516

ACQUISITIONS OF 1980-7 (Or. 17.067, cont.)

shops (15a); taverns for Christians (16b); the Customs Office (Dogana grande, 17a); slaughter-houses (17a); excise and other taxes, also those imposed on minorities, including gypsies (18a); caravansarays (20a); hospitals (20a); colleges and students (20b); preachers (21b); judges (22a); captains (police officers, 22b); the main prison, its inhabitants and ransoms (Prigione Grande, 22b); the Seraciana (serrachane, saddlery, 23b); the janissaries (23b); the palaces, their rituals, various departments and personnel (24a); the Arsenal and its Bagnio (36b); the various regiments of the army (37b); money (40b); mines (41b); the tower in the Bosphorus (kizkulesi, 42b); and the warehouses of Pera (43a). An interesting passage is that found in the section on the main (Topkapi) palace, where the author describes the library, containing manuscripts in all sorts of languages: et inparticolare cento vend pezzi di quelli di Costantino Magno, ciascuno longo doi braccia e non piü di tre palmi largo, fatti di carta pergamena sottile... dove sta scritto il Testamento Vecchio, e novo, et altre scritorie, e vite de Santi, tutti a lettere d’oro coperto d’argento indorato, con gemme di prezzo inestimabile, i quali non si permetto, che siano toccati da niuno’ (33a). The second chapter is mainly devoted to the Palace (serraglio) and the daily routines of the Sultan, in particular the recurrent ceremonies, processions, visits to the women’s quarter (48b), financial business (52a), feasts (53b), the roles of the Sultan’s mother (54b), the Mufti (§eyhülislam, 55a), the 'Asechy' (haseki, 56a); the marriage of his daughters (56b); his incognito outings (56b); the circumcisions of his sons (59a); the problems of succession (60a, with the examples of Selim II and Murad III); the rituals during the religious festivals, in particular the two Bairams (‘Pasqua Grande’ and ‘Pasqua del Sacrificio , 63a); the rituals meant to exorcise the evils of drought (67b) and the plague (68a), and the attitude of Muslims towards dogs, cats and birds (68a); fires and their extinction (during the last great fire of Istanbul, Murad opened the palace for a month to the homeless of the capital). Striking, in this chapter, are the passages devoted to animals. The author mentions the existence of a ‘catteria’ in Damascus in which ‘alms’ were given to cats (69a-b). Selim I initiated the habit of feeding cats, in particular on Fridays, although a catteria was never built in Istanbul. And many inhabitants of the city showed the habit of serving cats with boiled lungs in Beyazid Square (69b). The last chapter discusses the Ten Commandments as adhered to by Muslims, and describes the four law-schools; the rules surrounding prayers (73a); the Friday sermon (76b); charity (77b); fasting (78b); marriage and divorce (78b); polygamy (79b); circumcision (80a); burial (80b); the duty of fighting the infidel (81b); conversion (82b); charity to the infirm (82b); cleanliness (83a); the