Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Article | Bir Alt-Kültür Grubu: Külhanbeyleri

XVIII. Yüzyilda Osmanlida Bir Zümrenin Alt-Kültür Grubuna Dönüşmesi: Külhanbeyleri
Mehmet DEMİRTAŞ 
Link

Abstract: After admission of İstanbul to Turkish domination, people from each class have shown interest and have increased the population of the city. That situation has caused chaos and problems have increased. In the capital city İstanbul one of the most important problem occured because of boilermen[1]. Without any work, living at someone else’s expense, disturbing society with rude behaviours, boilermen had roughly life. Having their own life style, talking style, behaviours, boilermen were against class in the society. In order to redress the boilermen, the government had to struggle with them permanently and has taken some some precautions. In spite of all struggle and precautions, boilermen have persisted one of the biggest problem fort he administrators of the state in each periode of history.

[1] Külhan. Boiler house of Turkish hamam where these ruffians took refuge for the evening to find a warm place to crash.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Child Sexual Abuse

Article: Child Sexual Abuse: Historical Cases In The Byzantine Empire (324–1453 A.D.) John Lascaratos and Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou 

Link


The aim of this article is the presentation and brief analysis of some historical cases, unknown in the broader medical bibliography, of child sexual abuse in Byzantine Society (324–1453 A.D.).

The original texts of the Byzantine historians, chroniclers and ecclesiastical authors, written in the Greek language, were studied in order to locate instances of child sexual abuse.

Although the punishment provided by the laws and the church for cases of child sexual abuse were very strict, a number of instances of rapes under cover of premature marriages, even in the imperial families, are revealed in these texts. Furthermore, cases of child prostitution, pederasty, and incest are included in the historical texts and some contemporary authors confirmed the presence of many such cases in all classes of Byzantine society.

The research of original Byzantine literature disclosed many instances of child sexual abuse in all social classes even in the mediaeval Byzantine society which was characterized by strict legal and religious prohibitions.