How much do we know about the period of Ottoman rule and the Greek Revolution? The great and glorious events, the battles, and the struggles of the common people are well known to us.
However, the pages of history contain a multitude of unknown incidents, testimonies, and stories about the everyday problems of ordinary people, the way they lived, thought, their struggle for survival, as well as many unrecognized acts of great men, which illuminate their character, actions, and ethos.
This book, through short texts, some in the form of unpublished works, approaches history from a different perspective; it casts "undiscerning" glances at points that research often neglects or bypasses, highlighting the unknown, the curious, the "insignificant" – which are, however, particularly interesting and captivating.
Read an excerpt
During the 16th century, anyone who became sultan in the Ottoman Empire did not sleep peacefully. They faced the daily danger of being murdered by their brothers, who also had rights to the throne. Initially, sultans found a simple and easy way to deal with this threat: as soon as they ascended to the throne, they ordered the murder of all their brothers without hesitation. Later, another solution was found, less harsh but equally effective: the brothers competing for the throne were not murdered but imprisoned in special chambers within the palaces. For companionship, they were kept with eunuchs and old courtesans, so they could not have offspring who would have rights to succeed the throne.
