DBWI- What if the Ottomans hadn’t become Hellenised

The Ottomans still valued the importance of Persian culture even after embracing the trappings of Hellenic culture. The Ottomans are Greco-Persian in culture rather than purely Persianate or Turkic culture. The Ottomans adopted Greek music, science, language, philosophy, art, and cuisine. Yet, traces of Persian culture remain. Ask an Ottoman who their favorite poet is -- It's Rumi. Second favorite - Homer!.

The Ottomans were actually even more obsessed with the philosophy, culture, and aesthetics of Classical Antiquity even more so than the Byzantines.


But in terms of daily life, much hasn't changed for the average Ottoman man or woman. The difference is they speak Greek rather than Turkic. The nomadic warrior lifestyle of their ancestors is still preserved in Central and Eastern Anatolia.

So material culture has changed quite a bit, but "mundane" culture is still fundamentally Turkic. I mean people still identify themselves with their Turkic ancestral tribes. They do not consider themselves Hellenes one bit. Hellenes are highly respected in Ottoman society but are still second to the Greek-speaking Turk or Greek-speaking Muslims of any ethnicity(Kurds, Circassians, Arabs, Berbers) because they aren't Muslim.


OOC: Ottomans are somewhat to their OTL counterparts similar in that they are Muslims, but revere Classical Greek culture minus the paganism plus Persianate Islam. The ruling class is a mixture of Circassian, Turk, Arab, Berber, Hellene, Kurd, and Persian ethnicities as the Ottomans accept any Greek speaking Muslim as one of their own. While respecting other languages within the Empire, the elite requires fluency in both Classical Greek and Persian to considered a true "Ottoman". The language of most people, however, is a dialect of Greek that evolved from Medieval Greek with some mild Turkic and Persian influence. The Greco-Persian synthesis ITTL was far different and more focused on inheriting the legacy of Roman and Greek culture while preserving the Islam of the Greater Persian speaking world.

Very true, the diverse mix of groups that were considered Ottoman eventually led to the overthrow of their dynasty as they didn’t discriminate based on ethnicity. The Epirote Interregnum that succeeded them continued this policy although it was slightly slanted in favour of European Muslims.
 
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