Suleiman I (6 November 1494 – 7 September 1566) was the tenth and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
In-Game
Suleiman is the leader of the Ottomans in Civilization V. He speaks modern Turkish instead of Ottoman Turkish, which contained many words influenced by Arabic and Persian. He is inside his palace, beneath a dome with an oculus. He can be seen holding a book, which is likely a Quran or a law codex.
Capital: Istanbul
Unique Units: Janissary, Sipahi
Unique Ability: Barbary Corsairs
Voice Actor: Onur Aydemir
AI Traits
| Trait | Amount |
|---|---|
| Competitiveness | 5 (7-3) |
| Wonder Competitiveness | 5 (7-3) |
| City State Influence Competitiveness | 6 (8-4) |
| Boldness | 8 (10-6) |
| Diplobalance | 6 (8-4) |
| Hate Warmongers | 4 (6-2) |
| Willingness to Denounce | 7 (9-5) |
| Willingness to Declare Friendship | 5 (7-3) |
| Loyalty | 5 (7-3) |
| Neediness | 3 (5-1) |
| Forgiveness | 5 (7-3) |
| Chattiness | 6 (8-4) |
| Meanness | 3 (5-1) |
| Offensive Unit Production | 7 (9-5) |
| Defensive Unit Production | 4 (6-2) |
| Defensive Building Production | 4 (6-2) |
| Military Training Buildings Production | 6 (8-4) |
| Recon Unit Production | 5 (7-3) |
| Ranged Unit Production | 5 (7-3) |
| Mobile Unit Production | 6 (8-4) |
| Naval Unit Production | 8 (10-6) |
| Naval Recon Unit Production | 10 (10-8) |
| Air Unit Production | 5 (7-3) |
| Naval Growth | 6 (8-4) |
| Naval Tile Improvements | 6 (8-4) |
| Water Connections | 6 (8-4) |
| Expansion | 8 (10-6) |
| Growth | 4 (6-2) |
| Tile Improvements | 5 (7-3) |
| Infrastructure (Roads) | 5 (7-3) |
| Production Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Science Emphasis | 6 (8-4) |
| Gold Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Culture Emphasis | 6 (8-4) |
| Happiness Emphasis | 4 (6-2) |
| Great People Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Wonder Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Religion Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Diplomacy Victory | 5 (7-3) |
| Spaceship Victory | 8 (10-6) |
| Nuke Production | 7 (9-5) |
| Use of Nukes | 5 (7-3) |
| Use of Espionage | 5 (7-3) |
| Anti-Air Production | 5 (7-3) |
| Air Carrier Production | 5 (7-3) |
| Land Trade Route Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Sea Trade Route Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Archaeology Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Trade Origin Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Trade Destination Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Airlift Emphasis | 5 (7-3) |
| Likeliness to Declare War | 5 (7-3) |
| Likeliness to be Hostile | 6 (8-4) |
| Likeliness to be Deceptive | 7 (9-5) |
| Likeliness to be Guarded | 4 (6-2) |
| Likeliness to be Afraid | 5 (7-3) |
| Likeliness to be Friendly | 7 (9-5) |
| Likeliness to be Neutral | 5 (7-3) |
| Ignore City States | 5 (7-3) |
| Friendliness to City States | 5 (7-3) |
| Protection of City States | 7 (9-5) |
| Conquest of City States | 6 (8-4) |
| Bullying of City States | 4 (6-2) |
Personality and Behavior
Suleiman usually tries to win through domination.
Suleiman can be hostile and start early wars. He is one of the boldest leaders, and has a tendency to denounce other civilizations when angered. He is likely to try to get nukes, as well.
Suleiman prefers to raise a large offensive army with a number of mobile units, and his navy will often be the largest in the game. His forces are usually well trained, but his cities tend to be poorly defended.
Despite his aggressiveness, Suleiman is quite easy to befriend, especially if the player happens to be a warmonger. Even so, he is often deceptive and may backstab his allies.
Suleiman is often protective of city-states in his sphere of influence, but he may try to conquer a few.
Civilopedia Entry
History
Suleiman I, known as "The Magnificent," "The Legislator," and "The Grand Turk," was the caliph of Islam and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, taking the reins of the Turkish kingdom in 1520 and ruling until his death in 1566. During his rule Suleiman greatly expanded the Empire's territory, earning the fear (and grudging admiration) of leaders across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Early History
Suleiman was the son and grandson of sultans. At an early age he studied science, literature, theology, and the military arts in Istanbul. At 17 he was appointed governor of Kaffa by his grandfather, and he was made governor of Manisa during the reign of his father, Sultan Selim I. His father died in 1520 when Suleiman was 26, and he ascended to the throne. Although still quite a young man, Suleiman had nearly ten years of leadership experience when he came to power.
Military Ambitions in Europe
According to some historians, Suleiman deeply admired Alexander the Great and hoped to emulate him and create an empire that encompassed Europe, Asia Minor, Africa, and the Middle East. Upon achieving power, Suleiman began planning a campaign against Europe and the Balkans.
In 1521, just a year after achieving power, Suleiman captured Belgrade. In the following year he took the Island of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John. In 1526 he defeated the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs, killing the Hungarian king Louis II in combat.
Following Louis II's death, the Hungarian throne was taken by Ferdinand I, the Habsburg archduke of Austria. Seeking to weaken Habsburg power in Eastern Europe, Suleiman supported the claim of John Zapolya, lord of Transylvania. In 1529 he laid siege to Vienna. The siege was unsuccessful, however, but it did serve to keep Hungarian power concentrated on Vienna, effectively ceding control of most of Hungary to Suleiman's puppet, John. When John died in 1540 the Austrians moved back into central Hungary. The two forces would continue to battle inconclusively for the next twenty years, until a peace treaty was signed in 1562, four years before Suleiman's death. To support his land campaigns Suleiman also created a great navy on the Mediterranean, the first such in Ottoman history. He put his forces under the command of admiral Khayr al-Din (known in the west as "Barbarossa"), a sometime pirate with a natural genius for naval warfare who defeated the combined Spanish-Venetian fleets in 1538, effectively giving the Ottomans dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean for the next forty years.
