"Secrets of the empire
A remarkable archive detailing daily life in the early Ottoman Empire gives us a vivid new insight into an organised, progressive society dedicated to keeping records – documents that could help settle land disputes in today's Middle East. Hamida Ghafour reports.
In the popular imagination, the Ottoman Empire brings to mind a lecherous sultan lazing on silk cushions and amusing himself in a debauched harem as a decaying state crumbles around him."
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