[Two Ottoman Turkish epic poems]

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or 14085
  • Dates of Creation
    • 19th century
  • Language of Material
    • Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • 2 texts 163 ff Material : Thick off-white laid paper. Foliation : European, 163 ff. Dimensions : 226 mm x 156 mm. Ruling : Red-ruled margins and columns; text block measures 197 mm x 100 mm; 19 lines, catchwords. Script : Nesih, fully vocalized on ff 2v-19r. Ink : Main text in black ink with red headings. Binding : Rebound at the British Library.

Scope and Content

This volume contains the following two poems that recount the legends of Ebu Müslim and Ahmet-i Zemci respectively :. (I) ff 2v-79v : Manzume-yi Ebu Müslim, this is a versified account of the legend of Ebu Müslim, leader of the movement that established the Abbasid Caliphate. The author gives his name as Kadıoğlu (ff 2v, 79v). This poetical version does not appear to be recorded in the published versions of the legend;. (II) ff 79v-162v : Zemciname, also known as the Kitab-i Ahmedü'z-Zemci, a legendary account in verse of the campaign against the Abbasid Caliphate led by the dervish Ahmet-i Zemci, a close associate of Ebu Müslim, with the aim of avenging the killing of the latter. The name of the author of this text is not known, although it is apparently derived from a Persian original. The current text is apparently slightly incomplete at the end. A table of contents comprised of 50 episode headings (not a complete list) can be found on ff 1v-2r. There is slight water staining of the earlier folios. This manuscript is undated, but appears to have been copied in the 19th century CE.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased by the British Library from E. J. Brill of Leiden in March 1982.

Related Material

Another verse version of text I can be found at Or 12923 text I. Prose versions of the same story can be found at Or 1128 and Harley MS 5493. For more information about the Ebu Müslim story and its apparitions in various Ottoman Turkish and Persian sources, see Mélikoff, Irène, Abu Muslim, le ''porte-hache'' du Khorasan, dans la tradition épique turco-iranienne (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1962); as well as Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, pp. 214-15. For more information about the story behind text II, see Mélikoff, Irène, Abu Muslim, le ''porte-hache'' du Khorasan, dans la tradition épique turco-iranienne (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1962), pp. 74-83, where it is referred to as Zemciname.