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, Ḳara (? — 1032/1623), Ottoman Grand Vizier. The year of his birth is uncertain, but, in a “relazione” submitted to the Signoria in 1612, Simone Contarini, who had been Venetian Bailo at Istanbul, mentions a Dāwūd Pas̲h̲a, whom he describes as a Croat in origin and at that time about 46 years old. According to the Ottoman sources, however, Ḳara Dāwūd Pas̲h̲a was of Bosnian descent. He was trained in the Palace Schools, being appointed in due course to the office of čuḳadār ( čuhadar ). During the reign of Sulṭān Meḥemmed III (1003-1012/1595-1603) he became …

, a town in Mesopotamia, on the left bank of the Euphrates. The name Bīred̲j̲ik (amongst the local population, Beled̲j̲ik; also, according to Sachau, Bārād̲j̲īk in the Ḥalabī (Aleppo) dialect) means “little Bīra”, i.e., “small fortress” (Arabic bīra , with the Turkish diminutive suffix). The Arabic name “al-Bīra” ([ q.v.]; Bīreh in the later Syriac writers) derives from the Aramaic “Bīrt̲h̲ā” = “fortress”. Bīred̲j̲ik, known to the Romans as “Birtha”, is to be identified (according to Cumont) with a certain Makedonopolis mentioned in some of th…

, situated on the European shore of the Bosphorus between Boyaci̊-Köyü and Rumeli Hisari̊, takes its name from Bālṭa-og̲h̲lū Sulaymān Beg, the commander of the Ottoman fleet at the time of the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It is in fact the ancient Phaidalia and was also known as Gynaikōn Limēn (Portus Mulierum). Gyllius (mid-16th cent.) refers to it as the “. . . . sinum Phidaliae, et portum mulierum . . . .”, which the Greeks called Sarantacopa from the wooden bridge there across the mar…

(Çanak-kale Boǧazı) is the name now given in Turkish to the Dardanelles. This narrow channel, which unites the Marmara and the Aegean Seas, has a length of about 62 km. (Gelibolu-Çardak to Seddülbahir-Kumkale) and a width ranging from 8 km. down to 1250 m. (Çanak-kale to Kilitbahir). The strait was known to the ancient Greeks as the Hellespont (ὁ ʿΕλλήσποντος, in Doric ʿΕλλάσποντος) a name that remained in usage amongst the Byzantines. It is called in some of the mediaeval Western sources and se…

(Beys̲h̲ehri), now the centre of a ḳaḍāʾ in the province of Konya, lies on the south-eastern shore of a lake ( göl ) bearing the same name. This lake was known to the Ancients as Karalis (a village called Kirili is still found close to the north-eastern shore). The town of Karalleia in Pamphylia was situated near the lake in anci…

, Ottoman Sulṭān (886-918/1481-1512), was born most probably in S̲h̲awwāl or D̲h̲u ’l-Ḳaʿda 851/December 1447 or January 1448 (some sources give the date of his birth, however, as 856 or 857/1452 or 1453). During the lifetime of his father, Meḥemmed II, he was governor of the province of Amāsya and served in the war against Uzun Ḥasan, the leader of the Aḳ Ḳoyūnlu Turcomans, being present at the battle of Otluḳ Belī in 878/1473. On the death of Meḥemmed II in 886/1481 a conflict for the throne b…

(Turkish Kanizhe), a notable Hungarian fortress dominating the region between Lake Balaton and the River Mur. Kanizsa stood amidst marshes: “caenoso palus trique loco sita est, fluviolo stagnante, et nullis coercito ripis, sed magis late diffuso ac carectis, multaque alno et arundine impedito, endique cincta” (Isthvanfius, 774). The Ottomans conquered the fortress in 1009/1600 after a wearisome siege, demanding the construction of approach roads across the marshes which were built of reeds and h…

( beşike körfezi , besika ) is a bay on the western coast of Asia Minor opposite the island of Tenedos (Bozd̲j̲a Ada). It lies about 23 kilometres to the south of Ḳum Ḳalʿe, between the two capes of Ḳum Burnu and Bes̲h̲ik Burnu and, although open to the sea, affords good protection to shipping. Inland from the coast is situated the classical Troas and evidence of ancient remains has been found in the immediate neighbourhood of Bes̲h̲ike itself. The British and French fleets sail…

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(the Greek Πηγαί), a town in northwestern Asia Minor and now the centre of a ḳaḍāʾ in, the province of Çanāḳ-Ḳalʿe, is situated on the Ḳod̲j̲a Çāy, i.e., the ancient Granicus, about 15 miles from the Sea of Marmara. At the mouth of the Ḳod̲j̲a Çāy stands Ḳarā Bīg̲h̲a (the Πρίαπος of classical times), which is the port (“iskele”) of Bīg̲h̲a. Bīg̲h̲a, under Ottoman rule, was at different times a sand̲j̲aḳ of the eyālet-i Ba…

