Eastern and Western Cultures in Dimitrie Cantemir's Work

Eastem and Westem Cultures in Dimitrie Cantemir's Work = 473Eastern and Western Cultures in Dimitrie Cantemir's WorkI* ,ugn, THE pEAce of Carlowitz that ended a period of unpreced.entedcrisis marked the beginning of a new era in Ottoman history. The Ottomanattitude which had hitherto been condescending towards the West and itsculrure began to give way to a respectful curiosity for that culture and itsachievements. This was followed by a desire to have a better understandingand knowledge of the West and, most significantly, to discover thesecret of its success in the recent wars. This basic change in the Ottomanattitude toward the West was to be the real beginning in Turkey of whatlater came to be known as the process of Westernization. On the otherhand, Eastern mysticism, which allowed for the conception of a unifiedwhole composed of conflicting parts, lifted the barriers berween the twodifferent cultures and retgions and made it possible for the refinedottoman upper class to approach western culrure sympathetically.In 1703, Rami Mehmed Pasha, Ottoman Secretary who was responsiblefor the conclusion of the treaty of Carlowitz, assumed control of theOttoman government as Grand Yezk. A man of culture and an advocateof peace, he adopted peace as the basic principle of Ottoman policy.Dimitrie Cantemir (Kantimur),who was then 30 years old, was a closefriend of the new Grand Yezt; and he, the Grand Vezir, and the latter'spersonal advisor, Nefiyoglu, were the leaders of a new cultural movementwhich later evolved into the Tulip Era. Cantemir described Nefiyoglu asan open-minded man who by learning Latin on his own showed a desireto achieve a synthesis of the Eastern and Western cultures in his person.A close friend of this select group was the Chief Dragoman AlexanderMaurocordatos, who hadplayed an importantpartin the conclusion of thepeace of Carlowitz. Maurocordatos was educated at the renowned Universityof Padua, center for exponents of the school of the Greekenlightenment; and he was one of those Greeks who introduced the trendof Neo- Aristotelianism into the intellectual life of Istanbul. This trendnotonly dominated the shaping of Cantemir's thought, but it also penetratedOttoman intellecrual life. There was, no doubt, a strong affinitybetween this Neo-Aristotelianism and the atheistic trend which theforeign observers of the time witnessed in the cosmopolitan-intellectualcircles of the Ottoman capital, at the ko naks of important personages, andat Phanar. Lastly, Ahmed II ( 1 69 1- 1 695) and later the S ultan of the TulipEra, Ahmed m Q703-I73A), who showed a deep interest in Cantemir,were protectors and exalted representatives of this milieu.On the other hand, these first Ottoman contacts with Europeanhumanism were soon to bear fruit and show their influence on theOttoman way of life, world view, and art. In the 18th century theinfluence of naturalism in Ottoman poetry and miniature painting aswell as the strong baroque influence in architecture were not merelycoincidental, but they were an outcome of cultural contacts with theWest.Young Beyzdde Cantemir, who had come into close contact with themo st refined repre sentatives of the Ea stern culture at the Ottoman p al ac e,played a dominantrole in the meeting of the Eastern andWestem cultures.He had come to Istanbul in 1688 at the age of 15 and spent twenty-twoyears of his life totally immersed in the intellectual life of both the Eastand the West as these were rep esented in the Ottoman capital. In hispalace at Fethiye (Ulah Sarayi) the finest intellectual and artistic expressionsof the wo cultures were reconciled within a decor of Ottomanpomp, while in his mansion at Ortakdy Turkish music composed byCantemir echoed on the waters of the Bosphoms. A disciple of AhmedQelebi of Edirne, Cantemir notated Ottoman music for the first time,thereby securing for himself an undisputed position in the history ofTurkish music. In short, Cantemir was a product of the cultural andintellectual life of Istanbul as much as he was one of those who gavedirection to the new cultural orientation in the Ottoman capital.In the period following the peace of Carlowitz, Ottomans hadalready accepted the reality of the decline of their empire, and thequestion of decline was a subject of heated discussion in the intellectualcircles of Istanbul. Cantemir was following this trend when laterhe devoted a large part of his work to this question and titled his rnajorwork on Ottoman history Incrementa atque decrementa aulaeothomanicae (History of the Growth and Decay of the OttomanEmpire). He also wrote a treatise on the topic of the rise and declineof empires. The anthropomorphic view of state that dominatedCantimir's works had been applied to Ottoman history since the tirneof Hadji Khalifa ( 1608- 1657). According to Hadji Khalifa, war couldhave fatal results for empires which hadreached "old age." Therefore,empires should avoid wars at this stage of their development. This

"i:,.'!&414 = Halil Inalctkconcept had formed the basis of Rami Mehmed Pasha's and hisfollowers' peace policy.Finally, Cantemir was as much an admirer of European culture (ofwhose historical and philosophical roots he had a remarkable grasp)as he was an excellent connoisseur of Ottoman cultural life. In 17I0,when he became the voivode of his homeland, Moldavia, ascendingthe throne of his father, Constantin Cantemir, he dreamt of making hisprincipality independent of the Ottoman Empire. In order to realizethis vision and anticipating a Russian victory over the Ottomans, heentered into a secret agreement with Tsar Peter the Great of Russiaagainst the Ottomans. His calculations, however, backfired whenPeter was defeated by the Ottomans. Following the treaty of Prut(I711) Cantemir settled in Russia as counselor to Peter and directedhis intellectual endeavors to a systemic expression of the knowledgeand ideas which he had acquired in the Ottoman Empire. It was duringthis period, when he felt a deep nostalgia for Istanbul and his life therethat he wrote his history of the Ottoman Empire (I7l4-I1t6) and awork on Islam and its institutions (Curanus, 1'119). Until the appearanceof J. von Hammer's history, Cantemir's work on the OttomanEmpire was regarded in Europe as the standard work on the subject.At the present time, his first-hand descriptions and accounts ofOttoman life and institutions , of which he had an intimate knowledge,still remain invaluable. However, the translations of his Ottomanhistory available in Western languages are seriously handicapped byspelling errors. Consequently, a ffanslation from its Latin original ofthose parts of Cantemir's work which deal with Ottoman institutionsas well as a compilation and translation of those passages rn Cttrantts,which contain invaluable information on Ottoman religious life andinstitutions, will definitely fulfill a scholarly need.In sum, Cantemir's genius in the first stage of his life was a vehiclethrough which the various facets of Western culture infiltrated Ottomansociety, while in the latter part of his life he presented Ottomanculture, which he intimately knew and loved, to Europe. There is nodoubt that Dimitrie Cantemir, the father of Romanian humanism andintellectual revival, was one of those rare geniuses who showed aremarkable comprehension of Eastern and Western cultures of histime, and expressed them in a masterly fashion.Panr VMISCELLANIA_11...:i

Indiana University Tirrkish Srudies andTirrkish Ministry of Culture Joint SeriesGeneral Editor: Ilhrn BaggozHalil InalcrkTheMiddle Eastand theBalkansunder theOttoman EmpireEssays on Economy and SocietyIndiana Universi$ Turkish Studies andTurkish Ministry of Culture Joint SeriesVolume 9oBrooMtNGToNBlllrent UnlversifyHalil lnalcrk Center