Circassia, home of the world’s most beautiful women

I first heard of Circassia when working in Jordan, which has a small Circassian population. The Circassians I met there were Muslims and some of them wore the hijab, so I was intrigued by their light hair, blue-grey eyes and extremely pale skin.

I decided to look them up, and found that Circassians are an ethnic group originally from the North Caucasus. They were expelled from the region in the 1860s by Tsar Alexander II (he of liberal, serfdom-abolishing fame) in a terrible act of ethnic cleansing. Many hundreds of thousands were killed or deported to the neighbouring Ottoman Empire, where most settled in Turkey, and others made their way to the Balkans and elsewhere in the Middle East. It was the descendants of these refugees whom I met in Jordan.

But before and even after the genocide, Circassians held an unusual place in the collective imagination of Europeans, North Americans and Turks. Circassian women were considered by many writers and travellers to be simply the most beautiful women in the world. They had been traded as slaves since the late medieval period, and many ended up in the harems of Ottoman and Persian rulers. A number of Circassians even became the wives or favoured consorts of the Ottoman sultans. Nor was their appeal limited to the Middle East; Cosimo de’ Medici had an illegitimate son by a slave woman purchased in Venice, Maddalena, who was said to be a Circassian.

ehsuvar,_wife_of_Abdulmecid II, 1898
Şehsuvar, the Circassian wife of Sultan Abdulmejid II (painted 1898)

American, British and Russian travellers to the Caucasus thought that Circassian women had inherited ‘the lineaments of the face of the ancient Greek’. This was the ultimate compliment, given that European elites were brought up to revere classical models of beauty.

Circassian women were admired for their translucent pale complexions, regular features, eyes of a light grey, green or blue colour, and abundant hair which was often blonde or auburn. They were also believed to be particularly slender, boasting small waists, good posture, and an elegant demeanour. The American traveller and writer Maturin Murray Ballou (1820-95) enthusiastically described a Circassian woman who possessed a ‘form of ravishing loveliness, large and lustrous eyes, and every belonging that might go to make up a Venus’. And it wasn’t just men who got enthusiastic; Florence Nightingale wrote in her travel journal that Circassian women were ‘the most graceful and the most sensual-looking creatures I ever saw’.

Circassian woman, 1870s-80s
Circassian woman, 1870s-80s

Circassian men were likewise considered by some Westerners to be particularly handsome. When two Circassian leaders arrived in Scotland in 1862 on diplomatic business, the Dundee Advertiser reported that:

The Chiefs are two remarkable looking men. Their imposing bearing, their romantic dress…and their natural dignity of mien, stamp them as very superior…Raven haired, black-bearded, broad-browed, with wide springing eyebrows of sooty black…these bronzed and armed children of the mountains tend to put us out of love with our own specimens of men, and suggest thoughts not complimentary to the types of manhood with which, in this country, they are surrounded.

As the nineteenth century wore on, pseudoscientific racial theories increasingly saw Circassians labelled as the most desirable members of the ‘white race’. It was the German physiologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach who first came up with the idea of the ‘Caucasian race’, which he named after the geographical area in which the Circassians lived before their ethnic cleansing. Blumenbach believed that Circassians mostly closely resembled what God had intended humanity to look like; they were ‘the purest and most beautiful whites’.

But admiration for Circassian women was not confined to literary and scientific observations. Their reputation as the most beautiful women in the world gave the Western fashion and beauty industry an excellent marketing opportunity. So in London in 1772, a type of liquid rouge was being sold under the name ‘Bloom of Circassia’. The advertisement claims that Circassian women actually achieved much of their beauty from a version of this cosmetic, which was extracted from a vegetable native to their country. Prospective customers are promised that the product will ‘instantly [give] a Rosy Hue to the Cheeks’, and a ‘lively and animated Bloom of Rural Beauty’. What was more, unlike other rouges, it wouldn’t come off even if rubbed by a handkerchief.

Bloom of Circassia Advertisement, London's Public Advertiser, April 15, 1772.
Bloom of Circassia advertisement, London’s Public Advertiser, April 15 1772

Bloom of Circassia was so popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that it even provided fodder for literary parody:

Come, faded Belles, who would their Youth renew,
And learn the wonders of Olympian dew;
Restore the Roses that begin to faint,
Not think celestial washes, vulgar Paint:
Your former Features, Airs, and Arts assume,
Circassian Virtues, with Circassian Bloom.

