Hekim-Bashi

HEKlM BASHI, (HAKIM-BASHI)

"Chief of the Physicians", in the Ottoman Empire the title of the chief Palace physician, who was at the same 340 tJEKlM-BASHt — HERSEK-ZADE time head of the health services of the state : besides being in charge of all the Palace physicians, surgeons, oculists, pharmacists, etc., he exercised supervision over all the physicians of the Empire, Muslim or non-Muslim; it was he who appointed and dismissed all physicians, surgeons and pharmacists, who kept a check on them, who examined aspirants to these professions, and who appointed and promoted worthy candidates. Physicians were employed in the Palace, whether permanently or temporarily, probably from the earliest times. In the reign of Mehemmed II the skill of Kutb al-DIn Ahmad, the former physician of Abu Sacid the Timurid, procured his appointment as head of all the physicians of the Ottoman court, who at that time included Shukr Allah Shirwani, Khwad1a cAta> Allah cAdiami, Lari, and others. His daily stipend was 500 afrtes, which remained in later years the usual salary of the Hekim-bashi; there were also the perquisites of official gifts of summer and winter garments, and personal gifts as well. The Hekim-bashi counted as one of the officers of the Khass-oda. He resided in the Bash Lala Kulesi, built under Mehemmed II [see SARAY]; he was to some extent subordinate to the Bash Lala (Chief Preceptor of the sultan, see LALA). When the sultan fell ill, his was a most important responsibility; if his patient died, he was usually dismissed.

The medicines which he prescribed were made up under his supervision by the Palace pharmacists in the pharmacy situated in the Bash Lala Kulesi; they were placed in vessels sealed by the Hekim-bashi and the Bash Lala and administered to the royal patients as required. From the time of Mehemmed II onwards, such famous and skilled holders of the post as Yackub Pasha [q.v.], Lari Celebi, Akhi Celebi and Ghars alDin-zade were also highly favoured intimates of the Sultan. In later years, on the eve of the (solar) New Year (21 March), the Hekim-bashi made a special electuary called Newruziyye, which he presented to the Sultan and to the high officers of the Palace and of the government. One indication of the high esteem which they enjoyed is that their status and comfort were increased by the grant of arpaliks [q.v.] in the form of fiefs usually situated near Edirne, Tekirdaghi and Gelibolu. From the ioth/i6th century onwards, the Hekimbashi was known also as Re^is al-atibba3 (for his elfydb, see Feridun, M unshod at al-saldtin* i, 12). Archive documents of this period show that he controlled the appointments, transfers and promotions of the Chief of the Palace surgeons (Dierrah-bashi) and the surgeons, physicians, herbalists fashshdb) and compounders of beverages (sherbetdii), by submitting recommendations to the Dlwdn; he also attended to the staffing of the hospitals of Bayezid I at Bursa and of Mehemmed II at Istanbul, and to the appointment of physicians to such institutions as the Palace of Ibrahim Pasha and Ghalata-sarayi [q.v.], filling vacancies when necessary with kul-oghullari [q.v.] who had "practised the art of herbalism in Frengistan and the Arab lands'* or "acquired the art of surgery in Frengistan". When he retired, he continued to receive his stipend. The Hekim-bashi belonged in principle to the *ilmiyye career; he was sometimes promoted to the rank (pdye) of d^fterddr or vizier. In the nth/i7th century the post was still of importance : according to a ruzndmte register of 1013/1604 and the risdle of cAyn-i cAli, the Hekim-bashi then had under him over 20 Muslim and over 40 Jewish physicians; Ewliya Celebi records (i, 530) that in the middle of this century the Hekim-bashi held a mewlewiyyet [q.v.} of 500 aktes and had a hundred servants.

Thereafter the post became less important; at the end of the I2th/i8th century it began to be reckoned as one of those depending on the Aghas of the Dar al-Sacadet and came completely under their influence, the holders of the post being frequently changed. From 1836 onwards appointments to the post were made from the miilkiye branch of the administration. The title was changed in 1844 to Ser-Tabib-i Shehriyari, and with the establishment of the Ministry of Medical Affairs (fibbiyye) in 1850 the holder's duties were limited to those of private physician to the Palace.

Bibliography :TastikdpTuzade, al-Shafrd'ib alnucmdniyya, passim (the physicians are usually grouped in a separate tabafra at the end of each reign); Tayyar-zade cAta3, Ta^rikh-i , i, 193 ff.; Rashid, Ta'rikh, iv; Subhi, Ta'rikh, fol. 71; clzzi, Ta'rikh, 56, 153; Djewdet, Ta'rikh, vii, 263; Lutfi, Ta*rikh, v, 70; Istanbul, Basvekalet Arsivi, Miihimme def. iv (of 968/1560-1), 155, 164, 198; Ruus defterleri (Kepeci tasnifi), no. 225 (of 980-1/1572-4), pp. 353, 296, 163, 229, 120, 170, 203, 295; I. H. Uzuncarsili, Osmanh develetinin saray te§kildti, Ankara 1945, 364-8; M. D'Ohsson, Tablau general. . .,a vii, gff.; Bursali Melimed Tahir, <0thmdnli mu'ellifleri, iii, 200 ff.; 1. H. Uzuncarsili, Osmanh Tarihi, ii, Ankara 1949, 592; Hammer-Purgstall, Histoire, iv, 131, 413-4; A. Adnan-Adivar, Osmanh Ttirklerinde Him, Istanbul 1943 (expanded version of idem, La science chez les turcs ottomans, Paris 1939), passim', CO. Sh. Uludagh, Besh bu£uk aslrllk Turk fabdbeti ta'rikhi, Istanbul 1925; Izzet, Hekim-bap odasi, ilk eczane, Bas-lala kulesi, Istanbul 1933; A. Siiheyl Onver, Eski hekimba$tlar listesi, Istanbul 1940; idem, Hekimb^ ve hattat K&tip-zdde M. Refi (ol. 1769), Istanbul 1950; idem, Hakim Hac^ Pa$a, Istanbul J953; M. Z. Pakalin, Osmanh tarih deyimlen ve terimleri sdzliigu, s.v.; Gibb and Bowen, index, s.v. (M. TAYYIB GOKBILGIN)