Good evening all my friends,

I want to apologize for not yet posting Vol II of my entry, "Ancient Tongue..."  I am currently doing historical research to compile certain factual data that will provide the most possible accuracy to the publication, Vol II of "Ancient Tongue" 

In the meanwhile, why not satisfy your curiosity about Turkish culture at http://www.TurkishImports.TV, my humble shop devoted to educate and entertain everyone in this rich and always amazing culture.

Sincerely
Demirelli
http://www.TurkishImports.TV

It is rather difficult to fully comprehend how trully ancient and diverse the Turkish language is.  The challenge of understanding this language's whimsical complexity and almost poetic fluency is mostly due to it's diverse nature.

Within a previous publication, Istanbul... I touched upon the fact that this city is the only municipality on the face of the Globe which is located on both continents of Asia and Europe.  One can only imagine the cultural implications of such a unique geographic location.

Contemprorary archeology tells us that there is documented proof of human occupation on the opposite shores of the Boshorus and Thrace (archeological jargon for Istanbul and it's surrounding land masses) for approximately five thousand years.

The very existence of human colonization in these areas spans from cultural integration.  The uniqueness of this geographical area is due to the fact that it is literally and culturally a bridge between East and West.

During the course of human history, there have been infinite number of migrations from East to West and vice versa.  Virtually every treking route that involved travelling between these mighty continents included the crossing of the Bosphorus Strait.

Inarguably, such constant state of cross migration caused the flourishing of a culture unparalled in richness of tradition and civility.  By the end of the Bronze Era, a bustling trading colony of the famed Ancient Greek Empire,  named Byzantium, had already been formed on the shores of the Bosphorus and related areas. 

Grandure of Rome.   Because of its strategic importance, Byzantium was conquered by the Romans early in the history of the great empire.  The Romans were in love with the culture of the Ancient Greeks, thus they embraced, and even modeled their own civilization after them. 

Because of this, the Romans more or less derived their own culture from Ancient Greco traditons, schools of thought and philosophy.  Since  Byzantium offered both cultural and material riches, it was cherished by the Romans and consequently they accomplished manumental building projects and road systems which made the city a metropolitan center of Rome's Mediterranean sphere of power and influence in the ancient World. 

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Please join me In Volume II, where I will be discussing how one Roman Emperor changed the course of Western History, not by sword, but with belief. 

Correspondingly, I will conclude Volume II with the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks.  Find out how the clash of this powerful Islamic Empire with ancient Constantinople gave birth to one of the most unique cultures in recorded history. 

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Thank You for Your participation.

There are several competing theories and explanations surrounding the meanings and origins of the world famous evil eye bead.

I believe the easiest way into understanding the evil eye symbol is to first grasp what it is not.  Contrary to popular belief, the evil eye is not a good luck charm.  It is also not a religious symbol and its origins predate monotheism.

Both superstitious and naturalists alike, all of us can relate to that most powerful of emotions, envy.  Well, in a nutshell, the evil eye symbol is believed to provide protection from the envious thoughts of others. 

Turks believe that when a person gazes upon another persons valuable possesions or related icons of wealth and good fortune, their stares will have literal negative effects on the objects of their envy.  The symbol protects the wearer from the evil eyes of others.  Hence, the symbol is called an evil eye bead.

Correspondingly, a picture is worth a thousand words, thus, below is an example of an evil eye symbol -

The other week there was a documentary on the History Channel, analyzing the history of Istanbul which contained very interesting facts about the city once known as New Rome. 

Once a thriving but small colony of the Ancient Greek Empire, known as Byzantium, historical record indicates that there have been human activity on the geographic area currently known as Istanbul for approximately four thousand years.  Yes, that is thousand with three zeroes.  :) 

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