We offer in text and audio several essays from the Russian broadcast of the Voice of Turkey radio about the history and morals of the most famous eastern harem in modern history - the harem of the Ottoman sultans in Istanbul..
Let us recall that the harem was initially located in the Tiled Pavilion separately from the palace, and since the time of Sultan Suleiman, from the mid-16th century, it was moved directly to the Topkapi Palace (Topkapi) - the office and residence of the Sultan. (The transfer was achieved by the well-known Ukrainian Roksolana (Hurrem), who became the most influential concubine in the entire history of the harem of the Turkish sultans).
Later, when the Ottoman sultans abandoned Topkapi in favor of the new European-style Istanbul palaces of Dolmabahce and Yildiz, the concubines followed them.
Harem - current state as part of a museum in the former Topkapi Palace of the Turkish Sultans in Istanbul.
The harem is a state-of-the-art part of a museum in the former Topkapi Palace of the Turkish Sultans in Istanbul. In the background is the Bosphorus Strait, in the foreground is the wall of the courtyard of the former harem.
A shot from the Turkish national broadcaster TRT.
Before moving on to the text of the Turkish source, a few important notes.
When you read this review of harem life, broadcast by the Voice of Turkey, you notice some contradictions.
At times the review emphasizes the almost prison-like severity in which the people of the harem who surrounded the Sultan lived, and at times, on the contrary, it speaks of rather liberal morals. This discrepancy is due to the fact that during the almost 500-year existence of the Sultan's court in Istanbul, morals at the Ottoman court changed, usually in the direction of softening. This applied to the lives of simple concubines and princes - brothers of the sultans.
In the 15th century, during the period of the Turkish conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) and some time later, the brothers of the sultans usually ended their lives from a noose thrown by eunuchs on the orders of the successful brother who became the sultan. (A silk noose was used because shedding the blood of a royal person was considered reprehensible).
For example, Sultan Mehmed III, after his accession to the throne, ordered the strangulation of 19 of his brothers, becoming the record holder for the number.
In general, this custom, which was in use before, was officially sanctioned by the conqueror of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (Conqueror) in order to protect the empire from civil strife. Mehmed II pointed out: “For the sake of the well-being of the state, one of my sons, to whom God grants the sultanate, can sentence his brothers to death. This right has the approval of the majority of lawyers."
Later, a number of sultans began to save the lives of their brothers by locking them in the so-called. "golden cage"- isolated chambers in the Sultan's Topkapi Palace, next to the harem. By the 19th century, morals had liberalized even further, and the "cage" was gradually abolished.
Liberalization, as already mentioned, also affected the concubines of the harem. Concubines were originally slaves, sometimes brought to the palace directly from the slave market, sometimes presented to the Sultan - powerless, at the mercy of the ruler. If they did not give birth to heirs for the Sultan, then they were either resold, or after the death of the ruler they were sent to the so-called. the old harem (outside the main Topkapi Palace) where they lived out their days in oblivion.
So, with the liberalization of morals, these concubines in late period existence of the Ottoman Empire turned into free women entering the harem with the consent of their parents in order to make a career. Concubines could no longer be resold; they could leave the harem, get married, receive a mansion and monetary reward from the Sultan.
And, of course, the cases of antiquity were forgotten when concubines were simply thrown out of the palace in a bag into the Bosphorus for transgressions.
Speaking about the “career of concubines,” let us recall that the Istanbul sultans (with the exception of Sultan Suleiman, who married Roksolana) never married; the concubines were their family. But about all this in the material from the original source (listen also to audio file below).
“Girls with and without burqas,” or where researchers get information about the harem of Turkish sultans
“From the 15th century, European stories about the Ottoman palace began to appear. True, the harem for a long time remained a forbidden place where Europeans could not penetrate. The concubines and children of the Sultan lived in the harem. The harem in the Sultan's palace was called "darussade", which translated from Arabic means "gate of happiness". (The Arabic word “harem” means “forbidden.” Approx. website).
The inhabitants of the harem had extremely limited connections with outside world. They all spent their lives within four walls. By the way, due to the fact that the Sultan’s concubines did not leave the palace until early XIX century, i.e. Before the accession of Mahmud II to the throne, concubines did not cover their heads with a burqa. They began to cover their heads in the Muslim manner from this period, when they were allowed to leave the palace and participate in picnics. Over time, concubines even began to be taken outside of Istanbul to the Sultan’s palace in Edirne. Of course, the women completely covered their faces so that no one could see them.
The eunuchs who served in the harem took very strict measures to prevent outsiders from entering this holy of holies of the Sultan's palace. For the time being, it was the eunuchs who were the people who could tell at least something about the harem. However, the eunuchs did not do this and took their secrets to the grave. Special precautions were also taken when recording what was connected with the economic life of the harem. For example, the names of concubines were almost never mentioned in these documents. Only when the Sultan’s decree is promulgated when creating this or that charitable foundation the names of the concubines could be mentioned, whom the Sultan appointed, so to speak, “chairmen of the board of these funds.”
So there were very few documents that shed light on life in the Sultan’s harem. Only after the deposition of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908 were they allowed into the harem strangers. However, their notes were not enough to completely lift the veil from the secrets concerning the harem. As for the notes written before 1909, they can hardly be considered anything reliable, because the authors of the notes were forced to be content only with rumors, often quite incredible. Naturally, there were no images of the concubines left. Historians have only notes from the wives of Western ambassadors, and the authenticity of the images of the Sultan’s concubines in the museum of the Sultan’s Topkapi Palace is very doubtful.
