Guarding Against Heedlessness: Time and Temporality Among the Early Ottomans

Abstract

This dissertation explores the multifaceted nature of early Ottoman temporal culture, arguing against its characterization as a monolithic entity. Temporal culture here refers to the system of practices, beliefs, and attitudes through which Ottomans experienced time in their everyday lives as well as the cosmic sense shaped by religious frameworks. I argue ultimately that Ottoman temporal culture was characterized by a bimodal approach, balancing intersecting frameworks of time. The critical distinction I aim to draw is that bimodal, unlike binary, dichotomy, or duality, implies a more nuanced scenario in which the two parts are not necessarily opposites; there is room for overlap. Chapter One sets the groundwork by challenging the notion of modern time as wholly divorced from natural phenomena, using the regulation of atomic clocks by leap seconds as an example. This contextualizes the history of temporal systems, focusing on variable “temporal hours” and fixed “equal hours.” The chapter argues that the Ottomans employed both systems pragmatically, illustrating that temporal (also known as seasonal) hours—aligned with natural cycles of light and dark—were not less sophisticated than equal hours associated with mechanical clocks. While clocks were present in Ottoman society from the late sixteenth century, their adoption of equal hours cannot solely be attributed to technological determinism. This chapter underscores how temporal practices served diverse societal needs. Chapter Two examines the Ottoman use of multiple calendars, introducing the concept of “calendrical pluralism” to describe the coexistence of systems like the Hijrī, Rūmī, and Folk calendars. Each calendar had distinct origins, purposes, and contexts, reflecting the multicultural and syncretic nature of medieval Anatolian society where such calendrical pluralism could flourish. The Ottoman Rūmī calendar, derived from the Julianized Seleucid Era, was widely used well before its official adoption in 1677 and was influenced by Syriac and Greek traditions. Additionally, the Folk Calendar, linked to agricultural cycles and festivals such as Ḫıḍrellez, exemplifies the integration of Mediterranean seasonal divisions into Ottoman temporal culture. This chapter demonstrates how these calendars operated along various bimodals, such as solar-lunar and seasonal-aseasonal, emphasizing the adaptability and complexity of Ottoman timekeeping. Chapter Three highlights the Hijrī calendar and its development as a purely lunar system. The calendar’s aseasonal nature is interpreted as a spiritual admonition against attachment to the transient, earthly realm, aligning with Islamic eschatological themes. The chapter also analyzes the Qurʾanic absence of the term zamān, often used to denote abstract time, and instead highlights terms like ʿaṣr and dahr, emphasizing the timelessness of the afterlife. Drawing on Sufi teachings, the chapter introduces the figure of the ibn-i vaḳt (son of time), who embodies the spiritual ideal of living in the eternal present. For ordinary believers, however, this ideal was tempered by anxieties about the temporal world and the afterlife, a theme further explored in subsequent chapters. Chapter Four shifts to popular Ottoman literature, examining works by Aḥmed Bīcān and Yazıcıoğlu Meḥmed, who synthesized Sufi mysticism and Hanafī orthodoxy into vernacular texts for recent converts to Islam. Alongside these, the chapter considers melhemes (meteorological prognostication manuals), which combined cosmic prognostication with spiritual comfort, reflecting the shared goal of addressing temporal and eternal anxieties. The figure of Ḫıḍır and the festival of Ḫıḍrellez serve as case studies of Ottoman syncretism, integrating Islamic, Christian, and local traditions into a cohesive temporal-spiritual framework. Finally, Chapter Five explores early Ottoman historiography, particularly historical almanacs embedded in astrological texts. These almanacs, employing a reverse-dating system, linked past events to cosmological patterns, aligning historical narratives with Ottoman state-building ambitions. By situating the empire within a purposeful chronology, these texts echoed the Sufi emphasis on the present as the intersection of the past and future. This chapter demonstrates how state-centered histories paralleled individual spiritual frameworks in providing continuity and meaning. This dissertation does not claim to uncover all Ottoman temporal bimodals but instead highlights how these intersecting frameworks resisted the formation of a unified temporal culture. By examining calendrical, spiritual, meteorological, astrological, and historical traditions, it reveals how Ottoman temporality defied simple categories and instead inhabited multiple bimodal frameworks, offering insights into broader questions of time, culture, and meaning in the premodern world.Middle Eastern Studies Committe