Nargile Canim Nargile...
I am surprised to say that I haven't touched my Turkish water pipe since the 21st of August. That's almost 4 weeks now.. I've been relatively ok about it. It isn't until I go "hey I haven't smoked for ages" that I suddenly really fancy a smoke ;) But I'm a mixture of "well I can't be arsed" and "I still have a funny chest".
I have to say however, that I love my pipe. :) I know it is highly toxic compared to ordinary cigarette's but it almost feels like I'm bringing a piece of ancient history much closer to me. And it is an overwhelming feeling.
However, I really don't want to suffocate myself and die of lung cancer. And I really don't want to encourage a horrible hacking cough for the rest of my life. So instead of smoking it I'm going to talk about it, lol. I found two cool websites about this lovely pipe here and here
I found a nice link to the chronological order of Turkish ottomans :) which I thought looked cool and a cool map showing the reach of the Ottoman empire during the rule of Suleyman the Magnificant. There is an interesting A-Z Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire on the web which I find very handy. And while you browse through my blog here's a link to an mp3 to an Apocalyptica track I really love called Path. I like it's tribal sound. It kind of goes with ths current mood I'm in and the theme of this post.
The portrait of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificant
Sultan Suleyman the Magnificant's calligraphy style signitureSomething I find weird about the Ottoman Empire is that "Young pages of Christian origin were forcibly recruited from the provinces of the Ottoman Empire to perform the most menial tasks, while they were in training to become members of the elite Janissary Corps. Also see, devşirme. After the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, recruits from the general free-born (Muslim) population were also accepted as Janissaries." That's men from all over the Turkish Empire, and women in the Harem from all over the Empire all mingling with one another behind the Ottoman's back, lol :) Vlad the Impaler's brother and enemy Radu spent many years within the Ottoman's court and is thought to have done much mingling with the ladies.
The man responsible for saving Turkey and liberating the people from the Ottoman Empire is Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. I love him. He didn't really agree with the way the Ottoman's ruled and saw them as being very selfish. Which in all fairness is true. 
posted by Burcu Urundul @ 10:08 pm
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