Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate
The abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 1 November 1922 ended the Ottoman Empire, which had lasted since 1299. On 11 November 1922, at the Conference of Lausanne, the sovereignty of the GNAT exercised by the Government in Ankara over Turkey was recognized, the last sultan, Mehmed VI, departed the Ottoman capital, Constantinople, on 17 November 1922. The legal position was solidified with the signing of Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923, the Ottoman entry into World War I along the Central Powers occurred on 11 November 1914. The Middle Eastern theatre of World War I ended with the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on 30 October 1918, the Occupation of Constantinople by British and Italian forces occurred on 13 November 1918. The partitioning of the Ottoman Empire began with the Treaty of London and continued with multiple agreements, British troops began to occupy the key buildings of the Empire and arrest nationalists after the establishment of military rule on the night of 15 March 1920.
On 18 March 1920 the Ottoman parliament met and sent a protest to the Allies that it was unacceptable to arrest five of its members and that was the last meeting of the body and marked the end of the Ottoman political system. Sultan Mehmed VI dissolved the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire on 11 April 1920, the Constantinople government, with the bureaucracy, but without the parliament, was left active with the Sultan as the decision maker. The Treaty of Sèvres on 10 August 1920 finalized the partitioning of the Empire, at the time, in waves, approximately 150 politicians were exiled to Malta. The Turkish national movement, led by the Mustafa Kemal, established the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara on 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey waged the Turkish War of Independence. The war was against the monarchist Constantinople government, Sultan Mehmed VI was the Caliph. The Constantinople government, without a parliament, formed the Kuva-yi Inzibatiye, known as the Army of the Caliphate, conflicts occurred at Bolu, Düzce, Adapazarı, along the other revolts during the Turkish War of Independence.
The Caliphate army was sympathetic to Islamism, hence the name, the strategic goal of the Caliphate army and of the British was to prevent the National Forces advancing towards the Bosporus straits. The Army of the Caliphate was defeated by the Kuva-yi Milliye, although the Kuva-yi Milliye was regarded as the first step of resistance in the liberation of Turkey, irregular warfare was abandoned later. Before the Greek war began, Kuva-yi Milliye became the seed of an organized Turkish army, the Ottoman Empires sovereignty was embodied in the dynasty of Osman I, who was its founder and namesake. His family had ruled since 1299 in an unbroken lineage throughout the empires history, the Ottoman dynasty maintained supreme authority over the Ottoman Empires polity. The sultan was the sole and absolute regent, head of state. The Grand Viziers and polity established by the Ottoman Constitution functioned at the pleasure of the Sultan, an Allied invitation was given to both the Constantinople and Ankara governments to appear at the Conference of Lausanne.
Mustafa Kemal was determined that only the Ankara government would be represented at the conference, on 1 November 1922, the Grand National Assembly declared that the Sultanates Constantinople government was no longer the legal representative
Islamic calligraphy
Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic and Persian calligraphy and it is known in Arabic as khatt Islami, meaning Islamic line, design, or construction. The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Quran, deep religious association with the Quran, as well as suspicion of figurative art as idolatrous has led calligraphy to become one of the major forms of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. As Islamic calligraphy is highly venerated, most works follow examples set by well established calligraphers, in antiquity, a pupil would copy a masters work repeatedly until their handwriting was similar. The most common style is divided into angular and cursive, each divided into several sub-styles. Some styles are often written using a metallic-tip pen, Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels and inscriptions.
Before the advent of paper and parchment were used for writing, the advent of paper revolutionized calligraphy. While monasteries in Europe treasured a few volumes, libraries in the Muslim world regularly contained hundreds. Coins were another support for calligraphy, beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value, generally the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Quran. By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, so precious were calligraphic inscribed textiles that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the Abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer near Caen in northwestern France, Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script. The style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, which appears as a form of the old Nabataean script. The Archaic Kufi consisted of about 17 letters without diacritic dots or accents, afterwards and accents were added to help readers with pronunciation, and the set of Arabic letters rose to 29.
