DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27907#0238
194 Chapter 1
AN OUTLINE OF TURKISH HISTORY
Turkish tribes in Central and East Asia. Gók Turksand Uighurs. The State of Karakhanids in the lOth cen tury and its islamization.
TheGhaznevids. Turkish tribes in Eastern Europę. The State ofGenghis Khan and his son Czagatay. The State ofTimur Lenk and
the Timurids. The Golden Hordę and the Crimean Khanate. Turkish culture before islamization - high level ofhandicrafts. Social
and political system of the Turks: role of authority, information and communication, easy adoption of foreign inventions,
continued State instinct. Progress ofthe Seljuks in Central Asia, their conquest of Persia and establishment of a Capital in Isfahan.
The conquest of Anatolia and Syria in fights against Byzantium. The State ofGreat Seljuks. The State of Rum Seljuks in Anatolia,
with the Capital in Konya. Persian and Byzantine elements in Seljuk culture. Early forms of feudalism. From nomadic till urban
society. Islam ofthe Seljuks: Sunna and the mystic tendencies - the Mevlevi dervishes. Social problems: the uprisingofBaba Ishak.
Invasion of Mongols in 1244. A new group of Oghuz Turks coming to Anatolia in 1227, under protection of Seljuk Sultans, their
feudal territories in the West, around Sogut. Decline of Seljuks and rising of a new State under Osman, in 1302. Wars against
Byzantium. Conquest of Bursa and establishment of first Capital there. Sułtan Orhan and organization of the army. The janissaries
asan elite formation. In 1346 the Turks setting foot for the first time in Europę. Furtherconquest ofthe Balkansby Sułtan Murad I.
Adrianopol captured in 1361. Victory over the Serbians, Hungarians, and the Wallachians at Kossove Pole in 1389, Sułtan
Bayazid and the siege ofConstantinople. Victory over the allied Christian army at Nikopolis, 1396. Controversy with Timur and
catastrophe at Ankara in 1402, Bayazid in Mongoł captivity, died. Revival of the Ottoman State by Czelebi Sułtan Mehmed
(Mehmed I), an outstanding military leader but also a highly educated man. a lover and protector of arts. Sułtan Murad II again
besieging Constantinople and fighting with Hungarians, led by Janos Hunyadi. In 1444 victory at Varna over a strong Hungarian
army under command of King Ladisias III Jagiełło and Hunyadi. The King kil led in thebattle. The next Sułtan, Mehmed II, finally
capturing Constantinople in 1453 and bringing the Ottomans to imperial position. The fali of Byzantium as a historie event of
greatest importance and the starting point of rapid progress of Ottoman Empire. The reign of Mehmed Fatih. Times of Bayazid II
and Selim I. Golden age of the Ottoman Empire under Sułtan Suleyman the Magnificent, its administrative, social, national,
political, and military systems. Signs of decline in times of Selim II and Murad III. The Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.
Attempts atrevival of power by Kopriilii viziers, Mehmed and Ahmed. Sułtan Mehmed IV and his grand vizier Kara Mustapha:
wars with Poland and with Austrian Empire. Catastrophe at Vienna in 1683. Further misfortunes in wars against the Christian
Holy League and the T reaty of Carlovitz, 1699. Permanent decline of the Ottoman Empire in 18th and 19th centuries. Plans for
reforms and Europeanization of the country. Mustapha Kemal and his major political programme. Turkey in World War I. The
Great Revolution: abolishion ofthe Sultanate and establishment ofthe Turkish Republic in 1923. Remarkson development ofthe
Republic.
Chapter 2
TURKISH ART BEFORE ISLAM AND LATER ISLAMIC DOMINANCE IN THIS ART
Two basie problems: art madę by Turkish hands and art madę under Turkish protection by people of various nationalities. Early
works ofpurely Turkish art coming from Pazyryk tombs of Altai area, dated 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.: decorated costumes, arms,
horse trappings, and cloth, felt applique hangings and knotted rugs (the oldest ever found). Archaeological discoveries at the river
Orkhon, stone slabs with runie inscriptions and “balbal” statues from 6th-8th centuries. Art ofthe Uighurs under the Buddhist
Chinese influence and also under impact of Persian Manichaeism: rapid deve!opment of painting, especially of murals (Turfan).
Islam generally taken over by the Turks from the lOth century onwards as the most powerful source ofinspiration in all spheres of
life and culture. Characterization of various features of Islam based upon the Koran and tradition (The Hadith). Islamie
philosophy, schools and education, various branches of science: astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and magie, mathematics and
geography. The importance of mathematical rules in art. Relations between art and naturę.