For the time being, the Sultan's palace, surrounded by high walls, was carefully guarded. The harem was protected to an even greater extent. It was almost impossible to get here. The harem was guarded by eunuchs. The guards could not look into the faces of the concubines if they had to conduct a conversation with them. Actually, the courtiers, no matter how much they wanted, could not do this, because these conversations were conducted only from behind the curtain. (But the concubines of nobles at various festive ceremonies and weddings appeared before the Sultan with their heads uncovered). Moreover, even eunuchs, when entering the harem premises, had to announce their arrival with a loud exclamation of “destur!” . (Literally the exclamation means “road!” Note site). Secret entry into the palace, not to mention the harem, was impossible. This despite the fact that the territory of the palace was quite extensive. To you it may seem that the Sultan's harem was a kind of prison. However, this was not entirely true.
Concubines of the Sultan's harem: from slave to free status
When we mention a harem, concubines, who were essentially slaves, come to mind. The institution of slavery appeared, as we know, at the dawn of mankind. The Arabs were also involved in the slave trade. Incl. and in the pre-Islamic period. Prophet Muhammad did not abolish this institution. However, during the Islamic period, slaves, who consisted mainly of captives, could gain freedom in various ways. During the Abbasid period, Baghdad was home to the largest slave market in the East. Moreover, the Abbasid caliphs levied tribute from some regions not in money, but in slaves And. (The Abbasids are the second dynasty of Arab caliphs. The ancestors of the Ottomans, the Seljuks, served with them. After the Abbasid caliphs, it was the Ottoman sultans who became the caliphs of the faithful, so the Ottomans were accustomed to looking back at the traditions of the Abbasid court. Note site).
In accordance with Islamic law, the owner of a slave could use him as a thing with all the ensuing consequences. True, the Prophet Muhammad said that slaves should be given food and clothing from what is available in the house, and not subject slaves to torture. This is why Muslims treated slaves well. (So in the text of “Voices of Turkey” Note website). In addition, the release of a slave was considered a great benefit. The Prophet Muhammad said that a Muslim who frees a slave will be freed from the nightmares of hell. That is why the Ottoman sultans gave dowries, even mansions, to their concubines. Concubines who were released were also given money, real estate and various expensive gifts.
The most beautiful slaves in Ottoman times were assigned to harems. First of all, in the Sultan's. And the rest were sold in slave markets. There was a custom of presenting concubines to the Sultan by viziers, other nobles, and the Sultan’s sisters.
The girls were recruited from among slaves who came from different countries. In the 19th century, the slave trade was prohibited in the Ottoman Empire. However, after this, representatives of various Caucasian peoples themselves began to give girls to the Sultan's harem.
The number of concubines in the Sultan's harem began to increase from the 15th century, from the reign of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror.
Based on the above, concubines of foreign origin became the mothers of the sultans. It was the Sultan's mother who ruled the harem and controlled harem life. Concubines who bore sons to the Sultan achieved an elite position. Naturally, most of the concubines turned into ordinary maids.
Few became the favorites of the sultans, the concubines with whom the sultans met constantly. The sultans knew nothing about the fate of the others.
Over time, three groups of concubines formed in the Sultan's harems:
The first group included women who were no longer young by the standards of those times;
The other two groups included young concubines. They were trained in a harem. At the same time, the smartest and most beautiful girls were taken into training, who were taught to read and write and the rules of behavior in the Sultan’s palace. It was understood that girls from this group could eventually become the mothers of future sultans. Girls selected for the second group, among other things, were taught the art of flirting. This was due to the fact that after a certain period of time, concubines could be taken out of the harem and sold again;
And the third group included the most expensive and most beautiful concubines - odalisques. The girls from this group served not only sultans, but also princes. (The word “odalık” - (“odalisque”) is translated from Turkish quite trivially - “maid”. Note site).
Concubines entering the palace were first given a new name. Most of these names were of Persian origin. Names were given to girls based on their character, appearance, and characteristics. As an example of the names of concubines, we can cite: Majamal (moon-faced), Nergidezada (a girl who looks like a daffodil), Nerginelek (angel), Cheshmira (a girl with beautiful eyes), Nazlujamal (flirty). In order for everyone in the harem to know these names, the girl’s name was embroidered on her turban. Naturally, the concubines were taught Turkish. There was a hierarchy among the concubines, which also depended on the length of their stay in the harem.
About “devshirma” and sultans - eternal bachelors
One of the features of the Ottoman Empire is the uninterrupted power of the same dynasty. The Beylik, created by Osman Bey in the 12th century, then grew into an empire that lasted until the 20th century. And all this time, the Ottoman state was ruled by representatives of the same dynasty.
Before the transformation of the Ottoman state into an empire, its rulers married the daughters of other Turkmen beys or Christian nobles and rulers. At first, such marriages took place with Christian women, and then with Muslim women.
So until the 15th century, the sultans had both legal wives and concubines. However, with the growing power of the Ottoman state, the sultans no longer saw the need to marry foreign princesses. Since then, the Ottoman family began to be continued by the children of slave concubines.
During the Abbasid Caliphate, a court guard was created from slaves, which was much more loyal to the ruler than representatives of other local clans. During the Ottoman period this approach was expanded and deepened. Christian boys were converted to Islam, after which the young converts served only the Sultan. This system was called “devshirme”. (According to the “devşirme” system (lit. “devşirme” is translated as “collection”, but not “tax in blood” - as is often translated into Russian), recruits were recruited into the “Janissary” regiments, but only the most talented boys were sent to study at the Sultan’s palace for preparation for military or civil service, the rest were sent to Turkish families in the regions around Istanbul until they reached adulthood. Then these young people, already Turkish and converted to Islam, were assigned to the civil service of the Sultan or the army. This system began to operate in the 14th century. Over the next hundred years, this system strengthened and expanded so much that Christian youths converted to Islam occupied all places in the state and military hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire. And so it continued.
