The Sultan Who Liked To Doodle
Blood thirsty autocratic leaders have many interesting hobbies.
Sultan Mehmed II “The Conqueror”. Sultan of all Sultans, King of all Kings. The merciless warrior who slaughtered millions and brought Constantinople to its knees. A man so great…! That he liked to doodle both as a young prince and as Sultan of The Ottoman Empire.
look at the little owl awww
This doodle might not seem like much, but learning a fact as simple as “he liked to doodle” allowed me to see shades of depth in Mehmed’s personal character that I wasn’t even sure I was comfortable imagining.
Let me illustrate what I mean;
Mehmed was only 9 but he knew he was going to be The Sultan someday. He loved the idea of being The Padishah. A big palace, horses, and all the sweets in the kitchens — just for him! He couldn’t wait. Plus he’d be a big, powerful man just like his father!
Mehmed loved his Baba. In fact, he wished his Baba would come and whisk him away from his lessons — but he knew that would not happen today, as his father was very busy with internal affairs. He pouted at the thought.
His tutor had nodded off halfway through his lesson. Mehmed knew he was supposed to be practicing his signature — but he did not care! He didn’t want to work on his writing.
He loved to doodle. When he doodled, he thought of his baba and his horse and the wise owl in the cage in his mothers apartments. So he would not tattle on his tutor, no sir! Little Mehmed wanted to day dream and doodle all day long!
Now imagine that little kid who “just likes to doodle” grew up to become one of the most prolific Ottoman Sultans, killing, maiming, raping, and imprisoning thousands upon thousands of innocent men, women, and children in their own countries without provocation.
Now imagine you’re in 15th century Turkey with little Mehmed from our story. Put yourself in that room. Just kneel down next to him. Now look into his big brown eyes and ask him;
“How could you do it, Mehmed? How could you kill all those people?”
Imagine his reaction. Do you feel that uncomfortable, heavy feeling in the pit of your stomach? That is what we call perspective.
Human is as human does. When you look into history it is like looking into yourself. You are looking at Sultan Mehmed II and you are asking yourself, “Is that humanity? Is that me?”
It is easy to write off such people as “demons” or “monsters” after the fact — but the plain truth is; they weren’t.
They were human once. They were innocent once. They doodled… once.
Best,
A.
