Pages: 495-503

The article reveals some crucial episodes of life of D. Cantemir, the outstanding Moldavian politician and scholar, man of letters and musician, in the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The author shows that over 20 years of his life in Istanbul, D. Cantemir developed from a young hostage into a great and all-round personality, who was highly appreciated in political and intellectual, as well as religious and royal circles. The magnificent palace he built became the place of interaction between representatives of Christian Orthodox and Western Islamic elites. Not only owing to his origin, but also to his powerful authority, D. Cantemir was always considered to be a candidate to the throne of Wallachia’s and Moldavia’s principalities. In late 1710 he left the Bosporus to take the throne in Yassy on the sultan’s order and upon the patriarch’s blessing.