Tulips and the Ottoman Empire

[Pip Shea]

Although tulips are associated with Holland, both the flower and its name originated in the Ottoman Empire. The story below was sent to me by Hilkat Orzgun of the Australian Turkish Cultural Platform:

The tulip seems to be a flower which has the power to drive men mad as anyone who has read Anna Pavordâ's book 'The Tulip' will know. In the early Eighteenth century Sultan Ahmed III literally ran his court around his obsession with the flower, hosting huge evening soirees where flowers were mirrored amid beds of candles and exotic tortoises wandered among the guests with candles strapped to their shells.