The Humanitas Publishing House invites you on Tuesday, February 13, from 7 p.m., at the Humanitas Bookstore in Cișmigiu (Bld. Regina Elisabeta no. 38), to a meeting with the historian Marc David Baer, professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the historian Marian Coman and writer Sabina Fati about the volume The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphsa fascinating new take on the history of the Ottoman Empire.
From the ancient historiographers to the modern ones, the image of the invading and barbarian Ottomans who attacked the fabric of Europe, of which they came to control almost a quarter at the height of their power, prevailed. Historian Marc David Baer surprises us with a new vision: the perspective of the Ottomans themselves. After conquering the Second Rome, the heart of the Byzantine Empire, in 1453, Mohammed II adds the title of Caesar: the Ottomans now consider themselves the descendants of Rome. In their empire, religious tolerance was a reality long before the West learned this lesson. Ignored is also the role they played in the European history of the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, but also in the Age of Great Discoveries and the Industrial Revolution.
The volume offers a fascinating panorama of over six centuries of Ottoman history, from a small beylik in 13th-century Anatolia to a multi-ethnic empire between East and West, bearing the stamp of Turco-Mongol, Islamic and Byzantine heritage alike. This history of the Ottoman Empire retold by Professor Baer becomes an integral part of European history. Access is free, subject to availability, based on a reservation through Eventbook.
