Princess Taj al-Saltaneh — A Symbol of Beauty in the 19th Century Iran

She was so desirable, her suitors literally committed suicide because she had rejected them

Peter Preskar
Lessons from History

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Two photos of Taj al-Saltaneh, Iranian princess (Image on the left: Wikimedia Commons and image on the right: themindcircle.com)

Have you ever thought about why you find a certain woman or a man attractive? Have you ever thought about why you say about a certain individual that he or she is ugly? The opinion about someone’s attractiveness forms in a matter of milliseconds. Where does it come from?

An Iranian princess so beautiful poets wrote poems about her

Taj al-Saltaneh (Image: themindcircle.com)

The woman in the photos was a princess, well-educated intellectual, free-spirited soul, and a beauty. Poets wrote poems about her beauty. One guy even sneaked into her house just to have the opportunity to see her.

Men fought for her attention. Thirteen of the men whose marriage proposal she had rejected committed suicide.

She was brave and ahead of her time. She fought for women’s rights when there were no women’s rights at all. She was the first woman who took off the hijab and began wearing European clothes. She dared to criticize the…

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