When a new Ottoman emperor ascended to the throne, his court calligrapher would create an elaborate signature (called a tughra) for him, to be affixed henceforth to royal documents, coins, etc. Once or twice I've come across Süleyman the Magnificent's tughra and was always stopped short: what a fitting, dashing, swaggering mark for the man who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and marched his armies all the way to the gates of Vienna. What I didn't realize is how stylized and similar all the Ottoman emperors' tughras are—unless you're skilled at parsing Arabic calligraphy, they mostly look the same. What I'd assumed were the most distinct elements of Süleyman's mark—those three bold upstrokes with pennants flying—are common to all.