Chapter 3
DECORATIVE SYSTEM IN TURKISH ART
Turkish art asan important part of Islamie art. Its non-figurative essence, and hencespecial meaningofdecorative and omamental
structure. Analysis of this structure must be mainly synchronistic and static, as the life of motifs is very long and their origin
uncertain. A great number of motifs used in Seljuk and Ottoman arts originated in prehistorie times in the nomadic culture of
Central and Eastern Asia. Some of these motifs closely connected with early totemie and animal creeds (a mythical animal as the
ancestor of a tribe). In any case animals were everywhere oldest subjects of artistic creativity but these forms tended from reality to
abstraction, by simplification and strict rules of composition. Animal motifs were often crossed with floral ones. Zoomorphic or
even monster-like pattems in the Seljuk so-called Rumi arabesque, taken overby Ottoman artists. Totaily geometrie interlacing
pattems composed of angular strapwork enclosing polygons or stars in an unfinished suit came also trom prehistory, taking under
Seljuks a consistant and meaningful character. On the other hand, in Turkish art the so-called hatayi or Chinese arabesque was
formed from Far-Eastern motifs such as poenies, lotuses, palm-leaves, rosettes, meanders, and “clouds". British and American
scholars recently analyzing the Turkish decoration ofthe 16th century have found in it five categories ofmotif: 1. Rumi arabesque.
2. Hatayi arabesque, 3. “Saz” and rosette style (“saz” being a special reed pen producing a characteristic linę), 4. “Four flowers"
style: motifs of tulip, camation, hyacinth, and rosę, and some other kinds of flower in medallion assemblies). and 5. So-called
“plain tradition”: objects without decoration but in harmonious shapes and with distinct structural divisions, expressing ancient
simplicity and austerity. Apart from these categories various motifs saturated with disguised symbolism were used in Turkish
handicrafts, particularly in ceramics, textiles, and rugs, as well as in objects madę of metal or wood. Some ofthem had cosmological
character as images or symbols of sun, stars, moon or crescent, clouds, universe, heaven and earth, day and night. They had ot
course a pre-Islamic origin but could also be extracted from the Koran. The crescent now generally associated with the Turks was
AN OUTLINE OF TURKISH HISTORY
Turkish tribes in Central and East Asia. Gók Turksand Uighurs. The State of Karakhanids in the lOth cen tury and its islamization.
TheGhaznevids. Turkish tribes in Eastern Europę. The State ofGenghis Khan and his son Czagatay. The State ofTimur Lenk and
the Timurids. The Golden Hordę and the Crimean Khanate. Turkish culture before islamization - high level ofhandicrafts. Social
and political system of the Turks: role of authority, information and communication, easy adoption of foreign inventions,
continued State instinct. Progress ofthe Seljuks in Central Asia, their conquest of Persia and establishment of a Capital in Isfahan.
The conquest of Anatolia and Syria in fights against Byzantium. The State ofGreat Seljuks. The State of Rum Seljuks in Anatolia,
with the Capital in Konya. Persian and Byzantine elements in Seljuk culture. Early forms of feudalism. From nomadic till urban
society. Islam ofthe Seljuks: Sunna and the mystic tendencies - the Mevlevi dervishes. Social problems: the uprisingofBaba Ishak.
Invasion of Mongols in 1244. A new group of Oghuz Turks coming to Anatolia in 1227, under protection of Seljuk Sultans, their
feudal territories in the West, around Sogut. Decline of Seljuks and rising of a new State under Osman, in 1302. Wars against
Byzantium. Conquest of Bursa and establishment of first Capital there. Sułtan Orhan and organization of the army. The janissaries
asan elite formation. In 1346 the Turks setting foot for the first time in Europę. Furtherconquest ofthe Balkansby Sułtan Murad I.
Adrianopol captured in 1361. Victory over the Serbians, Hungarians, and the Wallachians at Kossove Pole in 1389, Sułtan
Bayazid and the siege ofConstantinople. Victory over the allied Christian army at Nikopolis, 1396. Controversy with Timur and
catastrophe at Ankara in 1402, Bayazid in Mongoł captivity, died. Revival of the Ottoman State by Czelebi Sułtan Mehmed
(Mehmed I), an outstanding military leader but also a highly educated man. a lover and protector of arts. Sułtan Murad II again
besieging Constantinople and fighting with Hungarians, led by Janos Hunyadi. In 1444 victory at Varna over a strong Hungarian
army under command of King Ladisias III Jagiełło and Hunyadi. The King kil led in thebattle. The next Sułtan, Mehmed II, finally
capturing Constantinople in 1453 and bringing the Ottomans to imperial position. The fali of Byzantium as a historie event of
greatest importance and the starting point of rapid progress of Ottoman Empire. The reign of Mehmed Fatih. Times of Bayazid II
and Selim I. Golden age of the Ottoman Empire under Sułtan Suleyman the Magnificent, its administrative, social, national,
political, and military systems. Signs of decline in times of Selim II and Murad III. The Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.
