“Moneyno longerhad any value in Istanbul,” laments the narrator of “My Name is Red”, a novel by Orhan Pamuk set in the 16th century. “[B]akeries that once sold large…loaves of bread for one silver coin now baked loaves half the size for the same price.” The royal mint was slyly reducing the amount of silver in each coin. When the Janissaries (an elite military force) found that their wages had been debased, “they rioted, besieging Our Sultan’s palace as if it were an enemy fortress.”
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “From inflation to insurrection”
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