It is developed around the end of the 7th century in the areas of Kufa, the style developed into several varieties, including floral, plaited or interlaced and squared kufi. There were no set rules of using the Kufic script, the common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters. Common varieties include square Kufic, a known as bannai. Contemporary calligraphy using this style is popular in modern decorations
Anatolia
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Armenian, Laz and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea.
This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή.
The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines.
They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
Kurds
The Kurds are culturally and linguistically closely related to the Iranian peoples and, as a result, are often themselves classified as an Iranian people. A recent Kurdish diaspora has developed in Western countries, primarily in Germany, the Kurdish language refers collectively to the related dialects spoken by the Kurds. It is mainly spoken in parts of Iran, Syria. Kurdish holds official status in Iraq as a national language alongside Arabic, is recognized in Iran as a regional language, the Kurdish languages belong to the northwestern sub‑group of the Iranian languages, which in turn belongs to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family. According to Mackenzie, there are few features that all Kurdish dialects have in common. And the fact that this reflects the sense of ethnic identity and unity of the Kurds. The number of Kurds living in Southwest Asia is estimated at close to 30 million, Kurds comprise anywhere from 18% to 20% of the population in Turkey, possibly as high as 25%,15 to 20% in Iraq, 10% in Iran, and 9% in Syria.
Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries, viz. in Turkish Kurdistan, the Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in West Asia after the Arabs and Turks. The total number of Kurds in 1991 was placed at 22.5 million, with 48% of this number living in Turkey, 18% in Iraq, 24% in Iran, and 4% in Syria. Recent emigration accounts for a population of close to 1.5 million in Western countries and this groups population was estimated at close to 0.4 million in 1990. The land of Karda is mentioned on a Sumerian clay-tablet dated to the 3rd millennium B. C. This land was inhabited by the people of Su who dwelt in the regions of Lake Van. Other Sumerian clay-tables referred the people, who lived in the land of Karda, as the Qarduchi and the Qurti. Many Kurds consider themselves descended from the Medes, an ancient Iranian people, the claimed Median descent is reflected in the words of the Kurdish national anthem, We are the children of the Medes and Kai Khosrow. The Kurdish languages form a subgroup of the Northwestern Iranian languages like Median, some researchers consider the independent Kardouchoi as the ancestors of the Kurds.
The term Kurd, however, is first encountered in Arabic sources of the seventh century, the Kurds have ethnically diverse origins. During the Sassanid era, in Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, after initially sustaining a heavy defeat, Ardashir I was successful in subjugating the Kurds. In a letter Ardashir I received from his foe, Ardavan V, the usage of the term Kurd during this time period most likely was a social term, designating Northwestern Iranian nomads, rather than a concrete ethnic group
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents and neighbors have been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, political, Islam began in the early 7th century.
Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are found in Horn of Africa, China, Mainland Southeast Asia, Northern Borneo and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide.
Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
Ottoman Navy
During its long existence, it was involved in many conflicts and signed a number of maritime treaties. At its height, the Navy extended to the Indian Ocean, for much of its history, the Navy was led by the position of the Kapudan Pasha. This position was abolished in 1867, when it was replaced by the Minister of the Navy, after the end of the Ottoman Empire and the declaration of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Navys tradition was continued under the modern Turkish Naval Forces. In 1091 Tzachass fleet raided the islands of Samos and Rhodes in the Aegean Sea, in 1095 Tzachass fleet raided the strategic port city and Gulf of Adramyttium on the Aegean coast of Anatolia and the city of Abydos on the Dardanelles Strait. Seljuq sultan of Rûm Alaeddin Keykubad I conquered Alaiye and formed a naval arsenal there, alanya became the homeport of the Seljuk fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Keykubad I formed a fleet in the Black Sea based in Sinope, the conquest of the island of Kalolimno in the Sea of Marmara in 1308 marked the first Ottoman naval victory.
