Culture of the Ottoman Empire
There was influence from the customs and languages of nearby Islamic societies such as Jordan, Egypt and Palestine, while Persian culture had a significant contribution through the Seljuq Turks, the Ottomans' predecessors.
Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem, an Ottoman writer and intellectual had also started his early career by writing poems in the newspaper of İbrahim Şinasi, Tasvir-i Efkar.
[2] Poet-musicians (ozan), were travelling around the Central Asia since the 9th century by telling epics, stories, and performing religious acts with their kopuz This tradition lived in Anatolia in the time of the Seljuk and the Ottoman Empire but with an Islamic intervention.
Aşıks were the poets with an instrument called bağlama (saz), they were travelling around Anatolia and telling epics from old Turkic tradition with Islamic influence.
Şemsettin Sami's Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat, widely considered the first Turkish novel, was published in 1872; other notable Ottoman writers of prose were Ahmet Mithat and Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil.
One of his pupils, Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, designed the early 17th century Blue Mosque, considered the last great building of classical Ottoman architecture.
Other forms included the flowing, rounded Nashki script, invented by the tenth-century Abbasid calligrapher Ali Muhammad ibn Muqlah, and Ta'liq, based on the Persian Nastalīq style.
Noted Ottoman calligraphers include Seyyid Kasim Gubari, Şeyh Hamdullah, Ahmed Karahisari, and Hâfiz Osman.
We can establish approximatively the reign of Mehmed II (1451–81) as a moment of `birth´ of the production of the Ottoman miniatures with the first pieces having been found coming from this era.
During that era many manuscripts show a desire in the court to establish a painting studio in the recently annexed capital of the empire Istanbul.
Turks used carpets, rugs and patterned kilims not just on the floors of a room, but also as a hanging on walls and doorways, where they provided additional insulation.
[7] Silver was the most common material used, with gold reserved for more high-status pieces; designs often displayed complex filigree work and incorporated Persian and Byzantine motifs.
These bands were the ancestors of the modern Ottoman military bands, as well as of the brass ensembles popular in traditional Balkan music.Dancing was an important element of Ottoman culture, which incorporated the folkloric dancing traditions of many different countries and lands on three continents; from the Balkan peninsula and the Black Sea regions to the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa.
Meddahs were generally traveling artists whose route took them from one large city to another, such along the towns of the spice road; the tradition supposedly goes back to Homer's time.
[11] Karagöz shadow play (gölge oyunu) consists of four parts: Giriş (Introduction); Muhavere (Conversation); Fasıl; Bitiş (Ending).
The play is based on discourse, two main characters of Orta Oyunu tell jokes from one to another to create an environment of humour, similar to Karagöz and Hacivat.
Other characters represented various stereotypes from different Ottoman millets, including Arabs, Armenians, Albanians, Kurds, Laz people, and Jews.
The performance area was known as the "Meydan" (Square), and there was another space called the "Yeni Dünya" (New World) where men and women audience members observed the play.
It is known that in Mekteb-i Harbiye (Staff Officer Academy), activities of gymnastics were added on the curriculum in 1863 which makes it the first mandatory modern sports lesson of the Empire – Riyazat-ı Bedeniye.
Selim Sırrı Tarcan was also one of the pioneers of sports of the Ottoman Empire, he was the first person who put forward the ideal of competing in the olympic games.
[20] Furthermore, the function of these institutions expanded beyond sports, as they taught young men proper hygiene, dress, and posture, in addition to serving as environments for male discourse and socializing.
[24] Futbol, written in Ottoman Turkish and initially released in 1910, served as Istanbul's first sports magazine, principally following club football matches.
1905 saw the creation of the Constantinople Association Football League, which organized soccer matches among athletic clubs, while also providing entertainment for thousands of spectators.
[26] Completed in 1909, with the blessing of Sultan Abdülhamid II, the Union Club provided the first reliable stadium in which thousands of Istanbul spectators could gather to watch sports.
