Forgotten experts astrologers, science, and authority in the Ottoman Empire, 1450-1600 / A. Tunç Şen.
| Author/creator | Şen, A. Tunç |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2025] |
| Description | xvii, 330 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm. |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Ebook Central - Academic Complete |
| Subjects |
| Series | Stanford Ottoman world series |
| Abstract | "Forgotten Experts offers a history of Ottoman court astrologers and traces their shifting authority and prestige over the long sixteenth century. These individuals served the Ottoman court with their expertise in mathematical, astronomical, and astrological sciences, distinguishing themselves from other occult practitioners and esoteric specialists. While both prophecy and prognostication are attempts to map the terrain of the future, the astrologers' work did not claim spiritual weight as a prophecy, but relied instead on methods of prediction developed from data and patterns elaborated through technical and scientific writings. Drawing on extensive manuscript and archival records written in Ottoman Turkish, Persian, and Arabic, A. Tunç Şen writes a history of science, state formation, and bureaucracy within the overarching tale of Ottoman imperial formation and protocols. He invites readers to follow Ottoman court astrologers' fluctuating careers as practitioners of a contentious science, and shows how this class of learned individuals constructed their scientific authority despite numerous cultural, societal, and epistemic challenges. In understanding the expertise of court astrologers, we gain insight into the intricate social relations established and maintained between the men of knowledge and the men of rule, between expertise and statecraft, in the early modern Ottoman imperial context"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-318) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2024047782 |
| ISBN | 9781503642652 (cloth) |
| ISBN | (epub) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |