Hurrem Sultan ( Empress Roxelana )

In this revisit from 2019, we wonder: was Annie Londonderry a flim-flam artist or a true pioneer? Maybe both? Her trip around the world on a bicycle may have been controversial - but she was always up for both an adventure and a tall tale. For information and to register for the ... Show More

Virginia Hall wanted to be a diplomat, but the State Department kept shutting doors in her face …and then she lost her leg in a hunting accident, which seemed like she’d reached a dead end. Never one to accept defeat, she learned how to walk again on a wooden leg nicknamed “Cuthb ... Show More

Rosa Bonheur was a wild, animal‑obsessed kid who drew before she could read, and knew she was meant for the world of art from an extremely young age. She didn’t set out to shock anyone; she simply refused to be anything but herself, and the world eventually had to adjust to her. ... 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