Military Adventures in Persia
Suleiman waged three major campaigns in Persia during his reign. The first campaign (1534–35) won the Ottomans control over a portion of eastern Asia Minor as well as most of Iraq. The second campaign some ten years later (1548–49) won some additional terrain around the strategically important Lake Van on the border of Persia and Asia Minor. The third campaign was inconclusive, as the Ottomans were unable to sustain an offensive deep in Persian territory and thus were unable to hold onto their gains.
Domestic Improvement
As sultan, Suleiman surrounded himself with competent, often brilliant, statesmen and administrators. He built mosques, bridges, roads and fortresses across his territory, and the period is seen as a golden age of Ottoman architecture. He also worked to reform and codify the empire's legal system. "The Lawgiver's" legal system would survive almost unchanged for three centuries. He paid attention especially to the plight of his Christian subjects, who until then had been little more than serfs. Jews also were protected, to such an extent that many emigrated to the Ottoman Empire from Europe, where they were much more harshly treated.
Culture, Religion and the Arts
While his territorial accomplishments were impressive, the Sultan did not ignore the culture of his homeland, Suleiman himself a skilled poet and fervent Muslim. During his rule hundreds of artistic societies flourished across the country. Suleiman commissioned numerous new mosques of a previously unseen grandeur, many designed by master architect Sinan.
Verdict of History
Suleiman died in 1566 while (once more) campaigning in Hungary. At the time of his death he was famous across the known world. In Europe he was envied for his unbelievable wealth, his magnificent treasury containing more riches than any other leader had possessed in history. He was admired for his military prowess and respected for his fair treatment of non-Muslim subjects.
Muslims respected the Sultan for his belief in the rule of law. The Sultan adopted Islamic sacred law to compliment the traditional law already in place from his predecessors, providing a model for Eastern powers for centuries to come. Almost everyone − Christian and Muslim alike − agreed that he was fully worthy of the title "The Magnificent."
Trivia
- Suleiman kept numerous fancy breeds of pigeons at his palace in Istanbul.
- Suleiman was fond of wearing “excessively large” turbans, as described by Venetian Bartolomeo Contarini, after his ascension to the throne.
Lines
Intro: The Ottoman Nation greets you stranger! I'm Suleiman! (Osmanlı Ulusu sizi selamlar yabancı! Ben Süleyman!)
Attacked: Beware! I don't think you have the power to do this! Very well, let's begin! (Dikkat! Bunu yapacak gücün olduğunu sanmıyorum! Pekâlâ, başlayalım!)
Declares War: You are a great danger to my people! I must destroy/eliminate you! (Benim insanlarım için büyük tehdit oluşturuyorsun! Seni yok etmeliyim!)
Defeated: This is terrible! I have been defeated! For the sake of my beard and my belly, how could this happen? (Korkunç! Mağlup oldum! Sakalım ve göbeğim aşkına, bu nasıl olabildi!)
Hate Let's Hear It 01: So you say! (Diyorsun!)
Hate Let's Hear It 02: Go on! (Devam et!)
Hate Hello: What do you want? (Ne istiyorsunuz?)
Hate No 01: This is unacceptable! (Bu kabul edilemez!)
Hate No 02: You can't be serious! (Ciddi olamazsın!)
Hate No 03: Excuse me? (Affedersin?)
Hate Yes 01: Ah, very good! (Ah, çok iyi!)
Hate Yes 02: I assume we must come to an agreement. (Anlaşmamız gerektiğini varsayıyorum.)
Hate Yes 03: Very good. (Çok iyi!)
Neutral Let's Hear It 01: I'm listening. (Dinliyorum.)
Neutral Let's Hear It 02: Go on. (Devam et.)
Neutral Hello: Greetings! (Selamlar!)
Neutral No 01: No! (Hayır!)
Neutral No 02: Of course not! (Kesinlikle hayır!)
Neutral No 03: We decline! (Reddediyoruz!)
Neutral Yes 01: Very good! (Çok iyi!)
Neutral Yes 02: OK! (Tamam!)
Neutral Yes 03: Wonderful! (Harika!)
Request: Let's do business! Would you be interested? (Gelin pazarlığa tutuşalım! Hoşunuza gider mi?)
Peaceful: Congratulations on your victory and I hope that peace will last forever! (Zaferiniz için sizi kutlarım ve umarım barış daima kalıcı olacaktır!)
Suleiman I, attributed to school of Titian
Intro
Blessings of God be upon you, oh Great Emperor Suleiman! Your power, wealth and generosity awe the world! Truly, are you called "Magnificent!" Your empire began in Bithynia, a small country in Eastern Anatolia in the 12th century. Taking advantage of the decline of the great Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, King Osman I of Bithynia expanded west into Anatolia. Over the next century, your subjects brought down the empire Byzantium, taking its holdings in Turkey and then the Balkans. In the mid 15th century, the Ottomans captured ancient Constantinople, gaining control of the strategic link between Europe and the Middle East. Your people’s empire would continue to expand for centuries, at its height, governing much of North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Mighty Suleiman, heed the call of your people! Bring your empire back to the height of its power and glory and once again the world will look upon your greatness with awe and admiration! Will you accept the challenge, great emperor? Will you build an empire that will stand the test of time?