Baquet's Guide to the World's Classics: Turkey

Here are posts labelled "Turkey" on The Guide

Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts

Nasreddin Hodja, Turkish Holy Man
(died c. 1280)

Just the Facts:

Name: Nasreddin Hodja
Known by multiple names across many cultures
Dates: died c. 1280
Place: Turkey
Language: Turkish (?)
Who he was: Turkish Muslim holy man and funny man, subject of thousands of stories

Let's consider this a placeholder as I build out the site.
Once that's done, I'll be back to fill in the details--an essay,
links to online and Amazon books, and more. I'll be posting
updates on Facebook and Twitter. Follow along!

Until I get to it, there's always Wikipedia!

Yunus Emre, Turkish Poet and Mystic
(1238-1320)

Just the Facts:

Name: Yunus Emre
Dates: 1238-1320
Place: Turkey
Language: Turkish
Who he was: Turkish poet and Sufi mystic; mystical poetry

Gregory of Nazianzus, Church Father
(c. 329-390)

Just the Facts:

Name: Gregory of Nazianzus
Birth: Unknown Date, 329, Nazianzus, Turkey
Death: January 25, 390, Nazianzus, Turkey
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek Archbishop (of Constantinople) and Church Father; friend of the brothers Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great; together the three are called the "Cappadocian Fathers"; theological works and poems

Gregory of Nyssa, Church Father
(335-394)

Just the Facts:

Name: Gregory of Nyssa
Birth: 335, Niksar, Turkey
Death: 394, Nyssa, Turkey
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek-speaking Cappadocian theologian and Church Father; younger brother of Basil the Great, and friend of Gregory of Nazianzus; together the three are called the "Cappadocian Fathers"; sermons, homilies, letters; Life of Moses

Basil the Great, Church Father
(c. 329-379)

Just the Facts:

Name: Basil the Great, Church Father (329/330-379)
Birth: Unknown Date, 330, Kayseri, Turkey
Death: January 1, 379, Kayseri, Turkey
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek Bishop (of Caesarea) and Church Father; elder brother of Gregory of Nyssa, and friend of Gregory of Nazianzus; together the three are called the "Cappadocian Fathers"; On the Holy Spirit; Refutation of the Apology of the Impious Eunomius

John Chrysostom, Church Father
(347-407)

Just the Facts:

Name: John Chrysostom
Birth: Unknown Date, 347, Antioch, Turkey
Death: September 14, 407, Comana Pontica, Turkey
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greco-Syrian Christian orator and Church Father; Archbishop of Constantinople; homilies, especially the Paschal Homily

Galen, Greek Physician
(129-c. 200/c. 216)

Just the Facts:

Name: Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus
Known as: Galen
Birth: 130, Pergamon, Turkey
Death: 200? 216?, Rome, Italy
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek physician; wrote voluminously on medical discoveries during the Roman era
Included in lists (What's This?): GBWW (+10YP)

Ireneaus, Church Father
(130-202)

Just the Facts:

Name: Ireneaus
Birth: 130, Smyrna, Turkey
Death: 202, Lugdunum (modern-day Lyons, France)
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek Bishop and Church Father in Roman Gaul; wrote Against Heresies

Lucian (of Samosata), Greek Satirist
(125-180)

Just the Facts:

Name: Lucian (of Samosata)
Birth: 125, Samosata, Turkey
Death: (after) 180, Athens, Greece
Language: Greek
Who he was: Assyrian-born Greek rhetorician and satirist who wrote comic dialogues, rhetorical essays and prose fiction, including A True Story
Included in lists (What's This?): GGB (+PGR 2); Bloom

Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna
(69-155)

Just the Facts:

Name: Polycarp of Smyrna
Birth: 69, Smyrna, Turkey
Death: 155, Smyrna, Turkey
Who he was: Greek-speaking Roman Bishop of Smyrna and Church Father; Letter to the Philippians

Pliny the Younger, Roman Author
(61-c. 113)

Just the Facts:

Name: Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo
Known as: Pliny the Younger in English; legally Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (after adoption by his uncle)
Birth: 61, Como, Italy
Death: c. 113, Bithynia, Turkey
Language: Latin
Who he was: Roman author who wrote Letters
Included in lists (What's This?): GGB (+PGR 1); HC

Notes toward a more complete article: Worth mentioning is Pliny's uncle and benefactor, Pliny the Elder (23-79) who, though not mentioned in any lists, was nevertheless famous in his day. The elder Pliny wrote a Natural History, encyclopedic in scope; and he has the singular distinction of having died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, while attempting to get a closer look at the phenomenon. (The things we do for science!) A bachelor without children, in his will he adopted Pliny the Younger (until then named Gaius Caecilius Cilo) and left him his estate.

Epictetus, Roman Stoic Philosopher
(c. 55-135)

Just the Facts:

Name: Epictetus
Birth: 55, Hierapolis, Turkey
Death: 135, Nicopolis, Greece
Who he was: Greek-speaking Roman stoic philosopher who wrote The Golden Sayings
Included in lists (What's This?): GBWW (+10YP); GGB (+PGR 2); HC

Diogenes the Cynic, Greek Philosopher
(c. 408-323 BCE)

Diogenes in his tub, by Jean-Leon Gerome; note the lamp, and the dogs.

Just the Facts:

Name: Diogenes the Cynic
Also known as: Diogenes of Sinope
Birth: c. 412 or 404 BCE, Turkey
Death: 323 BCE, Greece
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek philosopher, one of the founders--and the prototype--of Cynic philosophy

Herodotus, Greek Historian
(c. 484-c. 425)

Just the Facts:

Name: Herodotus
Birth: Unknown Date, 484 BCE, Halicarnassus, Turkey
Death: Unknown Date, 425 BCE, Thurii, Italy ("Magna Graecia")
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek historian whose The Histories were the first use of the word in the modern sense (it had meant "inquiries")
Included in lists (What's This?): GBWW (+10YP); HC; LRP; Bloom
Included in lists (What's This?): Bloom

Elia Kazan, Greek-American Fimmaker
(1909-2003)

Just the Facts:

Name: Elias Kazantzoglou
Known as: Elia Kazan
Birth: September 7, 1909, Fener, Istanbul, Turkey
Death: September 28, 2003, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Languages: Greek; English; Turkish(?)
Who he was: Oscar-winning Greek-American filmmaker and writer; A Streetcar Named Desire; On the Waterfront; and East of Eden

Thales, Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher
(c. 624-c. 546 BCE)

Just the Facts:

Name: Thales
Date: c. 624-c. 546 BCE
Place: Ancient Greece (actually, Miletus in Asia Minor, now in Turkey)
Language: Greek
Who he was: Greek philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer; one of the first to take a non-mythological view of the world, making him a proto-scientist. His works survive only in fragments, and in references by others (notably Aristotle).

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