Forbidden Love in Istanbul
Patterns of Male-Male Sexual Relations in the Early-Modern Mediterranean World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4162031 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Noel Malcolm (All Souls College , Oxford , UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 257 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 55-88 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Past & Present (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pastj/gtab039 |
| OpenAlex | W4212937821 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
West European visitors to the Ottoman Empire in the early-modern period frequently referred to sodomy. They depicted it as a common practice there, associated particularly with 'renegades' (converts to Islam). The report of an investigation into a sexual scandal at the Venetian embassy in Istanbul in 1588, discussed here, shows special sensitivity to this issue. Historians generally discount the comments of visitors to Ottoman territory on this topic, either dismissing them as mere prejudice, or arguing that the practices they observed were equally current throughout western Europe. This article contests both of those assumptions. While prejudice was indeed present, the observations were accurate overall -- as Ottoman sources confirm. The practices were not equally prevalent in western Europe; they were specific to a pan-Mediterranean culture of same-sex relations between adult men and adolescents. But although the practices were essentially the same, there were significant differences between the Ottoman/Muslim Mediterranean societies and those of the Christian western Mediterranean. In the latter, religious and legal norms were more severe, affecting the degree to which such sexual behaviour was public and culturally expressed; in the former, a strong cultural tradition of homoeroticism gave some legitimation to these same-sex relations, and made them more avowable
Ancient history · Archaeology · Homosexuality · Islam · Legitimation · Ottoman empire · Political science · Prejudice (legal term) · Sociology · Sodomy · Gender Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |