Constantinople(Turkish, Stambul Or Istambul)

Capital of the Ottoman empire, situated on the Bosporus; the "Byzantium" of the ancients. The earliest official document hitherto discovered relating to the Jews of Constantinople dates from 390. A decree of that year (Feb. 23) bearing the successive signatures of the emperors Valentinian II., Theodosius, and Arcadius, exempted the Jewish and Samaritan ship- and cargo-owners from sharing the burdens of the society known in that city as the "Navicularii" ("Codex Theodosianus," xiii. 5, 18). Other decrees in favor of the Jews were issued during the reign of Arcadius.

Theodosius II. was the first Byzantine emperor to curtail the civil rights of the Jews. Instigated by the clergy, he expelled the Jews from the city proper, and assigned to them a district at the other side of the Golden Horn, above Galata, called Stenum (the modern Pera). Hitherto they had occupied in the city itself a special quarter known as the "copper market," where they had their synagogue, which was later converted into the Church of the Holy Mother. Instead of being included in the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities, the Jews were placed by Theodosius under that of a special strategus. According to Ibn Verga ("Shebeṭ Yehudah," p. 40), the expulsion from the city proper was really a measure of clemency on the part of Theodosius, who had previously subjected the Jews to more rigorous persecutions in order to force them to embrace Christianity. This statement has, however, no historical basis, as such action was contrary to the policy of Theodosius, who in 412 forbade the disturbance of Jewish services and the appropriation of Jewish synagogues (compare "Novellæ Theod." title iii.).

It was Justinian I. (527-565) who first interfered with the religious customs of the Jews, forbidding them to celebrate the Passover before the Christian Easter. It is said that during his reign the holy vessels of the Temple were brought by Belisarius to Constantinople; but on the remark of a Jew that they would bring misfortune to Constantinople as they had done to Rome and Carthage, they were returned to Jerusalem.

There are no records of the fate of the Jewish community of Constantinople during the reign of Heraclius I. (610-641), who, after he had massacred thousands of Jews in Palestine in the course of his war with the Persians, ordered the remainder throughout his empire to be baptized. It seems, however, that the Constantinople Jews found protectors in the persons of Heraclius' wife, the empress Martina, and her son Heracleonas; for the historian Nicephorus records that, emboldened by their influence, the Jews on one occasion stormed the Church of St. Sophia.

The Iconoclasts.

With the accession of the Iconoclasts the Jewish community of Constantinople, like those of the other cities of the Byzantine empire, underwent terrible persecutions. Indeed, during the reign of Leo the Isaurian—as well as later under Basil I.—it actually ceased to exist, the Jews having been forced either to emigrate or to embrace Christianity. But the Byzantine capital, the greatest commercial center of that time, had such attractions for the Jews that the slightest relaxation in the persecutions brought thither masses of new settlers. No wonder, therefore, that it became the center of Judaism as soon as Leo VI. (886-911) had restored religious freedom to the Jews; although their social condition continued to be intolerable. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Constantinople in 1176, gives the following account of the Jews there:

Benjamin of Tudela's Account.

"No Jew dwells in the city, the Jews having been expelled beyond the one arm of the sea. They are shut in by the channel of Sophia on one side; and they can reach the city by water only, whenever they visit it for the purpose of trade. The number of Jews at Constantinople amounts to two thousand Rabbinites and five hundred Karaites, who live on one spot;but a wall divides them. The principal Rabbinites, who are learned in the Law, are Rabbi R. Abatlion, R. Obadiah, R. Aaron Kustipo, R. Joseph Sargeno, and R. Eliakim the Elder. Many of the Jews are manufacturers of silk cloth; many others are merchants, some of them being extremely rich; but no Jew is allowed to ride upon a horse except R. Solomon ha-Miẓri, who is the king's physician, and by whose influence the Jews enjoy many advantages even in their state of oppression. This state is very burdensome to them; and the hatred against them is enhanced by the practise of the tanners, who pour out their filthy water in the streets and even before the very doors of the Jews, who, being thus defiled, become objects of hatred to the Greeks. Their yoke is severely felt by the Jews, both good and bad: they are exposed to beatings in the streets, and must submit to all sorts of harsh treatment. But the Jews are rich, good, benevolent, and religious men, who bear the misfortunes of exile with humility. The quarter inhabited by the Jews is called Pera."

The king referred to by Benjamin was Manuel Comnenus (1143-80), who—probably owing to the influence of Solomon ha-Miẓri—placed the Jews of Constantinople again under the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities.

Under the Turks.

A new era for the Jewish community began with the fall of the Byzantine empire (May 29, 1453). Mohammed the Conqueror (1451-81), on entering his new capital, granted to the Jews equal rights with all his non-Mussulman subjects, assigning to their chief rabbi a seat in the divan next to the spiritual chief of the Greek Church. Foreign Jews were invited to settle in the suburb of Haskeui, where building sites were gratuitously divided among the newcomers. Two Jews, Ḥakim Ya'aḳub and Moses Hamon, were elevated to high official positions: the former being appointed minister of finance; the latter, physician to the sovereign.

The sixteenth century was the golden age of the Jewish community of Constantinople. Sultan Bayazid II. (1481-1512) received the exiles of Spain; and these gave a great impulse to its material and intellectual life. Moreover, thousands of wealthy Maranos, who had been persecuted in Italy and Portugal, sought refuge in Constantinople, where they resumed their former religion. Among these were Joseph Nassi, created Duke of Naxos by Selim II. (1566-74), and Donna Gracia, his mother-in-law, both of whom liberally endowed the community with schools, charitable institutions, and synagogues. According to Stephan Gerlach ("Tagebuch," p. 90), the number of Maranos who settled in Constantinople up to 1574 amounted to 10,000, and the whole Jewish population numbered 30,000. There were 44 synagogues, representing as many separate congregations, each of which retained its own customs, rites, and liturgy.

Influential Jews.

Under Murad III. (1574-95) and Mohammed III. (1595-1603) many Constantinople Jews became very prominent in the politics of the Turkish empire. In addition to Joseph Nassi, Duke of Naxos, who held a high office, a physician named Solomon ben Nathan Ashkenazi, a native of Poland, held, about 1580, the office of ambassador at Venice. A Jewess named Esther Kiera, widow of Elijah Chendali, was powerful at court, being the favorite of the sultana Baffa, wife of Murad III. No less prosperous was the material condition of the community. The wholesale trade, customs dues, shipping, and coinage were mainly in Jewish hands. As Moses Almosnino relates in his description of Constantinople, Jews owned the largest houses, with gardens and kiosks equal to those of the grand viziers. Many easily earned a livelihood by teaching languages and by acting as interpreters, as is attested by Petrus della Valle, who himself learned foreign languages from a Jew at Constantinople ("Viaggi de Pietro della Valle," i. 71 et seq.).

Shabbethai Ẓebi.

An interruption of this happy state of the community took place in the seventeenth century. The ever-growing weakness of the sultans and the increase of the religious fanaticism of the Mussulmans made the Jews the prey of the soldiery, who often set fire to the Jewish quarters in order to plunder during the confusion. Another factor which contributed largely to the intellectual and material ruin of the prosperous community was the Shabbethai Ẓebi agitation. The scenes of disorder of which Constantinople became the theater during the pseudo-Messiah's stay in the city, alienated from the Jews the good will of the sultan, who saw in the movement not a purely religious manifestation, but a rebellion against his authority. Further, their affairs being neglected during the years of this Messianic chimera, the Jews were supplanted everywhere by the Greeks and Armenians; and they had neither the courage nor the power to regain their former position. All these causes combined to make the community a veritable type of the Turkish empire—without strength to live and without desire to die. Misery and ignorance went hand in hand, and annihilated all energy and enterprise in this once industrious and rich population. There were, indeed, from time to time some wealthy and influential families, such as the Agimans, the Gabbais, and the Carnionas, members of which held official positions; but the majority remained in the most abject destitution and ignorance.

An endeavor to raise the material and intellectual condition of the community was undertaken with some success in the second half of the nineteenth century, first by Albert Cohn, who in 1854 founded at Constantinople a school patterned after European institutions, and then by the Alliance Israélite Universelle through the numerous institutions which it established there for the instruction of young people.

In 1853 two Jews of Constantinople, Behar Effendi Ashkenazi and David Effendi Cremona, were appointed by 'Abd al-'Aziz members of the council of state; and in 1876 both of them were nominated senators by Sultan 'Abd al-Ḥamid.

Literary Productions.

