Abstract

It is a tiny manuscript that shimmers when one opens its brittle cover. This poem collection written by one of the most prominent Ottoman rulers was discovered by Petra Kappert in the 1980’s in Hamburg. Completed in 961/1554, this highly elaborated product of art is the oldest known existing poem collection by Sultan Süleyman. Questions about its content, its production and the ruler behind the lyrical persona continue to challenge scholars to this day.

Sultan Süleyman commanded an extraordinarily powerful army that enlarged Ottoman territory far beyond the realm inherited by his father Selim I. Ongoing struggles for political and religious hegemony resulted in military encounters between the powerful Safawids and the Ottomans (1548-1550, 1553-1555) and bloody revolts in Anatolia took place during this period as well. Contention over the imperial thrown even led to the strangulation of two of Sultan Süleyman’s sons.  

In the midst of all of these struggles, Süleyman devoted himself to ambitious lyrical creations. At that time, poetry referred to medieval models which depicted the world as part of a far more complex system of cosmic intersections. Images played a fundamental role in providing a link between the divine and the earthly realms, the Third Divan’s use of images such as the lock of hair, the zephir and the cypress establish this connection in an exemplary way. Even as they refer to conventional topoi, they obtain a further, more implicit meaning. However, it remains unclear to whom these images were meant to appeal. This paper proposes a viable answer to this question.  

Bio

Dr. Christiane Czygan is a German Ottomanist, specializing in Ottoman poetry and literature, the history of ideas and the history of the press. Her current project aims at the research on the Third Divan of Sultan Süleyman the Lawgiver at the University of Göttingen in the Department of Turkology and Central Asian Studies. She received her Master’s Degree in Turkish Studies, History and French Literature from the University of Hamburg and studied Ottoman History and Literature in Istanbul with Orhan Şaik Gökyay. She completed her PhD at the University of Hamburg, where she has also taught Ottoman History and Ottoman Literature. Her publications include Zur Ordnung des Staates. Jungosmanische Intellektuelle und ihre Konzepte in der Zeitung Hürriyet (Klaus Schwarz 2012) as well as numerous articles on the Young Ottomans and Divan poetry.

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