Tag Archives: Sir Paul Rycaut

messy antics

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Dave

Passion unchained. Does absolute power equate with absolute bliss? For the Sultan’s of the Ottoman Empire for the most part; the effort to reconcile two antagonistic ideas seemed to almost take a perverse pleasure. Seraglio life could be characterized as … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

vintage violence

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Dave

Janissaries were uneducated except in violence and were fanatically conservative. In 1763, when Lord Baltimore passed through Constantinople, he observed that the Corps was still carrying bows and arrows, sabers and lances, having never got used to firearms. Sultan Selim … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

seraglio: methodical despotism

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Dave

The Grand Seraglio. The search for absolute bliss backed up by absolute power with all the variations of sex, death, and violence could muster. The price to pay for approaching utopian conditions in a sort of Islamic version of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

absolute bliss and the grand seraglio

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Dave

Within its walls, the Turkish sultans sought the answer to an ancient question: Can absolute power bring absolute bliss? …. The Grand Seraglio in Instanbul. Until 1852 this was the Sultans’ residence, a palace known in the West as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Ideas/Opinion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment