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, also called Mārsiwān, a town in the Anatolian wilāyet of Siwas [q. v.] and in the sand̲j̲aḳ of Amasia [q. v.] at the beginning of the fertile plain of Ṣulu Owa, with 11,334 inhabitants (in 1927), of whom the Armenians have had to migrate, which produces a good deal of wine and makes some cotton. Merzifūn before the World War was the centre of activity of the Protestant missions in this region and contained the Anatolia College. The town most probably occupies the site of the ancient Phazemon (Φαζημών) in the district of Phazemonitis; the name is probably a development of Φαζημών. Ibn Bībī (cf. Rec…

, Alb. Vlora, Valona, town in southern. Albania. (see arnawutluḳ ) Awlonya, usually called Valona, is today a town of about 10,000 inhabitants. It lies in the bay of the same name, and is some 2½ m. (4 km.) inland from the harbour. It played an important part in antiquity as Aulon (hence Avlona). Concerning its history in the Middle Ages, cf. Konst. Jireček, Valona im Mittelalter , in: Ludwig v. Thallcózy, Illyrisch-albanische Forschungen , i, Munich and Leipzig 1916, 168/87. In June 1417, the Ottoman armies entered the area of Valona, and occupi…

Mollā , a famous Ottoman jurist, whose real name was Meḥmed b. Farāmurz b. ʿAlī. According to one statement he was of Turkoman (tribe of Warsaḳ) descent and born in the village of Ḳarg̲h̲i̊n (half way between Sīwās and Toḳat); according to others, however, he was of “Frankish” descent and the son of a “French” nobleman who had adopted Islām. According to Saʿd al-Dīn his father was of Romaic ( Rūm ) descent. K̲h̲osrew became a pupil of the famous disciple of Taftazānī, Burhān al-Dīn Ḥaydar of Herat (cf. Isl ., xi, 61 and Saʿd al-Dīn, Tād̲j̲ al-tawārīk̲h̲ , ii, 430), and …

, the common European form of the name given to the light wooden warships built in Nassau or Hohenau (Lower Austria), the “Nassauer” or “Hohenauer”, Magyar naszád , pl. naszádok , Slav, nasad , which were used on the Danube. They were usually manned by Serbian seamen who were called martalos [ q.v.] (from the Magyar martolóc , martalóz , lit. “robber”). According to a Florentine account, this Danube flotilla in 1475 consisted of 330 ships manned by 10,000 “nassadists” armed with lances, shields, crossbow or bow and arrow, more ¶ rarely with muskets. The larger ships had also cannon. …

, an Anatolian sea-port on the south coast of Asia Minor. Mersīna, the port and capital of the former sand̲j̲aḳ of the same name (with an area of 1,780 sq. m.) in the wilāyet of Adana [q. v.] on the south coast of Anatolia, is 40 miles from Adana, to which a railway runs. The name Mersīna comes from the Greek myrsíni (μυρσίνη), myrtle, because this tree grows in large numbers in this region. The regularly built town, founded only in 1832, with about 21,171 inhabitants (1927) is only of importance as a port for the export of silk, corn and cotton. The clim…

, Ottoman statesman, twice grand vizier. Midḥat Pas̲h̲a was born in Stambul in Ṣafar 1238 (beg. Oct. 18, 1822), the son of Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī ʿAlī Efendi-Zāde Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Ḥāfiẓ Meḥemmed Es̲h̲ref Efendi, a native of Rus̲h̲čuk The family seem to have been professed Bektas̲h̲īs and Midḥat Pas̲h̲a also had a leaning towards them. His earliest youth was spent in his parents’ home at Widdin, Lofča (Bulgaria) and later in Stambul, where his father held judicial offices. In 1836 he was working in the secretariat of …

(t.), A Central Asian headdress, which was introduced by the Turks into Europe and became widely distributed there. The word ḳalpaḳ is found in the most diverse Turkish dialects in meanings which are detailed by W. Radloff in his Versuch eines Wörterbuches der Türkdialekte, ii. 268 sq. (cf. also ḳalabaḳ, ii. 234). The Eastern Turkish tilpäk, Djag. East. Turk, tälpäk, Kirg. and Karakirg. telpäk, meaning cap, felt cap (cf. also the French talpack) is certainly related. Cf. thereon Pavet de Courteille, Dict. turk-oriental, p. 408). In its original form the ḳalpaḳ is a cone-shape…

, a petty dynasty in Anatolia. The princes of Mentes̲h̲e first appear in history after the break up of the Seld̲j̲ūk empire. The founder of the family is said to have been a certain Mentes̲h̲e Beg b. Behāʾ al-Dīn Kurdī. He had his court at Mīlās (Mylasa) in the ancient Caria, and not far from it his stronghold Paičīn (Petsona). His descendants also lived in Mīlās until they moved their court to Miletus. The son of Mentes̲h̲e was Urk̲h̲ān Beg, who is known from an inscription on a building in Mīlās and from Ibn Baṭṭūṭa who visited him in 1334 in Mīlās (cf. Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Voyages, ed. Defrémery, Paris …

, an old Ottoman noble family. This family traces its descent to the feudal lord Köse Mīk̲h̲āl ʿAbd Allāh, originally a Greek (cf. F.-A. Geuffroy in Ch. Schefer, Petit traicte de l’origine des Tureqz par Th. Spandouyn Cantacasin, Paris 1696, p. 267: L’ung desdictz Grecz estoit nommé Michali…. Dudict Michali sont descendus les Michalogli), who appears in the reign of ʿOt̲h̲mān I as lord of Chirmenkia (Ḵh̲irmend̲j̲ik) at the foot of Olympus near Edrenos, and later as an ally of the first Ottoman ruler earned great merit for his share in aiding the latter’s expansion (cf. J. v. Hammer, in G.O.R.,…

, daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent. Mihr-i Māh (sometimes also written Mihr-u-māh: cf. Ḳaračelebizāde, Rawḍat ul-Ebrār, p. 458) was the only daughter of Suleimān the Magnificent [q. v., as well as F. Babinger, in Meister der Politik, ii.2, Berlin 1923, p. 39—63]. While still quite young she was married to the grand vizier Rustem Pas̲h̲a (cf. F. Babinger, G. O. W., p. 81 sq.) in the beginning of December 1539 (cf. J. H. Mordtmann, in M. S. O. S., Year xxxii., Part 2, p. 37), but the marriage does not seem to have been a happy one. She used her enormous wealth — St. Ger…

, an Ottoman Grand Admiral whose real name was Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Ḥusein Pas̲h̲a. Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Ḥusein Pas̲h̲a, known as Mezzomorto, i. e. “half-dead” because he was severely wounded in a naval battle, came from the Balearic Islands, if A. de la Motraye’s statement ( Voyages, The Hague 1727, i. 206) that he was born in Mallorca is right. He probably spent his youth sailing with corsairs on the seas off the North African coast. He first appears as a desperate pirate in the summer of 1682 in the Barbary States. When France was preparing to deal a …

, Muṣliḥ al-Dīn Mūsā, an Ottoman S̲h̲aik̲h̲ of an Order and Saint. Merkez Muṣliḥ al-Dīn Mūsā b. Muṣṭafā b. Ḳilid̲j̲ b. Ḥad̲j̲dar belonged to the village of Ṣari̊ Maḥmūdlu in the Anatolian district of Lād̲h̲ikīya. He was at first a pupil of the Mollā Aḥmad Pas̲h̲a, son of Ḵh̲iḍr Beg [q. v.], and later of the famous Ḵh̲alwetī S̲h̲aik̲h̲ Sünbül Sinān Efendi, founder of the Sünbülīya, a branch of the Ḵh̲alwetīya, head of the monastery of Ḳod̲j̲a Muṣṭafā Pas̲h̲a in Stambul (cf. on him: Brūsali̊ Meḥemmed Ṭāhir, Ot̲h̲mānli̊ Müʾellifleri̊, i. 78 sq.). When the latter died in 936 (1529), Merke…

(T. "white castle"), name of several towns. 1. The best known is Aḳ Ḥiṣār in Western Anatolia, formerly in the wilāyet of Aydi̊n, since 1921 in that of Manisa, situated in a plain near the left bank of the river Gördük (a sub-tributary of the Gediz), 115 m. above sea level. Known as Thyatira (see Pauly-Wissowa, s.v.) in antiquity and Byzantine times, it owes its Turkish name to the fortress on a neighbouring hill. Annexed by the Ottomans in 784/1382, it was lost again during the disorders which followed Tīmūr’s invasion, and recaptured from the rebel Ḏj̲unavd [ q.v.] by Ḵh̲alīl Yak̲h̲s̲h̲ī B…

