Archaeology Magazine — March-April 2018

archaeology.org 59

to Vienna. Perched on a hilltop

surrounded by a stream and marshy

land, Szigetvar, which means “island

castle,” was able to ward off several

Ottoman attacks in the 1550 s.

G

rowing old and more

determined to conquer Vienna,

Suleiman set out with his

troops in the spring of 1566 for a

three-month-long march to Szigetvar

in another attempt to eventually get

to Vienna, where in 1529 his troops

had been dramatically defeated. When

they arrived in the area, the Turks set

up tents on a small hill just north of

the fortress. On August 9 , they began

bombarding it. Just over four weeks

later, on September 7 , the besieged

Hungarian forces, who had run out of

gunpowder, food, and water, made a

futile attempt to attack the Ottomans.

Many Hungarian soldiers were killed

and the castle fell into Ottoman hands,

but the Turks had suffered such heavy

losses as well that it would be another

130 years before their next attempt to

take Vienna.

This was recorded as a heroic

moment in Hungarian history. For

years, the fight with the Ottomans was

seen not just in nationalistic terms,

but also as a spiritual battle between

Christianity and Islam. Miklos Zrinyi,

the great-grandson of the commander

of the Hungarian troops at Szigetvar,

writes in his 1646 epic poem, The Peril

of Szigetvar:

We, moreover, must fight not for any

trivial reason

But for our beloved Christian homeland

For our Lord, for our wives, for our

children

For our honor and our lives.

This battle in the hinterlands of

central Europe also left a deep and

lasting mark on Turkish history. The

night before his troops conquered

the castle, Suleiman, who had ruled

the empire for 46 years, died in his

tent from old age, just shy of his 72 nd

birthday. His body was eventually

taken back to Istanbul, where he was

interred. But stories later emerged that

his heart and other internal organs

had been left in Hungary, buried in the

ground where his tent had once stood.

According to this widespread legend,

Suleiman’s inner circle kept his death

a secret so his troops’ morale wouldn’t

be damaged. His advisers are said to

have departed from Islamic tradition

by removing and burying his organs

and embalming his body to prevent its

decay in the late summer heat before

it could be transported back to Turkey.

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