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Kira (title)
, , or (all are Greek for "lady"), was a common title for the women (usually Jewish women, but also Christians), who acted as agents for the women of the Ottoman sultan's Imperial Harem. History Context and background The method of using non-Muslim women as intermediaries between men and Muslim businesswomen was a common phenomenon in all classes in the Ottoman Empire. Muslim women were provided formal control of their own money, and thus theoretically allowed to participate in business. However, in practice their participation in business was hampered by the fact that it was not seen as respectable for women to come in contact with men outside of the family. The gender segregation of Muslim women provided a valuable business opportunity for both Jewish and Christian women, who are known to have functioned as intermediaries and go-between for Muslim women, selling the handiwork of Muslim women on the market place and to (male) merchants. The French traveler Pierre Belon noted thi ...
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Modern Greek
Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the languages sometimes referred to as Standard Modern Greek. The end of the Medieval Greek period and the beginning of Modern Greek is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic features of the modern language arose centuries earlier, beginning around the fourth century AD. During most of the Modern Greek period, the language existed in a situation of diglossia, with regional spoken dialects existing side by side with learned, more archaic written forms, as with the vernacular and learned varieties (''Dimotiki'' and ''Katharevousa'') that co-existed in Greece throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Varieties Varieties of ...
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Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy is also considered part of Western Europe, and shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. It has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione. Italy covers an area of , with a population of over 60 million. It is the third-most populous member state of the European Union, the sixth-most populous country in Europe, and the tenth-largest country in the continent by land area. Italy's capital and largest city is Rome. Italy was the native place of many civilizations such as the Italic peoples and the Etruscans, while due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean, the country has also historically been home ...
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Ottoman Imperial Harem
The Imperial Harem ( ota, حرم همايون, ) of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (seraglio) of the Ottoman imperial household. This institution played an important social function within the Ottoman court, and wielded considerable political authority in Ottoman affairs, especially during the long period known as the Sultanate of Women (approximately 1533 to 1656). Multiple historians claim that the sultan was frequently lobbied by harem members of different ethnic or religious backgrounds to influence the geography of the Ottoman wars of conquest. The utmost authority in the Imperial Harem, the valide sultan, ruled over the other women in the household; the consorts of the sultan were normally of slave origin, and thus were also his mother, the valide sultan. The Kizlar Agha (, also known as the "Chief Black ...
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Judaism And Women
The role of women in Judaism is determined by the Hebrew Bible, the Oral Law (the corpus of rabbinic literature), by custom, and by cultural factors. Although the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature mention various female role models, religious law treats women differently in various circumstances. According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center, women are slightly more numerous among worldwide Jewish population (52%). Gender has a bearing on familial lines: In traditional Judaism, Jewishness is passed down through the mother, although the father's name is used to describe sons and daughters in the Torah, e. g., "Dinah, daughter of Jacob". The status of Levi is only given to a Jewish male descended patrilineally from Levi; likewise a Kohen descends from Aharon, the first Kohen. A Bat-Kohen or Bat-Levi has that status from her Jewish father with the corresponding HaKohen/HaLevi title. Biblical times Compared to men, relatively few women are mentioned in the Bible by na ...
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Ottoman Titles
This is a list of titles and appellations used in the Ottoman Empire. In place of surnames, Muslims in the Empire carried titles such as "Sultan", "Pasha", "Hoca", "Bey", "Mrs.#Non-English equivalents, Hanım", "Efendi", etc. These titles either defined their formal profession (such as Pasha, Hoca, etc.) or their informal status within the society (such as Bey, Hanım, Efendi, etc.). Later, family surnames were made mandatory in Turkey by the 1934 Surname Law. Usage by Ottoman royalty The sovereigns' main titles were Sultan, Padishah (Emperor) and Khan (title), Khan; which were of Arabic language, Arabic, Persian language, Persian and Turkish/Mongolian origin, respectively. His full style was the result of a long historical accumulation of titles expressing the empire's rights and claims as successor to the various states it annexed or subdued. Beside these imperial titles, Caesar (title), Caesar of Rome was among the important titles claimed by Sultan Mehmed II after the conquest ...
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Obsolete Occupations
Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky replaces it. The international standard IEC 62402:2019 Obsolescence Management defines obsolescence as the "transition from available to unavailable from the manufacturer in accordance with the original specification". Obsolete also refers to something that is already disused or discarded, or antiquated. Typically, obsolescence is preceded by a gradual decline in popularity. Consequences Driven by rapid technological changes, new components are developed and launched on the market with increasing speed. The result is a dramatic change in production methods of all components and their market availability. A growing industry sector is facing issues where life cycles of products no longer fit together with life cycles of required components ...