, Athens, capital of Greece. The history of Athens in pre-Islamic times will not be treated here. The first closer—admittedly hostile—contact with the Muslims was made in 283/896, when Saracen pirates occupied the town for a short time (cf. D. G. Kambouroglous, ‘H ἄλωσις ’Αθηνῶν ὑπὸτῶν Σαρακηνῶν Athens 1934). Certain Arabic remains, and influences on the ornamental style in Athens, have been traced back to this event (cf. G. Soteriou, Arabic remains in Athens in Byzantine times, in: Praktiká ( Proceedings ) of the Academy of Athens , iv (Athens 1929), reproduced by D. G. Kambouroglous, l.c…

, Seyyid ʿImād al-Dīn , known as Nesīmī, an early Ottoman poet and mystic, believed to have come from Nesīm near Bag̲h̲dād, whence his name. As a place of this name no longer exists, it is not certain whether the laḳab should not be derived simply from nasīm “zephyr, breath of wind”. That Nesīmī was of Turkoman origin seems to be fairly certain, although the “Seyyid” before his name also points to Arab blood. Turkish was as familiar to him as Persian, for he wrote in both languages. Arabic poems ar…

Meḥmed Čelebi Pas̲h̲a , Yes̲h̲ild̲j̲e , known as Küčük Nis̲h̲ānd̲j̲i̊, an Ottoman historian. He was born in Merzifūn [ q.v.] and was the son of a certain Ramaḍān Čelebi. He was a secretary in the dīwān , became in 960/1553 chief defterdār , in 961/1554 reʾīs ül-küttāb or secretary of state, and in 965/1558 secretary of the imperial signature ( ṭüg̲h̲ra [ q.v.]). He was later appointed defterdār of Aleppo, then governor of Egypt and finally sent to the Morea to make a survey ( taḥrīr ). He retired in 970/1562 and died in D̲j̲umādā I 979/September-October 1571…

, the name of three Ottoman princes. The name would appear to originate in the Old Turkish (especially, Eastern Turkish) word saw “word, piece of discourse, utterance”, found as early as the Ork̲h̲on inscriptions, then in the Turfan Uyg̲h̲ur texts, in the late 5th/11th century Ḳutadg̲h̲u bilig [ q.v.] and up to the 8th/14th century, after which it is not attested as a separate word (Clauson, An etymological diet, of pre-thirteenth century Turkish, 782-3). Cf. also the name of the slave commander of the Sald̲j̲ūḳ sultan Alp Arslan, Sāwtigin. Sawd̲j̲i̊ would according…

, also called Dimotiḳa , a town in the former Ottoman Rumeli. Dimetoḳa lies in western Thrace, in a side valley of the Maritsa, and at times played a significant role in Ottoman history. The territory has belonged to Greece since the treaty of Neuilly (27 November 1919), again bears its pre-Ottoman name of Didymóteikhon, and lies within the administrative district (Nomos) of Ebros. It has a population of about 10,000, and is the seat of a bishop of the Greek church as well as o…

, an old Ottoman noble family. This family traced its descent to the feudal lord Köse Mīk̲h̲āl ʿAbd Allāh, originally a Greek (cf. F.-A. Geuffroy, in Ch. Schefer, Petit traicte de l’origine des Turcqz par Th. Spandouyn Cantacasin , Paris 1696, 267: L’ung desdictz Grecz estoit nommé Michaeli … Dudict Michali sont descenduz les Michalogli ), who appears in the reign of ʿOt̲h̲mān I as lord of Chirmenkia (K̲h̲irmend̲j̲ik) at the foot of Mount Olympus near Edrenos, and later as an ally of the first Ottoman ruler earned great merit for his share in aiding the latter’s expansion (cf. J. von Hammer, in G…

(p.), the name for Muslim rulers, especially emperors. The Persian term pād-i s̲h̲āh , i.e. (according to M. Bittner, in E. Oberhummer, Die Türken und das Osmanische Reich , Leipzig 1917, 105) “lord who is a royalty” in which the root pad is connected with Sanskrit patis , lord, husband, fern, patni , Greek πότνια and δεσ-πότης, Lat. potens (G. Curtius, Griech . Etymol ., 377), was originally a title reserved exclusively for the sovereign, which in course of time and as a result of the long intercourse of the Ottomans with the states of…