A painting of Ukrainian Zaporozhian Kozaks writing a letter to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century depicts a bunch of brawny men, smoking, laughing, reclining lazily as they compose the letter, some of them still showing the wounds of a recent battle.
With its mild climate, subtropical greenery, frothy waves lapping up the endless beaches, it was a picture-perfect paradise.
The letter they are writing is a reply to the Sultan’s request to surrender, in which they refer to the Ottoman leader as the Devil, the secretary of Lucifer, a pig’s snout, a mare’s arse, among other things, and in the end tell him he can kiss their you-know-what.
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