«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

m 166 n George Tsoutsos, Christos Teazis Piri Reis’s Greek and Arabic Influences in his Сhart and Map Drawing for the Ottoman Empire A mong the Ottoman pirates, Piri Reis constitutes a special case because at the same time he was a geographer and a pilot 1 . In the present work we will not proceed into a technical analysis of Piri Reis’ Cartographic work, but we are going to examine the social and cultural conditions through which his personality was moulded and his various capabilities were displayed. In this way we will spot, as much as possible, the Greek and Arabic influences in his nautical activities and cartographic work. The environment that he was raised in, the city of Kallipolis-Gelibolu indisputably constitutes the first important stop-over in his life and a source of great stimulants and influences. Kallipolis was the city which already had a shipyard since the Byzantine era, and up to the beginning of the 16 th century it was one of the biggest and most productive shipyards of the Ottoman state 2 . As for the date of birth and death of Piri Reis they are considered to be the years 1465 and 1554 respectively accord- ing to the Encyclopedia of Islam 3 . In the earlier edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam Babinger writes about his Greek origin. However, an uncertainty remains for his origin, because of the lack of further records for his uncle Kemal Reis who brought him up (Piri Reis was an offspring of Kemal’s sister 4 ). On the 1 Krantonelli A. Ιστορία της πειρατείας στους πρώτους χρόνους της τουρκοκρατίας 1390– 1538. Athens: Vivliopolion tis Estias, 1985. P. 134. 2 Bekaroglou E. A. Οθωμανικά ναυπηγεία στον παραδοσιακό ελληνικό χώρο. Athens, 1994. P. 73. 3 Levy R. Piri Reis // Islam Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 9, p. 561. 4 Krantonelli, Op.cit, p. 132–133, and G. Kordatos. Μεγάλη Ιστορία της Ελλάδας: Νεώτε- ρη, Α1 1453–1821. 2 nd Ed. Athens: 20 th Aionas (no date). Vol. 16, p. 76.