Attempts atrevival of power by Kopriilii viziers, Mehmed and Ahmed. Sułtan Mehmed IV and his grand vizier Kara Mustapha:
wars with Poland and with Austrian Empire. Catastrophe at Vienna in 1683. Further misfortunes in wars against the Christian
Holy League and the T reaty of Carlovitz, 1699. Permanent decline of the Ottoman Empire in 18th and 19th centuries. Plans for
reforms and Europeanization of the country. Mustapha Kemal and his major political programme. Turkey in World War I. The
Great Revolution: abolishion ofthe Sultanate and establishment ofthe Turkish Republic in 1923. Remarkson development ofthe
Republic.
Chapter 2
TURKISH ART BEFORE ISLAM AND LATER ISLAMIC DOMINANCE IN THIS ART
Two basie problems: art madę by Turkish hands and art madę under Turkish protection by people of various nationalities. Early
works ofpurely Turkish art coming from Pazyryk tombs of Altai area, dated 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C.: decorated costumes, arms,
horse trappings, and cloth, felt applique hangings and knotted rugs (the oldest ever found). Archaeological discoveries at the river
Orkhon, stone slabs with runie inscriptions and “balbal” statues from 6th-8th centuries. Art ofthe Uighurs under the Buddhist
Chinese influence and also under impact of Persian Manichaeism: rapid deve!opment of painting, especially of murals (Turfan).
Islam generally taken over by the Turks from the lOth century onwards as the most powerful source ofinspiration in all spheres of
life and culture. Characterization of various features of Islam based upon the Koran and tradition (The Hadith). Islamie
philosophy, schools and education, various branches of science: astronomy, astrology, alchemy, and magie, mathematics and
geography. The importance of mathematical rules in art. Relations between art and naturę.
Chapter 3
DECORATIVE SYSTEM IN TURKISH ART
Turkish art asan important part of Islamie art. Its non-figurative essence, and hencespecial meaningofdecorative and omamental
structure. Analysis of this structure must be mainly synchronistic and static, as the life of motifs is very long and their origin
uncertain. A great number of motifs used in Seljuk and Ottoman arts originated in prehistorie times in the nomadic culture of
Central and Eastern Asia. Some of these motifs closely connected with early totemie and animal creeds (a mythical animal as the
ancestor of a tribe). In any case animals were everywhere oldest subjects of artistic creativity but these forms tended from reality to
abstraction, by simplification and strict rules of composition. Animal motifs were often crossed with floral ones. Zoomorphic or
even monster-like pattems in the Seljuk so-called Rumi arabesque, taken overby Ottoman artists. Totaily geometrie interlacing
pattems composed of angular strapwork enclosing polygons or stars in an unfinished suit came also trom prehistory, taking under
Seljuks a consistant and meaningful character. On the other hand, in Turkish art the so-called hatayi or Chinese arabesque was
formed from Far-Eastern motifs such as poenies, lotuses, palm-leaves, rosettes, meanders, and “clouds". British and American
scholars recently analyzing the Turkish decoration ofthe 16th century have found in it five categories ofmotif: 1. Rumi arabesque.
2. Hatayi arabesque, 3. “Saz” and rosette style (“saz” being a special reed pen producing a characteristic linę), 4. “Four flowers"
style: motifs of tulip, camation, hyacinth, and rosę, and some other kinds of flower in medallion assemblies). and 5. So-called
“plain tradition”: objects without decoration but in harmonious shapes and with distinct structural divisions, expressing ancient
simplicity and austerity. Apart from these categories various motifs saturated with disguised symbolism were used in Turkish
handicrafts, particularly in ceramics, textiles, and rugs, as well as in objects madę of metal or wood. Some ofthem had cosmological
character as images or symbols of sun, stars, moon or crescent, clouds, universe, heaven and earth, day and night. They had ot
course a pre-Islamic origin but could also be extracted from the Koran. The crescent now generally associated with the Turks was