The bath of Roxelan (Hurrem sultan hamamı)
Hagia Sophia Hurrem Sultan Hamam Every time a new sultan was appointed in the Ottoman Empire, the entire women's harem was renewed. They say that little Roxelana (Hürrem) was already there as a servant in times of Selim I ‘the Grim’ (so nicknamed because he executed all his children except one, the heir, following their dynastic traditions), but they kept her, and the mother of the new sultan, Suleiman (nicknamed ‘the magnificent’) liked her character very much, so much so that later she prepared her to be his new concubine. Suleiman fell in love with that young European woman, with red hair and a cheerful character (who arrived there after being kidnapped by pirates and sold in the slave market) and married her. Thus the era of the sultanate of women was inaugurated, who until then could not marry and also could only have one chil...