An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Celebi Book

Introduction 7

Literary allusions 23

Glossary 27

Volume 1 Istanbul

1 Introduction: The dream 3

2 The Süleymaniye Mosque 8

3 The antiquity of smoking 17

4 Galata 17

5 Kagithane 21

6 Guilds' parade 24

7 Lagari Hasan Çelebi 31

Volume 2 Anatolia and beyond

1 Setting out 35

2 Hot Springs of Bursa 38

3 Return to Istanbul 42

4 Hamsi in Trabzon 44

5 Black Sea adventure 47

6 Tabriz 55

7 Cat-brokers of Ardabil 68

8 Oil wells of Baku 68

9 Cathedral of Echmiadzin 69

10 Ankara 70

Volume 3 In the Retinue of Melek Ahmed Pasha

1 Nasreddin Hoca in Aksehir 91

2 Safed 92

3 Sheikh Bekkar the Naked on the road outside Damascus 94

4 The girl who gave birth to an elephant 97

5 Armenian 99

6 The cats of Divrigi 100

7 Witchcraft in a Bulgarian village 101

8 Sofia 102

Volume 4 Safavid Borderlands

1 Diyarbekir 113

2 Bitlis 116

3 The ruined city of Ahlat 134

4 On 'extinguishing the candle' 136

Volume 5 East Anatolia and the Balkans

1 Highwaymen in the Bolu Pass; return to Van 141

2 Escape from Bitlis 142

3 Diplomacy in Split (Spalato) 163

4 The bandit Yano 169

Volume 6 Hungary and the German Campaign

1 An incident on the battlefield 173

2 Shkodër (Scutari) 174

3 The Samakov iron works 180

4 An adventure near Komorn; Tatar raid into Western Europe 181

5 Dubrovnik (Ragusa) 204

6 The great bridge at Mostar 213

Volume 7 Habsburg Borderlands, Crimea and beyond

1 Raiding expeditions in 'Germany'; a fabulous tree in Krokondar 219

2 The battle on the Raab River (Battle of Saint Gotthard, 1664) 222

3 Comparison of Austrians and Hungarians 230

4 A pleasure resort near Vienna; the free conduct of women 231

5 Vienna 232

6 Crimea 249

7 A meal of strange honey in Circassia 253

8 Kalmyks and cannibalism 254

Volume 8 Greece and the Conquest of Crete

1 Return to Crimea 259

2 Report to the Sultan in Edirne 274

3 The Gypsies of Gümülcine (Komotini) 276

4 Athens 278

5 Balibadra: A great cypress tree and the five ethnic groups of the Morea 293

6 Siege of Candia: Ministrations to the wounded and Saint Green-Arm 295

7 A captive woman in Kolorya 297

8 Fair at Doyran 298

Volume 9 Pilgrimage

1 Setting out on the Hajj 303

2 Brigands at the Alman Pass; Ephesus 306

3 Safed and the land of Canaan 311

4 Jerusalem 315

5 Sheikh Bekkar the Naked in Damascus 338

6 The Hajj caravan; Muzayrib, the Hajj bazaar 340

7 Medina 345

8 The People of Mecca 359

9 Uyun al-qasab 362

10 St Catherine's Monastery on Mt Sinai 365

Volume 10 Egypt and Sudan

1 Adam's prayer for Egypt in 'Hebrew' 371

2 Relation among Nile overflow, plenty and poverty, crowdedness of Cairo, people and donkeys 372

3 Snake medicine and snake charming 373

4 Rain, snow and hail in Egypt in 1083 (1672) 387

5 Crocodiles 388

6 The Cairo underworld and unusual trades 393

7 Trades and products lacking in Egypt 399

8 Chicken incubation; Sabil Allam stones 400

9 Exploring a pyramid 403

10 Weddings, circumcision, etc. 406

11 Mevlud of Seyyid Ahmad al-Badawi in Tanta 414

12 Mountain of the Birds 436

13 Map of the Nile 439

14 Meeting with Kör Husayn Qan 439

15 Meeting with Qan Girgis; encounter with two Bektashi dervishes 442

16 Elephants and monkeys 448

17 Envoi 450

Appendix: Outline of Journeys and Events in the Ten Volumes of the Book of Travels 453

Bibliography 472

Acknowledgements 477

Index 479