In a lucidly argued revisionist study of military society in Ottoman Egypt, Jane Hathaway contends that the basic framework within which this elite operated was the household, a conglomerate of patron
Eunuchs were a common feature of pre- and early modern societies that are now poorly understood. Here, Jane Hathaway offers an in-depth study of the chief of the African eunuchs who guarded the harem of the Ottoman Empire. A wide range of primary sources are used to analyze the Chief Eunuch's origins in East Africa and his political, economic, and religious role from the inception of his office in the late sixteenth century through the dismantling of the palace harem in the early twentieth century. Hathaway highlights the origins of the institution and how the role of eunuchs developed in East Africa, as well as exploring the Chief Eunuch's connections to Egypt and Medina. By tracing the evolution of the office, we see how the Chief Eunuch's functions changed in response to transformations in Ottoman society, from the generalized crisis of the seventeenth century to the westernizing reforms of the nineteenth century.
Beshir Agha (c. 1657-1746) was the most powerful Chief Harem Eunuch in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Enslaved in his native Ethiopia as a boy, then castrated in Egypt, Beshir Agha became one of h
Eunuchs were a common feature of pre- and early modern societies that are now poorly understood. Here, Jane Hathaway offers an in-depth study of the chief of the African eunuchs who guarded the harem of the Ottoman Empire. A wide range of primary sources are used to analyze the Chief Eunuch's origins in East Africa and his political, economic, and religious role from the inception of his office in the late sixteenth century through the dismantling of the palace harem in the early twentieth century. Hathaway highlights the origins of the institution and how the role of eunuchs developed in East Africa, as well as exploring the Chief Eunuch's connections to Egypt and Medina. By tracing the evolution of the office, we see how the Chief Eunuch's functions changed in response to transformations in Ottoman society, from the generalized crisis of the seventeenth century to the westernizing reforms of the nineteenth century.
In the course of its more that six-hundred-year history, the Ottoman Empire weathered rebellions and threats of rebellion from every quarter, both within the imperial capital and in its far-flung p
This hilarious Southern retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice tells the story of two hard-headed Civil war historians who find that first impressions can be deceiving.Shelby Roswell, a Civil
"A lively Southern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, featuring Lucy Crawford, who is thrown back into the path of her first love while on a quest to save her beloved family home. Lucy Crawford i
Designed as the successor to P.M. Holt's classic 1966 book Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, here for the first time in forty years is a comprehensive survey of the Arab Lands under Ottoman rule. This
