Sinan was the greatest architect of the Ottoman Golden Age of the sixteenth century - when the Ottoman Empire reached its zenith of power and magnificence. His style marks the apogee of Turkish art. Under Suleyman the Magnificent and his succcessor Selmi II, Sinan designed hundreds of buildings: mosques, palaces, tombs, mausolea, hospitals, schools, caravanserai, bridges, aqueducts and baths, many of them presented and analysed in this book. In his greatest works, he adapted Byzantine and Islamic styles to produce something quite new: a centralized organization of absolute space unhindered by pillars or columns and covered by a soaring dome. An architect of genius in a dynamic new empire expanding into both Asia and Europe, he was a true man of the Renaissance.

This book is a history of the architecture produced in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire. It focuses on extant buildings in the Republic of Turkey, particularly those in Istanbul and the empire's earlier capitals in Bursa and Edirne. The book begins with a brief history of the Ottoman Empire, followed by an outline of the main features of Ottoman architecture and its decoration, then a brief biography of the great Ottoman architect Sinan. Successive chapters follow the development of Ottoman architecture from 1453 until 1923. The book is intended for the general reader with an interest in architecture, especially that of the Ottoman Turks, whose culture has left its mark not only on Turkey, but in the Balkans and throughout the Middle East.

A remarkable tale of empire and exile, restoring to vivid life one of the most extraordinary and colourful figures of medieval history. Jem Sultan, born in 1459, was one of the wonders of his age. A Turkish prince held captive in Europe at a time when the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, he was renowned throughout the continent as a romantic, mysterious figure. Today he is almost forgotten in the West, but in Turkey he is still a heroic figure, a gallant poet-prince who never grows old, his tomb a place of pilgrimage. Jem Sultan was a son of Sultan Mehmet II, known as the Conqueror after his capture of Constantinople in 1453. When Mehmet died in 1481 Jem and his brother Beyazet fought a year-long war for the succession. Jem lost, and fled to Rhodes. He was held for seven years in various castles in France, then imprisoned in the Vatican. He died in 1495, probably poisoned by the infamous Borgia Pope, Alexander VI. His body was finally returned to Turkey in 1499. John Freely, who has had access to original documents in English, Turkish, French and Italian, tells the remarkable story of Jem Sultan from his childhood and youth in the palaces of the Ottoman Empire through his war with his brother and his long years of exile in Europe.

Throughout the 1960's John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd explored every alley, cove and monument of their adopted home of Istanbul in between their teaching jobs. They created a legendary guidebook, covering 1,500 years of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, to a city that was still innocent of tourists. But the passages that were too personal, too capricious, too idiosyncratic, too indulgent of eccentric personalities, too melancholically obsessed with lost monuments, too wrapped up in the love of mid-afternoon banter, too indulgent of musicians, dancers, gypsies, dervish, drunks, beggars, fishermen, poets, fortune-tellers, folk healers, mimics and prostitutes were cut from their scholarly guidebook. Stamboul Sketches is a slim book compiled from these editorial floor off-cuts. Inspired by travelling in the footsteps of Evliya Celebi, the Puck-like Pepys who wrote about 17th century Istanbul, Stamboul Sketches is a beautiful, quirky portrait of a city caught like a bird on the wing, so much changed but so much the same.

This classic guide to Istanbul by Hilary Summer-Boyd and John Freely - the 'best travel guide to Istanbul' (The Times), 'a guide book that reads like a novel' (New York Times) - is here, for the first time since its original publication thirty-seven years ago, published in a completely revised and updated new edition. Taking the reader on foot through this captivating city - European City of Culture 2010 - the authors describe the historic monuments and sites of what was once Constantinople and the capital in turn of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, in the context of the great living city. Woven throughout are vivid anecdotes, secret histories, hidden gems and every major place of interest the traveller will want to see. Practical and informative, readable and vividly described, this is the definitive guide to and story of Istanbul, by those who know it best.

Blue Guides: Complete Cultural Guides -- Long-awaited new edition of the Blue Guide to this fascinating city, which straddles Europe and the Orient and whose history goes back to the days of ancient Greece. Superb coverage of all the major monuments, Classical, Christian and Islamic, with details on how to get around a busy city, what to eat and where to stay. Illustrations to inform rather than to decorate: maps, diagrams, floor plans, architectural details, photographs. -- "Often plagiarised by other guide writers, Blue Guides have always been a gold standard for accuracy and depth" Daily Telegraph. "Guide books in the grand tradition of thoroughness and objectivity" Georgia Review.

Istanbul, imperial capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, is the only city in the world which bestrides two continents - a magnificently situated city, as a poet once wrote, 'surrounded by a garland of waters ... '

The Greek colony of Byzantium was transformed into Christian Constantinople in 330 and became Islamic Istanbul after the Turkish conquest of 1453. Yet despite a succession of sackings, riots and earthquakes, it always managed to retain its unique atmosphere and appeal. For over 2,000 years travellers have come, been dazzled and taken home tales of its marvels and mysteries, its debaucheries and delights. John Freely tells the story of the city from its foundation to the present day, brilliantly capturing the flavour of daily life as well as court ceremonial and intrigue. He also includes a comprehensive gazetteer of all major monuments and museums.

