Ottoman Os？ek: a New Approach

Sa？etak The Ott oman kasaba of Os？ ek (Tvr？a or Orta hisar) has witnessed two periods of its urban development. Its fortifications had been improved quite early, but inside the town, little was changed until ca. 1580 in comparison with the pre-Ottoman times (that is, 100–200 households with some space for gardens), except for the erection of typical Islamic objects. As for the building material, wood and brick were prefered. The number of dwellings was increased two or three times, due to the rise of craft s and trade (probably infl unced by the emergence of the large fair, as well as the great bridge, almost certainly a post-Süleymanic construction), yet the number of wards (mahalle) did not change. At the same time, the suburb or palanka, fortified by wooden pallisades, became more urbanized, with a market (？ar？？) and perhaps more wards than the town proper. The famous fair westward of Os？ek was equal to similar business premises in other parts of Ottoman Europe. Here a substantially corrected picture is off ered according to the travelogue of Evliya Chelebi and some archival sources