Theme 2: Politics, Religion and Power in Relation to Astronomy and Astrology

A miniature depicting Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî’s visit to Konya Mevlevihane with Lala Mustafa Pasha in Nusretnâme (Nusretnâme, TSMK, Hazine, MS 1365, f.36r), Public Domain.

This session aims to discuss how patronage relations with intra-cultural and inter-cultural actors influence the development of Ottoman astronomy. For this purpose, this theme will include the following questions, including not only Ottoman scholars but also non-Muslims in the Ottoman society:

• What were the effects of religious, cultural, political, economic and social factors on the development of astronomy and astrology?
• How did the travels of Ottoman scholars to Islamic cultural centres such as Khorasan, Transoxania and Egypt to increase their knowledge affect the development of Ottoman astronomy?
• How and under which circumstances were intercultural actors encouraged to migrate to the Ottoman territories? How did it influence the Ottoman astronomical heritage?
• What was the role of Sufis in the circulation of knowledge in Ottoman society depending on the political, cultural and regional developments of the period?
• How does apocalypticism influence the development of cross-cultural astrological literature?
• What is the importance of popular astrology in the propagation of political and identity ideologies?