– George Crabbe, 1785

North American cosmetics producers also muscled in on the Circassian brand. If you visited New York in 1802, you could purchase the exotically-named ‘Balm of Mecca’, an ointment whose recipe was supposedly procured from the Circassian women in the Sultan’s harem. The advertisement for the product argued that:

Any lady must be as great an Infidel as the Grand Sultan himself, who, after receiving such authority can doubt that her skin will become as superlatively smooth, soft, white and delicate, as that of the lovely Fatima [one of Prophet Muhammad’s wives], whatever may have been its feel or its appearance before. What fair one but must yield implicit faith, when she has the honour of the Countess De — fairly pledged, that all sebacious impurities will be at once removed by this wonder-working nostrum. And above all, who but must long for an article, from the seraglio of the Grand Turk, which produces a near resemblance to the Georgian and Circassian beauties?

The word ‘Circassian’ was used in many other products over the nineteenth century, ranging from skin lotion to eyedrops to hair dye. Today, Circassian women might not exercise the same fascination for Westerners, but the marketing strategy of including ‘exotic’ or ‘secret’ ingredients in beauty products remains effective; I’m reminded of the popularity of ‘Moroccan argan oil’ in modern haircare products.

1843 Circassian hair dye
An 1843 advert for ‘Circassian Hair Dye’, sold for $1 per bottle in Baltimore

23 thoughts on “Circassia, home of the world’s most beautiful women

  1. sandra jones

    Can anyone elaborate about this exceptionally beautiful & fair people who live & lived in central Asia surrounded by darker races? Their history is known but how & when did they get to Abkhazia? It’s as incongruous as finding a Chinese people living in Wales.

  2. Suzanne Aishe Charkas

    My great grandfather immigrated from the Caucasus Mountains to Lebanon. I had my 93yr old father’s DNA tested and sure enough .. the story was there in his results ! Proud to have this background in my genes.

    My surname comes from that region as well Charkas , so that’s another link to the area.

    1. caeciliajane@gmail.com

      Well, quite! But I was of course focusing on how Circassians were perceived in the past few centuries in Europe/North America, and most of the attention seems to have been focused on their appearance.

      Thanks for reading.

      1. Suzanne Aishe Charkas

        Thoroughly enjoyed this article. My great grandfather immigrated to Lebanon from the Caucasus Mountains. I was so intrigued by this that I had our DNA testing done and sure enough , my 93yr old father was correct , it was there in the results. Love being of mixed blood. As soon as I mention my surname as Charkas .. some people are immediately aware of my origins. Thanks for the story xx

    2. Nafisa Ardan

      Thank you for interesting articles I am Circassian designer from Georgia ❤️We are indigenous people so we try to save our customs, culture and the language all other world .
      it’s always a great pleasure to see the interest from other people about our nation .
      Nafisa Ardan

  3. David

    In the film Lawrence of Arabia, he was captured by Ottoman soldiers. Played by Peter O’Toole he was disguised in Arab attire but with fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes his Bedouin friends claimed he was a Circassian (and not a European).
    Some time after it’s release I was travelling in south east Turkey (Cukorova region) and witnessed whole families in temporary camps as seasonal workers on agricultural estates. Blue/grey eyes very evident and there was a lot of fair/blonde hair. Circassians perhaps?

    1. caeciliajane@gmail.com

      Interesting! They may have been Syrian seasonal workers since the area’s not so far from Syria, but I wouldn’t know for sure.

      Thanks for reading.

    2. Cennet

      I don´t think, that Circassians works in this sector,but in Cukurova lives the Turkish tribe called Farsak, they often have a Slavic appearance. I come from Farsak Village in North Adana Province and live in Germany. Some of my family members are often mistaken for Russians.

      1. caeciliajane@gmail.com

        That’s interesting! If I’m not mistaken, much of Adana Province was in the medieval Armenian kingdom of Cilicia, so I wouldn’t be surprised if ethnic intermarriages had been quietly happening there for centuries.

  4. Noura

    Thank you for this blog! I am Circassian and was quite surprised by how much exposure my people had to the world. I remember I was at my BF’s wedding (in NJ) and the videographer said to my sister that he has never seen so many beautiful girls in one room LOL. I am helping my 12-year daughter on a school assignment based on her family’s culture and this helped a lot.

  5. Hugh Dee

    Some thirty years ago I woke up in a hospital to the sight of what I can only describe as a beautiful angel. A nurse dressed all in white, with thick raven hair, eyes like the sea, and the most soft-looking unblemished white skin. She told me her name. It sounded Russian and so did the accent when she spoke English to me.

    She was very private in her conversations and professional in behavior, so I did not find out much else about her. In due course I was released from the hospital and never saw her again. Later I established that she was Circassian, born in Abkhazia.

    1. caeciliajane@gmail.com

      Thank you – much appreciated! This is very true, I have been absent from the blogosphere for quite a while. Life as a trainee lawyer does tend to take over, but hopefully I will come back properly soon.

      1. Mira

        What an amazing article! I’m Circassian and I didn’t know Florence Nightingale came into contact with us. It’s wonderful to see someone interested in our culture, we’ve fought so hard to keep it alive in the diaspora. Thank you for helping people discover us!

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