The most gifted converts were raised at the Sultan's court. This system of civil palace education was called "enderun". Despite the fact that these people were officially considered slaves of the Sultan, their position differed from the position of slaves, so to speak, of the “classical type”. In the same way, concubines recruited from Christian women enjoyed a special status. Their education system was similar to the “devshirme” system.
It is noteworthy that last boost the influence of foreigners converted to Islam led to the fact that in the 15th century, devshirme men began to occupy not only all military, but also all the most important government positions, and devshirme girls from ordinary concubines began to turn into persons whose role in palace and state affairs was increasingly more increased.
One version of the reasons why the Ottoman sultans switched to living with only concubines in Europe was said to be a reluctance to repeat the bitter and shameful fate of Sultan Bayezid I. However, this version was far from the truth. In 1402, a battle took place near Ankara in which the Ottoman troops were defeated by the troops of Timur. Sultan Bayazid was captured, and Bayazid’s wife, the Serbian princess Maria, whom Timur turned into his slave, was also captured by Timur. As a result, Bayazid committed suicide. (The victory of Timur, also known as Tamerlane, slowed the expansion of the Ottoman Empire and delayed the fall of Constantinople and Byzantium by several generations (more than 100 years). Note site).
This story was first described by the famous English playwright Christopher Marlowe in his play “The Great Timurleng” written in 1592. However, what is the truth in the fact that it was this story that forced the Ottoman sultans to stop taking wives, completely switching to concubines? English professor Leslie Pierce believes that the abandonment of official dynastic marriages was associated with a clear decline in their political importance for the Ottoman sultans in the 15th century. In addition, the harem tradition traditional for Muslims has taken its toll. After all, the Abbasid caliphs (with the exception of the first) were also children of harem concubines.
At the same time, as evidenced by the story told by the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who ruled in the last third of the 19th century (until 1908), by the end of the 19th century monogamy had become widespread in Istanbul. Abdul Hamid II had one favorite concubine, who was distinguished by her coldness of feelings. In the end, the Sultan realized that he could not see the love of his concubine, and gave her as a wife to a clergyman, giving her a mansion. True, during the first 5 days after the wedding, the Sultan kept the husband of his former concubine in the palace, without letting him go home.
XIX century. More freedom for the concubines of the Sultan's harem
The status of a concubine in the harem depended on the degree of closeness to the Sultan. If a concubine, and even more so the Sultan’s most beloved concubines, odalisques, managed to give birth to a son to the Sultan, then the status of the lucky woman immediately rose to the level of the Sultan’s woman.
And if the concubine’s son in the future also became a sultan, then this woman took control of the harem, and sometimes the entire palace, into her own hands.
Concubines who did not manage to fall into the category of odalisques were eventually married off, provided with a dowry. The husbands of the Sultan's concubines were, for the most part, high-ranking nobles or their sons. Thus, the Ottoman ruler Abdul Hamil I, who ruled in the 18th century, offered one of his concubines, who had been close to the Sultan since childhood, as a wife to the son of his first vizier.
Concubines who did not become odalisques, but at the same time worked in the harem as maids and teachers of younger concubines, could leave the harem after 9 years. However, it often happened that concubines simply did not want to leave their familiar walls and find themselves in unfamiliar conditions. On the other hand, concubines who wanted to leave the harem and get married before the expiration of the required nine years could make a corresponding application to their master, i.e. the Sultan.
Basically, such requests were granted, and these concubines were also provided with a dowry and a house outside the palace. Concubines who left the palace were given a diamond set, gold watches, fabrics, and everything they needed to furnish their home. These concubines were also paid a regular allowance. These women were respected in society and were called palace women.
From the palace archives we learn that pensions were sometimes paid to the children of former concubines. In general, the sultans did everything to ensure that their former concubines did not experience financial difficulties.
Until the 19th century, concubines handed over to the crown princes were prohibited from giving birth. The first to allow the concubine to give birth was Crown Prince Abdul Hamid, who became Sultan Abdul Hamid I after his accession to the throne. However, due to the fact that the concubine gave birth to a daughter, the latter was raised outside the palace before Abdul Hamid's accession to the throne. So the girl was able to return to the palace with the rank of princess.
The palace archives preserve many documents telling about the romances between the crown princes and the Sultan's concubines. So, when the future Murat V was 13-14 years old, he was in the palace carpenter's room, at that moment a concubine entered here. The boy was terribly confused, but the concubine said that he had nothing to be ashamed of and that he had 5-10 minutes at his disposal, which he should use for the proper purposes.
It happened that concubines even had affairs with eunuchs. Despite all the problematic nature of these novels. Moreover, it happened that eunuchs killed each other out of jealousy.
In the later stages of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, romances occurred between concubines and musicians, educators, and painters who came into the harem. Most often, such love stories took place between concubines and music teachers. Sometimes the senior concubine-educators turned a blind eye to the novels, sometimes not. So it is not at all by chance that in the 19th century several concubines were married to famous musicians.
There are also records in the archives concerning love stories between concubines and young men converted to Islam, and after this assigned to the palace for education and training.
Happened similar stories and between concubines and foreigners, who for one reason or another were invited to work in the palace. So at the end of the 19th century a tragic story happened. An Italian artist was invited to paint part of the Sultan's Yildiz Palace. The artist was watched by his concubines. (The Yildiz (“Star”) Palace, built in the European style, was the second sultan’s residence built according to European models - after the Dolmabahce Palace. Yildiz and Dolmabahce were strikingly different from the ancient residence of the sultans - the Topkapi Palace, built in the oriental style. Topkapi was the last to be abandoned Ottoman sultans, who moved first to Dolmabahce and then to Yildiz site).
