Living Past Under construction

Information for historic reenactors and recreationists interested in life in 16th century Constantinople/Istanbul. This site is a work in progress, and will at first focus on the Greek and Turkish populations. In time I hope to add information about the Sephardic Jewish, Armenian, Western European and other peoples who made the city their home.
Everywhere else life is lost and wasted...
From the Counsels of Nabi Effendi to his Son Aboul Khair, 1473.

 

 

Overview of the Ottoman capital
Clothing Research
The Home Environment
Food
16th Century Texts
Bibliography
Links

About the author: Marybeth Lavrakas is a former historian and active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. She earned her AB with honors in history from Bryn Mawr College, an MA in English history from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and is ABD ("all but dissertation") for a Ph.D. in European history from the same institution. Having been a Western Europeanist, she studied Latin, Spanish and French, but readers of this website should note that she reads neither Turkish nor Greek. Within the SCA she is known as the Honourable Lady Kateryn Rous. The text on this website is copyrighted by Marybeth Lavrakas, unless specifically noted otherwise. The non-commercial use of these texts is encouraged, and does not require explicit written permission from the author as long as the following statement is included on each copy: Copyright © Marybeth Lavrakas [include the latest date on the copyright note on the page you pulled the material from]. I have not granted permission for any of the text on this site to be considered a part of the 'Public Domain'. If anyone finds my material on other web sites that do not indicate the above copyright statement, that material has been used without my permission, and I would greatly appreciate being notified of that use.