
Suleiman the Magnificent's tomb believed to have been found in Hungary - diodorus
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/dec/09/suleiman-the-magnificent-tomb-hungary
======
mudil
He is the only Sultan who has ever got married. His wife, Roxelana, is a
legendary figure
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxelana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxelana)).
Being one of the girls in the harem, this Ukrainian girl completely captivated
Suleiman's heart, took over him, and convinced him to get married. She was a
de facto ruler (at least a major player) of the Ottoman Empire while he was on
conquests and even when he was in Constantinople. The other interesting thing
about Roxelana is that pretty much all her descendants, future sultans, were
either degenerates or feeble minded, which historians think contributed to the
decline of the Ottoman empire.

~~~
GnwbZHiU
How do you mean by "He is the only Sultan who has ever got married"? The other
Sultans don't get married?

~~~
morazow
In Ottoman empire the Sultans do not get married, I think it was forbidden.
They have Harem, the women are concubines.

The story is that Roxelana (aka Hürrem Sultan) got herself freed and when
Süleyman wants her, refuses and tells him "he needs to marry her" since she is
not a slave anymore. She was only woman marring a sultan.

His was interesting fact for me also, because it means all sultans are kinda
bastards. But a little research shows that children are not considered
bastards. Also from religion point of view.

~~~
_nedR
If i remember correctly this was a rule that was politically motivated to keep
the polical power concentrated within the family.

------
cba9
> Historians believe Suleiman’s heart and internal organs were buried in the
> tomb and his body taken back to Constantinople, as Istanbul was then known.
> His death at Szigetvar was kept secret for 48 days to prevent his troops
> from giving up the fight.

I was wondering how the tomb of the most famous sultan could have possibly
gotten itself lost. The answer is it's only _sort_ of his tomb.

------
Rayearth
World history class taught us that Suleiman's domestic policy was what made
him legendary. Much later I learned that he almost took Vienna - essentially
the high water mark of the Ottomans. Imagine what the world would have been
like if he succeeded...

~~~
cup
Probably would have been a lot more Jews alive in Europe for starters.

Edit: People seem to be unhappy with this comment. Rather than vote on it, why
not comment on it.

~~~
vessenes
Arab-Jew conflict like we have today is a relatively modern thing, starting
around the turn of the 19th century and intensifying during WW2 for a variety
of reasons, including oil politics for Hitler and increasing land /
nationalism tensions.

An interesting book about this and Iraq in specific is Banking on Baghdad;
published in 2008, it's aimed at an interested Western reader, and is a good
read.

~~~
smcl
Thanks for this reccomendation, it's in my queue now :)

------
davidf18
He rebuilt the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Jerusalem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walls_of_Jerusalem)

These walls are of Jerusalem Stone and are very impressive and thick as are
the gates.

------
jdimov9
There are hardly any ideological differences between this celebrated sultan
and the ISIS (Daesh) religious leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Their ambitions
are also largely identical.

Incidentally, Russia freed my country (Bulgaria) from the oppression of the
Turkish (aka Ottoman) empire 300 years ago. Today, Russia again seems to be
the only country with the will AND capability to fight ISIS (Daesh).

~~~
clock_tower
I still haven't quite forgiven Putin for the Russo-Georgian War, but the
Russo-Georgian War was a fair sight less bad than how the Turks and Persians
treated Georgia; and you're right about the Turks and ISIS.

Historians in the English-speaking world have a habit of gushing about the
early Islamic caliphate, the Umayyads in al-Andalus, and the Ottoman Turks.
(Indeed, Carly Fiorina regards the Ottomans as "the greatest in the world" \--
[http://www.examiner.com/article/fiorina-sings-the-praises-
of...](http://www.examiner.com/article/fiorina-sings-the-praises-of-islam-
ottoman-empire-greatest-civilization) .) The fashion for this began with
Jewish Orientalism in the 19th century, and with the point that the Umayyads
in particular were pretty tolerant of the Jews; but this obscures the fact
that the Ottomans and the others were _vile_ -- routinely impaling and
crucifying, and slave-trading (for both sexual and other purposes) on a really
enormous scale.

If 300,000 slaves imported mean that the American South was indefensible, what
does that make the Ottomans, who practically depopulated the Caucasus because
Caucasian men were brave and Caucasian women were beautiful? (And this is
without even mentioning their similar depredations in the Balkans, and in
Africa.)

------
manofthehaus
He was great in Civ

------
selimthegrim
Oh noes, is this going to be Turkish sovereign territory too like the "tomb"
in Syria?

