CLOPHONS AS THE MIRROR OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE: HOARSE OUTCRY OF AN EXILE IN RHODES
Manuscripts are mines of information. We can dig them to acquire information not only about the ideas of authors, but also copyists and readers. Thus, it is possible to say that manuscripts include many elements in addition to the main text. These elements become enriched as manuscripts circulate across time and space. One of these elements are colophons. First and foremost, colophons provide its reader with basic information on the manuscript at hand. In addition, they shed light on the social and cultural realities of their time by a number of indirect information given by the copyist. The compendium of several works (majmu‘a) copied by Ali b. Ahmed from Hims in 1551 includes several external or even circumstantial information. This majmu‘a consists of the copies of twelve single works which Ali b. Ahmed copied during his forced exile (sürgün) in Rhodes. This article examines the colophons of these twelve works and the information in them on the biography of Ali b. Ahmed. In the colophons of the copied texts, Ali b. Ahmed recorded direct and circumstantial information on his own life story which can be used to reconstruct his biography.
Sami Arslan
