John Freely – författare

A remarkable tale of empire and exile, restoring to vivid life one of the most extraordinary and colourful figures of medieval history.Jem Sultan, born in 1459, was one of the wonders of his age. A Turkish prince held captive in Europe at a time when the Ottoman Empire was at its peak, he was renowned throughout the continent as a romantic, mysterious figure. Today he is almost forgotten in the West, but in Turkey he is still a heroic figure, a gallant poet-prince who never grows old, his tomb a place of pilgrimage.Jem Sultan was a son of Sultan Mehmet II, known as the Conqueror after his capture of Constantinople in 1453. When Mehmet died in 1481 Jem and his brother Beyazet fought a year-long war for the succession. Jem lost, and fled to Rhodes. He was held for seven years in various castles in France, then imprisoned in the Vatican. He died in 1495, probably poisoned by the infamous Borgia Pope, Alexander VI. His body was finally returned to Turkey in 1499.John Freely, who has had access to original documents in English, Turkish, French and Italian, tells the remarkable story of Jem Sultan from his childhood and youth in the palaces of the Ottoman Empire through his war with his brother and his long years of exile in Europe.

Istanbul's history is a catalogue of change, not least of name, yet it has managed to retain its own unique identity. John Freely captures the flavour of daily life as well as court ceremonial and intrigue. The book also includes a comprehensive gazetteer of all major monuments and museums. An in-depth study of this legendary city through its many different ages from its earliest foundation to the present day - the perfect traveller's companion and guide.

First published in 2005. Long acknowledged to be the 'best travel guide to Istanbul' (Times of London) this classic of travel literature is now available in a larger format in hardback binding. The work is both a useful and informative guide to the city with major useful monuments described in detail in terms of the history and architecture. Althoughthe main emphasis of the book is on the Byzantine and Ottoman Antiquities, the city is not treated as a museum in the context of a living city. Itineraries are arranged so that each one takes the visitor to a different part of Istanbul.

The Irish-American physicist, academic and traveller John Freely wrote more than sixty lively books on travel, history and science before he died in 2017, aged 90. But It was Istanbul, where he emigrated with his family in 1960 to take up a post teaching physics at the American Robert College, that turned him into a writer. His first book, 'Strolling Through Istanbul' – written with his fellow academic Hilary Sumner-Boyd – was an instant success when it was published in 1972 and has never been out of print since. With the exception of Oğuz, so thin that he was known as The Ghost because he barely cast a shadow, everyone in John Freely's rumbustious memoir, including the author himself, is larger than life. Bohemian Istanbul was a haven for myriad misfits who found their feet in the city. Clamorous, glamorous, eccentric, cosmopolitan and frequently outrageous, they included the 'berserker' Peter Pfeiffer, a resourceful exile with three passports; Aliye Berger, the beautiful queen of bohemian Pera; the writer James Baldwin and, fleetingly, the future Pope John XXIII. This elegy for a lost world encapsulates the flavour of their daily life and nightly excesses. Well lubricated with lemon vodka and Hill Cocktails served by Sumner-Boyd's gloomy housekeeper, 'Monik Depressive', the Freely crowd weave their way from the Galatasaray fish market and the taverns of Çiçek Pasajı to the Russian restaurant Rejans, and frequently on to the Freely household on the Bosphorus hills, where a party will soon be in full swing and eggnog flowing freely. 'Stamboul Ghosts' is lllustrated with Ara Guler's poignant black-and-white photographs, which make of Freely's beloved city an evocative stage-set.

First published in 2005. Long acknowledged to be the 'best travel guide to Istanbul' (Times of London) this classic of travel literature is now available in a larger format in hardback binding. The work is both a useful and informative guide to the city with major useful monuments described in detail in terms of the history and architecture. Although the main emphasis of the book is on the Byzantine and Ottoman Antiquities, the city is not treated as a museum in the context of a living city. Itineraries are arranged so that each one takes the visitor to a different part of Istanbul.

Throughout the 1960's John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd explored every alley, cove and monument of their adopted home of Istanbul in between their teaching jobs. They created a legendary guidebook, covering 1,500 years of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, to a city that was still innocent of tourists. But the passages that were too personal, too capricious, too idiosyncratic, too indulgent of eccentric personalities, too melancholically obsessed with lost monuments, too wrapped up in the love of mid-afternoon banter, too indulgent of musicians, dancers, gypsies, dervish, drunks, beggars, fishermen, poets, fortune-tellers, folk healers, mimics and prostitutes were cut from their scholarly guidebook. Stamboul Sketches is a slim book compiled from these editorial floor off-cuts. Inspired by travelling in the footsteps of Evliya Celebi, the Puck-like Pepys who wrote about 17th century Istanbul, Stamboul Sketches is a beautiful, quirky portrait of a city caught like a bird on the wing, so much changed but so much the same.

Discover how ancient Greek science shaped the modern world in this captivating journey through philosophy, astronomy, medicine, and the cross-cultural legacy of knowledge.Miletus: one of the wealthiest and most important towns in ancient Greece. It was here, on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, in the 6th century BC, that the great traditions of Greek science and philosophy sparked into life, setting in motion a chain of knowledge that would change the world, forever. This is the extraordinary story of Greek science from its earliest beginnings through its development in classical Athens and Hellenistic Alexandria and its subsequent diffusion to the wider world. Most histories of Greek science end with the collapse of the Graeco-Roman world in late antiquity and the closing of all classical schools of 'pagan' philosophy in A.D. 529. But acclaimed historian John Freely here continues the story to tell of how the elements of Greek scientific and philosophical learning were adopted by the Islamic world and the transmission of Graeco-Islamic science to western Europe, as well as the preservation of Hellenic culture in Byzantium and its profound influence on the European renaissance and our modern world.

