XVII. yy divan şairi Nev'î-zâde Atâyî, ömrünün önemli bir kısmını Rumeli kadılıklarında geçirmiştir. Şairin divanı ve hamsesinde Rumeli coğrafyası sıkça zikredilmektedir. Divanındaki kaside ve tarih kıtalarında bulunan Rumeli şehirleriyle ilgili ifadelerin yanında, hamseyi meydana getiren mesnevilerdeki olayların bir kısmı da Balkan coğrafyasında geçmektedir. Özellikle Nefhatü'l-ezhâr mesnevisindeki hikayelerin çoğunda Rumeli ve Rumeli şehirleri yer alır. Bu mesneviden başka, Sakinâme, Heft Hân ve Sohbetü'l-ebkâr mesnevilerinde de yer yer vazifeli bulunduğu ya da görüp bildiği belde ve şehirlerin isimleri zikredilmiştir. Atâyî'nin şiirlerinde adı geçen bu bölge, şehir ve beldeler şunlardır: Rumeli, Balkan, Babadağ, Boğdan, Edirne, Eflak, Eğri, Eğridere, Engürüs, Malkara, Mezistre, Rusçuk, Selanik, Silistre, Tırhala, Tırnovi, Tuna, Üsküp, Yergöğü. Atâyî, divanında ve hamsesinde, yaşadığı dönemde Avrupa ve Balkanlarda geçen pek çok tarihi olaydan da bahseder. III. Mehmet'in Avusturya seferi, Eğri Kalesi'nin alınması ve Haçova savaşı, sık sık tekrarlanan ve sahillerin güvenliğini tehdit eden Kazak baskınları, Genç Osman'ın Lehistan seferi ve siyasi çalkantılar, eserlerinin konularından bazılarıdır. Bu şehirlerde gördüğü imar faaliyetleri, Babadağ'da bizzat şahit olduğunu söylediği Sarı Saltuk kerameti, yaşadığı tayin ve atamalar, bu atamalar karşısındaki duyguları, Rumeli bölgesine ve şehirlerine bakış açısını çok net bir şekilde göstermektedir. Bu çalışmada; Rumeli şehirlerinde uzun müddet yaşayıp bu bölge kültürüne son derece aşina olan Nev'îzâde Atâyî'nin divanı ve hamsesine bakarak Balkan kültürünün, tarihinin ve coğrafyasının eserlerine yansıması ortaya koyulmuştur. Atâyî; mükemmel gözlem gücü ve tahkiye yeteneği sayesinde, XVII. yüzyıl Osmanlısında Rumeli'deki sosyal ve siyasi hayatı, en ince ayrıntısına kadar resmetmeyi başarabilmiştir

Atâyî, who was a 17th century poet, was known as possessing a hamse. He is the son of Nev‘î who was one of the prominent poets and scholars of 16th century. The real name of the poet, who was known as Nev‘îzâde Atâyî, was Atâullah. He was born in İstanbul in 1583, was appointed as müderris to Canbaziye Medresesi in 1605 and became a kadı of Lofça in 1608. He spent most of his life as kadı at several Rumeli kadılıks especially at Varna, Rusçuk, Silistre, Tekirdağ, Hezargrad, Manastır, Tırnova, Tırhala and Üsküp and passed away in İstanbul in 1635. His grave is located at Şeyh Vefâ dervish lodge (tekke) near to his father’s grave. His interest tended to Islamic Sufism and he became one of the followers of Aziz Mahmûd Hüdâyî. As a productive poet, Atâyî had a considerably voluminous divan and a hamse comprised of mesnevis named as Âlem-nümâ (Sâkî-nâme), Nefhatü’l-ezhâr, Sohbetü’l-ebkâr, Heft-hân and, Hilyetü’l-efkâr. His prosaic works are Hadaikü’l-hakaik fî tekmileti’ş-şakayık, El-Kavli’l-hasen fî cevabi’l-kavli limen, Münşeat and Zeyl-i Siyer-i Veysî. Atâyî has a very important place in the valley of hamse. He opted to be original while writing his mesnevis, he did not repeat the previous mesnevi writers and, tried not to write on the same subjects that the previous ones treated. He gave place to observation, real environmental descriptions and real events in his works and displayed the daily life, historical events and historical people of the 17th century Ottoman society with a clear and an understandable language. Some kasides and tarihs in the hamse and divan of Atayi mirrored the 17th century social life of the Ottoman state and allowed us to have an idea about the life style of that period. Most of the scenes, especially in the hamse, have historical, sociological and geographical realities. Ottoman country, especially İstanbul and Rumeli are the real places of his poems. The region situated at the Southeastern Europe as a peninsula and called as “Balkans” or “Rumeli”, has been seriously Turkified and Islamized by the conquests and settlement policies of the Ottoman state starting from the 14th century and continued westwards in the 15th and 16th centuries towards the west and important settlement and cultural centers were established in the region. Deteriorations and malfunctioning observed both at the state administration and at the public level apart from the 17th century, brought to halt the magnificent development of the state and bribery, favoritism, malpractices, moral corruptions at professional, social and private life has started to be brought into question from time to time by the historians, poets and writers. Political, military and economical hardships, collapse of the manorial system (tımar) and increase of the number of janissaries and their increasing power at the level of state administration had caused to indiscipline. This deterioration and degeneration at the highest level of the state had been also observed at the several segments of the public. Atâyî mostly chose several places of the Ottoman country as a general and basic place for his mesnevis. In this framework, the largest place was spared for Rumeli and İstanbul. İstanbul was the place where Atâyî was born and Rumeli is the place where he lived. Most of the events and characters in this framework were taken from the real life. 17 out of 20 epics in Nefhatü’l-ezhâr took place in the Ottoman lands and especially in İstanbul and Rumeli. City names were explicitly given in some of the stories. İstanbul, Üsküp, Baba, Malkara and, Bursa were the explicitly given city names. Additionally, there were stories, even the city name was not declared, it is known or it is easy to guess that the story is taking place in İstanbul or in Rumeli. Apart from these place names, it is possible to see the Rumeli geography as he mentions about the towns and cities where he was appointed, in many kaside, tarih or kıt’a in his divan; in the introduction part of Sâkinâme; in Heft Hân and in Sohbetü’l-ebkâr. He reflected the historical, social or individual events in the region in his poems and this added an original and local character to his works. Atâyî mentions about many historical events taking place in Europe and in the Balkans during his period in his divan and hamse. Austrian campaign of Mehmet III, conquest of the Eğri Castle and Haçova battle, recurrent Kazak raids which threatens the safety of the coasts, Lehistan campaign of Osman II and political turmoil are some of the topics of his works. Construction activities in these cities, Sarı Saltuk miracle that he said as he witnessed personally, his appointments and assignments, his feelings for these assignments indicates very clearly his perspective for Rumeli region and cities in Rumeli. As being very familiar to Balkan culture, he reflected the characteristics of the Rumeli region as commentating about Rumeli cultural, historical, geographical features and events that he witnessed or heard during his professional life. Campaigns of the sultans to Rumeli lands, stories about the prominent scholars, sheiks and sacred places, assignments and appointments to these towns, construction activities in the Balkans, extraordinary situations and works that he wrote in these cities take an important part in his poems. Region, city and town names as “Rumeli, Balkan, Babadağ, Boğdan, Edirne, Eflak, Eğri, Eğridere, Engürüs, Malkara, Mezistre, Rusçuk, Selanik, Silistre, Tırhala, Tırnovi, Tuna, Üsküp and, Yergöğü” are found in the poems of Atâyî. Atâyî, with his magnificent power of observation and his ability to create a story, could depicture the social and political life of 17th century Ottoman Rumeli down to the last detail. For this reason, Atâyî’s hamse and divan are very strong and reliable sources for the researches that will be conducted on Balkan cities.