COMPANIONS from Turkey

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Turkish Companions of all time. This list of famous Turkish Companions is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Turkish Companions.

1. Mihrimah Sultan (1522 - 1578)

With an HPI of 79.52, Mihrimah Sultan is the most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.

Mihrimah Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: مهرماه سلطان, "sun and moon" or "light of the moon", Turkish pronunciation: [mihɾiˈmah suɫˈtan]; 1522 – 25 January 1578) was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent and his wife, Hürrem Sultan. She was the most powerful imperial princess in Ottoman history according to historian Mustafa Selaniki who described her as the greatest and most respected princess and a prominent figure in the so-called Sultanate of Women. In Europe she was known as Sultana Cameria, while in Constantinople she was known as Büyük Sultan (the Great Sultana).

2. Helena (250 - 330)

With an HPI of 78.79, Helena is the 2nd most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 64 different languages.

Flavia Julia Helena (; Greek: Ἑλένη, Helénē; c. AD 246/248–330), also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was an Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. She was born in the lower classes traditionally in the Greek city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, which was renamed Helenopolis in her honor, although several locations have been proposed for her birthplace and origin. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, and Anglican Communion revere her as a saint, and the Lutheran Church commemorates her.

3. Aspasia (-470 - -400)

With an HPI of 74.37, Aspasia is the 3rd most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Aspasia (; Greek: Ἀσπασία Greek: [aspasíaː]; c. 470 – after 428 BC) was a metic woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son, Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional historical narrative, she worked as a courtesan and was tried for asebeia (impiety), though modern scholars have questioned the factual basis for either of these claims, which both derive from ancient comedy. Though Aspasia is one of the best-attested women from the Greco-Roman world, and the most important woman in the history of fifth-century Athens, almost nothing is certain about her life. Aspasia was portrayed in Old Comedy as a prostitute and madam, and in ancient philosophy as a teacher and rhetorician. She has continued to be a subject of both visual and literary artists until the present. From the twentieth century, she has been portrayed as both a sexualised and sexually liberated woman, and as a feminist role model fighting for women's rights in ancient Athens.

4. Antinous (111 - 130)

With an HPI of 69.91, Antinous is the 4th most famous Turkish Companion.  His biography has been translated into 41 different languages.

Antinous, also called Antinoös, (; Greek: Ἀντίνοος; c. 111 – c. 130) was a Greek youth from Bithynia and a favourite and lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian. Following his premature death before his 20th birthday, Antinous was deified on Hadrian's orders, being worshipped in both the Greek East and Latin West, sometimes as a god (θεός, theós) and sometimes merely as a hero (ἥρως, hḗrōs). Little is known of Antinous's life, although it is known that he was born in Claudiopolis (present day Bolu, Turkey), in the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus. He was probably introduced to Hadrian in 123, before being taken to Italy for a higher education. He had become the favourite of Hadrian by 128, when he was taken on a tour of the Roman Empire as part of Hadrian's personal retinue. Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his attendance of the annual Eleusinian Mysteries in Athens, and was with him when he killed the Marousian lion in Libya, an event highly publicised by the Emperor. In October 130, as they were part of a flotilla going along the Nile, Antinous died amid mysterious circumstances. Various suggestions have been put forward for how he died, ranging from an accidental drowning to an intentional human sacrifice or suicide. Following his death, Hadrian deified Antinous and founded an organised cult devoted to his worship that spread throughout the Empire. Hadrian founded the city of Antinoöpolis close to Antinous's place of death, which became a cultic centre for the worship of Osiris-Antinous. Hadrian also founded games in commemoration of Antinous to take place in both Antinoöpolis and Athens, with Antinous becoming a symbol of Hadrian's dreams of pan-Hellenism. The worship of Antinous proved to be one of the most enduring and popular of cults of deified humans in the Roman empire, and events continued to be founded in his honour long after Hadrian's death. Antinous became a symbol of male homosexuality in Western culture, appearing in the work of Oscar Wilde, Fernando Pessoa and Marguerite Yourcenar.

5. Hecuba ( - )

With an HPI of 69.04, Hecuba is the 5th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Hecuba (; also Hecabe; Ancient Greek: Ἑκάβη, romanized: Hekábē, pronounced [hekábɛ:]) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.

6. Gülfem Hatun (1500 - 1561)

With an HPI of 68.93, Gülfem Hatun is the 6th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Gülfem Hatun (Ottoman Turkish: کلفم خاتون; meaning "rose mouth", died October– November 1561) was a lady-in-waiting in the harem of Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (reign 1520–1566).

7. Malhun Hatun (1350 - 1324)

With an HPI of 68.14, Malhun Hatun is the 7th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Kameriye Malhun Hatun ("moon" and "wealth"; also called Mal Hatun or Mala Hatun; died after 1326) was the second legal wife of Osman I, the leader of the Ottoman Turks and the founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire. She was the mother of Sultan Orhan.

8. Pulcheria (399 - 453)

With an HPI of 67.30, Pulcheria is the 8th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Aelia Pulcheria (; Greek: Πουλχερία; 19 January 398 or 399 – July 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother emperor Theodosius II during his minority and then became wife to emperor Marcian from November 450 to her death in 453. She was the second (and oldest surviving) child of Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius and Empress Aelia Eudoxia. In 414, the fifteen-year old Pulcheria became the guardian of her younger brother Theodosius II and was also proclaimed Augusta. Through her religious devotion and involvement in the contemporary ecclesiastical scene, Pulcheria had significant, though changing, influence and political power during her brother's reign. When Theodosius II died on 26 July 450, Pulcheria married Marcian on 25 November 450, while simultaneously not violating her vow of virginity. She died three years later, in July 453. Pulcheria influenced the Christian Church and its theological development by being involved in the Council of Ephesus and guiding the Council of Chalcedon, in which the Church ruled on christological issues. The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church subsequently recognized her as a saint.

9. Hümaşah Sultan (1540 - 1592)

With an HPI of 64.70, Hümaşah Sultan is the 9th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Hümaşah Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: هماشاہ سلطان, "phoenix of the Şah"; 1543-1582), also known as Hüma Sultan, was an Ottoman princess, the daughter of Şehzade Mehmed (1521–1543) and the granddaughter of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire, and his favourite consort and legal wife Hurrem Sultan.

10. Kaya Sultan (1633 - 1659)

With an HPI of 62.38, Kaya Sultan is the 10th most famous Turkish Companion.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ismihan Kaya Sultan (Ottoman Turkish: کایا سلطان, "purity of the Khan" or "highness of the Khan" and "chastity"; c. 1630/1633 – 28 February 1658) was an Ottoman princess. She was the daughter of Ottoman sultan Murad IV. The famed Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi noted a specific encounter with Kaya Sultan in his Book of Travels. An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to Kaya Sultan, from her pregnancy to her death. She was the most famous child of Murad IV and the favorite granddaughter of Kösem Sultan.