After some time, a love affair arose between one of the concubines and the artist. The teacher, who learned about this, declared the sinfulness of a Muslim woman’s relationship with an infidel. After this, the unfortunate concubine committed suicide by throwing herself into the oven.
There were many similar tragic stories in the lives of concubines. However, it happened that such stories did not end tragically and the adulterous concubines were simply expelled from the palace.
Concubines who committed one or another serious offense were also expelled. However, in any case, the concubines were not abandoned to their fate. This happened, for example, at the end of the 19th century. Once three concubines entertained Sultan Abdul Hamid II while he was working in a carpentry workshop (all sultans had different hobbies). One fine day, one concubine became jealous of another of the Sultan and set fire to the workshop. The fire was extinguished. All three concubines refused to admit guilt, however, in the end, the palace guards managed to identify the culprit of the fire. The Sultan forgave the jealous woman, who nevertheless had to leave the palace. However, the girl was paid a salary from the palace treasury.
Roksolana-Hurrem - “Iron Lady” of the harem
Hurrem is one of the most famous Sultan's concubines, who at one time had a strong influence on Ottoman politics. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska first became the beloved woman of the Sultan, and then the mother of his heir. We can say that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska's career was magnificent.
In Ottoman times, there was a practice of sending crown princes to the provinces as governors in order for future sultans to gain skills in government. At the same time, their mothers also went with the crown princes to the district designated for them. Documents show that the princes had great respect for their mothers, and that the mothers received salaries that exceeded the salaries of the princes. Suleiman - the future Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, when he was crown prince, was sent to govern in (the city of) Manissa.
At that time, one of his concubines, Makhidevran, who was either an Albanian or a Circassian, gave birth to a son. After the birth of her son, Makhidevran received the status of the main woman.
At the age of 26, Suleiman ascended the throne. After some time, a concubine from Western Ukraine, which was then part of Poland, entered the harem. The name of this concubine, a cheerful, beautiful girl, was Roksolana. In the harem she was given the name Khurrem (Hurrem), which means “cheerful” in Persian.
In a very short time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska attracted the attention of the Sultan. Mahidevran, the mother of Crown Prince Mustafa, became jealous of Hurrem. The Venetian ambassador writes about the quarrel that occurred between Makhidevran and Khyurrem: “Makhidevran insulted Khyurrem and tore her face, hair and dress. After some time, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was invited to the Sultan's bedchamber. However, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska said that she could not go to the ruler in this form. However, the Sultan called Hurrem and listened to her. Then he called Mahidevran, asking if Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska told him the truth. Mahidevran said that she was the main woman of the Sultan and that other concubines should obey her, and that she had not beaten the treacherous Hurrem yet. The Sultan was angry with Mahidevran and made Hurrem his favorite concubine.”
A year after joining the harem, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska gave birth to a son. Following this, she gave birth to five children, including one girl. So the harem rule, according to which one concubine could give birth to only one son to the Sultan, did not apply to Hurrem. The Sultan was very much in love with Hurrem, so he refused to meet with other concubines.
One fine day, one governor sent the Sultan two beautiful Russian concubines as a gift. After the arrival of these concubines in the harem, Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska threw a tantrum. As a result, these Russian concubines were given to other harems. This is another example of how Suleiman the Magnificent violated traditions in the name of love for Hurrem.
When the eldest son Mustafa turned 18, he was sent as governor to Manissa. Makhidevran was sent along with him. As for Hurrem, she broke another tradition: she did not follow her sons to the places where they were appointed governors, although other concubines who bore sons to the Sultan still went with them. Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was simply visiting her sons.
After Makhidevran was removed from the palace, Khyurrem became the main woman of the harem. Hurrem also became the first concubine in the Ottoman Empire, with whom the Sultan married. After the death of the Sultan's mother, Hamse Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska took full control of the harem. Over the next 25 years, she ruled the Sultan as she wanted, becoming the most powerful person in the palace.
Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, like other concubines who had sons from the Sultan, did everything to ensure that her son (or rather one of them) became the heir to the throne. She managed to undermine the Sultan's trust in Crown Prince Mustafa, who was very popular among the people and who was greatly loved by the Janissaries. Hurrem managed to convince the Sultan that Mustafa was going to overthrow him. Makhidevran constantly ensured that her son was not poisoned. She understood that conspiracies were being woven around, the goal of which was to eliminate Mustafa. However, she failed to prevent the execution of her son. After that, she began to live in (the city of) Bursa, living in poverty. Only the death of Hurrem saved her from poverty.
Suleiman the Magnificent, who led most of the campaigns, received information about the situation in the palace exclusively from Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. Letters have been preserved that reflect the Sultan’s great love and longing for Hurrem. The latter became his main adviser.
Another victim of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was the chief vizier, Sadrazam Ibrahim Pasha, who was also once a slave. This was a man who had served the Sultan since Manissa and was married to the sister of Suleiman the Magnificent. Moreover, because of Khyurrem’s machinations, another loyal confidant of the Sultan, Kara-Ahmet Pasha, was killed. Hurrem was helped in her intrigues by her daughter Mihrimah and her husband, Croatian by birth, Rustem Pasha.
Hurrem died before Suleiman. She did not get to see her son ascend the throne. Hurrem entered Ottoman history as the most powerful concubine,” the station reported in its essays on the history of Turkey. (Suleiman’s son from Mahidevran, Mustafa, was strangled on the orders of Suleiman, because the Sultan was inspired that Mustafa was preparing treason. After the death of Roksolana, Years passed when Hürrem passed away, when the deceased Suleiman was succeeded by his son from Hürrem, Selim, who became famous for writing poetry, as well as drunkenness. In Ottoman history, he now appears under the nickname Selim the Drunkard. In total, Roksolana gave birth to five children to Suleiman, incl. four sons, but only Selim outlived his father. Roksolana's first son Mehmed (life 1521-1543) died at a young age, as did the youngest son Dzhangir (1533-1553); another son of Roksolana, Bayezid (1525-1562), was executed by order of his father after, during a feud with his brother, Prince Selim (who later became the Sultan), he fled to Iran, hostile to the Ottomans, but was then extradited back. Roksolana's tomb is located in the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.. Note website).
