In 1656 the island of Malta, with the Hospitaller Order there, was besieged by the Turkish army. The Ottomans lost the battle despite their superior forces, but historical depictions of this event have survived.

If you are expecting to see turbans and embroidered robes, I'm going to disappoint you. The Ottomans are those flappers with the chub and the long mustache. For example, in the fresco by Matteo Preti, the defeated enemy looks remarkably like a typical Zaporozhian Cossack. And the artist was not alone in his opinion regarding the appearance of the enemies of Malta. On the tomb of Nicholas Cotoner, who ruled Malta in 1663-1680, the famous sculptor Domenico Guidi depicted the same Zaporozhe Cossack.

Is this how a typical representative of the Ottoman Empire looked like?

Forbidden History