Sublime Porte

The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte , was a synecdochic metonym for the central government of the Ottoman Empire.

The name has its origins in the old Oriental practice in which the ruler announced his official decisions and judgements at the gate of his palace. This was the practice in the Byzantine Empire and it was also adopted by Ottoman Turk sultans since Orhan I, and therefore the palace of the sultan, or the gate leading to it, became known as the "High Gate". This name referred first to a palace in Bursa, Turkey. After the Ottomans had conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, the gate now known as the Imperial Gate , leading to the outermost courtyard of the Topkapı Palace, first became known as the "High Gate", or the "Sublime Porte".

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