Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire

by Mehrdad Kia

  In “its most serious outbreaks, the plague disrupted the Ottoman economy by interrupting harvests in the countryside and commercial activities and handicrafts in the cities.” In many urban communities a plague-stricken person was shunned and abandoned. In the southern Albanian town of Gjirokastër, when a person developed a pimple or a boil, people immediately concluded that he had the plague and fled from him. He was also prohibited from entering homes. For two years afterward, people avoided entering the home of a person who had suffered from the plague. Even after two years, they insisted on cleansing the house with vinegar and disinfecting it with aromatic herbs. At times, people went as far as tearing down and rebuilding various parts of the house and whitewashing “all the rooms with lime before entering.” Without “any modern understanding of germ theory, Ottoman doctors, like those in the West, hypothesized that plague was an airborne infection caused by miasmas (unpleasant or unhealthy air), carried by the wind.” An “alternative theory attributed the spread of plague to demons, or jinni.”

  Hardly less terrible “were the variations of cholera,” which “once introduced spread with terrible rapidity.” The great 19th-century “cholera epidemics struck the Middle East and Balkans with ferocity, each epidemic killing hundreds of thousands.” Cholera spread primarily through Muslim pilgrims from India who brought the disease to Mecca where pilgrims from the Ottoman Empire contracted the disease. From Mecca, the pilgrims who had come from all parts of Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and so forth, brought the disease home. Not surprisingly, Anatolia was devastated by the great cholera epidemics of 1847 and 1865.

  Another devastating epidemic that generally struck the Ottoman Empire in times of wars and mass migrations was typhus. In the second half of the 19th century, particularly from 1864 to 1880, Muslim refugees from Russian conquests in the Balkans and the Caucasus died in large numbers from typhus, which they spread in those regions of Anatolia and Syria where they settled.

  Borrowing from the practices of European states, during the reign of Abdülhamid II, the Ottoman government introduced major improvements in the area of public health. An international sanitary board was established and quickly organized a quarantine system to prevent the entry of epidemic diseases. Filth and garbage, as well as stray dogs, were removed from the streets of the capital. The main streets of Istanbul and other urban centers were paved “with basalt blocks,” which allowed rain water to wash them and “lessen the accumulations of filth.” A well-organized medical school was established in the capital to train students in medicine and modern sciences.

  TRADITIONAL REMEDIES

  Until the introduction of modern medicine, the people of the Ottoman Empire relied on traditional remedies that had been passed down from one generation to the next. In the 17th century, to cleanse their bodies or as a remedy for various ailments such as yellow and black bile, phlegm, and parasites, the people of Vlorë (Vlora), a major seaport and commercial center in southwestern Albania, poured boiling pitch into a new cup, then rinsed it thoroughly and drank water from the cleaned cup. Throughout the empire, popular belief held that certain foods alleviated certain ailments and assisted with certain deficiencies. For instance, according to popular belief, the eels of Ohrid, the deepest lake in the Balkans, if caught fresh and wrapped in leaves and roasted, not only made “a very nutritious meal” but also helped a man “have intercourse with his wife five or six times” a day. Anyone “with consumption” [pulmonary tuberculosis] who put “a salted eel head on his own head” was said to be cured “of his ailments.”

  At the Egyptian or Spice Bazaar (Misir Çarşi) in Istanbul, gunpowder was prescribed as a remedy for hemorrhoids, and patients were told to boil it with the juice of a whole lemon, strain off the liquid, dry the powder and swallow it the next morning with a little water on an empty stomach. Gunpowder was also “supposed to be a good cure for pimples when mixed with a little crushed garlic.” Whatever its value as a pharmaceutical remedy, gunpowder “was finally banned from the market because the shops in which it was sold kept blowing up.”

  The Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi writing in the 17th century, reported that there were 2,000 men producing “ointments, pills, and tinctures” and “selling around 3,000 different medicinal herbs and spices” in and around the Egyptian Bazaar. Healers and men of medicine “made effective pills from ambergris, a secretion from the alimentary tract of the sperm whale,” which was believed “to strengthen the nerves and stimulate the senses.” Thus, the spices, herbs, scented oils, and remedies sold in the form of paste, cream, and syrup or powder traded in the Egyptian Bazaar were used not only to flavor Ottoman foods and dishes but also as remedies for a wide variety of deficiencies and ailments. From the sultans and members of the ruling family to the humblest subject of the state, everyone relied on potions, thick syrups, herbs, and spices as miracle cures.

