DOI: 10.26650/oba.1901092 ISSN: 2458-7982

Jewish and Christian Holy Times in Ottoman Chief Astronomer (Müneccimbaşı) Calendars

Fuat Aydın
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The Ottoman Empire encompassed a wide variety of religious and numerous ethnic groups, primarily the Christian majority (including Orthodox communities such as Greeks, Armenians, and Syriacs, as well as Catholics), along with Jews (Ashke-nazim, Sephardim, Karaites), Magians, Sabians, and others. Due to this characteristic,it held an exceptional place in world history. This religious and ethnic diversity was reflected in nearly every domain: such as law, taxation, social relations, and others. One area where this diversity manifested was in the annual calendars prepared by the Müneccimbaşılık, which employed five different calendrical systems: the Hijri, Gregorian, Rumi, Coptic, and Solar calendars. This study will survey the Seventeenth century Müneccimbaşılık calendars, identify the Christian and Jewish holy days therein, and determine which specific Christian and Jewish groups they belonged to, providing relatively detailed information about them. Thus, our claim that thisreligious diversity was reflected in these calendars will be demonstrated with examples. We will also be able to verify to what extent the information regarding Christianand Jewish holy days in those calendars accords with the information given in sources accepted by those religious communities.

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