This is a re-creation of the nomadic Seljuk Turkish dynasty’s tents, as they maybe looked in the late 11th century. The Seljuks are most well known for destroying the powerful armies of the Byzantines, inspiring their emperor to request military forces from Western Europe, and hence, kick-starting the Crusades. However, this is not the most colorful story attached to the memory of the Seljuks. That would be a battle between them and the Mongols fought in the late 1200s, resulting in an event called the “Plain of Testicles.” Yes, you read that correctly.
The Ottoman writer ‘Āsikpasazāde tells a story of the Seljuk leader called Sultan Alaeddin, who rushes to take revenge on an invading Mongol group which had attacked his possessions. At a place called Biga Öyügü, the Mongols and the Seljuk Turks fought each other for two days and two nights. The Seljuks ended up destroying the Mongolian forces “so [badly] that they cut their testicles, sewed the testicle skins to each other, covered [them] with felt, [and] constructed awnings [with them] to make a name [for themselves]. Even now they call that plain the Plain of Testicle[s].”
Jeepers! But the real story probably didn’t go like that — for one, the Seljuks routinely were defeated by the Mongolian armies at that time. But the account does feature in other renditions, sometimes between opposing Mongolian troops. Since the sewn-testicle-into-tents-as-revenge motif does crop up in multiple places, maybe some elements of that story are correct?
Takeaway lesson: Anatolia was no place you wanted to be fighting in battles in the Middle Ages.
Sources: “The memory of the Mongols in Early Ottoman historiography,” Baki Tezcan, pp 23-38 _Writing History at the Ottoman Court: Editing the Past, Fashioning the Future, Ed H Erdem Çipa and Emine Fetcaci, Indiana UP, 2013. Image from https://www.theblacktentproject.com/different-types-of-nomadic-tents-in-turkey/
