Pederasty in Ottoman Empire in pre-modern era (1451-1839)

Since the commencement of history, striplings and young boys have been regarded as sexual objects in social life. Pederasty, defined as showing interest by an adult male to young boys is a form of relationship that has its roots in Ancient Greece, and it is generally comprehended as an abnormal sexual behavior in medicine. In ancient ages, this case was perceived as a helpful implument which could help youngsters to become mature individuels. Yet, it was reprobated and deemed as an cursed sin with monotheistic religions. This work is concerned with how pederasty was envisaged in premodern era of the Ottoman daly life, and how it took part in judicial records and depicted in literary works. The thesis is fundimentally consisted of three different parts: first section is relevant to how pederasty was conceived in premodern world before Ottoman empire. The second part tells about how the Ottoman Empire grappled with this issue in judicial texts nurtured with different resources and what kinds of precautions the authority took to hinder these abuses. Eventually the trials which determined at the Ottoman courts have been scrutinised in detail. These trials have been singled out in three seperate forms: werbal abuses, attempts to sexual harassments, and the experience of sexual abuse suits. In the same section, the suits of statesmen, gangs and bandits who commited pederasty crime have been studied by drawing atention to the segregation between all these culprits owing to basis of the justness of Ottoman Empire's judicial system. Eventually, literary works have been perused with the aim of indicating how the interest to striplings and young boys had been represented in literature, and the last section is anent European voyager's perception of pederasty in Ottoman Empire.