Hamidian epic: war literature in the late nineteenth century ottoman empire

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which epic literature represented, supported, and legitimized the Ottoman regime and its ideology in the late nineteenth century. During the Hamidian Era (1876–1908), reinventing an authentic source, an old genre in the Ottoman literature, for its social and political desires, the regime became resourceful to create a harmonious relationship and prevented potential antagonisms between imperial objectives and popular nationalisms. Epic literature reproduced, created, and promoted a sacred aura around the Ottoman dynasty and the personality of Abdülhamid II. In line with this, epic themes refashioned the concept of ghaza and re-invented the image of the ghazi sultan to confront nationalist and/or constitutionalist criticisms and to consolidate the political power of the ruling dynasty and the sovereign.