The Ottoman fleet made its first landings on Thrace in 1321, in 1373 the first landings and conquests on the Aegean shores of Macedonia were made, which was followed by the first Ottoman siege of Thessaloniki in 1374. The first Ottoman conquest of Thessaloniki and Macedonia were completed in 1387, between 1387 and 1423 the Ottoman fleet contributed to the territorial expansions of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan peninsula and the Black Sea coasts of Anatolia. Following the first conquests of Venetian territories in Morea, the first Ottoman-Venetian War started, albania was reconquered by the Ottoman fleet with landings between 1448 and 1479. In 1453 the Ottoman fleet participated in the conquests of Constantinople, Gökçeada. In 1462 the Ottoman fleet conquered the Genoese islands of the northern Aegean Sea and this was followed by the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1463-1479. In the following period the Ottoman fleet gained more territory in the Aegean Sea, until 1499 this was followed by further expansion on the Black Sea coasts and on the Balkan peninsula.
By 1503 the Ottoman fleet raided the northeastern Adriatic coasts of Italy, and completely captured the Venetian lands on Morea, the Ionian Sea coast and the southeastern Adriatic Sea coast. According to Katib Celebi a typical Ottoman fleet in the century consisted of 46 vessels whose crew was 15,800 men, roughly two-thirds were oarsmen. Starting from the conquest of Syria in 1516, the Ottoman fleet of Selim I started expanding the Ottoman territories towards the Levant, in 1527 the Ottoman fleet participated in the conquest of Dalmatia, Croatia and Bosnia. In 1529 the Ottoman fleet under Salih Reis and Aydın Reis destroyed the Spanish fleet of Rodrigo Portundo near the Isle of Formentera, the joint fleet was commanded by Charles Vs top admiral, Andrea Doria. In 1543 the Ottoman fleet participated with French forces in the Siege of Nice, Francis I of France enabled the Ottoman fleet to overwinter in the French harbor of Toulon. This unique Ottoman occupation of Toulon allowed the Ottomans to attack Habsburg Spanish and Italian ports, matrakçı Nasuh, a 16th-century Ottoman Janissary and swordmaster, reportedly participated in the occupation of Toulon
Culture of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman culture evolved over several centuries as the ruling administration of the Turks absorbed and modified the cultures of conquered lands and their peoples. Tevfik Fikret, born in 1867, is considered the founder of modern Turkish poetry. Nevertheless, a number of genres - the travelogue, the political treatise, from the 19th century, the increasing influence of the European novel, and particularly that of the French novel, began to be felt. Şemsettin Samis Taaşuk-u Talat 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. The most significant figure in the field, the 16th-century architect and engineer Mimar Sinan, was a Muslim convert of Armenian descent and his most famous works were the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne and the Suleiman Mosque in Constantinople. One of his pupils, Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, designed the early 17th century Blue Mosque, the Diwani script is a cursive and distinctively Ottoman style of Arabic calligraphy developed in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
It was invented by Housam Roumi, reaching its greatest development under Süleyman I the Magnificent, the highly decorative script was distinguished by its complexity of line and by the close juxtaposition of the letters within words. Other forms included the flowing, rounded Nashki script, invented by the 10th-century Abbasid calligrapher Ali Muhammad ibn Muqlah, noted Ottoman calligraphers include Seyyid Kasim Gubari, Şeyh Hamdullah, Ahmed Karahisari, and Hâfiz Osman. The weaving of such carpets originated in the cultures of central Asia. Turks used carpets and patterned kilims not just on the floors of a room, but as a hanging on walls and doorways and they were commonly donated to mosques, which often amassed large collections of them. Hereke carpets were of high status, being made of silk or a combination of silk and cotton. Other significant designs included Palace, Yörük, and Milas or Türkmen carpets, Yörük and Türkmen represented more stylized designs, whereas naturalistic designs were prevalent in Palace.
The Ottoman Empire was noted for the quality of its gold- and silversmiths, jewelry had particular importance as it was commonly given at weddings, as a gift that could be used as a form of savings. Silver was the most common material used, with gold reserved for more pieces, designs often displayed complex filigree work and incorporated Persian. Apart from the traditions of its constituent peoples, the Ottoman Empire evolved a distinct style of court music. This was a vocal form, with instrumental accompaniment, built on makamlar. Another distinctive feature of Ottoman music were the mehterân, the bands used by the Janissaries. These bands were the ancestors of modern bands, as well as of the brass ensembles popular in traditional Balkan music
Armenians
Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands. Armenians constitute the population of Armenia and the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. There is a diaspora of around 5 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside of modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, Georgia, Germany, Lebanon and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian Genocide, most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is the worlds oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew, in the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, the name Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people.
