A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill].
- Aaron Hill
- Date:
- 1710
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its branches; with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks in general ... from a serious observation, taken in many years travesl thro' those countries / [Aaron Hill]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![pleafe : Their Ancient Habits are now quite out of Date, and they differ fo much from them, that whereas they formerly delighted much in long and fpreading Hair, in regard of which Homer often calls ’em YLcLfMoy/ow 'Ayjito], The long Hair'd Greeks ; they now Shave all their Heads, and account it ridiculous in the Franks not to follow their Example. The Women, as the Turks, wear long Veits, Mu- Womens Ha- flin Shifts, and Drawers of Cambrick reaching to their Feet ; theirblt’ Girdles are of twitted Silk neatly Wove, and Embos’d with Gold, Silver, or Silver Gilt, fet thick with Saphirs, Em'raids, Rubies, or Diamonds ; and thofe, whofe Circumftances will not afford ’em to follow this Fafhion, procure Sophifticate Stones, and Counterfeited Metal to imitate it as nearly as poffible. THEIR Women are,for the rnojl part, exquifitely fhap’d, generally of a brown Complexion, excellently featur’d, and their Difpofition of all People Defcript-ioa the moft amorous ; which Inclination of theirs is fo well known to their ot woafeiT^ Husbands, that they take all imaginable care to preferve them for their * own Embraces, who efteem it no great Crime to receive anothers, as often as Opportunity favours their indujlrious Endeavours: Nature does fo early teach ’em the advantages of Beauty, that they ufe all poffible means not on¬ ly to preferve their Stock but to encreafe it, by the counterfeit addition of a fophifiicate Complexion ; And fo much do they etteem the Art of Painting, that they fain the very Nails of their Tees and Fingers, with a certain lively kind of red. IT is to this perhaps, they owe the numerous furrows of a Wrinkled Forhead, before they have attain’d the Age of Forty Five, at which time, Soon decay d ( contemn'd by their Relations, ) they are employ’d in all the Bufinefs of the Houfe, and the moft menial Offices of a common Servant. K^I S S IN G any but their Husbands, is efteem’d a Crime unpardona¬ ble ; unlefs, between the Refurretfion, and Afcenfton of our Saviour, at A which time both Men and Women kifs promifeuoufly all they meet; The Cuftom. Man firft killing the Woman on her left Cheek, tells her in a Voice as grave as the occalion, God is Rifen, when Jhe upon his right Cheek yielding back the Compliment, makes anfwer zealoufly, His BleJJing be upon us. THEIR Houles are for the moft part indifferently furnifh’d, not ufing Feather-beds, but like the Turks content to lleep on Mattrejfes : Their Lan¬ guage is a much corrupted Dial eel, and differs fo extreamly from the ancient Their Laru Greek, now only known to Scholars, that they hardly make a fhift to un- derftand one Word in ten, when Strangers fpeak it. ancient Greek, NOW tho’ the Greeks in all things but Religion are fubfervient to the Laws of Turkey, they have yet four Patriarchs of their own, who exereife a Thiir four kind of mix’d Authority over them inTemporal, as well as Spiritual Affairs • patriarchs. They are thofe of Constantinople, Alexandria, ferufalem, and Antioch, or rather Damafcus; ThHo four have their feveral Diflriels of Government. He of Constantinople has by much, the largeft Share ; extending his fur if- diBion over all the Greeks in the European Turkey, moft part of Afia Minor, Colchis, and the Northern Coaf of the Black Sea ; thofe in Egypt and Arabia, are under the Patriarch of Alexandria ; he of ferufalem has Authority over thofe in Palefine, and all the Parts adjacent; and the Greeks of Afia Major and Armenia Minor are fubfervient to the Jurifdiclion of the Patriarch of Damafcus. T.’HE «* -](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30450895_0227.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