  In 1520, when Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, the mother of Süleyman the Magnificent, became ill, the sultan sent a letter to a well-known physician and healer who lived and worked at a mosque in the town of Manisa (Magnesia) in western Anatolia, pleading with him to offer a cure for his ailing mother who had fallen ill after mourning the loss of her husband, the deceased sultan Selim I. Mixing 41 herbs and spices, the physician “concocted a thick syrup” that saved the sick and dying widow. The queen mother expressed her gratitude for this miracle by ordering that the syrup responsible for her cure be distributed once a year among the people, a tradition that has persisted to the present day. Every year, during the so-called Mesir Festival, Mesir Paste (Mesir Macunu) is thrown to the crowds who gather in the grounds of a mosque at Manisa named after the queen mother Ayşe Hafsa Sultan. Also known as Turkish Viagra or Sultan’s Aphrodisiac, Mesir Paste, which is a spiced paste in the form of a candy, is believed to restore health, youth, and potency.

  Ottomans also relied on prayers, charms, and spells as potential cures, especially after the remedies of a physician failed to produce positive results. At times, suras from the Quran were recited with gentle breaths over the face and limbs of the ailing patient. Spells read in Arabic and Persian were also considered effective, provided certain conditions were met. Unfortunately, such prerequisites could create embarrassing situations. Reciting a spell to an ailing and dying high government official, Evliya Çelebi complained that the efficacy of his spell required the reciter to “strike the palsied man’s face three times with his own shoe, holding it in the left hand.” The ailing man in this particular instance, however, was a grand vizier, and Evliya could not strike him with a shoe.

  Some holy men used their breath to treat physical, mental, or nervous disorders. The patient was placed in front of the healer, who went “into a kind of trance, at intervals blowing in the direction” of the patient who was being treated. The breath, “thought of as the essence of one’s self, was believed to carry healing virtue to the patient.” Rich and poor, young and old, women and men were convinced that when doctors failed to cure a patient, puffs of breath from holy men could remedy their illness.

  Upon recovery from a severe illness, as was also done upon the birth of a child and a safe return from pilgrimage to Mecca, a sheep was sacrificed as an expression of thankfulness and gratitude to God for restored health. If wealthy, the sick person who had recovered showered gifts and favors among the members of his extended household, including his officers, doorkeepers, irregulars, conscripts, cooks, tasters, muleteers, grooms, torchbearers, as well as the homeless and destitute. He also distributed money among the poor; had several orphan boys circumcised; gave each of the boys into the custody of a master craftsman, or a teacher; and dressed them in a nice suit. The same gratefully recovered man could also find homes for orphaned girls and provide them with new clothing. He could also construct stone pavement over a road; dig gutters to relieve a town from flooding and mud; build shops, coffeehouses, and homes; and establish his property as an endowment for the establishment or upkeep of a charitable foundation.

  If the illness worsened and the s
ick person became convinced of his death, he made his will in favor of his son, or any other individual, in the presence of two or more witnesses. If the ailing man was a person of status, wealth, and power, he summoned the ulema, notables, and his subordinates to compose his last will and testament. These declarations would include a request for where he should be buried, how much of his money could be distributed among those who had served him, and whether any of his money could be used to erect a monument or even a fountain at his tombstone. Many people bequeathed some of their money to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In some cases, the dying man freed his slaves, bestowing on them and his servants gifts and gold pieces. He also appointed his executor.

  As the hour of death arrived, the family sent for a man who could recite the Quran. He was asked to read in a loud voice the Ya Seen (Ya Sin), or the 36th chapter of the Quran, which has been branded by some as the heart of the holy book. It was believed that hearing the Ya Seen allowed the departing spirit to calm itself and focus on the coming journey. Others present also read prayers in an audible voice. At times, the sick person was encouraged to recite the words of remembrance and forgiveness. Men of religion always recommended, if at all possible, that a Muslim’s last words be the declaration of faith: “I bear witness that there is no God. I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.” In certain instances, when a person was on the point of death, the people present poured sherbet made of water and sugar down his throat.

