KOSEM SULTAN

born c. 1585 died Sept. 2, 1651 Ottoman sultana, said to have been of Greek origin and beautiful when young, who exercised a strong influence on Ottoman politics for half a century, first as the wife of Sultan Ahmed I and then as mother of Murad IV and Ibrahim I and grandmother of Mehmed IV. The ambitious Ksem allowed the Janissaries to commit abuses and even to dethrone her son Ibrahim. In 1651 she attempted to kill Mehmed IV but was herself strangled by men in the entourage of her daughter-in-law, Turhan Sultan.