John mentioned an emperor who was born a slave, but the fluctuations in fate of one Mmadi Make were, if anything, more extreme. Born to nobility, he was captured and sold into slavery, where he managed to impress higher- and higher-status aristos until ending up at the very center of Aufklärung liberalism, palling around with Joseph II and Mozart and heading up his own Masonic lodge. But theories of racial essentialism were hardening over his lifetime, and when he died, rather than receiving a proper burial, his body was placed in cabinet of curiosities. Every life serves to illuminate the contradictions of its era, but Solimans is particularly extreme.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 17:58:40 +0000
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