The course examines Ottoman palaeography and diplomatics research on the evolution of Ottoman writing and the types of its papers. The learning of the alphabet used by the Turks during the Ottoman period, the basic rules of writing and reading Turkish texts of the Ottoman period, the description of the main types of Ottoman documents and the practice, both in printed texts and in the Ottoman documents, originating from the tribunals and from the Ottoman monasteries of Greece are key points of study and analysis of the documents found in the archives of Greece.

The objective of the course is to train students able to engage in the study and scientific exploitation of Ottoman and Turkish historical sources. To make this possible, Ottoman diplomatics and palaeography are taught as tools necessary for conducting research in the field of Ottoman and Turkish history.

Week #1: Introduction to the science of Ottoman palaeography and diplomatics

Week #2: Historical overview of the Ottoman period

Week #3: Description of Arabic writing

Week #4: Writing materials.

Week #5: Types of the main Ottoman documents. External and internal features of documents

Week #6: Study of the operation of bureaucratic services of the High Portal

Week #7: Basic transcriptional phenomena of the language

Week #8: Study of sources (printed, handwritten, epigraphic, monetary)

Week #9: Exercise in printed and manuscript texts (Level I - Part A)

Week #10: Exercise in printed and manuscript texts (Level I - Part B)

Week #11: Exercise in printed and manuscript texts (Level II - Part A)

Week #12: Exercise in printed and manuscript texts (Level II - Part B)

Week #13: Study of various types of narrative texts (literature, historiography, archival documents of various types and periods, epigraphic)

• F.Kreutel, Osmanisch-Türkische Chrestomathie, Wiesbaden 1965.
• Kurt, Osmanlica Dersleri I, Ankara 1997.
• Nemeth, Turkish Reader for Beginners, New York 1966.
• Aktan, Osmanli Paleografyasi ve Siyasî Yazişmalar, İstambul 1995, C. Baltaci, İslâm Paleografyasi. Diplomatik-Arşivcilik, İstambul 1989.
• Heygi, «The Terminology of the Ottoman-Turkish Judicial Documents on the Basis of the Sources from Hungary», Acta Orientalia Hungarica XVIII (1965) 191-203.
• Boškov, «Die hüccet-Urkunde – Diplomatische Analyse», Studia Turcologica Memoriae Alexii Bandocci, Naples 1982.
• Fekete, Einführung in die Osmanisch-Türkische Diplomatik der Türkischen Botmässigkeit in Ungarn, Budapest 1926.
• Kütükoğlu, Osmanli belgelerinin dili (diplomatik), İstambul 1998.
• Reychman-A.Zajaczkowski, Handbook of Ottoman-Turkish Diplomatics, Mouton- Hague-Paris 1968.

Lectures using new technologies.

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Written exams.