THE GREAT HOUSE OF THE OTTOMANS: THE TOPKAPI KITCHEN AS A SYMBOL OF POWER

The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire - a khan, a chieftain, but also the successor of the Roman emperors and, therefore, a universal sovereign - was responsible for the well-being of his subjects and the food offered to them was the tangible symbol of the bey'a, the pact narrows in Islamic law between those who govern and those who are governed. But the sultan was also the father of an extended family, made up of those who lived in his palace or gravitated around it. As a father the sultan had the obligation to feed his family and as a sovereign his people. So, in some way, Topkapi, the imperial palace, represents the home of the Ottomans, the subjects of the Great Lord. Using the most recent and qualified bibliography, including the Turkish one, the papaer analyzes the role - physical and symbolic - of food within the life of the Imperial Palace. Even with a comparison with Versailles, symbol of what Elias calls the interaction of the greatness of the country and the greatness of the royal court.