- [[Ottoman Turkish was an elite administrative language]] - [[The Curious History of the Croissant by Courtney Traub]] discusses an 1863 Ottoman siege of the Austrian capital, Vienna; this siege is allegedly responsible for the invention of several baked goods... although it's apocryphal, it might be nice to talk about on a day I bring in croissants. - Ottoman Turks conquered Byzantium and were responsible for the fall of Constantinople; there was a symbolic [[2022-06-27 Last Stands|last stand]]. We have relatively interesting [[Byzantine Warrior With Gold-Threaded Jaw Unearthed in Greece by Laura Geggel|archaeological evidence of a warrior with a broken jaw repaired with gold]] from a battle between Byzantium and the Ottomans, too. - [[Ottomans castrated Christian kids taken as servants]], but we don't know much about Ottoman harems, according to my research [[2021-11-01 Marriage (DRAFT)]]. That said, this [an exhaustive explanation of what we know about harems and Ottoman marriage politics](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/mnk6yr/how_much_do_we_know_about_what_the_ottoman/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) pairs nicely with when I talk about the Sunsword books by Michelle Sagara and reminds me a lot of Cyador in the saga of recluse by Modesitt. Could be useful for [[Backwards Mapping Fiction]], or general worldbuilding. - Ottoman control of the Balkans eventually ended, but [[Notes on the Balkans by Matt Lakeman]] is a first-person account of what the impacts of Ottoman rule were on the region, and might be useful for contrasting to how [[Greek nationalism and pride surrounding Athens is mostly a reaction to independence from the Ottomans]].