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Women From The Ottoman Empire
A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardless of age. Typically, women inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and are capable of pregnancy and giving birth from puberty until menopause. More generally, sex differentiation of the female fetus is governed by the lack of a present, or functioning, SRY-gene on either one of the respective sex chromosomes. Female anatomy is distinguished from male anatomy by the female reproductive system, which includes the ovaries, fallopian tubes, uterus, vagina, and vulva. A fully developed woman generally has a wider pelvis, broader hips, and larger breasts than an adult man. Women have significantly less facial and other body hair, have a higher body fat composition, and are on average shorter and less muscular than men. Througho ...
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Jews From The Ottoman Empire
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The people of the Kingdom of Israel and the ethnic and religious group known as the Jewish people that descended from them have been subjected to a number of forced migrations in their history" and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, "Historically, the religious and ethnic dimensions of Jewish identity have been closely interwoven. In fact, so closely bound are they, that the traditional Jewish lexicon hardly distinguishes between the two concepts. Jewish religious practice, by definition, was observed exclusively by the Jewish people, and notions of Jewish peoplehood, nation, and community were suffused with faith in the Jewish God, the practice of Jewish (religious) la ...
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Qahramāna
The harem of the caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) in Baghdad was composed of his mother, wives, slave concubines, female relatives and slave servants (women and eunuchs), occupying a secluded portion of the Abbasid household. This institution played an important social function within the Abbasid court and was that part were the women were confined and secluded. The senior woman in rank in the harem was the mother of the Caliph. The Abbasid harem acted as a role model for the harems of other Islamic dynasties, as it was during the Abbasid Caliphate that the harem system was fully enforced in the Muslim world. Background and origin The harem system first became fully institutionalized in the Islamic world under the Abbasid caliphate. Although the term ''harem'' does not denote women's quarters in the Quran, a number of Quranic verses discussing modesty and seclusion were held up by Quranic commentators as religious rationale for the separation of women f ...
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Esperanza Malchi
Esperanza Malchi also spelled ''Malk'' or ''Malkhi'' (died 1 April 1600) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''Kira'' (business agent) of Valide Sultan Safiye. Life Early life Esperanza Malchi reportedly originated from Italy. She was married to a Jewish businessman, and had at least three sons. Due to the seclusion from the opposite sex and the outside world imposed upon the women of the Imperial Harem, male merchants were not allowed in to the harem, and a custom developed with merchant wives entering the harem to act as intermediary agents, displaying the goods to the prospective clients of the harem. These women were often Jews, who as non-Muslims were not subjected to the same gender segregation as Muslim women, and thus could act as the intermediaries of the harem women in several other areas, and many became successful businesswomen as agents to the harem women, particularly as widows. This would have been the background of Esperanza Ma ...
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Esther Handali
Esther Handali (died 18 or 19 December 1588Pedani, Maria Pia. “Safiye's Household and Venetian Diplomacy”. Turcica 32 (2000). ) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''Kira'' (business agent) of Nurbanu Sultan, Safiye Sultan, and possibly of Hürrem Sultan. Life Early life Esther Handali was reportedly a Sephardic Jew from Jerez de la Frontera in Spain.Lucienne Thys-Senocak: Ottoman Women Builders: The Architectural Patronage of Hadice Turhan Sultan' She was married to the Jewish merchant Eliya Handali, who traded in luxuries such as jewellery, expensive clothing and cosmetics to the women of the Imperial Harem. Due to the seclusion from the opposite sex and the outside world imposed upon the women of the harem, male merchants were not allowed in to the harem, and a custom developed with merchant wives entering the harem to act as intermediary agents, displaying the goods to the prospective clients of the harem. These women were often Je ...
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Strongilah
Strongilah (died 1548) was a Jewish Ottoman businesswoman. She was the influential favorite and ''Kira'' of Hafsa Sultan, and possibly of Hürrem Sultan.Minna Rozen: A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul, The Formative Years, 1453 – 1566 (2002). Biography Strongilah was the daughter of the Karaite Jew Eliyah Gibor from Crimea. She is the first kira in the Imperial Harem of which there is any information. She would have become a kira by presenting the goods of her merchant husband to the harem women. She acted as a go-between and provided luxury items, medicine and letters. Because of her services, Strongilah became the favoured kira of Hafsa Sultan. She was possibly the same kira who cured an eye illness of an unidentified sultan's mother and was greatly awarded for this. Abraham Danon, “The Karaites in European Turkey,”The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series 15, no. 3(1925): 323-324 When Hafsa Sultan became mother of the sultan in 1520, she successfully asked her ...
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