Derviş Mehmed el-Hasib el-Mevlevi’s annual calendar, prepared on evā’il-i Mart 1134 yevm-i ḫamīs (the 5th of March on Thursday in 1722 CE), stands as an unconventional example within the tradition of Ottoman calendars by condensing the information typically found in multi-leaf calendars onto a single flat surface. Each half-circle, curve, and horizontal line on this calendar is drawn with a specific purpose to represent multiple aspects simultaneously. For instance, the large half-circles at the centre of the calendar represent the celestial spheres due to the vertical arrangement of the planets. Derviş Mehmed utilized this arrangement to divide the calendar into two parts and associated each segment with a month. Aligned with the Ottoman fiscal calendar, the months from March to February are arranged from the bottom right half-circle of the calendar, proceeding counterclockwise towards the left side. The smaller two half-circles below represent lunar mansions, starting from the first mansion, Seretan, in the right half-circle, proceeding counterclockwise to the fourteenth mansion, Simâk, then continuing clockwise from the fifteenth mansion, Gafre, to the twenty-eighth mansion, Reşâ, in the left half-circle. The intersections of these smaller half-circles with the larger half-circles, representing the planetary spheres and the boundaries of the Islamic months, symbolize the relationship between the mansions and the months. In the left corner of the calendar, a “gurrenâme” covering the years H 1134-1141 (1722-1728) is depicted, while in the upper right corner, a circular diagram shows the names of the planets and the seven climes with the directions of the winds, arranged from the centre outwards. With all these features, the calendar also serves as a paper instrument, making it a noteworthy source within the framework of paper astronomical instruments, which has garnered increasing attention among historians of science in recent years.

Our website’s logo is inspired by this fascinating calendar, which reflects the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm in a temporal context as depicted by an Ottoman scholar.

For the source of the image, see Derviş Mehmed el-Hasib el-Mevlevi, Takvim-i sâl 1134-1135, Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Collection of the History of Science, MS.540, 1 leaf.

 

For detailed information, see:

Danışan, G. (2021). The Paper Instruments in the History of Ottoman Astronomy. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 149: 38. https://www.academia.edu/49139870/The_Paper_instruments_in_the_History_of_Ottoman_astronomy

Danışan, G. (2022). An unusual example of Ottoman paper instruments: The calendar of Derviş Mehmed el-Hasib el-Mevlevi. Darina Martykánová, Cumhur Ersin Edıgüzel (Edt.), Science, Technology and Beauty: Glimpses of al-Andalus and the Ottoman Empire, İstanbul University press (in press).