This series of essays was broadcast by the Turkish state foreign broadcasting Radio “Voice of Turkey” during the winter-spring of 2007, by its Russian edition. This publication contains a transcript of the texts of the essays dated 01/02/2007; 01/16/2007; 01/23/2007; 01/30/2007; 02/27/2007; The subtitles for the essays are arranged by Portalostranah.
For almost 400 years, the Ottoman Empire ruled the territory of modern Turkey, southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Today, interest in the history of this empire is greater than ever, but few people know that the stop had many “dark” secrets that were hidden from prying eyes.
1. Fratricide
Early Ottoman sultans did not practice primogeniture, in which the eldest son inherits everything. As a result, there were often a number of brothers laying claim to the throne. In the first decades, it was not uncommon for some of the potential heirs to take refuge in enemy states and cause a lot of problems for many years.
When Mehmed the Conqueror was besieging Constantinople, his uncle fought against him from the walls of the city. Mehmed dealt with the problem with his usual ruthlessness. When he ascended the throne, he executed most of his male relatives, including even ordering his infant brother to be strangled in his cradle. He later issued his infamous law, which stated: " One of my sons who should inherit the Sultanate must kill his brothers"From that moment on, each new sultan had to take the throne by killing all his male relatives.
Mehmed III tore out his beard in grief when his younger brother begged him for mercy. But at the same time he “did not answer him a word,” and the boy was executed along with 18 other brothers. And Suleiman the Magnificent silently watched from behind a screen as his own son was strangled with a bowstring when he became too popular in the army and began to pose a danger to his power.
2. Cages for sekhzade
The policy of fratricide was never popular with the people and clergy, and when Ahmed I died suddenly in 1617, it was abandoned. Instead of killing all potential heirs to the throne, they began to be imprisoned in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul in special rooms known as Kafes ("cages"). An Ottoman prince could spend his entire life imprisoned in Kafes, under constant guards. And although the heirs were, as a rule, kept in luxury, many shehzade (sons of the sultans) went crazy from boredom or became debauched drunkards. And this is understandable, because they understood that they could be executed at any moment.
3. The palace is like a quiet hell
Even for the Sultan, life in Topkapi Palace could be extremely gloomy. At that time, it was believed that it was indecent for the Sultan to talk too much, so a special form of sign language was introduced, and the ruler spent most of his time in complete silence.
Mustafa I considered that this was simply impossible to bear and tried to abolish such a rule, but his viziers refused to approve this ban. As a result, Mustafa soon went crazy. He often came to the seashore and threw coins into the water so that “at least the fish would spend them somewhere.”
The atmosphere in the palace was literally saturated with intrigue - everyone was fighting for power: viziers, courtiers and eunuchs. The women of the harem gained great influence and eventually this period of the empire became known as the "Sultanate of Women." Ahmet III once wrote to his grand vizier: " If I move from one room to another, then 40 people line up in the corridor, when I get dressed, then security is watching me... I can never be alone".
4. Gardener with executioner duties
The Ottoman rulers had complete power over the life and death of their subjects, and they used it without hesitation. Topkapi Palace, where petitioners and guests were received, was a terrifying place. It had two columns on which severed heads were placed, as well as a special fountain exclusively for the executioners so that they could wash their hands. During periodic cleansing of the palace from unwanted or guilty people, entire mounds of the tongues of victims were built in the courtyard.
Interestingly, the Ottomans did not bother to create a corps of executioners. These duties, oddly enough, were entrusted to the palace gardeners, who divided their time between killing and growing delicious flowers. Most victims were simply beheaded. But it was forbidden to shed the blood of the Sultan's family and high-ranking officials, so they were strangled. It was for this reason that the head gardener had always been a huge, muscular man, capable of quickly strangling anyone.
5. Death Race
For offending officials there was only one way to avoid the wrath of the Sultan. Beginning in the late 18th century, a custom arose where a convicted grand vizier could escape his fate by defeating the head gardener in a race through the palace gardens. The vizier was called to a meeting with the head gardener and, after an exchange of greetings, he was presented with a cup of frozen sherbet. If the sherbet was white, then the Sultan granted the vizier a reprieve, and if it was red, he had to execute the vizier. As soon as the condemned man saw the red sherbet, he immediately had to run through the palace gardens between the shady cypress trees and rows of tulips. The goal was to reach the gate on the other side of the garden that led to the fish market.
The problem was one thing: the vizier was being pursued by the head gardener (who was always younger and stronger) with a silk cord. However, several viziers managed to do so, including Haci Salih Pasha, the last vizier who was the last to participate in such a deadly race. As a result, he became the sanjak bey (governor) of one of the provinces.
6. Scapegoats
Although grand viziers were theoretically second only to the sultan in power, they were typically executed or thrown into the crowd as a scapegoat whenever something went wrong. During the time of Selim the Terrible, so many great viziers changed that they began to always carry their wills with them. One vizier once asked Selim to let him know in advance if he was executed soon, to which the Sultan replied that a whole line of people had already lined up to replace him. The viziers also had to calm the people of Istanbul, who always, when they didn’t like something, came in a crowd to the palace and demanded execution.
7. Harem
Perhaps the most important attraction of the Topkapi Palace was the Sultan's harem. It consisted of up to 2,000 women, most of whom were purchased or kidnapped slaves. These wives and concubines of the Sultan were kept locked up, and anyone stranger who saw them was executed on the spot.
