16. Death Might Have Been Preferable to Getting Locked Up by This Ottoman Sultan
Unlike many of his predecessors, Sultan Murad IV (reigned 1623 – 1640) did not murder his siblings upon ascending the throne. Instead, he settled for locking them up inside his Harem in the Kafes, or “Cage”. While the Kafes system was set up as a more merciful alternative to how prior generations of Ottoman rulers had dealt with their brothers, it might not have been much of mercy in Murad’s case.
Many of Murad’s imprisoned siblings might have wished that their brother had simply gotten it over and done with, and executed them at the start of his reign. Instead of an immediate end to their sufferings, they were subjected to years and decades of terror – often ending in death anyhow – and psychological torture.
