The Image of Women as Depicted in Ottoman Chronicles: Women in Social Life

Bulgarian Historical Review, 54 (2026), No. 3, pp. 03-56
DOI: https://doi.org/10.71069/BHR3.26.SP01

Şebnem Parladır

Assist. Professor Şebnem Parladır - Turkish-Islamic Archaeology Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Izmir Katip Celebi University, Izmir, Türkiye; ORCID: 0000-0002-0745-5468, E-mail: sebnem.parladir@ikcu.edu.tr

Abstract: This study aims to identify clues about the presence of women – often absent from detailed accounts yet subtly embedded between the lines of Ottoman historical narratives – and to analyze and interrogate these findings in conjunction with their visual representations in miniatures. The primary sources of this research consist of illustrated Ottoman historical manuscripts that proliferated particularly in the sixteenth century and continued to be produced until the eighteenth century. Women, who are only rarely mentioned in the texts and, when depicted visually, are scarcely distinguishable from one another, usually appear as nameless figures within a collective group, serving as decorative elements of the composition. However, their visibility in various social scenes – such as battles, processions, funerals, imperial audiences, and festivities – as minorities, mothers, captives, warriors, peasants, urban dwellers, or individuals from distant lands reveals the necessity of adopting a more layered and critical perspective on their historical representation in Ottoman society. In this context, by addressing both the implicit narratives in written sources and the visual depictions in miniatures, the study contributes to developing a more holistic, multidimensional, and critical understanding of women’s presence in the social sphere of the Ottoman world.

Keywords: Women in Ottoman Society, Ottoman Miniature Art, Female Imagery, Şehname, Surname

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