Şah Sultan

Born around 1500, Şah Sultan was the daughter of Selim I and a concubine in the imperial harem. Her father's reign was brief but transformative, and when he died in 1520 her half-brother Suleiman ascended to become the longest-reigning and most celebrated sultan in Ottoman history. She lived through seven decades of that empire at its height, known by several names—Şahıhuban, Şahi, Devlet Şah—but the historical record preserves little of what she did or who she was. She died in 1572, having witnessed the arc of an age that left her brother legendary and herself a footnote.