Persecutions contribute but little to poetry and learning; and during the Byzantine period Constantinople did not produce any noteworthy rabbinical scholars. The Karaites, however, displayed some scientific activity, and counted among their number prominent men like Judah ben Elijah Ḥadassi (1150), author of "Eshkol ha-Kofer"; Aaron ben Joseph ha-Rofe (1290), author of the "Kelil Yofi" and "Sefer ha-Mibḥar"; Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia, author of "Eẓ Ḥayyim" (1346).

The security and prosperity enjoyed by the Jews under the first Turkish rulers brought about a greatscientific movement; and Constantinople became the focus of Jewish learning. Mohammed the Conqueror followed the custom established by his predecessors in nominating a ḥakam bashi, or grand rabbi, chosen from the Rabbinite Jews. Sambari (Neubauer, "Medieval Jewish Chronicles," i. 153) gives the names of the rabbis of Constantinople who officiated from 1453 to 1672 as follows:

Rabbis.

Moses Capsali; Elijah Misraḥi; Tam ben Yaḥya, author of "Ohole Tam"; Elijah Capsali, author of a historical work entitled "Debe Eliyahu"; Samuel Yafe, author of "Yefeh Toar," etc.; Samuel Saba'; Joseph ibn Leb; Joshua Ẓonẓin, author of "Naḥlah li-Yehoshu'a"; Hananiah ben Yaḳar; Jehiel 'Anabi; Elijah ben Ḥayyim, author of "Torat Mosheh" and responsa; Moses Aruk; Mordecai ha-Kohen; Gedaliah Ḥayyun; David ha-Kohen; Samuel di Curiel; Elijah ha-Levi; Abraham Ibn Jamil; Gabriel Alya; Eliezer ben Naḥmias; Shemariah Sharbiṭ ha-Zahab; Ḥayyim Egozi; Abraham Monson; Isaac Ashkenazi; Jehiel Bassan; Joseph of Trani; Jeremiah Mabrogonato (); Salomon Caro; Samuel ben  (?); Yom-Ṭob ben Ya'ish; David Egozi; Abraham Allegre; Baruch ben Ya'ish; Baruch ben Ḥayyim; Judah Afna'im; Abraham Sharbiṭ ha-Zahab; Aaron Cupino; Ḥayyim Alfandari; Moses ben Shangi; Baruch Ashkenazi; Joseph ben Shangi; Isaac Ispania ha-Rofe; Ẓemaḥ of Narbonne; Isaac Sasson; Moses Bassan; Elijah; Meïr Isaac; Eliezer ben Shushin (); Isaiah of Trani; Joshua Benveniste; Ḥayyim Benveniste; Moses Benveniste; Yom-Ṭob ben Yaḳar; Joseph ha-Kohen Ḥasid; Ḥayyim Algazi; Moses Afna'im; Solomon ben Mubḥar; Yom-Ṭob Birbinya; Aaron Hamon; Jehiel Bassan the Younger; Aaron Yiẓḥaḳi; Nissim Egozi; Abraham Ashkenazi; Meïr de Boton; Samuel ha-Levi; and Samuel 'Adilah.

Besides these rabbis, many of whom were equally renowned for their great Talmudical knowledge and for their proficiency in the secular sciences, there were in the second half of the fifteenth century and during the sixteenth a succession of brilliant writers and scholars, such as Mordecai Comtino, Shabbethai ben Malkiel, Solomon Sharbiṭ Zahab, Joseph ibn Verga, and Moses Pizanto. The characteristic feature of that period was the scientific intercourse between the Karaites and the Rabbinites. In spite of some obscurantists, who attempted to interrupt these relations by excommunications and other violent measures, Rabbinite scholars instructed the Karaites in rabbinical literature and the secular sciences; and this circumstance had a salutary effect upon the Karaite community, which had hitherto been immersed in ignorance. A series of brilliant writers and scientists, such as the Bashyaẓis, Caleb Afendopolo, Abraham Bali, Moses Bagi, and Joseph Rabizi, arose within it and became illustrious in various branches of knowledge.

Printing-Offices.

The impetus to learning was much furthered by the establishment in Constantinople of Hebrew printing-offices, the first of which was opened in 1503 by David Naḥmias and his son. In 1530 the renowned printer Gerson Soncino established another; and a third was opened in 1560 by the Ya'abeẓ family. Authors who could not afford to publish their works found at Constantinople Mæcenates who were willing to defray the necessary expenses. Thus Esther Kiera paid the cost of publication of the "Sefer ha-Yuḥasin" of Zacuto in 1566; Nathan Ashkenazi, the son of the ambassador, published at his own expense the responsa of Moses Alshech. In 1579 the duchess Regina Nassi established a printing-office in her palace at Belvedere, where authors without means were sure of assistance. See Constantinople (Typography).