(c. 1545-1605), also known as Čag̲h̲al (Ḏj̲ag̲h̲āl)-og̲h̲lu, belonged to the Genoese house of Cicala. He was born at Messina in Sicily and received the Christian name Scipione Cicala. His father, the Visconte di Cicala, was, according to Gerlach, a "corsair" in the service of Spain, while his mother is said (cf. L’Ottomanno , of L. Soranzo) to have been "Turca da Castelnuovo". The Visconte and his son, captured at sea by Muslim corsairs in 968/1561 (some of the sources give the year as 967/1560), were taken first to Tripoli …

(also Ustōlnī, Ustōnī Belg̲h̲rād)—cf. Serbian: Stolni Belgrad; German: Stuhlweissenburg; Latin: Alba Regia; Hungarian: ¶ Székesfehérvár—a fortress town to the south-west of Buda. Here, during the 10th-16th centuries, was held the coronation of the Hungarian kings in the Church of St. Stephen—a church which was also their burial place. Istolnī Belg̲h̲rād ( beyāẓ iskemle ḳalʿesi , to use the words of Ewliyā Čelebi, vii, 55) was located where the stream Sarvisius (Isthvanfius, 267—cf. Nehr-i S̲h̲arwīz in Ewliyā Čelebi, vii, 63), …

(?-1012/1603)—the historian Pečewī refers to him (ii, 132) as Derwīs̲h̲ Ḥasan Pas̲h̲a—was born at Mostar in the Herzegovina and, in the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Selīm II (974-982/15 66-1574), entered the Palace service, where, in the course of his education, he revealed an interest and ability in literature and poetry. During the reign of Sulṭān Murād III (982-1003/1574-1595) he became one of the Imperial Falconers ( dog̲h̲and̲j̲i̊ ) and won the favour of the Sultan through the ḳaṣīdes and g̲h̲azels which he presented to him. At the order of Murād I…

, siege. The following articles deal with siegecraft and siege warfare. On fortification see burd̲j̲ , ḥiṣn , ḳalʿa and sūr . i.— General Remarks Siege warfare was one of the essential forms of warfare when it was a matter of conquest, and not merely of plundering raids, in countries in which, from ancient times, most of the large towns had been protected by walls and where, during the Middle Ages, the open countryside was to an ever increasing extent held by fortresses [see ḥiṣn and ḳalʿa …

, a town in S.W. Asia Minor, distant about 4 km. from the south-eastern shore of the lake which bears the same name, i.e., the Burdur Gölü. The view that the old Limobrama (interpreted as ? Limnobria: “the lake town”) was situated at or ¶ near the modern Burdur is of doubtful value (cf. Ramsay; Pauly-Wissowa, s.v. Limobrama; and Honigmann). The present name of the town, Burdur (“Buldur” in the speech of the local Turkish inhabitants and in the accounts of various travellers who have visited this region; also “Purdur’ (Πουρδούρ)…

, a port on the Sea of Marmara, near the site of the ancient Cyzicus. The mediaeval Greek name for the town was Panormos. Villehardouin mentions a castle called “Palorme”, which the Latin Crusaders fortified in 1204. It was used thereafter as a base for their operations against the Greeks in north-west Asia Minor. Under Ottoman rule Bandirma was included in the sand̲j̲aḳ of Ḳarasi̊ [ …

(Birgi, sometimes also Bergi or Birki), a small town in western Asia Minor situated in the valley of the Küçük Menderes, is the centre of a nāḥiye belonging to the ḳaḍāʾ of Ödemis̲h̲ in the province of İzmir (Smyrna). Here stood the ancient Διὸς ‘Ιερόν in Lydia. The town was known in …

( boğaziçi ) (“interior of the strait”) is the expression used in Turkish to denote the Bosphorus, and especially the shores, waters, bays and promontories which constitute its middle section. The name Bosphorus (Gr. Bόσπορος, Lat. Bosporus, Bosphorus) derives from a word of Thracian origin (cf. Pauly-Wissowa). This narrow channel, the Thracian Bosphorus (so-called in order to distinguish it from the Cimmerian Bosphorus, i.e., the strait of Kertch between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea) unites the Sea of Marmara (the ancient Propontis, Marmara Denizi in …

(?-1015/1606), Ottoman Grand Vizier, was of Bosnian origin. He served in the corps of Bostānd̲j̲i̊s , becoming ketk̲h̲udā of the corps and then being raised, through the favour of the Wālide Sulṭān, to the office of Bostānd̲j̲i̊ bas̲h̲i̊ in 1013/1604. Derwīs̲h̲ Pas̲h̲a was set in charge of affairs at Istanbul, when Aḥmed I visited Bursa in 1014/1605. He was made Ḳapudān Pas̲h̲a, with the rank of Vizier, in Ramaḍān 1014/January 1606 and became Grand Vizier in Ṣafar 1015/J une 1606. His tenure of the office was,…

( Kamieniec , Kamenetz Podolski ), a fortress town of the Ukraine, situated in the region known as Podolia. Ḳamāniča rose to prominence as a stronghold guarding the southern border of Lithuania and (after 1432) of Poland against the incursions of the Tatars. It was important, too, as a station on the commercial route extendin…