Neurological disease of Şehzade Cihangir in the Ottoman history: spinal dysraphism

Abstract

Sehzade Cihangir (1531–1553 AD), the last born son of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Sultan Hurrem, remains an intriguing figure in the Ottoman history (Figs. 1 and 2) (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Khourrem.jpg, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:EmperorSuleiman.jpg). He was very well educated together with his elder brothers under supervision of his time, although he had some health problems since birth presenting as a big congenital hunchback. He wrote poems with the pen name BZarifi^ and he was also interested in calligraphy [1]. Cihangir and his brother Bayezid were circumcised with a grand ceremony on the Horse Square, when he turned 8 years old. Nevertheless, he refused to go to the sanjak because of his health problems and he lived in Istanbul all his life except for the two short periods when he left the city: the second Iran expedition in 1548 and the third Iran expedition in 1553 [1]. In the third Iran expedition, Sehzade Cihangir together with his father Sultan Suleiman departed from Istanbul and reached the plains of Eregli. Sehzade Mustafa, eldest son of Suleiman, also arrived with his troops from Konya [1]. Afterwards, as planned previously, Sehzade Mustafa was strangled by Sultan Suleiman’s guards in 1553 [2]. Fortunately, Cihangir survived the event because he was in his father’s tent. He was shocked by the situation since he was particularly fond of his half-brother Mustafa, and the army was demoralized when they heard about the event [1]. Historians reported that Cihangir’s melancholy was understood as they arrived in Aleppo, and this frail young man could not tolerate this unbearable situation and the difficult journey. He also had some congenital health problems and finally passed away at the age of 23 in Aleppo (https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Eehzade_Cihangir) [1]. The corpse of Cihangir was sent from Aleppo to Istanbul and was buried in the tomb of his deceased elder brother Sehzade Mehmed located in a special graveyard in front of the southern wall of the Sehzadebasi Mosque [1]. Upon returning from the third Iran expedition (cover picture, Fig. 3) (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Sueleymanname_nahcevan.jpg), Sultan Suleiman had Mimar Sinan build a mosque on the slope of today’s Cihangir, one of the neighborhoods of the Beyoglu district in Istanbul, Turkey, in memory of his deceased son Cihangir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5% 9Eehzade_Cihangir). During this period, the area was one of the favorite places of Suleiman’s son Cihangir because it was of a wooded hunting ground (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Cihangir). In terms of language, the name of * Mehmet Turgut drmturgut@yahoo.com