Ankara : The Department of History, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2013.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2013.Includes bibliographical references.This study presents an analysis on the intellectual paradigm of the 14th Century
Anatolia based on Ahmedi’s Ottoman Turkish Alexander Romance, Iskendername.
The time frame that we would like to focus on is the late 14th Century, the period of
the emergence of the intellectual culture correlated with the political developments of
the Ottoman State. Ahmedi’s History of Ottoman Empire, which is a part in
Iskendername, was analyzed by historians of the Ottoman Empire but in this study
we analyzed the complete work in order to comprehend the main intellectual
tendencies of the 14th Century Anatolia. Therefore, primarily the gravity of the
intellectual history along with social and economic history was expressed and we
presented studies on Ahmedi and Ahmedi’s Iskendername. The historical process
that Ahmedi bonded is analyzed and by that the relation between Ahmedi and his
patrons were examined. The features of the 14th Century shaped Ahmedi and his
intellectual approach on the questions of his time. Moreover, we inquired Alexander
Romances, as a literary genre and as universal epics. We also argue that universal
character of Alexander the Great was utilized by different cultures and each society implemented their own cultural themes as Ottomans did with Iskendername. The
political fiction of Ahmedi served as an intellectual and ideological implementation
of the emerging Ottoman political institutions. Finally, the other poets of the time,
Şeyhi and Şeyhoğlu were examined in comparison to understand the intellectual
inclinations. It is argued that the main patterns of the Ottoman intellectual life were
shaped by the amalgamation of the orthodox doctrines of Imam Gazali and Sufism.
Hence, these intellectual themes were examined with the notion of knowledge,
existence, melancholy and aesthetics.Güler, Kamil ErdemM.S