  As soon as the person died, his eyes and mouth were closed. The dead person’s big toes were “brought in contact and fastened together with a thin slip of cloth, to prevent the legs remaining apart.” The body was then temporarily covered with a sheet. Perfumes were also burnt near the body of the deceased. The local imam, or any other man of religion who was present, encouraged the family to remain calm and accept a fate that could only be determined by God who gave life and took it away. The imam also encouraged the family to pray for the departed and to begin preparations for the burial. Although Islam discouraged loud wailing and lamentation, an outpouring of grief followed.

  Muslim tradition required burial of the deceased as soon as it was humanly possible, because it was not proper to keep a corpse long in the house. If the person had died in the evening, the shrouding and burial had to take place before midnight; if, however, he/she had died at a later hour, the deceased was buried on the following day. Prior to burial, the body was washed with warm water— usually by a member of the family, a close friend, or an acquaintance. Ottoman women were always washed “by their own sex.” Professional washers, both men and women, also were available to wash and shroud the body for a fee. Every effort was made not to wash the body on flat ground because the water could spread over a wide surface. Popular belief held that it was a bad omen to walk on such water. Toward the end of the washing ceremony, camphor and water were mixed and put into several pots and poured “three times first from the head to the feet, then from the right shoulder to the feet, lastly from the left shoulder to the feet” of the deceased. Every time the water was poured, the declaration of faith was repeated by the person washing the body or an individual present at the ceremony. If the dead had been killed as a martyr, he could be buried in the very clothes he had died in.

  After bathing the body and drying it with a clean piece of cloth, “several balls of cotton wool were covered in calico and soaked in warm water, to be inserted in the seven orifices of the body.” Cotton wools were also placed between the fingers and the toes and also in the armpits. The mourners then placed the deceased in a shroud (kefen). For men, this consisted of three pieces of clean white sheets, large enough to conceal the entire body, and for women five pieces of white garments. The color of the shroud had to be white. The kefen for both men and women was perfumed with scented water or incense. At times, “pepper, spices, and rose-water” were also “put in other crevices.” Attendants then laid the body in a coffin with the face of the deceased facing downward. The coffins of men were distinguished by a turban and those of women by a coif. If the deceased had been a girl and a virgin, the rich and powerful families set garlands and boughs of oranges on the coffin as they carried it to the cemetery. The coffin transported the body to the burial site where funeral prayers were read. Sometimes before the funeral procession, the family of the deceased hired a group of mourners who proceeded through the streets at night proclaiming their grief with the cries of mourning.

  During the burial ceremony, only the male relations and male community members could accompany the body to the cemetery. While men participated in the funeral procession, women stayed home and mourned in the privacy of the harem. Christians, Jews, and “foreigners were also excluded.” An imam or a member of the religious class led the procession to the cemetery by walking in front of the coffin. Other members of the religious establishment walked on either side of the coffin. Mourners walked behind. While escorting the body, the mourners remained silent. Islam discouraged carrying candles, shouting the name of God, weeping loudly, playing music, or even reading the Quran. Thus, “no external signs of mourning” were used by the Ottomans “either for a funeral or subsequently,” nor were “periods of seclusion observed by them on the death of a relative.” “Excessive sorrow” for dead children was “considered not only sinful, but detrimental to their happiness and rest in Paradise.” It was, however, “an act of filial duty to mourn consistently for lost parents, and not to cease praying for their forgiveness and acceptance with Allah.” The coffin “was draped with a red or green pall over which were spread blue cloths embroidered with gold thread and silk.” When the mourners passed a mosque or a shrine, they set the coffin down and offered prayers for the deceased.

  Once the funeral procession had reached the cemetery, family, friends, and acquaintances gathered to pray as the prayer leader or the imam stood in front of the body of the deceased facing away from the mourners. After the prayers had ended, “the lid of the coffin was removed before it was lowered into the earth.” The shrouded body was lifted out of the coffin while prayers were recited and was placed in the grave still wrapped in a kefen. The body of the deceased had to be positioned in a recumbent posture at right angles to the kibla (Arabic: qibla) or the direction of prayer towards Mecca. In this way the body would face the holy city of Mecca if it turned to its side. This placement enabled the faithful to have the same physical relationship with Mecca in both life and death.