The retrogression in the political and economic conditions of the community extended to the literary movement. After the Shabbethai Ẓebi agitation Constantinople ceased to be a focus of Jewish learning, and during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it could not boast of a single name of importance. The rabbis of this period were:

Abraham Rozanes (c. 1727); Samuel Moohas (1790); Abraham Levy (1835-36); Samuel Ḥayyim (1836-39); Moses Fresco, called "Rab ha-Zaḳen" (1839-41); Jacob Behar David (1841-54); Ḥayyim Cohen, called "Rab Cahana" (1854-60); Jacob Abigdor (1860-63); Yaḳir Geron, called "Rab Preciado" (1863-72); Moses Halevy (1872).

The leading rabbinical writers of this period were:

Abraham Soncino (1703); Eliezer ben Sanche (1720); Elijah Alfandari (1720); Tobias Cohen (1729); Jacob Kuli (1733); Elijah Palombo (1804); Moses Fresco and Abraham Abigdor (1827); Raphael Shacky (1839); Jacob Rofe (1849); Solomon Ḳimḥi (1862); Joseph Alfandari (1868); Ḥayyim Menahem Frangi and Hezekiah Medini (still living in 1902).

In 1853 Leo Ḥayyim de Castro founded the first Jewish periodical in Judæo-Spanish, entitled "Or Yisrael; ô La Luz de Israel," which was followed by "Jornal Israelit" (1860); "Sefat Emet, õ El Luzero" (1867); "Sharkiye" (The Orient), in Turkish, with Hebrew characters (1869); "El Tiempo" (1871); "El Sol" (1879); "El Radio de Luz" (1885); "El Amigo de la Familla" (1886); and "El Telegrafo." Of these papers two only are still in existence; viz., "El Telegrafo," a daily, and "El Tiempo," a biweekly.

There are about 55,000 Jews in a total population of 1,000,000, distributed in the following quarters: Haskeui, 20,000; Balata, 15,000; Ortakeui, 7,000; Kuskunjuk and Daghamam, near Scutari, 6,000; Pera and Galata, 5,000; Stambul, around the Sublime Porte, and Maḥmud Pasha, 1,000; various suburbs along the Bosporus—Arnaut-Keui, Pasha Bagtche, and Buyukdere—300; Haidar Pasha and Kadi Keui, 700. Ritually they are divided into three classes; viz., Sephardim numbering 51,000; Ashkenazim, 3,000; and Karaites, 500.

Population and Constitution.

In conformity with the "Constitution of the Jewish Nation" granted to them in 1865 by the Ottoman government, the Jews of Constantinople are governed by a ḥakam bashi, or chief rabbi, and two assemblies, the civic communal council, Mejlis Jasmani, and the spiritual council, Mejlis Ruḥani, each council being elected for three years by an assembly of notables. The former numbers among its members the majority of the Jewish officials employed by the government; while the latter is composed exclusively of rabbis well versed in the Talmud. The Jewish settlement in each quarter has in addition a spiritual leader, who is consulted on all sorts of religious questions, and who presides at the administrative council of every synagogue. In every quarter there is a Jew bearing the title "Kehaya," whose duty it is to notify the city government of Jewish births, deaths, and transfers of real estate.

Rabbinical Courts.

In the three populous suburbs of the city there are three rabbinical courts, which, however, decide only in divorce cases, all other legal matters being under the jurisdiction of the state. The rabbinical court ofBalata has at its disposal a prison called "Ḥakan Khane."

The annual budget of the consistory amounts to 111,692 francs, being revenue from the tax on meat, cheese, wine, brandy, and unleavened bread, from a poll-tax paid by the rich notables, and from taxes on marriage certificates, passports, and transfers of real estate.

There are in Constantinople 40 synagogues and 4 batte midrashim. None of the synagogues is very old, all having been burned down and rebuilt. Those of Istipol and of Galata seem to be the oldest. In 1453 the physician to Mohammed the Conqueror, Moses Hamon erected a house of prayer at Haskeui, and called it by his name, "Ḳahal Ḳadosh Hamon." Other synagogues, notably that of the Exile ("Gerush"), were built after 1492 by Spanish exiles and others.