The harem itself was guarded and controlled by the chief eunuch, who because of had enormous power. Today there is little information about living conditions in a harem. It is known that there were so many concubines that some of them almost never caught the eye of the Sultan. Others managed to gain such enormous influence over him that they took part in resolving political issues.
So, Suleiman the Magnificent fell madly in love with the Ukrainian beauty Roksolana (1505-1558), married her and made her his main adviser. Roxolana's influence on imperial politics was such that the Grand Vizier sent the pirate Barbarossa on a desperate mission to kidnap the Italian beauty Giulia Gonzaga (Countess of Fondi and Duchess of Traetto) in the hope that Suleiman would take notice of her when she was brought into the harem. The plan ultimately failed, and Julia was never kidnapped.
Another lady - Kesem Sultan (1590-1651) - achieved even greater influence than Roksolana. She ruled the empire as regent in place of her son and later grandson.
8. Blood tribute
One of the most known features Early Ottoman rule was devşirme ("blood tribute") - a tax imposed on the non-Muslim population of the empire. This tax consisted of the forced recruitment of young boys from Christian families. Most boys were recruited into the Janissary Corps, an army of slave soldiers who were always used in the first line of Ottoman conquests. This tribute was collected irregularly, usually resorting to devshirma when the sultan and viziers decided that the empire might need additional manpower and warriors. As a rule, boys aged 12-14 years were recruited from Greece and the Balkans, and the strongest were taken (on average, 1 boy per 40 families).
Ottoman officials gathered the recruited boys together and took them to Istanbul, where they were entered into the register (with detailed description, in case someone escaped), were circumcised and forcibly converted to Islam. The most beautiful or intelligent ones were sent to the palace, where they were trained. These guys could achieve very high ranks and many of them eventually became pashas or viziers. The remaining boys were initially sent to work on farms for eight years, where the children simultaneously learned Turkish and developed physically.
By the age of twenty, they officially became Janissaries, the elite soldiers of the empire, renowned for their iron discipline and loyalty. The blood tribute system became obsolete in the early 18th century, when the children of the Janissaries were allowed to join the corps, which thus became self-sustaining.
9. Slavery as a tradition
Although devşirme (slavery) was gradually abandoned during the 17th century, it continued to be a key feature of the Ottoman system until the end of the 19th century. Most slaves were imported from Africa or the Caucasus (the Adyghe were especially valued), while Crimean Tatar raids provided a constant influx of Russians, Ukrainians and Poles.
It was originally forbidden to enslave Muslims, but this rule was quietly forgotten when the supply of non-Muslims began to dry up. Islamic slavery developed largely independently from Western slavery and therefore had a number of significant differences. For example, it was somewhat easier for Ottoman slaves to gain freedom or achieve some kind of influence in society. But there is no doubt that Ottoman slavery was incredibly cruel.
Millions of people died during slave raids or from backbreaking work. And that's not even mentioning the castration process that was used to fill the ranks of eunuchs. The mortality rate among slaves is illustrated by the fact that the Ottomans imported millions of slaves from Africa, while very few people of African descent remained in modern Turkey.
10. Massacres
With all of the above, we can say that the Ottomans were a fairly loyal empire. Apart from the devshirme, they made no real attempts to convert non-Muslim subjects. They accepted Jews after they were expelled from Spain. They never discriminated against their subjects, and the empire was often ruled (we are talking about officials) by Albanians and Greeks. But when the Turks felt threatened, they acted very cruelly.
Selim the Terrible, for example, was very alarmed by the Shiites, who denied his authority as a defender of Islam and could be "double agents" for Persia. As a result, he massacred almost the entire east of the empire (at least 40,000 Shiites were killed and their villages were razed to the ground). When the Greeks first began to seek independence, the Ottomans resorted to the help of Albanian partisans, who carried out a series of terrible pogroms.
As the empire's influence declined, it lost much of its former tolerance for minorities. By the 19th century, massacres became much more common. This reached its climax in 1915, when the empire, just two years before its collapse, massacred 75 percent of the entire Armenian population (about 1.5 million people).
Continuing the Turkish theme, for our readers.
Little secrets of the big harem of the Ottoman EmpireHarem-i Humayun was the harem of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, which influenced the decisions of the sultan in all areas of politics.
The eastern harem is the secret dream of men and the personified curse of women, the focus of sensual pleasures and the exquisite boredom of the beautiful concubines languishing in it. All this is nothing more than a myth created by the talent of novelists.
A traditional harem (from the Arabic “haram” - forbidden) is primarily the female half of a Muslim home. Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is strictly taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: “If the sun were a man, even he would be forbidden to look into the harem.” The harem is a kingdom of luxury and lost hopes...
The Sultan's harem was located in the Istanbul palace Topkapi. The mother (valide-sultan), sisters, daughters and heirs (shahzade) of the sultan, his wives (kadyn-effendi), favorites and concubines (odalisques, slaves - jariye) lived here.
From 700 to 1200 women could live in a harem at the same time. The inhabitants of the harem were served by black eunuchs (karagalar), commanded by darussaade agasy. Kapi-agasy, the head of the white eunuchs (akagalar), was responsible for both the harem and the inner chambers of the palace (enderun), where the sultan lived. Until 1587, the kapi-agas had power inside the palace comparable to the power of the vizier outside it, then the heads of the black eunuchs became more influential.
The harem itself was actually controlled by the Valide Sultan. The next in rank were the Sultan's unmarried sisters, then his wives.
The income of the women of the Sultan's family was made up of funds called bashmaklyk (“per shoe”).
There were few slaves in the Sultan's harem; usually concubines became girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training there.
