Literary and Objective Map: Shah and Sultan Study

Literary Map

İskender Pala introduces the novel’s narrative beginning in 1501 with Babaydar and Kambercan. Kamber Can, believed to be a nephew of Shah Ismail, is separated from Babaydar—who he regards as his entire family—at the age of seven or eight. His castration and subsequent arrival at the Safavid court, his friendship with Aka Hasan, his being given as a slave to Taçlı Hatun, Shah Ismail’s second wife, and his search for love form key dramatic elements of the novel. Additionally, the novel employs descriptions portraying the Qizilbash’s veneration of Shah Ismail as profoundly sacred: those who saw his face would faint, and he was said to possess an exceptionally radiant countenance. Later, while Shah Ismail undertakes political maneuvers to strengthen the Safavid state and spread Shiism, he achieves a major victory over his brothers. Meanwhile, Yavuz Sultan Selim, newly ascended to the Ottoman throne, works to restore order to his empire, which his ministers had struggled to manage, and prepares to neutralize the Safavid threat. The novel details in depth the process leading from Yavuz Sultan Selim’s journey to Tabriz to play chess with Shah Ismail, through their exchange of hostile letters, military preparations, to the eventual confrontation of their armies at the Battle of Chaldiran.

Aka Hasan, Shah Ismail’s right-hand man and the guardian of Kambercan, has a twin brother named Hüseyin Can. Unlike his twin, Hüseyin Can serves as Yavuz Sultan Selim’s loyal supporter. Despite their opposing allegiances, the bond of love between them never weakens or breaks. The story of these twin brothers, Aka Hasan and Aka Hüseyin, highlights the human dimension of this period: one brother fights in the Ottoman army, the other in the Safavid ranks, yet both strive to preserve their bond despite all divisions. However, when they face each other on the battlefield of Chaldiran, Hüseyin is forced to kill his brother. Overcome by profound grief and sorrow after killing his sibling, Hüseyin leaves Yavuz Sultan Selim’s side and joins Shah Ismail’s faction.

According to the novel, all soldiers arriving at the Battle of Chaldiran lament that their opponents are also Turks and Muslims, and that fighting them is both irrational and agonizing; they recite elegies. Defeated at Chaldiran, Shah Ismail flees with his first wife and mother of his son, Taçlı Begüm, while his second wife, Bihruze, falls into Ottoman hands. Unable to bear this sorrow, Shah Ismail, according to the novel, changes his pen name from “Hıtayi” to “Hatayi.” During this same period, Sultan Selim adopts the epithet “Yavuz.”

Although Yavuz Sultan Selim is deeply enamored by Bihruze’s beauty, he refuses to marry her because she is Turkish and the wife of Shah Ismail, his enemy. Instead, he marries her to Cafer Çelebi, a man who does not believe in love. The portrayal of Taçlı Hatun, that is, Bihruze, as a beautiful woman who wins the affection of both Selim and Ismail supports the novel’s dramatic structure. In the novel, Taçlı Hatun, or Bihruze, seeks true and pure love. She tells Kambercan, her slave, that both her childhood love Ömer, Shah Ismail, and Yavuz Sultan Selim love her, and that Kambercan loves her too.

Toward the end of the novel, Yavuz Sultan Selim dies from a boil on his waist; his brief reign and short life are attributed to the curse of his father, Bayezid II. Four years after Yavuz Sultan Selim’s death, Shah Ismail also dies, and Bihruze, unable to endure this loss, dies shortly thereafter. Finally, the novel concludes with Kambercan learning that he is indeed Shah Ismail’s nephew, and with Ömer, Bihruze’s childhood love, arriving at her grave.

Objective Map

Between 1501 and 1524, the Safavid state was established under the leadership of Shah Ismail, during which Shi’a Islam was officially adopted as the state religion in Iran. As the head of the Safavid Sufi order, Shah Ismail laid the foundations of the state in Azerbaijan and entered into continuous rivalry with the Ottoman Empire. In 1514, the Ottomans won the Battle of Chaldiran, halting Safavid expansion into the West. During this period, the Safavids implemented significant religious and cultural reforms, establishing Shi’a beliefs as dominant in Iran. They exerted influence over Shi’a Turkmen communities within the Ottoman realm, inciting them against Ottoman authority. This situation threatened the central authority of the Ottomans in Anatolia and prompted Yavuz Sultan Selim to act.

Yavuz Sultan Selim ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520 in a brief but highly effective reign. Before him, the Ottoman state faced major crises: one was the delegation of governance to ministers due to his father Bayezid II’s illness, which led to corruption and favoritism; another was the succession struggles. During this period, the Ottoman state took decisive steps regionally, administratively, and politically. First, by securing victory over the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran (1514), he incorporated Eastern Anatolia into Ottoman territory. Then, through the Battle of Turnadağ (1515), he brought the Dulkadirids under Ottoman control, fully affirming the political unity of the Anatolian Turks. Yavuz Sultan Selim also dismantled the Mamluk Sultanate through his Egyptian campaign (1516–1517), annexing Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and the Hejaz to the Ottoman Empire. He died in 1520 in Edirne from a boil on his back.

Comparison of Literary and Objective Maps

The novel’s literary map emphasizes fictional elements, while the objective map relies on verifiable historical data. According to the objective map, there is no historical document or record confirming that Kamber Can was Shah Ismail’s nephew. Similarly, Shah Ismail had only one wife: Taçlı Begüm, the mother of Tahmasp. Bihruze, or Taçlı Hatun, is a fictional character; no historical evidence supports her existence as a real historical figure. Major historical events such as the Battle of Chaldiran are recorded in the objective map as pivotal moments in the Ottoman-Safavid conflict, whereas in the literary map, this battle becomes part of the personalized, emotional narratives of the characters. Characters such as Aka Hasan and Hüseyin Can are significant in this context: Aka Hasan fights for the Ottomans, Hüseyin Can for the Safavids. Their confrontation on the battlefield is treated as a dramatic element in the literary map, but the objective map contains no record of such individualized stories. The claim that Shah Ismail changed his pen name from “Hıtayi” to “Hatayi” after the Battle of Chaldiran is not found in any historical source; his pen name was always “Hatayi,” with no such change occurring.

Neither the alleged curse of Bayezid II upon Selim—“May your sword be sharp, but your life be short!”—nor the story of Selim pushing his father off his chest, are supported by any documented evidence. Furthermore, there is no verifiable data regarding the claims that envoys sent between the two sides had their skins flayed and boiled in cauldrons, or that wine was drunk from their skulls.

Thus, while the literary map of the novel “Şah & Sultan” offers an artistic interpretation of historical events, the objective map presents a more neutral, document-based perspective grounded in historical reality.

Can the Novel Be Used as a Data Source for Sociological Analysis?

The novel “Şah & Sultan” gives considerable space to fictional characters such as Aka Hasan, Bihruze, and Kambercan. While it focuses on individual aspects—such as the leadership traits of Shah Ismail and Yavuz Sultan Selim, their harsh rule, similar acts of torture, and Bihruze’s prominence in themes of love and compassion—it also encompasses historical events: the period leading up to the Battle of Chaldiran, the nature of the battle itself, its aftermath, Selim’s struggle for the throne, the rivalry between Shah Ismail and Yavuz Sultan Selim, and sectarian conflicts. Because the novel addresses how these events unfolded, it can serve as a data source for sociological analysis.