It was first used by neighbouring countries of ancient Armenia, the earliest attestations of the exonym Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu as Armina (in Old Persian and Harminuya. In Greek, Αρμένιοι Armenians is attested from about the same time, xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians and it is further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. Movses Khorenatsi, the important early medieval Armenian historian, wrote that the word Armenian originated from the name Armenak or Aram, the Armenian Highland lies in the highlands surrounding Mount Ararat, the highest peak of the region. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire, soon after Hayasa-Azzi were Arme-Shupria, the Nairi and the Kingdom of Urartu, who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland.
Each of the nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I. T. Gamkrelidze and V. Ivanov proposed the Indo-European homeland around the Armenian Highland, eric P. Hamp in his 2012 Indo-European family tree, groups the Armenian language along with Greek and Ancient Macedonian in the Pontic Indo-European subgroup. In Hamps view the homeland of this subgroup is the northeast coast of the Black Sea and he assumes that they migrated from there southeast through the Caucasus with the Armenians remaining after Batumi while the pre-Greeks proceeded westwards along the southern coast of the Black Sea. However, fresh genetics studies explain Armenian diversity by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3,000 and ~2,000 b. c
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BC and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty and he was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of historys most successful military commanders. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16, after Philips assassination in 336 BC, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army. Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his fathers Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia, in 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Following the conquest of Anatolia, Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of battles, most notably the battles of Issus. He subsequently overthrew Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety, at that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
He sought to reach the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea and invaded India in 326 BC and he eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, the city that he planned to establish as his capital, without executing a series of planned campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart, resulting in the establishment of several states ruled by the Diadochi, Alexanders surviving generals, Alexanders legacy includes the cultural diffusion which his conquests engendered, such as Greco-Buddhism. He founded some twenty cities that bore his name, most notably Alexandria in Egypt, Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles, and he features prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and he is often ranked among the most influential people in human history.
He was the son of the king of Macedon, Philip II, and his wife, Olympias. Although Philip had seven or eight wives, Olympias was his wife for some time. Several legends surround Alexanders birth and childhood, sometime after the wedding, Philip is said to have seen himself, in a dream, securing his wifes womb with a seal engraved with a lions image. Plutarch offered a variety of interpretations of dreams, that Olympias was pregnant before her marriage, indicated by the sealing of her womb. On the day Alexander was born, Philip was preparing a siege on the city of Potidea on the peninsula of Chalcidice. That same day, Philip received news that his general Parmenion had defeated the combined Illyrian and Paeonian armies, and it was said that on this day, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, burnt down. This led Hegesias of Magnesia to say that it had burnt down because Artemis was away, such legends may have emerged when Alexander was king, and possibly at his own instigation, to show that he was superhuman and destined for greatness from conception
Osman I
Osman Gazi, sometimes transliterated archaically as Othman, was the leader of the Ottoman Turks and the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. He and the dynasty bearing his name established and ruled the nascent Ottoman Empire, the state, while only a small principality during Osmans lifetime, transformed into a world empire in the centuries after his death. It existed until the abolition of the sultanate in 1922, or alternatively the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 or the abolition of the caliphate in 1924, due to the scarcity of historical sources dating from his lifetime, very little factual information is known about him. Not a single written source survives from Osmans reign, the Ottomans did not record the history of Osmans life until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after his death. Because of this, it is challenging for historians to differentiate between fact and myth in the many stories told about him. One historian has gone so far as to declare it impossible.
