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JEWISH HISTORIOGRAPHY ON THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ITS JEWRY FROM THE LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY TO THE EARLY DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by I.IZZET BAHAR B. Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, 1974 M. Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Bosphorus University, Istanbul, 1977 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of M.A. in Religious Studies University of Pittsburgh 2006 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by I. IZZET BAHAR It was defended on March 21, 2006 and approved by Alex Orbach, PhD, Associate Professor Adam Shear, PhD, Assistant Professor Snjazana Buzov, PhD, Lecturer Alex Orbach, PhD, Associate Professor Dissertation Director ii JEWISH HISTORIOGRAPHY ON THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND ITS JEWRY FROM THE LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY TO THE EARLY DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY I. Izzet Bahar, M.A. University of Pittsburgh, 2006 The thesis analyzes how Jewish historians presented the Ottoman Empire and its Jewish subjects during the long time span between the end of the fifteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. In the first part of the thesis, the key characteristics of the Jewish attitude towards history and history writing are analyzed. Throughout the ages of pre-1820, Jews are observed to be consciously lukewarm towards history. The sealing of the Bible and the emergence of an apocalyptic/messianic world view, which are both considered to have taken place around the last centuries of B.C.E., are illustrated as two major causes behind the emergence of this particular Jewish attitude towards history.
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