The historical secret hidden in “Magnificent Century”...

The series “The Magnificent Century” won the hearts of millions of viewers around the world. The series provided a glimpse into the inner world of the Ottoman court, where intrigues, the struggle for power and great love intertwined with complex patterns of fate are told. However, despite the luxurious scenery and the historical reliability of many details, the creators of the series deliberately hid one of the darkest traditions of the Ottoman harem.

The series depicted the girls in the sultan’s harem as women of mature age, capable of competing for the ruler’s attention, smart enough to organize intrigues and old enough to bear heirs. However, the reality was much sadder.

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• For centuries, the admission of girls to the harems of the Ottoman Empire was carried out on the basis of strict selection, and this began at a very young age.
  
• Girls were taken to the harem at the age of 12-14.
  
• Some, like Khurram, were taken to the harem in captivity, captured by the Crimean Tatars.
  
• Others were “gifts” for the sultan — the parents themselves sent their daughters to the palace so that they could achieve a high position and provide strong ties to their families.
  

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Why did they hide this tradition in “The Magnificent Century”?

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The creators of the series understood that showing the reality of harem life would cause outrage and hatred among viewers. Showing that the wives were actually still children would be too sad and dangerous for a TV project intended for a wide audience.

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• The characters' ages were exaggerated to avoid awkward questions — the girls in the series look like young women, not teenagers.
  
• The scene where the Sultan chooses his wife from among underage girls was removed — in fact, this was a common practice.
  
• Details about the wives' many years of education and their subsequent fate, deprived of the Sultan's attention, were removed.
  

How old was Khurram?

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When viewers meet Khurram, they see a young woman on the screen - at the time of filming the first season, actress Maryam Uzerli was 28 years old. Moreover, according to the plot, she already had experience in relationships and even had a girlfriend.

In reality, everything was much more abstract. According to historical data, the captured Roksolana, who later became Khurram, was only 15 years old. Her date of birth is unknown, but this can be learned from the moment she gave birth to her first child. Suleiman and Hurrem's son, Mehmet, was born in 1521, and his mother was 16 years old at the time of his birth.

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The traditions of the Ottoman Empire were not only glorious, but also cruel. The series "The Magnificent Century" allowed us to feel this history, but not everything we saw on the screen was true. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”