The Alliance Israélite Universelle supports 11 schools at Constantinople: 6 for boys and 5 for girls, with a total attendance of 3,000. More than 1,000 children attend the Talmud Torah; and there are about 30 private schools. In 1898 a Jewish seminary was founded under the direction of Abraham Danon. Some young Jew attend the higher schools of the state, for the study of medicine, law, pharmacy, fine arts, agriculture, etc.

The community possesses the following twelve benevolent agencies:

Benevolent Institutions.

(1) The Society of Jewish Women of Pera and Galata, founded in 1893, to assist lying-in women, widows, the sick, and the poor: (2) Ahabat Ḥesed, founded by young men of Pera and Galata, to provide clothing for poor children of the Jewish schools; (3) Bruderverein, founded in 1875, to assist the poor and the sick of the Ashkenazic congregation; (4) Jungbundsverein, founded in 1897, to provide meals for poor children of the German Talmud Torah; (5) the Society of German Women, founded in 1897, to establish a hospital and to maintain an asylum for the aged; (6) the Society of Jewish Young Women of Pera, founded in 1894, to feed the poor pupils of the girls' school at Galata: it clothes 150 children every year, besides furnishing medicine and relief to the poorest; (7) the Society of Jewish Women of Haskeui, founded in 1895, to aid lying-in women; (8) Or ha-Ḥayyim of Balata, founded in 1885, to establish and maintain a Jewish hospital, which latter was inaugurated Sept. 1900 in a handsome new building on the shores of the Golden Horn; (9) Society Meḳor ha-Ḥayyim of Haskeui, founded in 1895, to aid the poor and to provide pecuniary assistance to young men studying in the government colleges; (10) Society Ẓeror ha-Ḥayyim of Haskeui, founded in 1896, for a similar purpose; (11) Society Ha-Ḥemlah of Balata, founded originally under the name "Ha-Tiḳwah," for mutual financial aid; (12) Society 'Ozer Dallim of Kuskunjuk, for the same purpose as the preceding. There is also a ḥebra ḳaddisha in each quarter.

The Jewish Hospital at Constantinople.(From a photograph.)Present Conditions. Page From Midrash Tehillim, Printed at Constantinople, 1512.(In the Columbia University Library, New York.)

The majority of the Jews of Constantinople are poor, and are engaged in petty trade, in pedling, or as porters, fishermen, and boatmen. A small industry peculiar to the Jews is the cutting of cigarette-paper. Still, there are among them rich wholesale merchants and bankers of the second or third rank. A dozen Jewish banks are connected with the stock exchange of Galata. At Pera four or five large Jewish houses manufacture novelties known as "articles de Paris." The principal houses for ready-made clothing are conducted exclusively by Jews from Vienna. A Jew from Salonica named Modiano owns the glass-works at Pasha-Bagtche, the only one of its kind, which furnishes glass to the whole of Turkey. Many Jews (almost all the Karaites) are goldsmiths, jewelers, and money-changers. Through the Alliance Israélite Universelle, Jewish young men are taught various trades, as carpentery, turning, goldsmithery, cabinet-making, type-setting, upholstery, etc. But the Alliance prefers to have them employed as secretaries or accountants in European companies: banks (Ottoman Bank, Crédit Lyonnais), insurance societies, water-works, gas companies, wharves, etc.

A number of Jews are employed in the government offices. The first secretary of the Imperial Divan, who collects all the reports of the Turkish foreign ambassadors and translates them into Turkish, is the Jew David Molho Pasha. Elias Cohen (known as "Elias Pasha") is physician to the sultan.

Jews are found in the civil list of the ministry of public instruction and in consular offices. There are among the 55,000 Jews of the city 20 physicians, and as many druggists, all educated in the government schools, some of them having completed their studies at Paris, Berlin, and Vienna. See Byzantine Empire.

Bibliography:

  * For the Byzantine period: Cousin, Histoire de Constantinople, 1685;
  * Dropeyron, L'Empereur Heraclius, 1869;
  * Le Beau, Histoire du Bas-Empire, 1819-20;
  * Hertzberg, Gesch. der Byzantiner und des Asmanischen Reiches, 1883.
  * For the Turkish period: Hammer-Purgstall, Gesch. der Asmanischen Reiche, 1827;
  * Schudt, Jüdische Merckwürdigkeiten, 1715, i. 203 et seq.;
  * Baudin, Les Juifs à Constantinople, 1878;
  * Grätz. Gesch. viii. 204, ix. 29, x. 190;
  * Schacky, in Archives Israélites, liv. 341 et seq.;
  * Franco, Histoire des Israélites en Turquie, 1897.



