Authors' note: The authors would like to thank Randi Deguilhem for her suggestions and corrections of the English. Abdul-Karim Rafeq for his advice, and Jean-Louis Paillet who drew the map of Damascus after one made by Dorothée Sack.

¹ André, Raymond, Grandes villes arabes à l'époque ottomane (Paris, 1985), 12–15.Google Scholar

² Ibid., 272.

³ Jean-Claude, David, Le waqf d'lpšir PaŞa à Alep (1063/1653), Etude d'urbanisme historique (Damascus, 1982);Google ScholarHeinz, Gaube and Eugen, Wirth, Aleppo, Historische und geographische Beiträge zur baulichen Gestaltung, zur sozialen Organisation und zur wirtschaftlichen Dynamik einer vorderasiarischen Fernhandelsmetropol (Wiesbaden, 1984);Google ScholarBruce, Masters, The Origins of Western Economic Dominance in the Middle East, Mercantilism and the Islamic Economy in Aleppo, 1600–1750, New York University Studies in Near Eastern Civilization no. 12 (New York: New York University Press, 1988);Google ScholarAbraham, Marcus, The Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1989).Google Scholar

⁴ Among others, see his articles in Abdul-Karim, Rafeq, Buḥūth fi't-ta'rīkh al-iqtiṣādī wa l-ijtimāʿī li Bilā;d al-Shām fi l-ʿahd al-ʿuthmānī (Damascus, 1985).Google Scholar

⁵ See Karl, Barbir, Ottoman Rule in Damascus, 1708–1758 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980) and several articles published since.Google Scholar

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⁹ Fernand, Braudel, Civilisation matérielle et capitalisme (Paris, 1967), 212.Google Scholar

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¹¹ See Ad, Van der Woude and Anton, Schuurman, eds., Probate Inventories: A New Source for the Historical Study of Wealth, Material Culture and Agricultural Development (Wageningen, 1980).Google Scholar The contributions deal mainly with Europe and the United States; Micheline, Baulant, Paul, Servais, and Anton, Schuurman, eds., Inventaires après décès et ventes de meubles, apports à une histoire de la vie économique et quotidienne, XIVe-XIXe siècle (Louvain, n.d.).Google Scholar

¹² Fekete, L., “Das Heim eines türkischen Herrn in der Provinz im XVI Jahrhundert,” Studia Historica 29 (1960);Google ScholarIbolya, Gerelyes, “Inventories of Turkish Estates in Hungary in the Second Half of the 16th Century,” Acta Orientalia Hungarica 39 (1985): 275–338.Google Scholar

¹³ Ömer, Lutfi Barkan, “Edirne askeri kassam'na âit tereki defterleri (1545–1569),” Belgeler 3, 5–6 (1968): 1–479.Google ScholarKarl, Liebe-Harkort, Beiträge zur sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Lage Bursas am Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts (Hamburg, 1970).Google Scholar

¹⁴ See, for example, André, Raymond, Artisans et commerçants au Caire au XVIIe siècle, 2 vols. (Damascus, 1973–1974).Google ScholarNicolas, Todorov, “Le numéraire des successions en tant que signe de différentiation de la population urbaine,” Rocznik orientalistyczny 38 (1976): 283–89; Rafeq, Buḥūth fi't-ta'rīkh.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Gerelyes, “Inventories of Turkish Estates,” n. 2.

¹⁶ Gilles, Veinstein, “Note sur les inventaires après décès ottomans,” in Quand le crible était dans la paille…, ed. Dor, R. and Nicolas, M. (Paris, 1978), 383–95;Google ScholarGilles, Veinstein and Yolande, Triantafyllidou-Baladié, “Les inventaires après décès ottomans de la Crête,” in Probate Inventories, 191–204;Google ScholarGilles, Veinstein, “Les pèlerins de la Mecque à travers quelques inventaires après décès ottomans,” Revue de l'Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée 31 (1981): 63–71;Google ScholarYolande, Triantafyllidou-Baladié, “Les objets de première nécessité et les signes de richesse dans le mode de vie de la société ottomane de Crète aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles,” in Inventaires après décès et ventes de meubles, 349–59.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Sijill no. 15 and no. 19 of the Direction of Historical Archives in Damascus. Two other earlier registers (no. 9 and no. 10) contain probate inventories of the military (qisma ʿaskariyya). We would like to thank its head, Daʿd al-Hakim who allowed us to consult these archives.

¹⁸ A more detailed description is given by Veinstein and Triantafyllidou-Baladié, “Les inventaires après décès ottomans de la Crête,” and by Jean-Paul, Pascual, “Les inventaires après décès: une source pour l'histoire économique et sociale de Damas au XVIlème siècle,” in Les villes dans l'Empire ottoman: activités et sociétés, ed. Daniel, Panzac, pt. 1 (Paris, 1991), 41–65.Google Scholar

¹⁹ A comparative example is an analogous work carried out in France by Pardailhé-Galabrun, who has headed a team studying 3,000 Parisian households from the 17th to 18th centuries. Under her direction, forty researchers have analyzed 2,783 probate inventories, which, over six years (1978–1984), amounts to a bit more than ten years per individual. Our analysis is also based on a sample study.

²⁰ Robert, Mantran, Istanbul dans la seconde moitié du XVIIème siècle (Paris, 1962), 246.Google Scholar

²¹ Ibid., 233.

²² Raymond, , Artisans et commerçants, 17.Google Scholar

²³ Mantran, , Istanbul, 240.Google Scholar

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²⁷ Veinstein, “Les pèlerins de la Mecque.”

²⁸ Edhem, Eldem, “Le commerce français d'Istanbul au XVIIIème siècle,” 2 vols. (Aix-en-Provence: University I, 1989), 168.Google Scholar

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³² For all these crafts and those cited infra, see al-Qasimy, M. S., Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, ed. al-Qasimy, Z., 2 vols. (Paris-The Hague, 1960) q.v., and also Barthélémy, Dictionnaire.Google Scholar

³³ In this latter case, the craft has been deduced from the kinds of items owned by the deceased.

³⁴ This suq is without a doubt the one built or renewed by Bahram Agha on the site of the ancient Qudmaniyyin suq, see n. 35.

³⁵ The khan (or qīsāriyya) al-Bahramiyya and the adjacent suq (37 ḥānūt) were built in 1646 by Bahram Agha, katkhuda of the Sultan Ibrahim's mother. They were situated intramuros near Bab al-Jabya, north of the Qutun suq; see Waqfiyya Bahram Agha dated March 1646 (Rajab 1055) according to a copy owned by one of the authors.

³⁶ On the location of the other khans, see Fouad, Yahya, “Inventaire archéologique des caravansérails de Damas” (Aix-en-Provence: University I, n.d.) 343.Google Scholar

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³⁹ Al-Qasimy, , Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, 2:313.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Raymond, , Grandes villes arabes, 279.Google Scholar

⁴¹ Al-Qasimy, , Dictionnaire des métiers damascains, 1:13.Google Scholar