  Cemeteries were located outside cities, towns, or villages, and were not demarcated by walls, fences, and gates. Every attempt was made to bury the dead in a beautiful cemetery amid flowers and cypress. Thus, one of the largest cemeteries in Istanbul stretched along the slope of a hill overlooking the blue waters of the Bosphorus and was densely shaded by old cypress trees. Not surprisingly, the locals used the cemeteries as a park. It was not unusual to find a Turk smoking his pipe or chubuk “with his back resting against a turban-crested grave stone,” the Greek spreading “his meal upon a tomb,” the Armenian sheltering himself “from the sunshine beneath the boughs” that overshadowed “the burial places of his people,” “the women” sitting “in groups” and talking “of their homes and of their little ones,” and “the children” gathering “the wild flowers” that grew “amid the graves as gaily as though death had never entered there.”

  Several days after the funeral, women of the household visited the cemetery and uttered lamentations over the grave. Once they had expressed and released their grief and sorrow, the female mourners left food offerings on the grave. There was no prescribed clothing for a mourning ceremony, but men generally wore a coat in a somber color such as black or brown.

  Cemetery overlooking the Bosphorus and Istanbul.

  When an Ottoman dignitary or high official passed away, funeral procedures followed the official Hanafi rite. The body was laid out and an iskat prayer was recited. Iskat was “alms given on behalf of the dead as compensation for their neglected religious duties.” The body was then washed, wra
pped in a shroud, and placed in an ornamental coffin for “transport to a mosque for prayers.” Viziers, ulema, şeyhs, notables, and dignitaries assembled and carried the body to the mosque of Aya Sofya, while muezzins and dervişes recited prayers and litanies. At the mosque, a ritual prayer was performed. The funeral procession then continued with the coffin carried to its final resting place at the cemetery. At the cemetery, tents were set up and the holy Quran was recited by men of religion as well as dervişes for several days.

  Each grave “was marked at the head by a single stone, about fifty centimeters high, either cylindrical or uncut.” A person of wealth and power was buried “in a rectangular marble tomb, a round marble column as high as a man at the head, topped by a sculpture of the Turkish headgear appropriate to the rank of the deceased.” The column was usually inscribed with Arabic inscriptions from the Quran. Occasionally “instead of a column, the headstone was a marble plaque about a hand span in width and as high as a man and again carved with inscriptions.” Women’s “gravestones were carved with flowers and verses of hope and if a headstone fell it was considered unlucky to set it up again.”

  Except as a special privilege, which could apply only to sultans, dead bodies could not be interred in a mosque, church, or synagogue, or even within the town or city, but rather in cemeteries in the suburbs where the Muslims, Christians, and Jews had their own separate graveyards. In unique circumstances, particularly when the body of a slain sultan was involved, the internment could assume a significant political meaning. After Murad I was killed on the battlefield of Kosovo Polje in 1389, his vital organs were removed and buried in a mausoleum on the banks of the river Llap (Serbo-Croatian: Lab; Turkish: Klab). His body meanwhile was carried to Bursa, where it was buried at the courtyard of the city’s Great Mosque. Miloš Kobilić or Obilić, the Serbian “hero” who assassinated Murad I, was interred in a grave at a monastery a short distance from the sultan’s resting place. Nearly three centuries later, the mausoleum of the assassin was “lit with jeweled lamps and scented with ambergris and musk” and “supported by wealthy endowments and ministered by priests who played host to passing visitors” and pilgrims. In contrast, the mausoleum grave of the Ottoman sultan “was besmirched with filth” and excrement, because the local Serbs used the royal tomb as a privy and defecated on it to insult the Turkish invaders who had occupied their homeland. To protect the royal mausoleum from future assaults, an Ottoman official ordered the construction of a huge wall with a gate around the tomb “so that people on horseback could not get in.” Five hundred fruit trees were also planted and a well was dug. A keeper was appointed to live there with his family so that they could care for “the silk carpets, candlesticks, censers, rose-water containers and lamps” that furnished the mausoleum.