In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, a slave underwent a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to testing for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam.
Entering a harem was in many ways reminiscent of being tonsured as a nun, where instead of selfless service to God, no less selfless service to the master was instilled. Concubine candidates, like God's brides, were forced to sever all ties with the outside world, received new names and learned to live in submission.
In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of the privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. By paying attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of temporary wife. This situation was most often precarious and could change at any moment depending on the master’s mood. The most reliable way to gain a foothold in the status of a wife was the birth of a boy. A concubine who gave her master a son acquired the status of mistress.
The largest harem in the history of the Muslim world was the Istanbul harem of Dar-ul-Seadet, in which all the women were foreign slaves; free Turkish women did not go there. The concubines in this harem were called “odalisque”, a little later the Europeans added the letter “s” to the word and it turned out to be “odalisque”.
And here is Topkapi Palace, where the Harem lived
The Sultan chose up to seven wives from among the odalisques. Those who were lucky enough to become a “wife” received the title “kadyn” - madam. The main “kadyn” became the one who managed to give birth to her first child. But even the most prolific “Kadyn” could not count on the honorary title of “Sultana”. Only the mother, sisters and daughters of the Sultan could be called sultanas.
Transport of wives, concubines, in short, a harem taxi fleet
Just below the “kadyn” on the hierarchical ladder of the harem stood the favorites - “ikbal”. These women received salaries, their own apartments and personal slaves.
The favorites were not only skilled mistresses, but also, as a rule, subtle and intelligent politicians. In Turkish society, it was through “ikbal” that for a certain bribe one could go directly to the Sultan himself, bypassing the bureaucratic obstacles of the state. Below “ikbal” were “konkubin”. These young ladies were somewhat less fortunate. Conditions of detention are worse, there are fewer privileges.
It was at the “concubin” stage that there was the toughest competition, in which daggers and poison were often used. Theoretically, the Concubins, like the Iqbals, had a chance to climb the hierarchical ladder by giving birth to a child.
But unlike the favorites close to the Sultan, they had very little chance of this wonderful event. Firstly, if there are up to a thousand concubines in the harem, then it is easier to wait for the weather by the sea than for the holy sacrament of mating with the Sultan.
Secondly, even if the Sultan descends, it is not at all a fact that the happy concubine will definitely become pregnant. And it’s certainly not a fact that they won’t arrange a miscarriage for her.
Old slaves watched over the concubines, and any noticed pregnancy was immediately terminated. In principle, it is quite logical - any woman in labor, one way or another, became a contender for the role of a legitimate “kadyn”, and her baby became a potential contender for the throne.
If, despite all the intrigues and machinations, the odalisque managed to maintain the pregnancy and did not allow the child to be killed during an “unsuccessful birth,” she automatically received her personal staff of slaves, eunuchs and an annual salary “basmalik.”
Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 years and raised until they were 14-15 years old. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, and the art of giving pleasure to a man. When selling his daughter to a harem school, the father signed a paper stating that he had no rights to his daughter and agreed not to meet with her for the rest of his life. Once in the harem, the girls received a different name.
When choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or ring). After that, she was sent to the bathhouse, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom, where she waited until the Sultan went to bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed and kissed the carpet. In the morning, the Sultan sent the concubine rich gifts if he liked the night spent with her.
The Sultan could have favorites - güzde. Here is one of the most famous, Ukrainian Roxalana
Suleiman the Magnificent
Baths of Hurrem Sultan (Roksolany), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, built in 1556 next to the Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul. Architect Mimar Sinan.
Mausoleum of Roxalana
Valide with a black eunuch
Reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Valide Sultan apartment in Topkapi Palace. Melike Safiye Sultan (possibly born Sophia Baffo) was a concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During Mehmed's reign, she bore the title Valide Sultan (mother of the Sultan) and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Only the Sultan's mother, Valide, was considered equal to her. Valide Sultan, regardless of her origin, could be very influential (the most famous example is Nurbanu).
Ayşe Hafsa Sultan is the wife of Sultan Selim I and the mother of Sultan Suleiman I.
Hospice Ayşe Sultan
Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker, was the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (who bore the title Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. During the reign of her sons, she bore the title Valide Sultan and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Valide apartments in the palace
Bathroom Valide
Valide's bedroom 
After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. In this case, the Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry, she received a document stating that she was a free person.
However, the lowest layer of the harem also had its own hope for happiness. For example, only they had a chance for at least some kind of personal life. After several years of impeccable service and adoration in their eyes, a husband was found for them, or, having allocated funds for a comfortable life, they were released on all four sides.
Moreover, among the odalisques - outsiders of the harem society - there were also aristocrats. A slave could turn into a “gezde” - awarded a glance, if the Sultan somehow - with a look, gesture or word - singled her out from the general crowd. Thousands of women lived their whole lives in the harem, but they didn’t even see the Sultan naked, but they didn’t even wait for the honor of being “honored with a glance”
If the Sultan died, all the concubines were sorted by the gender of the children they had managed to give birth to. The girls’ mothers could easily get married, but the mothers of the “princes” settled in the “Old Palace”, from where they could leave only after the accession of the new Sultan. And at this moment the fun began. The brothers poisoned each other with enviable regularity and persistence. Their mothers also actively added poison to the food of their potential rivals and their sons.
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In addition to the old, trusted slaves, the concubines were watched over by eunuchs. Translated from Greek, “eunuch” means “guardian of the bed.” They ended up in the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order. There were two types of eunuchs. Some were castrated back in early childhood and they completely lacked secondary sexual characteristics - they did not grow a beard, had a high, boyish voice and a complete lack of perception of a woman as a member of the opposite sex. Others were castrated at a later age.