J. I. Br.—Typography:

In the year 1503 David Naḥmias, a descendant of an old Spanish family, established, in conjunction with his son Samuel, the first printing-office in Constantinople. According to Steinschneider, the first work published by the Naḥmias firm was the Ṭur, of which edition only one copy, now in the Oppenheim collection (No. 521 F) in the Bodleian Library, is extant. At the death of David Naḥmias in 1511, the press fell under the direction of Samuel, in conjunction with Astruc of Toulon and Judah ben Joseph Sasson. Together with Samuel Rikonim, Astruc of Toulon established, in the same year, an independent press, from which, however, the former withdrew two years later. Astruc continued the office until 1513.

In 1518 another printing-office, in existence only five years, was established by Solomon ben Mazzal-Ṭob. About the same time new presses were established by Joseph ben Ajid al-Ḳabiẓi, Yom-Ṭob Sichri ben Raphael, and Moses ben Samuel Facilino. In 1526 the well-known printer Gerson Soncino entered the field. After his death, in 1530, the business was continued by his son Eliezer until 1547, when it became the property of the physician Moses ben Eliezer Parnas, who held it until 1554. From 1560 typography in Constantinople began to decline; and in the last years of that century there was no press in the city. Printing was then carried on at Belvedere, where the widow of Joseph, Duke of Naxos, had established presses. In 1593 these presses were transferred to Kura Chesme, a village near Constantinople. In 1639 printing was resumed in Constantinople by Solomon Franco and his son Abraham, which concern was still in existence at the end of the century. The leading printers of the eighteenth century (some books appearing at Ortakoï, a suburb) were Jona Ashkenazi (with Naphtali ben Azriel) and his son Nissim Ashkenazi. The following list of the principal publications issued during the sixteenth century will give some idea of the activity of the Constantinopolitan presses during that period. It should be remarked that several of the prints are without the printers' names, some without place of origin, and a few without either.

  * 1503\. Arba' Ṭurim.
  * 1505\. I. Abravanel's "Rosh Amanah."
  * 1505\. Torah, Megillot, and Hafṭarot.
  * 1505\. I. Abravanel's "Zebaḥ Pesaḥ." etc.
  * 1505\. I. Abravanel's commentary to Abot.
  * 1506\. David ibn Yaḥya's "Leshon Limmudim."
  * 1509\. Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah."
  * 1509\. Alfasi.
  * 1510\. (?) "Hanhagat ha-Deber."
  * 1510\. (?) Isaac of Corbeil's "'Ammude Golah."
  * 1510\. Yosippon.
  * 1510\. Naḥmanides' "Hassagot."
  * 1510\. Abraham Levi ha-Zaḳen's "Mashre Ḳiṭrin."
  * 1510\. Joshua Levi's "Halikot Olam" and Samuel ha-Nagid's "Mebo."
  * 1510\. Siddur Romania. See "Zeit. für Hebr. Bibl.," iii. 72.
  * 1511\. Jonah Gherondi's "Sha'are ha-Tesbubah."
  * 1511\. Nathan b. Jehiel's "'Aruk ha-Ḳaẓer."
  * 1511\. Collection of Talmudic Haggadot.
  * 1511\. "Haggadot ha-Talmud."
  * 1511\. Jehiel b. Yekutiel's "Bet Middot."
  * 1512\. (?) Midrash Mishle.
  * 1512\. "Bereshit Rabbah."
  * 1512\. Midrash Tillim.
  * 1513\. Abudirham.
  * 1513\. D. Ḳimḥi's "Shorashim."
  * 1514\. Baḥya's "Shulḥan Arba'."
  * 1514\. Pirḳe R. Eliezer.
  * 1514\. I. Aboab's "Menorat ha-Ma'or."
  * 1514\. Naḥmanides' "Perush ha-Torah."
  * 1514\. Jacob b. Asher's "Perush ha-Torah."
  * 1514\. Abr. ibn Ezra's "Perush ha-Torah."
  * 1514\. Abraham Sabah's "Zeror ha-Mor."
  * 1515\. Jacob b. Asher's "Ḳiẓẓur Pisḳe ha-Rosh."
  * 1515\. "Petaḥ Debarai."
  * 1515\. Solomon ibn Gabirol's "Azharot."
  * 1515\. Baḥya's "Kad ha-Ḳemaḥ."
  * 1515\. Mekilta.
  * 1515\. Samson of Chinon's "Sefer Keritut."
  * 1515\. Makir's "Abḳat Rokel."
  * 1516\. Solomon b. Adret's "Teshubot."
  * 1516\. (?) Abr. Ḥayyun's "Amarot Ṭehorot."
  * 1516\. "Halakot Pesuḳot."
  * 1516\. Torah, without vowels.
  * 1516\. Seder 'Olam.
  * 1516\. Abraham Zacuto's "Sodot."
  * 1516\. Moses' Midrash, "Eldad ha-Dani," etc.
  * 1516\. Benveniste's "Meliẓat le-Maskil."
  * 1516\. Yeruḥam b. Meshullam's "Toledot Adam we-Ḥawwah."
  * 1516\. (?) "Sefer ha-Yashar."
  * 1517\. Maimonides' "Sefer ha-Miẓwot."
  * 1517\. (?) "Mishpeṭe ha-Ḥerem."
  * 1517\. "Dine de Garme."
  * 1517\. "Pirḳe Ḥallah."
  * 1517\. "Hilkot Ṭerefot."
  * 1517\. Elisha b. Abraham's "Magen Dawid."
  * 1517\. Midrash Shemu'el.
  * 1517\. Asher b. Jehiel's "Teshubot."
  * 1517\. Baḥya's "Perush ha-Torah."
  * 1518\. (?) Solomon Almoli's "Pitron Ḥalomot."
  * 1518\. Esther, with commentary of Isaac Arama.