According to Ottoman tradition, Osmans ancestors were descendants of the Kayı tribe of Oğuz Turks, the Ottoman principality was just one of many Anatolian beyliks that emerged in the second half of the thirteenth century. Situated in the region of Bithynia, Osmans principality was particularly well-placed to launch attacks on the vulnerable Byzantine Empire, some scholars have argued that Osmans original name was Turkish, probably Atman or Ataman, and was only changed to the Arabic ʿOsmān. An early Arabic source mentioning him writes ط rather than ث in one instance, Osman may thus have adopted the more prestigious Muslim name in his life. He was most likely born around the middle of the century, possibly in 1254/5. According to Ottoman tradition, Osmans father Ertuğrul led the Turkic Kayı tribe west from Central Asia into Anatolia and he pledged allegiance to the Sultan of the Anatolian Seljuks, who granted him dominion over the town of Söğüt on the Byzantine frontier. This connection between Ertuğrul and the Seljuks, was invented by court chroniclers a century later.
Osman became chief, or Bey, upon his father’s death, nothing is known for certain about Osmans early activities, except that he controlled the region around the town of Söğüt and from there launched raids against the neighboring Byzantine Empire. The first datable event in Osmans life is the Battle of Bapheus in 1301 or 1302, Osman appears to have followed the strategy of increasing his territories at the expense of the Byzantines while avoiding conflict with his more powerful Turkish neighbors. These early victories and exploits are favorite subjects of Ottoman writers and these legends have been romanticized by the poetical pens which recorded them in years. The Ottoman writers attached great importance to this legendary, dreamlike conception of the founder of their empire, Osman I had a close relationship with a local religious leader of dervishes named Sheikh Edebali, whose daughter he married. A story emerged among Ottoman writers to explain the relationship between the two men, in which Osman had a dream while staying in the Sheikhs house.
The story appears in the late fifteenth-century chronicle of Aşıkpaşazade as follows, He saw that a moon arose from the holy mans breast, a tree sprouted from his navel and its shade compassed the world
Nicaea
The ancient city is located within the modern Turkish city of İznik, and is situated in a fertile basin at the eastern end of Lake Ascanius, bounded by ranges of hills to the north and south. It is situated with its west wall rising from the lake itself, the lake is large enough that it could not be blockaded from the land easily, and the city was large enough to make any attempt to reach the harbour from shore-based siege weapons very difficult. The ancient city is surrounded on all sides by 5 kilometres of walls about 10 metres high and these are in turn surrounded by a double ditch on the land portions, and included over 100 towers in various locations. Large gates on the three sides of the walls provided the only entrance to the city. Today the walls have been pierced in places for roads. The version however was not widespread even in Antiquity, Antigonus is known to have established Bottiaean soldiers in the vicinity, lending credence to the tradition about the citys founding by Bottiaeans.
Following Antigonus defeat and death at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, the city was captured by Lysimachus, who renamed it Nicaea, in tribute to his wife Nicaea, who had recently died. Sometime before 280 BC, the city came under the control of the dynasty of the kings of Bithynia. This marks the beginning of its rise to prominence as a seat of the royal court, the two cities dispute over which one was the pre-eminent city of Bithynia continued for centuries, and the 38th oration of Dio Chrysostom was expressly composed to settle the dispute. Along with the rest of Bithynia, Nicaea came under the rule of the Roman Republic in 72 BC. The geographer Strabo described the city as built in the typical Hellenistic fashion with great regularity, in the form of a square, measuring 16 stadia in circumference, i. e. approx. This monument stood in the gymnasium, which was destroyed by fire but was restored with increased magnificence by Pliny the Younger, in his writings Pliny makes frequent mention of Nicaea and its public buildings.
Emperor Hadrian visited the city in 123 AD after it had been damaged by an earthquake. The new city was enclosed by a wall of some 5 kilometres in length. Reconstruction was not completed until the 3rd century, and the new set of walls failed to save Nicaea from being sacked by the Goths in 258 AD, by the 4th century, Nicaea was a large and prosperous city, and a major military and administrative centre. Emperor Constantine the Great convened the First Ecumenical Council there, the city remained important in the 4th century, seeing the proclamation of Emperor Valens and the failed rebellion of Procopius. During the same period, the See of Nicaea became independent of Nicomedia and was raised to the status of a metropolitan bishopric, many of its grand civic buildings began to fall into ruin, and had to be restored in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian I. Nicaea became the capital of the Opsician Theme in the 8th century and remained a center of administration, a Jewish community is attested in the city in the 10th century
