The Turkish Quarter
To reach the Turkish part of the town, you pass through a narrow stone gateway. Kavala is full of steep, rocky stairs—both going up...
Laughing at the Challenge
I laughed, lifted my hat, and urged my horse to run faster, quickly passing by. These mischievous young Turkish women! They would never dare...
Wandering Among the Ruins
For an hour, I walked around the old ruins. I found the remains of Philip's theater on a hillside of the Acropolis. A few...
Preservation of Sacred Relics
The prophet being touched, as a recompense, placed his own mantle over the shoulders of the poet. At that period, in order to obtain...
Sultan Yavuz Selim’s Reign
Inheritance Negotiations
The aged Sultan wanted to negotiate with his son Selim by appointing him successor among other princes on condition that Selim did not...
Evolution of State Treasury
The Importance of the Sultan’s Seal
One of the significant provisions in Fatih’s Lawbook pertains to the protection of the Sultan’s seal, indicating the growing...
Since Christians believed
Many aspects of that story pull us into the world of Roman late antiquity: clashing religious practices, legal interference in religion, the brutality of...
Tribunus voluptatum
Somewhere at the bottom of the hierarchical pyramid of government, we find one officer whose role may still inspire some skepticism: the “tribune of...
Edict of Theoderic
For Theoderic belongs to an old, conservative tradition, and if the Edict of Theoderic that comes down to us in 154 short chapters—virtually every...
Artifice of prayer
HOW ALL ROMAN CITIZENS BECAME SLAVES
Theodora too unceasingly hardened her heart in the practice of inhumanity. What she did, was never to please or...
