw... more The paper deals with a construction project discussed between Romania and the Ottoman Empire between 1870 and 1875. The project aimed at the construction of a "fixed and permanent" bridge over the Danube River in order to connect the existing railways between Bucharest and Giurgiu (1869), on the one hand, and Ruse and Varna (1866), on the other. The project aimed also to provide a railway connection between Bucharest and Varna, the biggest port city on the western shore of the Black Sea, as well as between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The documents, dating from the period of 1870-1875 and preserved in the Romanian and Turkish archives, reveal the negotiations between the state institutions of the two countries. While the Ottoman side preferred to order the bridge construction to a private company by way of concession, the Romanian state suggested that the two countries should construct it as a joint venture. This discordance led to the failure of the project that was brought into effect only in 1954 by the construction of the so-called Friendship Bridge (now called Danube Bridge).
Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu’s new book released in November 2019 and titled Medreseler Neydi, ... more Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu’s new book released in November 2019 and titled Medreseler Neydi, Ne Degildi? Osmanlilarda Akli Ilimlerin Egitimi ve Modern Bilimin Girisi [What were Madrasas, What were They not? Instruction of Rational Disciplines and Introduction of Modern Science to the Ottomans] is a collection of essays published in the last decades. In the book’s prefice Prof. Ihsanoglu stresses the newly emerged research interest in the madrasa history and “the nostalgia for the madrasa education” due to idealogical reasons rather than objective necessity. The extended introduction to the book puts forward the issue of how the madrasa history should be approached.
Based on narratives, including ‘urban legends’, and Ottoman archival sources, this article deals ... more Based on narratives, including ‘urban legends’, and Ottoman archival sources, this article deals with prostitution in the Ottoman Empire in view of its legal and judicial treatment according to both Sharia and sultanic law. Ottoman policies towards prostitution included measures and punishments ranging from milder (imprisonment, expulsion, taxation, legalization of brothels) to harsher (death sentence and corporal punishment). Since the Ottoman Empire included territories of a great variety of peoples and local customs the measures applied changed over time and varied across places. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the harshness of punishment depended perhaps also on the impact of conservative religious circles such as the Kadizâdelis and Mujaddidiyah.
The paper provides a chronological timeline of the cholera epidemics in Bulgaria and the Balkans ... more The paper provides a chronological timeline of the cholera epidemics in Bulgaria and the Balkans from the 1820s through the 1920s. In the course of a century these territories were eight times heavily struck by the so-called “blue death” – the cholera. This acute infectious disease was usually imported through the dislocation of military units, as well as maritime and rail transport. It penetrated first the seaports and then the inland settlements. Both the official statistics and the unofficial judgements reveal relatively great fatality numbers which dropped drastically only in the early twentieth century due to mass vaccination among the military and the civil population. The author reminds Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s worldwide famous novels “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”, and concludes that the mankind should learn better the lessons of history in order to be able to save its honour in the face of new pandemics, the COVID-19 pandemic including. Key words: cholera epidemics, Bulgaria, the Balkans, COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
Bulgaristan’daki Osmanlı Vakıf Kütüphanelerinin Tarihi Seyri ve Osmanlı Sonrası Kaderi. – Vakıflar Dergisi, 60, 2023, 123-141, 2023
Bulgar topraklarında yüzyıllar süren Osmanlı hakimiyeti boyunca biriken zengin kitap koleksiyonla... more Bulgar topraklarında yüzyıllar süren Osmanlı hakimiyeti boyunca biriken zengin kitap koleksiyonlarının kaderi, sosyal ve siyasi yaşamın dinamikleri tarafından belirlenmiştir ki, savaşlar, devlet ve siyasi rejim değişiklikleri, ideolojik konjonktür kaçınılmaz olarak bu mirasın tam olarak korunmasını olumsuz yönde etkilemiştir. Bildiğimiz arşiv ve anlatı kaynaklarına göre, Bulgaristan topraklarında yaklaşık 40 tane büyük Osmanlı vakıf kütüphanesi kurulmuş ve faaliyet göstermiştir. 1878 yılında Bulgaristan Prensliği'nin kuruluşundan sonra bu koleksiyonların önemli bir kısmı Sofya'ya aktarılmış ve böylece Milli Kütüphane'nin zengin koleksiyonu oluşmuştur. Kitapların bir kısmı da 93 Harbi ya da Balkan Savaşı sırasında kaçan bazı kütüphaneciler tarafından ya da Osmanlı yetkililerinin ısrarı üzerine İstanbul'a getirilmiştir. Bulgaristan'da Rus işgalinin kısa sürdüğü dönemde (1877-1879) bazı kitaplar Rusya'ya götürülmüştür. Makalede, Bulgaristan topraklarında yüzyıllar boyunca biriken Osmanlı kitap mirasının yok edildiği veya dağıldığı, farklı yönlerde hayatta kalmaya çalıştığı çalkantılı savaş ve savaş sonrası dönem üzerinde daha ayrıntılı olarak durulacaktır.
The Unimagined History of an Imagined Bridge over the Danube between Giurgiu and Ruse. – Revue des Etudes Sud-Est Europeenes, LXI, nos. 1-4, 2023, p. 151-192, 2023
The paper deals with a construction project discussed between Romania and the Ottoman Empire betw... more The paper deals with a construction project discussed between Romania and the Ottoman Empire between 1870 and 1875. The project aimed at the construction of a "fixed and permanent" bridge over the Danube River in order to connect the existing railways between Bucharest and Giurgiu (1869), on the one hand, and Ruse and Varna (1866), on the other. The project aimed also to provide a railway connection between Bucharest and Varna, the biggest port city on the western shore of the Black Sea, as well as between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. The documents, dating from the period of 1870-1875 and preserved in the Romanian and Turkish archives, reveal the negotiations between the state institutions of the two countries. While the Ottoman side preferred to order the bridge construction to a private company by way of concession, the Romanian state suggested that the two countries should construct it as a joint venture. This discordance led to the failure of the project that was brought into effect only in 1954 by the construction of the so-called Friendship Bridge (now called Danube Bridge).
Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu’s new book released in November 2019 and titled Medreseler Neydi, ... more Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu’s new book released in November 2019 and titled Medreseler Neydi, Ne Degildi? Osmanlilarda Akli Ilimlerin Egitimi ve Modern Bilimin Girisi [What were Madrasas, What were They not? Instruction of Rational Disciplines and Introduction of Modern Science to the Ottomans] is a collection of essays published in the last decades. In the book’s prefice Prof. Ihsanoglu stresses the newly emerged research interest in the madrasa history and “the nostalgia for the madrasa education” due to idealogical reasons rather than objective necessity. The extended introduction to the book puts forward the issue of how the madrasa history should be approached.
Based on narratives, including ‘urban legends’, and Ottoman archival sources, this article deals ... more Based on narratives, including ‘urban legends’, and Ottoman archival sources, this article deals with prostitution in the Ottoman Empire in view of its legal and judicial treatment according to both Sharia and sultanic law. Ottoman policies towards prostitution included measures and punishments ranging from milder (imprisonment, expulsion, taxation, legalization of brothels) to harsher (death sentence and corporal punishment). Since the Ottoman Empire included territories of a great variety of peoples and local customs the measures applied changed over time and varied across places. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the harshness of punishment depended perhaps also on the impact of conservative religious circles such as the Kadizâdelis and Mujaddidiyah.
The paper provides a chronological timeline of the cholera epidemics in Bulgaria and the Balkans ... more The paper provides a chronological timeline of the cholera epidemics in Bulgaria and the Balkans from the 1820s through the 1920s. In the course of a century these territories were eight times heavily struck by the so-called “blue death” – the cholera. This acute infectious disease was usually imported through the dislocation of military units, as well as maritime and rail transport. It penetrated first the seaports and then the inland settlements. Both the official statistics and the unofficial judgements reveal relatively great fatality numbers which dropped drastically only in the early twentieth century due to mass vaccination among the military and the civil population. The author reminds Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s worldwide famous novels “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”, and concludes that the mankind should learn better the lessons of history in order to be able to save its honour in the face of new pandemics, the COVID-19 pandemic including. Key words: cholera epidemics, Bulgaria, the Balkans, COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
Книгата представя живота и революционната дейност на Георги Раковски в светлината на неизвестни д... more Книгата представя живота и революционната дейност на Георги Раковски в светлината на неизвестни досега османски документи от Истанбулския архив. Издирените документи са над сто, като 45 от тях са включени в книгата в цялостен превод на български език. Разгледаните и анализирани документи оформят няколко тематични кръга, които се отнасят за престоя на Георги Раковски и баща му Стойко Попович в цариградски затвор през 1845–1848 г. и освобождаването им; за търговските дела и финансови взаимоотношения на Раковски с други предприемачи и кредитори; за революционното дело на котленеца; за неговите сподвижници; за публицистичната му дейност. Документалното изследване представлява увлекателен разказ, в който текстът на документите е умело втъкан в изложението на автора.
Orlin Sabev, The Dance of Cholera, Sofia: Avangard Prima, 2021, 380 pages, 27 coloured illustrati... more Orlin Sabev, The Dance of Cholera, Sofia: Avangard Prima, 2021, 380 pages, 27 coloured illustrations, ISBN 978-619-239-574-2 (in Bulgarian)
The book deals with the outbreak of the great cholera epidemic in Constantinople in 1865 and its impact on the Bulgarians living in the city. Bulgarian newspapers, official reports, researches conducted immediately upon the epidemic, memoirs and Ottoman archival sources are extensively used for the analysis of the dramatic situation. The author traces down the coming of the malady from the province of Egypt to the Ottoman capital in the early summer of 1865 and its spread in the city, in the Balkans, in the Middle East and Europe. Attention is paid to the delayed but decisive government measures to combat the disease; to the main factors that facilitated its rapid spread and caused significant death tolls; to the understanding of the malady and the concepts for prevention and treatment. The 1865 cholera epidemic is considered in a broader context including all the cholera pandemics that took place throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As the statistics show the 1865 epidemic turned out to be probably the deadliest one in Constantinople because of the coincidence of factors such as the bigger crowd of pilgrims who attended the Eid al-Adha feast in Mecca, the development of global sea transportation, and the lack of significant progress in scientific understanding of and medical treatment for the disease. The multireligious and multiethnic composition of Constantinople’s population made it difficult to combat the malady more promptly and efficiently. The author pays special attention to the different attitudes towards epidemic diseases among the various subjects of the Ottoman Empire in accordance with their religious affiliation, folk beliefs, traditions and practices. Some Bulgarian poems dedicated to the 1848 and 1865 cholera epidemics, as well as new trends in Orthodox iconography influenced by the western tradition of dance macabre (the Dance of Death) are analysed in detail.