Title-Page From BaḤya Ben Asher's "Kad Ha-ḲemaḤ," Printed at Constantinople 1520.(In the Columbia University Library, New York.)

  * 1518\. Isaac Caro's "Toledot Yiẓaḳ."
  * 1518\. Abr. b. Ḥisdai's "Ben ha-Melek."
  * 1518\. (?) Solomon Halevy's "'Abodat ha-Lewi."
  * 1518\. Naḥmanides' "Torat ha-Adam," "Sha'ar ha-Gemul."
  * 1519\. (?) "Otiyyot Shel R. Akiba."
  * 1519\. Ben Sira, Midrash Wayasha', etc.
  * 1519\. Abr. Yarḥi's "Sefer ha-Manhig."
  * 1519\. Solomon Almoli's "Halikot Sheba."
  * 1519\. Kol Bo.
  * 1519\. David b. Yaḥya's "Leshon Limmudim."
  * 1520\. Joshua ibn Shu'aib's "Derashot."
  * 1520\. Midrash Ḥamesh Megillot.
  * 1520\. Joseph Bekor Shor's "Perush ha-Torah" (?).
  * 1520\. (?) I. Campanton's "Darke ha-Talmud."
  * 1520\. (?) Moses ibn Ḥabib's "Marpe Lashon."
  * 1520\. Elijah Mizraẓi's Tosafot to "Semag."
  * 1520 (1540?). Maimonides' "Teshubot Sha'alot Iggeret."
  * 1521\. Abr. Bibago's "Derek Emunah."
  * 1522\. Torah, with commentary, etc.
  * 1522\. Midrash Tanḥuma.
  * 1525\. I. Aboab's "Bi'ur Perush ha-Rambam."
  * 1529\. Abr. ibn Ezra's "Yesod Mora."
  * 1530\. Abr. ibn Ezra's "Safah Berurah."
  * 1530\. Sefer Tefillot.
  * 1530\. Elijah Bashyaẓi's "Aderet Eliyahu."
  * 1530\. Judah Bolat's "Kelal Ḳaẓer."
  * 1530\. Sol. Almoli's "Me'assef le-Kol ha-Maḥanot."
  * 1532\. Hai Gaon's "Musar Haskel" and Ezobi's "Ḳa'arat Kesef."
  * 1532\. Almoli's "Sha'ar Adonai he-Ḥadash."
  * 1533\. Jos. Ya'beẓ's "Ḥasde Adonai."
  * 1534\. El. Mizraḥi's "Sefer ha-Mispar."
  * 1534\. D. Ḳimḥi's "Miklol."
  * 1535\. Imm. b. Solomon's "Maḥberot."
  * 1536\. David Vidal's "Keter Kehunnah."
  * 1536\. Jehiel b. Ruben's "'Eser Yeri'ot."
  * 1536\. Judah Khalas's "Sefer ha-Musar."
  * 1537\. David Kohen's "Teshubot."
  * 1538\. I. Aboab's "Nehar Pishon."
  * 1539\. Abr. Shalom's "Neweh Shalom."
  * 1539\. Jacob B. Asher's Arba' Ṭurim.
  * 1539\. Jacob of Illesca's "Imre No'am."
  * 1540\. Al-Ḥarizi's "Taḥkemoni."
  * 1543\. Judah ben Isaac's "Milḥemet ha-Ḥokmah weha-'Osher."
  * 1543\. Judah ben Isaac's "Minḥat Yehudah Sone ha-Nashim."
  * 1544\. Gedaliah ben Yaḥya's "Shib'ah 'Enayim."
  * 1546\. Barfat's "Teshubot."
  * 1546\. "Torat Adonai" (polyglot).
