{"id":1573,"date":"2025-01-23T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T09:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/?p=1573"},"modified":"2025-01-23T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T09:30:13","slug":"archery-in-istanbul-ottoman-past-and-turkish-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/23\/archery-in-istanbul-ottoman-past-and-turkish-revival\/","title":{"rendered":"Archery in Istanbul: Ottoman Past and Turkish Revival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Rik J. JANSSEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I applied for the NIT Fellowship, I was just informed that I was accepted for a PhD position at the University of Edinburgh. With this confirmation in mind, l went to Istanbul to collect data for my upcoming dissertation on the history of archery in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. As a lifelong archer, I have always been fascinated by the sport\u2019s history. Combining my passion with my scholarly expertise on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, I was introduced to the topic during my Master\u2019s in Middle Eastern Studies at Leiden University when one of my teachers informed me about the revival of archery in Turkey in the last decade or so. With the NIT as my base of operations, I endeavoured to collect sources related to archery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strolling through Istanbul, I was first and foremost interested in finding archery stones, so-called ni\u015fan ta\u015f\u0131<\/em> (litt. aiming\/target\/commemoration stone), spending multiple days photographing them for future research. Some of these pillars were erected after an archer shot a record distance in long-distance archery (attempting to shoot an arrow as far as possible); others were constructed for impressive rifle shots\u2014something I only realised after I had traced the monuments, possibly another research venue? Luckily for me, I did not have to search intensively as the majority of these stones are located in two specific neighbourhoods, namely Okmeydan\u0131<\/em> (litt. Arrow Field\/Square) for the archery pillars and Ni\u015fanta\u015f\u0131<\/em> for the rifle shots. In addition, the stones\u2019 (original) locations are mapped on istanbulium.net<\/a>. If this had not been the case, it would have felt like looking for a needle, nay an arrow(head) in a haystack. While this definitely eased my research, I still sometimes walked like a loose cannon as some pillars were not perfectly mapped, searching for monuments hidden between houses or pressed into walls on street corners. There is another reason why it was sometimes hard to find them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The only known archery ni\u015fan ta\u015f\u0131<\/em> of Sultan Selim III<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some of these stones still stand in their (almost) original place, but in recent years, multiple pillars have been relocated to the Ok\u00e7ular Vakf\u0131<\/em>. This institution was established in 2013 to promote archery. The complex has an archery field, although not large enough to practice long-distance archery anymore. Apart from the field, the complex houses, among others, a research centre dedicated to archery, a mosque, a bowyer workshop, and most importantly, a museum. Obviously, I spent some days around the facility to take pictures of the ni\u015fan ta\u015flar\u0131 <\/em>and the museum, expanding my personal database. Sadly, about half of the pillars in the parameters are located in the archery range and thus not accessible to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The bow in question<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, I had been in mailing contact with the head of research about two years prior; I emailed him again to ask if it was possible to see the ni\u015fan ta\u015flar\u0131<\/em> up close. This was fruitful and I could arrange a private tour around the complex. Apart from the pillars, I was introduced to something even more majestic. In the research office was an old Ottoman bow, and I had an antique model in my hands for the first time and the only time to this date. Unfortunately, I could not bring the bow with me. Yet, I was gifted two archery books, one of them a catalogue of an exhibition on archery manuscripts I had visited with a friend and former NIT fellow (S. Berk Metin) a few weeks prior. Thus, the timing of my NIT stay was perfect. While the ni\u015fan ta\u015flar\u0131<\/em> and the Ok\u00e7ular Vakf\u0131 <\/em>(and the NIT) would not suddenly fly away, this is, of course, the case with an exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
At the archery exhibition with a wax statue of a Solak, the sultans\u2019 archers bodyguard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While most of these excursions and experiences were primarily intended to collect source material for future research, I also repeatedly worked on two articles\/presentations. The first one, which Berk and I wrote together, has been accepted for publication. It is only a small article about a notebook in Leiden University Library Special Collections. The notebook includes archery records, likely copied from a contemporaneous archery manuscript, but the precise origins remain unknown. Unfortunately, the exhibition could not shed more light on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My other research, still in process, deals with American and European observations of archery in the late 18th and early 19th century when two sultans, Selim III (r. 1789-1807) and Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839), shot archery records, the latter even multiple. My stay was a valuable contribution, as I could walk around the neighbourhood, similar to the authors of my primary source material. The most significant difference, however, is that Okmeydan\u0131<\/em> is an urbanised neighbourhood nowadays, in contrast with the depictions in my sources, which write about the untouched natural environment. I will present this research at the upcoming conference, \u201cTravellers in Ottoman Lands,\u201d in April, hosted in collaboration with the NIT, among others. I would like to thank all members of the NIT for this wonderful opportunity, and I look forward to returning in April. Let\u2019s see how far this arrow will fly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rik J. JANSSEN When I applied for the NIT Fellowship, I was just informed that I was accepted for a PhD position at the University of Edinburgh. With this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,24],"tags":[82,83,11,8,35,84,88,87,77,85,86],"class_list":["post-1573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-nit-fellow-reports","tag-archery","tag-archery-stones","tag-fellowship","tag-istanbul","tag-library","tag-nisan-tasi","tag-okcular-vakfi","tag-okmeydani","tag-ottoman-empire","tag-sultan-mahmud-ii","tag-sultan-selim-iii"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/unnamed-2.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1577,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1573\/revisions\/1577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nit-istanbul.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}