Travellers in Ottoman Lands | The Botanical Legacy. Este artículo no está disponible.Travellers in Ottoman Lands | The Botanical Legacy

This collection of around twenty papers has its origins in a two-day seminar organised by the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) in conjunction with the Centre for Middle Eastern Plants at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (RBGE), with additional support from Cornucopia magazine and the Turkish Consulate General, Edinburgh. This multi-disciplinary event formed part of the Ottoman Horizons festival held in Edinburgh in 2017 and attracted a wide range of participants from around the world, including several from Turkey and other parts of the Middle East. This splendidly illustrated book focuses on the botanical legacy of many parts of the former Ottoman Empire ― including present-day Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, the Balkans, and the Arabian Peninsula ― as seen and described by travellers both from within and from outside the region. The papers cover a wide variety of subjects, including Ottoman garden design and architecture; the flora of the region, especially bulbs and their cultural significance; literary, pictorial and photographic depictions of the botany and horticulture of the Ottoman lands; floral and related motifs in Ottoman art; culinary and medicinal aspects of the botanical heritage; and efforts related to conservation.

Dr Ines Aščerić-Todd is a Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Middle Eastern Cultures, and Head of the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh, UK She has special interests in Middle Eastern, and particularly Ottoman, cultural and religious history, especially Sufism and Ottoman dervish orders, conversions to Islam, and interfaith relations in the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Europe.

DR SABINA KNEES has edited the Flora of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra, since 2005. Before joining The Centre for Middle Eastern Plants (CMEP) at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) in 2005, Sabina was a principal editor on the European Garden Flora, and a Stanley Smith Research Fellow based at the RBGE. Sabina is a member of the Horticultural Taxonomy Group (Hortax), the IUCN SSC Arabian Plant Specialist Group and the Executive Committee of the Friends of Socotra.

Dr Janet Starkey formerly worked at KISR, Kuwait, and elsewhere in the Middle East; at the British Museum, London and the Oriental Museum, Durham; and as a lecturer in anthropology and Middle Eastern studies at Durham University, UK. Following her retirement from Durham, she lectures for the u3a in the Scottish Borders.

Professor Paul Starkey is Emeritus Professor at Durham University, UK and was the first Chair of ASTENE. A specialist on Arabic literature and culture, he is Chairman of the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature and until 2018 was Vice-President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). In summer 2021 he was the recipient of the BRISMES Award for Services to Middle Eastern Studies.