  * 1547\. Moses of Coucy's "Miẓwot Gadol."
  * 1548\. Nissim Gerundi's "She'elot u-Teshubot."
  * 1549\. Solomon ben Melek's "Miklol Yofl."
  * 1550\. Baḥya's "Ḥobot ha-Lebabot."
  * 1553\. Isaac ben Reuben's "Sha'are Dura" or "Sefer ha-She'arim."
  * 1559\. Elijah Mizraḥi's "She'elot u-Teshubot."
  * 1560\. Judah Zarḳo's "Leḥem Yehudah."
  * 1560\. (?) Judah Nathan Provençal's "Or 'Olam."
  * 1561\. Solomon Alḳabeẓ's "Shoresh Yishai" (on Ruth).
  * 1562\. Saadia's "Ha-Emunot weha-De'ot."
  * 1565\. Naashon of Babylon's "Re'umah."
  * 1565\. (?) Isaac Arama's "Yad Abshalom" (on Proverbs).
  * 1566\. Joseph ibn Leb's "She'elot u-Teshubot."
  * 1566\. M. Zacuto's "Sefer ha-Yuḥasin."
  * 1567\. Moses ben Ḥayyim's "Ner Miẓwah."
  * 1567\. Simeon ben Ẓemaḥ's "Yesha' Elohim."
  * 1570\. Joseph Ḥayyim's "Mille de-Abot."
  * 1572\. (?) Mattathiah Zacuto's "Zebaḥ Todah."
  * 1573\. Joseph Nasi's "Ben Porat Yosef."
  * 1575\. "She'elot u-Teshubot ha-Geonim."
  * 1575\. Moses Najara's "Leḳaḥ Ṭob."
  * 1575\. Samuel Aripol's "Leb Ḥakam."
  * 1576\. David Messer Leon's "Tehillah le-Dawid."
  * 1576\. Eliezer Ashkenazi's "Meḳor Baruk."
  * 1577\. Isaac Onḳeneira's "Ayummah ka-Nidgalot."
  * 1578\. Al-Ḥarizi's "Taḥkemoni."
  * 1581\. Judah Chelebi's "Sha'are Yehudah."
  * 1581\. Aaron ben Joseph's "Kelil Yofl."
  * 1583\. Isaac Ya'abeẓ's "Ḥasde Abot."
  * 1585\. (?) Isaac ibn Latif's "Perush 'al Ḳohelet."
  * 1585\. Aaron Abraham's "Iggeret ha-Ṭe'amim."
  * 1586\. Ḳohelet, with commentary by Samuel Aripol.
  * 1593\. Moses Alshech's "Torat Mosheh."



During the nineteenth century a few Hebrew books were printed at Ortakeui or Constantinople; e.g., Abraham Abigdor's "Zeker le-Abraham" (1824), Isaac Farḥi's "Marpe le-'Eẓem" (1830), Abrabam Zaki's "Shemen Rosh" (1839), and Joseph ha-Rofe's "Shemen ha-Ṭob" (1849). But a very large number of books in Judæo-Spanish, and not a few journals, have been issued, a list of the latter being given in the article Constantinople. Karaite books have been published in the nineteenth century by Irab Oglu & Sons.

Bibliography:

  * Cassel and Steinschneider, Jüdische Typographie, in Ersch and Gruber, Encyc. section ii., part 28, pp. 37-40, 63.



J. I. Br. G.