"Aladdin's Lamp" is the fascinating story of how ancient Greek philosophy and science began in the sixth century B.C. and, during the next millennium, spread across the Greco-Roman world, producing the remarkable discoveries and theories of Thales, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes, Galen, Ptolemy, and many others. John Freely explains how, as the Dark Ages shrouded Europe, scholars in medieval Baghdad translated the works of these Greek thinkers into Arabic, spreading their ideas throughout the Islamic world from Central Asia to Spain, with many Muslim scientists, most notably Avicenna, Alhazen, and Averroes, adding their own interpretations to the philosophy and science they had inherited. Freely goes on to show how, beginning in the twelfth century, these texts by Islamic scholars were then translated from Arabic into Latin, sparking the emergence of modern science at the dawn of the Renaissance, which climaxed in the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century.
Here is early science in all its glory, from Pythagorean "celestial harmony" to the sun-centered planetary theory of Copernicus, who, in 1543, aided by the mathematical methods of medieval Arabic astronomers, revived a concept proposed by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus some eighteen centuries before. When Newton laid the foundations of modern science, building on the work of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, and others, he said that he was "standing on the sholders ["sic"] of Giants," referring to his predecessors in ancient Greece and in the Arabic and Latin worlds from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance.
Caliph Harun al-Rashid was one of the Muslim rulers who first promoted translating Greek texts into Arabic. His Baghdad is the setting for "The" "Thousand and One" "Nights, " in which Scheherazades's "Tale of Aladdin and His Magic Lamp" reflects the marvels of the new science and the amazing inventions it was said to produce. John Freely's "Aladdin's Lamp" returns us to that time and brings to light an essential and long-overlooked chapter in the history of science.

"From the Hardcover edition."

Miletus: one of the wealthiest and most important towns in ancient Greece. It was here, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, in the 6th century BC, that the great traditions of Greek science and philosophy sparked into life, setting in motion a chain of knowledge that would change the world, forever. This is the extraordinary story of Greek science from its earliest beginnings through its development in classical Athens and Hellenistic Alexandria and its subsequent diffusion to the wider world. Most histories of Greek science end with the collapse of the Graeco-Roman world in late antiquity and the closing of all classical schools of 'pagan' philosophy in A.D. 529. But acclaimed historian John Freely here continues the story to tell of how the elements of Greek scientific and philosophical learning were adopted by the Islamic world and the transmission of Graeco-Islamic science to western Europe, as well as the preservation of Hellenic culture in Byzantium and its profound influence on the European renaissance and our modern world.

Legend has it that the Ionian Islands were created as Zeus' beautiful lover, Io, raced through the Ionian Sea escaping Hera's wrath. Rising from the waters between Greece and Italy, the Ionians - peaks of an underwater mountain range - are quite unlike any of the other Greek islands and are some of the most culturally, historically and mythologically rich in all Greece. Consisting of Corfu, Paxos, Ithaka, Lefkas, Cephalonia, Zakynthos (Zante) and Kythera, they have been inhabited since Paleolithic times and have a colourful and often turbulent past. Variously invaded and occupied by the Goths, Arabs, Normans, Venetians, British, Germans and most recently by tourism, they have always absorbed and assimilated other cultures whilst still retaining their unique character and identity.

The Ionians have been made famous in literature from Homer and Aeschylus to Gerald Durrell and Louis de Bernieres and numerous myths are associated with them: Corfu is linked to the voyage of Jason's Argonauts, Aphrodite was born on Kythera, Paxos and Corfu were once joined until Poseidon threw his trident and separated them and Odysseus' home was on Ithaka. John Freely, who has visited and travelled throughout the islands over the course of 40 years, here illuminates the history, culture and present day of all seven islands, providing the most readable and comprehensive guide to the magnificent Ionians.

Crete, the 'Great Island' of Greece, has been home to such figures as the legendary King Minos, El Greco and Nikos Kazantzakis. In myth, it is associated with Daedalus and Icarus and the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Today it is one of the most popular destinations in Greece, its visitors lured by the promise of spectacular beaches and the remains of some of the most influential and ancient civilisations in Europe. Part history, part guide, "Crete" includes comprehensive and detailed itineraries, covering the cities of Iraklion, Rethymnon and Chania; the great Minoan palaces at Knossos, Phaestos and Ayia Triadha plus Graeco-Roman ruins, Byzantine churches and Venetian churches. Scattered throughout are the myths, legends and folklore of the island, as well as notes on its hidden gems: scenic stopping-off points, untouched beaches, mountain villages and tavernas, where the ancient ritual songs and dances of Crete are still performed.'In the middle of the sable sea, there lies an isle called Crete, a ravisher of eyes...' - Homer, "The Odyssey".