Video: Sultan Suleiman in life and on the screen: what really was the great ruler of the Ottoman Empire
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
On April 27, 1494, the 10th ruler of the Ottoman Empire was born, Sultan Suleiman I the Magnificent, whose reign is dedicated to one of the most popular Turkish TV series "Magnificent century" … Its appearance on the screens caused an ambiguous reaction from the public: ordinary viewers watched with interest the twists and turns of the plot, historians indignantly commented on a large number of deviations from the historical truth. What was Sultan Suleiman really like?
The series is designed primarily for a female audience, therefore, the central plot line in it was the relationship of the Sultan with the numerous inhabitants of the harem. Descendant of the 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Murad V, Osman Salahaddin objects to such an emphasis: “He ruled for 46 years. Over the years, he has covered almost 50 thousand kilometers in campaigns. Not in a Mercedes, but on horseback. It took a long time. Therefore, the sultan simply physically could not be so often in his harem."
Of course, the film did not initially pretend to be a historical documentary film, so the share of fiction in it is really great. The series consultant, Doctor of Historical Sciences E. Afyondzhi explains: “We have shoveled a lot of sources. We translated the records of the Venetian, German, French ambassadors who were visiting the Ottoman Empire at that time. In the "Magnificent Age" events and personalities are taken from historical sources. However, the personal life of the padishah had to be thought out by ourselves due to lack of information”.
It was not by chance that Sultan Suleiman was called the Magnificent - he was the same figure as Peter I in Russia: he initiated many progressive reforms. Even in Europe he was called the Great. The empire during the time of Sultan Suleiman conquered vast territories.
The series softened the true picture of the mores of that time: society is shown more secular and less violent than it really was. Suleiman was a tyrant, according to G. Weber, neither kinship nor merits saved him from suspicion and cruelty. At the same time, he fought against bribery and severely punished officials for abuses. At the same time, he patronized poets, artists, architects and wrote poetry himself.
Of course, on-screen characters look much more attractive than their historical counterparts. The surviving portraits of Sultan Suleiman captured a man with delicate features of the European type, who can hardly be called beautiful. The same can be said about Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, known in Europe as Roksolana. Women's outfits in the series reflect more European fashion than Ottoman - there were no such deep necklines during the "magnificent century".
Intrigues and squabbles between Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska and the third wife of the Sultan Mahidevran, to whom much attention is paid in the film, also took place in real life: if the heir to the throne, Mahidevran's son Mustafa came to power, he would have killed Hurrem's children in order to get rid of competitors. Therefore, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was ahead of her rival and did not hesitate to give the order to kill Mustafa.
S. Oreshkova, an employee of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, draws attention to the fact that the harem is shown not exactly what it really was: “It is surprising that in the series the concubines and wives of Suleiman walk so freely. There was a garden with the harem, and only eunuchs could be there with them! In addition, the series does not show that the harem in those days was not only the place where the sultan's wives with children, servants and concubines lived. Then the harem was partly like an institution for noble maidens - it contained many pupils who did not mark the ruler as a wife. They studied music, dance, poetry. Therefore, it is not surprising that some girls dreamed of getting into the harem to the sultan
Recommended:
Why the great Ottoman Empire collapsed: New findings of historians
The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest military and economic states in the world. At its peak in the 16th century, it controlled vast territories, including not only Asia Minor, but also most of southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The borders of this powerful state stretched from the Danube to the Nile. No one could compare with the military power of the Ottomans, trade was super profitable, and achievements in various fields of science, from architecture to astronomy
Truth and legends about the beloved wife of Sultan Suleiman: What really was Roksolana
The whole world knows Roksolana as a person who has broken all stereotypes about women in Islamic society. And despite the fact that her image has been so popular for almost half a millennium, there is no single true and indisputable thought either about her character or about her appearance. There is only one assumption - how a simple captive could win the heart of one of the most powerful rulers of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman I the Magnificent … Her biography conceals a lot of dark spots. Apparently, therefore, all of her portraits, painted
How to raise a great ruler: Peter I and his two mentors
Pyotr Alekseevich Romanov could have remained so in the history of Russia as a "passing" ruler, moreover, sharing the throne with another tsar. But fate willed that this boy, from childhood removed from everything that could contribute to the development of the autocrat's talents, would later receive the nickname the Great. Is it because there were those with whom it was interesting to “play the king”? Franz Lefort and Patrick Gordon - how did these two foreigners manage to "raise" the first Russian emperor?
What the Russian Empire did to tame the Ottoman Empire: the Russian-Turkish wars
Since the 16th century, Russia has regularly fought the Ottoman Empire. The reasons for the military conflicts were different: the attempts of the Turks on the possessions of the Russians, the struggle for the Black Sea region and the Caucasus, the desire to control the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. Rarely did it take more than 20 years from the end of one war to the start of the next. And in the overwhelming number of clashes, of which there were officially 12, citizens of the Russian Empire emerged victorious. Here are some episodes
The collector has collected a unique archive of photographs about life in the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th - early 20th centuries
In 1964, the Frenchman Pierre de Jigorde first came to Istanbul, and was fascinated by this city. He was engaged in trade, and also bought old photographs from local residents and collectors. As a result, he became the owner of a unique archive, the photographs of which date from 1853 to 1930. In total, there are 6,000 photographs in his collection, the names of the authors of which are forever lost. Recently, a significant part of this archive was made publicly available on the Internet