Орлин Събев, Танцът на холерата, София: Авангард Прима, 2021, 380 стр., 27 цветни илюстрации, ISBN 978-619-239-574-2
Книгата разглежда избухването на голямата холерна епидемия в Цариград през 1865 г. и нейното въздействие върху българите, живеещи в града. В анализа на драматичната ситуация са използвани български вестници, официални доклади, изследвания, проведени непосредствено след епидемията, мемоари и османски архивни източници. Авторът проследява пренасянето на болестта от Египет в османската столица в началото на лятото на 1865 г. и нейното разпространение в града, на Балканите, в Близкия изток и в Европа. Обръща се внимание на забавените, но решителни правителствени мерки за борба с болестта; основните фактори, които са улеснили бързото ѝ разпространение и са причинили значителни жертви; разбирането за болестта и концепциите за превенция и лечение. Холерната епидемия от 1865 г. е разгледана в по-широкия контекст на холерните пандемии през деветнадесети и двадесети век. Както показва статистиката, епидемията от 1865 г. се оказва може би най-смъртоносната в Цариград поради съвпадението на фактори като по-голямата тълпа от поклонници, присъствали на празника Курбан байрам в Мека, развитието на глобалния морски транспорт и липсата на значителен напредък в научното разбиране и лечение на болестта. Разнообразният религиозен и етнически състав на населението на Цариград затруднява борбата с болестта. Авторът обръща специално внимание на различното отношение към епидемичните заболявания сред различните поданици на Османската империя в съответствие с тяхната религиозна принадлежност, народни вярвания, традиции и практики. Подробно се анализират някои български стихотворения, посветени на холерната епидемия, както и новите тенденции в православната иконография, повлияни от западната традиция (танцът на смъртта).
The volume Chasing Levski and the Revolutionaries: New Ottoman Documents (Sofia, 2020, 228 pages)... more The volume Chasing Levski and the Revolutionaries: New Ottoman Documents (Sofia, 2020, 228 pages) includes Bulgarian translation together with transliteration and facsimiles of 36 archival documents preserved in the Ottoman Archive in Istanbul, Turkey. All of them comprise correspondence between the local and central Ottoman authorities with regard to their efforts to prevent the seditious activity of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee in Bucharest, and the Internal Revolutionary Organization in Bulgaria led by Vasil Levski. The documents date from January 1872 to March 1874 and reveal that the Ottoman government was informed in detail about the revolutionary activities in the Bulgarian lands as late as September 1872. In terms of topic, the documents could be divided into the following groups: 1) documents revealing information about the persons, who were involved in the revolutionary organization, and about the measures undertaken by the Ottoman authorities to detect and capture them; 2) documents related to the establishment of a special judicial commission to carry out the legal proceedings against the revolutionaries who were detained and prosecuted in Sofia; 3) documents dealing with the death sentences of the revolutionary leaders Vasil Levski and Dimitar Obshti; 4) documents about the career advancement and rewarding of Ottoman officials for their service in chasing the organization functionaries; 5) documents related to the recovery of financial resources spent out for uncovering and detaining these functionaries; 6) documents granting daily allowance for the revolutionaries who were exiled to Diyarbakır in Southeastern Anatolia.
This book is a study of the first Ottoman/Muslim printer Ibrahim Müteferrika and his printing act... more This book is a study of the first Ottoman/Muslim printer Ibrahim Müteferrika and his printing activity in the first half of the eighteenth century. By reviewing the existing views in narratives dating from the fifteenth through the nineteenth century and modern scholarly works, most of them quite critically discussing the relatively late introduction of Ottoman Turkish/Muslim printing, the book argues that the delay was mainly due to the lack of an appropriate printer who would be capable and eager enough to set a printing house and whom the Ottoman authority could trust. By focusing on Müteferrika’s western-formed mindset the book detects the influence of his printing enterprise upon the transition from scribal tradition to print culture.
«The Cultural Interactions on the Balkans and the Turkish Architecture» ... Source: Bulgarian Fol... more «The Cultural Interactions on the Balkans and the Turkish Architecture» ... Source: Bulgarian Folklore (Български фолклор), issue: 02+03 / 2003, pages: 193198, on www.ceeol.com. ... Културните взаимодействия на Балканите и турската архитекту]~а Международен симпозиум ...
Тока'.), paying attention to the Ottoman policy o! England and Germany in the period of Gazi... more Тока'.), paying attention to the Ottoman policy o! England and Germany in the period of Gazi Osman Pasha. The paper of BN Tonka (Uni-versity of Çanakkale) dealt with the appearance of Gazi Osman Pasha on the historical stage dur-ing the Ottoman-Russian war of 1877-...
