Evliya Çelebi is one of the most outstanding figures in the Ottoman Empire of the 17th century. His destination as a traveler and thinker gained him great popularity among the highly-ranked figures of the empire on the whole. Sultan Murad IV adored Evliya’s great memory in reciting the Quran (The Author and His Subject 4). In this respect the main work of Evliya The Book of Travels represents picaresque and exhaustive information on different social issues inside the Ottoman Empire. In this respect it is better to take notice of how well Evlia describes the social life across the empire. His ideas are full of assumptions and reasoning over the reasons which caused different transformations in peoples’ lives. The question is about the destiny of Melek Ahmed Pasha. In this respect the paper deals with several issues. Some among them are: slaves who then became one of the greatest statesmen, the role and status of women, military services, and some others. All in all, Evliya was a talented descriptor able to manifest the social features which made the Ottoman Empire that firm and glorious.
First of all, Evliya replicates the versatility of social life throughout the whole empire. On the example of Melek Ahmed one can get the idea of how a great statesman can grow out of slavery of his mother. To be precise, Caucasian provinces of the Empire (Abkhazia in particular) were target places to recruit people for serving in military forces of the Sultanate. It is vital to admit that Evliya was a good companion to people. Thus, his trips were under patronage of sultan Murad IV and, especially, Melek Ahmed and his wife, Kaya Sultan, were the closest boon companions to Evliya (The Author and His Subject 7).
Due to Evliya’s survey it is well-known that some of the greatest Ottomans had origins coming down to slavery. Some of their relatives or even the closest ones (mother, father) once were slaves. Melek Ahmed was one of them. He was an Abkhazian who grew in harem of sultan, and, then, his career ladder was fulfilled with different positions on the highest ranks. Some of them are: governor in Baghdad in 1641 and governor of Damascus in 1643 (The Author and His Subject 8).
On the other hand, the status of women in the Ottoman Empire varied depending on the stratum of this or that woman. In accordance with Quran, a Muslim woman should be under the patronage of her husband and never contradict his commands. However, the Ottoman Empire was rich in opportunities for all layers of the society. Slaves from Abkhazia and neighboring provinces could have become honorable women if they had been presented to the sultan.
Military forces were highly appreciated with the wise and well-crafted policy of Melek Ahmed. He was apt at recruiting people all over the territory of the Empire. He did this by communicating with other great statesmen. The main provinces being sources of new enslaved soldiers (gulams) were Abkhazia and Circassia and some other territories of the Caucasus (Celebi 33). Hence, owing to Melek Ahmed Rumelian and Anatolian provinces were no longer considered to be the main human resource centers for administrative and military work.
Thus, the book by Evliya Celebi shows intimate details of life among the greatest statesmen of the Ottoman Empire (Melek Ahmed Pasha). Moreover, due to his work the social; peculiarities of people living across the empire are undoubtedly documented.
Works cited
Çelebi, Evliya. The intimate life of an Ottoman statesman: Melek Ahmed Pasha (1588-1662) : as portrayed in Evliya Çelebi’s Book of travels (Seyahat-name). Edited by Robert Dankoff. New York, NY: SUNY Press, 1991.
The Author and His Subject. Introduction, 2002: 3-41.