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The CMES Sohbet-i Osmani Lecture Series presents
Robert Dankoff
Professor of Turkish & Islamic Studies Emeritus, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
Evliya Çelebi is the greatest travel writer of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Istanbul in 1611, he started travelling in 1640 and continued for over forty years, stopping eventually in Cairo where he died in about 1685. He collected his lively and eclectic observations into a ten-volume manuscript the Seyahatname, or Book of Travels. Dankoff's translation of The Book of Travels gives a taste of the breadth of Evliya's interests: from architecture to natural history, through religion, politics, linguistics, music, science and the supernatural.
Robert Dankoff is a Professor of Turkish & Islamic Studies Emeritus at the University of Chicago. His research interests lie in Ottoman Literature and Turcology. He has published extensively on Turkish texts from Central Asia and the Ottoman Empire, including text editions and translations of portions of the Seyahatname of Evliya Çelebi. His publications include: An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the book of Travels by Evliya Çelebi (Eland Publishing, 2011), Ottoman Explorations of the Nile: Evliya Çelebi's Map of the Nile and The Nile Journeys in the Book of Travels (Seyahatname) (Gingko Library, 2018), An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, v. 31) (No. 31) (Brill Academic Publishing, 2004), The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, Melek Ahmed Pasha, (1588-1662: As Portrayed in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels (SUNY Press, 1991).
Contact: Liz Flanagan