Iskendername
The İskendernâme (Epic of Alexander) is a poem by the Turkish poet Taceddin Ahmedi (1334–1413), completed in the early fifteenth century. It is the first work of Ottoman historiography and the first rendition of the Alexander Romance in Turkish.
The text begins with the life of Alexander (whose identity is intertwined with the Quranic figure of Dhu al-Qarnayn), before moving into describing the reigns of the long list of rulers succeeding him. Arriving at the Islamic era, a lengthy section describes the reign of Muhammad, followed by the first four caliphs, then the Umayyad Caliphate and then the Abbasid Caliphate. After this, Ahmedi describes the reign of the Mongols beginning with Genghis Khan and then the Ilkhanate (the Khanate established in the southwestern section of the Mongol Empire), their successors of the Mongol Jalayirid Sultanate, and finally the Ottoman rulers up until the accession of Mehmed I, the ruler of his own time when he completed the work.[1]
Ahmedi was the most prolific Turkish poet of his time, and yet the İskendernâme was still his longest mathnawi, exceeding 8,000 couplets in length. The longest manuscript of the text of the seventy-five that are known, TY 921 located at the Istanbul University Library, is 8,754 couplets kong. Ahmedi uses the Alexander legend "as a vehicle for delivering a series of discourses on theology, mysticism, philosophy, medicine, geography, astronomy, and other topics."[2]
Context
Ahmedi began to write his İskendernâme during the reign of
Ottoman history
A large portion of the text is dedicated to conveying a world history, with the last and most important chapter (entitled the Tevârîh-i Mülûk-i âl-i ʿOsmân / Dastan ve Tevarihi Ali Osman / Dastan; "History of the Rulers of the House of Osman and Their Campaigns Against the Infidels") on the subject of the history of the Ottoman dynasty from Ertuğrul (father of the Osman I, founder of the Ottoman dynasty) until the accession of Mehmed I to the throne, detailing the heroic deeds and exploits of the rulers, overall running 334 couplets in length.[7]
In the work, Ahmedi casts Suleyman as an ideal Perso-Islamic king but also frames his peace policy, resulting from his defeat at the hands of the Christian rulers of Rumelia, as that of his own choice as opposed to necessity.[8] Likewise, he contrasts what he perceived to be the injustice of the Mongols (especially in light of the Mongol invasions of Muslim lands) with the early Ottomans, whom Ahmedi hails for their justice.[2]
Genre
The İskendernâme is the earliest text in the
Influence
Due to the influence of Ahmedi's İskendernâme, both his brother Hamzavī and another Ottoman Turkish poet writing towards the end of the fifteenth century, Ahmed Redvan, would compose their own İskendernâme.[9][10]
Ahmedi's İskendernâme would also come to be incorporated into later Ottoman history books, including the anonymous Tevarihi Ali Osman (1485) and the 1561 edition of Neşri’s Cihannüma. It also immediately became the main reference for historians in Ahmedi's time and thereafter with respect to the first century of the Ottoman Empire.[11]
Though criticized by 16th-century Turkish writers as a mere translation of the
Editions
- Ahmedī, İskender-nāme: İnceleme, Tıpkıbasım, ed. İsmail Ünver (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1983).
- Currently the most up-to-date critical edition of this final chapter, including a transliteration, translation, analysis of textual variants and detailed glossary of words appearing in the text, was published by Kemal Silay in 1992.[2]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-253-00857-2.
- ^ a b c Silay, Kemal (1992). "Aḥmedī's History of the Ottoman Dynasty" (PDF). Journal of Turkish Studies. 16: 129–200.
- ^ Fodor, Pál (1984). "Ahmedī's Dāsitān as a source of early Ottoman history". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 38: 41–54.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7914-8726-6.
- ISBN 978-90-04-41529-4, retrieved 2024-03-19
- OCLC 1054830890.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-8726-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-15836-8.
- ^ Gaullier-Bougassas, Catherine; Doufikar-Aerts, Faustina (2022). "Alexander the Great in Medieval Literature". Literature: A World History, Volumes 1-4. Wiley. p. 538.
- ^ Ünver, İsmail (1979). "AHMED RIDVAN'IN İSKENDER-NÂMESİNDEKİ OSMANLI TARİHÎ (NUSRET-NÂME-İ OSMAN) BÖLÜMÜ". Türkoloji Dergisi. 8 (1).
- ISBN 978-90-04-41529-4, retrieved 2024-03-19
- ^ Silay, Kemal (1992). "Aḥmedī's History of the Ottoman Dynasty" (PDF). Journal of Turkish Studies. 16: 130.