TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Glossary
Term · Sovereignty and central government
Also known as: Arma-i Osmânî (Ottoman coat of arms)
A distinctive emblem expressing an authority or a social status; the Ottoman state's coat of arms, arranged in the Western manner, also goes by this name.
The word comes from the Latin arma, “shield” and “weapons”; in the Middle Ages it became the name of the identifying figures that European knights put on their shields. In the early period, when the Ottomans did not favour figurative images, the sultan's tughra served as the emblem of the state. The state coat of arms that appeared later is a symmetrical composition of many elements arranged in the Western manner: at the top the tughra with an inscribed crescent holding it from below, in the middle a starred medallion, and on either side flags with the crescent and star together with symbolic objects such as weapons, scales and books.
Explore the Ottoman coat of arms piece by piece, in 3DSource: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, article “ARMA” (in Turkish); text condensed for the atlas.