Публична лекция, изнесена на 16 януари 2018 г. в Института за балканистика с Център по тракология... more Публична лекция, изнесена на 16 януари 2018 г. в Института за балканистика с Център по тракология при БАН
Review of Orlin's Sabev's book, Waiting for Müteferrika: Glimpses of Ottoman Print Culture (2018)... more Review of Orlin's Sabev's book, Waiting for Müteferrika: Glimpses of Ottoman Print Culture (2018). Reviewer: Yasemin Gencer.
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Papers by Orlin Sabev
Key words: cholera epidemics, Bulgaria, the Balkans, COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
Key words: cholera epidemics, Bulgaria, the Balkans, COVID-19 pandemic, Gabriel Garcia Márquez.
The book deals with the outbreak of the great cholera epidemic in Constantinople in 1865 and its impact on the Bulgarians living in the city. Bulgarian newspapers, official reports, researches conducted immediately upon the epidemic, memoirs and Ottoman archival sources are extensively used for the analysis of the dramatic situation.
The author traces down the coming of the malady from the province of Egypt to the Ottoman capital in the early summer of 1865 and its spread in the city, in the Balkans, in the Middle East and Europe. Attention is paid to the delayed but decisive government measures to combat the disease; to the main factors that facilitated its rapid spread and caused significant death tolls; to the understanding of the malady and the concepts for prevention and treatment.
The 1865 cholera epidemic is considered in a broader context including all the cholera pandemics that took place throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As the statistics show the 1865 epidemic turned out to be probably the deadliest one in Constantinople because of the coincidence of factors such as the bigger crowd of pilgrims who attended the Eid al-Adha feast in Mecca, the development of global sea transportation, and the lack of significant progress in scientific understanding of and medical treatment for the disease. The multireligious and multiethnic composition of Constantinople’s population made it difficult to combat the malady more promptly and efficiently.
The author pays special attention to the different attitudes towards epidemic diseases among the various subjects of the Ottoman Empire in accordance with their religious affiliation, folk beliefs, traditions and practices. Some Bulgarian poems dedicated to the 1848 and 1865 cholera epidemics, as well as new trends in Orthodox iconography influenced by the western tradition of dance macabre (the Dance of Death) are analysed in detail.
Орлин Събев, Танцът на холерата, София: Авангард Прима, 2021, 380 стр., 27 цветни илюстрации, ISBN 978-619-239-574-2
Книгата разглежда избухването на голямата холерна епидемия в Цариград през 1865 г. и нейното въздействие върху българите, живеещи в града. В анализа на драматичната ситуация са използвани български вестници, официални доклади, изследвания, проведени непосредствено след епидемията, мемоари и османски архивни източници.
Авторът проследява пренасянето на болестта от Египет в османската столица в началото на лятото на 1865 г. и нейното разпространение в града, на Балканите, в Близкия изток и в Европа. Обръща се внимание на забавените, но решителни правителствени мерки за борба с болестта; основните фактори, които са улеснили бързото ѝ разпространение и са причинили значителни жертви; разбирането за болестта и концепциите за превенция и лечение.
Холерната епидемия от 1865 г. е разгледана в по-широкия контекст на холерните пандемии през деветнадесети и двадесети век. Както показва статистиката, епидемията от 1865 г. се оказва може би най-смъртоносната в Цариград поради съвпадението на фактори като по-голямата тълпа от поклонници, присъствали на празника Курбан байрам в Мека, развитието на глобалния морски транспорт и липсата на значителен напредък в научното разбиране и лечение на болестта. Разнообразният религиозен и етнически състав на населението на Цариград затруднява борбата с болестта.
Авторът обръща специално внимание на различното отношение към епидемичните заболявания сред различните поданици на Османската империя в съответствие с тяхната религиозна принадлежност, народни вярвания, традиции и практики. Подробно се анализират някои български стихотворения, посветени на холерната епидемия, както и новите тенденции в православната иконография, повлияни от западната традиция (танцът на смъртта).