17. From Crazy to Crazy Evil
People worried when Ibrahim began feeding pet fish with coins. As it became clear that he was crazy, Ibrahim’s mother ruled in his stead, encouraging him to spend as much time as possible in the Harem with his nearly 300 concubines. She wanted him out of her hair and out of trouble, and to father male heirs since, by then, he was the last surviving Ottoman male.
For years, Ibrahim took to the Harem with relish, fathering three future Sultans and a number of daughters. As a contemporary put it “In the palace gardens he frequently assembled all the virgins, made them strip themselves naked, and neighing like a stallion ran amongst them and as it were ravished one or the other”. Until he woke up one morning, and in a fit of madness ordered his entire Harem tied in weighted sacks and drowned in the Bosporus.