'The best travel guide to Istanbul' - The TimesPractical and informative, readable and vividly described, this is the definitive guide to and story of Istanbul, by those who know it best.This is the 2009 revised and updated edition of the classic guide to Istanbul, originally published thirty-seven years previously, which continues to inform and enchant visitors.Taking the reader on foot through this captivating city - European City of Culture 2010 - the authors describe the historic monuments and sites of what was once Constantinople and the capital in turn of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, in the context of the great living city.Woven throughout are vivid anecdotes, secret histories, hidden gems and every major place of interest the traveller will want to see.

The Cyclades are the quintessential Greek isles, renowned for the beauty of their seascapes, their historical monuments and a unique way of life deeply rooted in the remote past of the Aegean. Over the course of more than 7,000 years the Cyclades have seen a succession of civilizations, the earliest of them perpetuated in legends such as that of Atlantis, which has been identified with volcanic Santorini. The islands are arrayed around their sacred centre on Delos, where Leto was said to have given birth to the divine twins Apollo and Artemis, children of Zeus. Dionysos was born on olive-embowered Naxos, where he fell in love with Ariadne, and myths relate that Poseidon was the protector of Tinos, whose mid-summer festival of the Virgin is celebrated with the folk-dances and songs for which the Cyclades are famous. In this comprehensive guide to the Cyclades, John Freely describes the immemorial past and timeless present of these enchanting islands, which still await discovery.

Crete, the 'Great Island' of Greece, has been home to such figures as the legendary King Minos, El Greco and Nikos Kazantzakis. In myth, it is associated with Daedalus and Icarus and the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Today it is one of the most popular destinations in Greece, its visitors lured by the promise of spectacular beaches and the remains of some of the most influential and ancient civilisations in Europe. Part history, part guide, "Crete" includes comprehensive and detailed itineraries, covering the cities of Iraklion, Rethymnon and Chania; the great Minoan palaces at Knossos, Phaestos and Ayia Triadha plus Graeco-Roman ruins, Byzantine churches and Venetian churches. Scattered throughout are the myths, legends and folklore of the island, as well as notes on its hidden gems: scenic stopping-off points, untouched beaches, mountain villages and tavernas, where the ancient ritual songs and dances of Crete are still performed.'In the middle of the sable sea, there lies an isle called Crete, a ravisher of eyes...' - Homer, "The Odyssey".

Rising from the waters between Greece and Italy, the Ionians - peaks of an underwater mountain range - are some of the most culturally, historically and mythologically rich in all Greece. Consisting of Corfu, Paxos, Ithaka, Lefkas, Cephalonia, Zakynthos and Kythera, they have been variously invaded and occupied by the Goths, Arabs, Normans, Venetians, British, Germans and most recently by tourism, yet they have always absorbed and assimilated other cultures whilst still retaining their unique character and identity.The Ionians have been made famous in literature from Homer and Aeschylus to Gerald Durrell and Louis de Bernieres and numerous myths are associated with them: Corfu is linked to the voyage of Jason's Argonauts, Aphrodite was born on Kythera, Paxos and Corfu were once joined until Poseidon threw his trident and separated them and Odysseus' home was on Ithaka. John Freely, who has visited and travelled throughout the islands over the course of 40 years, here illuminates the history, culture and present day of all seven islands, providing the most readable and comprehensive guide to the magnificent Ionians.

This book is a history of the architecture produced in Turkey under the Ottoman Empire. It focuses on extant buildings in the Republic of Turkey, particularly those in Istanbul and the empire's earlier capitals in Bursa and Edirne. The book begins with a brief history of the Ottoman Empire, followed by an outline of the main features of Ottoman architecture and its decoration, then a brief biography of the great Ottoman architect Sinan. Successive chapters follow the development of Ottoman architecture from 1453 until 1923. The book is intended for the general reader with an interest in architecture, especially that of the Ottoman Turks, whose culture has left its mark not only on Turkey, but in the Balkans and throughout the Middle East.

The traveller gets exactly what he needs, and in a handy format. THE TIMESThe author seems to have covered every road in the country, and has something of interest to say about virtually every site. COUNTRY LIFEIstanbul is the only city in the world that stands astride two continents, spreading across from Europe into Asia at the southern end of the Bosphorus, the incomparably beautiful strait linking the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara in northwestern Turkey.This Companion Guide to Istanbul goes as far as the region around Marmara from the Bosphorus to the Dardanelles, which flows into the Aegean past the historic ruins of Troy on its Asian shore.Revised and updated for this new edition, the book is a guide to the Byzantine and Ottoman monuments and to the many other places of great historic interest around the Marmara, including Edirne, Bursa and Iznik, ancient Nicaea, as well as the renowned archaeological site of Homeric Troy. It is also an introduction to Turkey itself and to its people and their way of life, which they are more than willing to share with the traveller who takes the time to become acquainted with them.JOHN FREELY has lived and worked on America's east coast, in Britain, and around the Mediterranean, but is long-time Professor of Physics at the University of the Bosphorus, Istanbul, and has been resident for many years in Turkey. His understanding of the land and its people has made him a respected interpreter of Turkey ancient and modern.