Hurrem Sultan ( Empress Roxelana )

This is one of our favorite subjects ever! In this, we've combined both parts that originally ran in 2020 to revisit Wonder Woman, mega-episode style! She was forged in the fires of the suffragist movement, and beneath her abbreviated costume beats the heart of a lion. Fighting f ... Show More

Fifty-six travelers met in the Windy City to visit some of the subjects we've covered over the years: Bertha Palmer, Frances Glessner Lee, Anne Frank, Georgia O'Keeffe, Jane Addams, and so many more. We took a good look at our favorite history hub - the 1893 World's Columbian Exp ... Show More

Bertha Palmer wore a lot of labels; Chicago socialite, patron of the arts, real-estate magnate, and all-around Gilded Age powerhouse. Her leadership at the Women's Building of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition drew praise from all over the world. (and criticism, too!) We'll a ... Show More

Hürrem Sultan, aka Haseki Sultan, aka Roxelana, was born around 1502 and was captured and sold into slavery as a young girl. She caught the attention of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and wound up shattering all kinds of glass ceilings for women, the enslaved, and concubines a ... Show More

This is the second part of a two-part episode about Hürrem Sultan. It will make most sense if you listen to part one first! Hürrem Sultan, aka Haseki Sultan, aka Roxelana, was born around 1502 and was captured and sold into slavery as a young girl. She caught the attention of the ... Show More

Ottoman Sultans kept a harem of hundreds of enslaved concubines to bear their children. But from 1533 to 1656 a handful of remarkable women bent the harem system to their wills and exercised extraordinary political influence and power. This period is known as the The Sultanate of ... Show More

Shajarat al Durr was born in the golden age of Islam. Despite her beginnings as a child slave, she went on to become the first woman to sit on the throne of Egypt since Cleopatra nearly 13-hundred years before. But in hindsight, Shajarat al Durr’s life is a Cinderella story witho ... Show More

What was life like for women in the Ottoman Empire? Was the Sultanate of Women the golden era? What was the role of the Harem? Listen as William and Anita are joined by Bettany Hughes to discuss the role of women in the Ottoman Empire. LRB Empire offer: lrb.me/empire Twitter: @ ... Show More

<p>Under a loophole of Muslim law, a sultan could take one-fifth of the spoils of war, including slaves. Learn how the sultan began a slave army -- and why would someone would want to be a soldier-slave -- in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ... Show More

Sold as a slave to the great Abbasid Caliph, al-Khayzuran quickly rose to the very top of the pyramid. Through marriage and motherhood, she became wife of the caliph and then Queen Mother and in both instances she wielded extraordinary power. In the court at Baghdad - the very he ... Show More

Born in Ethiopia, 1548, Malik Ambar was taken from his people at the age of 12 and sold into slavery. First he was sold to an owner in Baghdad, where he converted to Islam, but he ended up in India, on the Deccan plateau. From there, his star rose, eventually to become ruler of t ... Show More

Ottoman Sultans kept a harem of hundreds of enslaved concubines to bear their children. But from 1533 to 1656 a handful of remarkable women bent the harem system to their wills and exercised extraordinary political influence and power. This period is known as the The Sultanate of ... Show More

Ottoman Sultans kept a harem of hundreds of enslaved concubines to bear their children. But from 1533 to 1656 a handful of remarkable women bent the harem system to their wills and exercised extraordinary political influence and power. This period is known as the The Sultanate of ... Show More