Abstract
Early in the sixteenth century G. A. Menavino from Genoa, a twelve-year-old, became a slave at the Court of Constantinople. His observations on the customs of the Turks, published in Venice in 1548 and in Florence in 1551, discuss some of the city's public buildings, including Timerahane which was devoted to the care and punishment of the mentally ill. In Menavino's description, mad people were taken to Timerahane in chains and shackled to the beds, in the care of warders who punished or rewarded them, and also exhibited them for the amusement of the public. Menavino also mentions drugs and other aspects of their treatment but with little detail.
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