Ottoman rulers - sultan, khan, padişah and caliph

NIKI GAMM

The word sultan derives from an Arabic word meaning authority or power, particularly the strength, authority and position of a ruler or dictatorship. It was first used in the Abbasid period but not to signify the ruler, rather men of lesser importance but still wielders of power

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Sultan Selim II receiving representatives of the Austrian Emperor, including ambassador Anthonius Varantius da Agra.

“… the son of Sultan Murad, son of Sultan Mehmed Khan, the sultan of the lands and the emperor of the seas, the shadow of God extending over men and djinn, the deputy of God in the East and the West, the champion of the water and the land, the conqueror of Constantinople and the father of that conquest Sultan Mehmed…” is how Fatih Sultan Mehmed is described in the inscription above the gate (Bab-i Humayun) leading into the first courtyard at Topkapı Palace. The Ottoman ruler wasn’t just plain “sultan”; he had acquired a whole series of attributes to emphasize his importance.

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