Partial eunuchs (that’s what those castrated not in childhood, but in adolescence were called) looked very much like men, had the most low masculine basque, sparse facial hair, broad muscular shoulders, and, oddly enough, sexual desire.
Of course, the eunuchs could not satisfy their needs naturally due to the lack of the necessary equipment for this. But as you understand, when it comes to sex or drinking, the flight of human imagination is simply limitless. And the odalisques, who lived for years with an obsessive dream of waiting for the Sultan’s gaze, were not particularly picky. Well, if there are 300-500 concubines in the harem, at least half of them are younger and more beautiful than you, what's the point of waiting for the prince? And in the absence of fish, even a eunuch is a man.
In addition to the fact that the eunuchs monitored order in the harem and at the same time (in secret from the Sultan, of course) consoled themselves and women yearning for male attention in every possible and impossible way, their duties also included the functions of executioners. They strangled those guilty of disobedience to the concubines with a silk cord or drowned the unfortunate woman in the Bosphorus.
The influence of the inhabitants of the harem on the sultans was used by envoys of foreign states. Thus, the Russian Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire M.I. Kutuzov, having arrived in Istanbul in September 1793, sent Valide Sultan Mihrishah gifts, and “the Sultan received this attention to his mother with sensitivity.”
Selim
Kutuzov received reciprocal gifts from the Sultan’s mother and a favorable reception from Selim III himself. The Russian ambassador strengthened Russia's influence in Turkey and persuaded it to join an alliance against revolutionary France.
Since the 19th century, after the abolition of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, all concubines began to enter the harem voluntarily and with the consent of their parents, hoping to achieve material well-being and a career. The harem of the Ottoman sultans was liquidated in 1908.
The harem, like the Topkapi Palace itself, is a real labyrinth, rooms, corridors, courtyards are all randomly scattered. This confusion can be divided into three parts: The premises of the black eunuchs The actual harem, where the wives and concubines lived The premises of the Valide Sultan and the padishah himself Our tour of the Harem of the Topkapi Palace was very brief.
The premises are dark and deserted, there is no furniture, there are bars on the windows. Cramped and narrow corridors. This is where the eunuchs lived, vindictive and vindictive because of psychological and physical injury... And they lived in the same ugly rooms, tiny, like closets, sometimes without windows at all. The impression is brightened only by the magical beauty and antiquity of the Iznik tiles, as if emitting a pale glow. We passed the stone courtyard of the concubines and looked at Valide's apartments.
It’s also cramped, all the beauty is in the green, turquoise, blue earthenware tiles. I ran my hand over them, touched the flower garlands on them - tulips, carnations, but the peacock’s tail... It was cold, and thoughts were spinning in my head that the rooms were poorly heated and the inhabitants of the harem probably often suffered from tuberculosis.
Moreover, this lack of direct sunlight... The imagination stubbornly refused to work. Instead of the splendor of the Seraglio, luxurious fountains, fragrant flowers, I saw closed spaces, cold walls, empty rooms, dark passages, strange niches in the walls, strange fantasy world. The sense of direction and connection to the outside world was lost. I was stubbornly overcome by an aura of hopelessness and melancholy. Even the balconies and terraces in some rooms overlooking the sea and the fortress walls were not pleasing.
And finally, the reaction of official Istanbul to the sensational series “The Golden Age”
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan believes that the television series about the court of Suleiman the Magnificent insults the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. However, historical chronicles confirm that the palace really fell into complete decline.
All sorts of rumors often circulate around forbidden places. Moreover, the more secrecy they are shrouded in, the more fantastic assumptions mere mortals make about what is going on behind closed doors. This applies equally to the secret archives of the Vatican and the CIA caches. The harems of Muslim rulers are no exception.
So it is not surprising that one of them became the setting for a “soap opera” that became popular in many countries. The Magnificent Century series takes place in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire, which at that time stretched from Algeria to Sudan and from Belgrade to Iran. At its head was Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566, and in whose bedroom there was room for hundreds of barely dressed beauties. It is not surprising that 150 million television viewers in 22 countries were interested in this story.
Erdogan, in turn, focuses primarily on the glory and power of the Ottoman Empire, which reached its peak during the reign of Suleiman. Invented harem stories from that time, in his opinion, understate the greatness of the Sultan and thus the entire Turkish state.
But what does distortion of history mean in this case? Three Western historians spent a lot of time studying works on the history of the Ottoman Empire. The last of them was the Romanian researcher Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), whose “History of the Ottoman Empire” also included previously published studies by the Austrian orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and the German historian Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen (Johann Wilhelm Zinkeisen).
Iorga devoted a lot of time to studying the events at the Ottoman court during the time of Suleiman and his heirs, for example, Selim II, who inherited the throne after the death of his father in 1566. “More like a monster than a man,” he spent most of his life drinking, which, by the way, was prohibited by the Koran, and his red face once again confirmed his addiction to alcohol.
The day had barely begun, and he, as a rule, was already drunk. To solving issues of national importance, he usually preferred entertainment, for which dwarfs, jesters, magicians or wrestlers were responsible, in which he occasionally shot with a bow. But if Selim’s endless feasts took place, apparently, without the participation of women, then under his heir Murad III, who ruled from 1574 to 1595 and lived for 20 years under Suleiman, everything was different.
“Women play an important role in this country,” wrote one French diplomat who had some experience in this sense in his homeland. “Since Murad spent all his time in the palace, his environment had a great influence on his weak spirit,” wrote Iorga. “With women, the Sultan was always obedient and weak-willed.”
Most of all, Murad’s mother and first wife took advantage of this, who were always accompanied by “many court ladies, intriguers and intermediaries,” wrote Iorga. “On the street they were followed by a cavalcade of 20 carts and a crowd of Janissaries. Being a very insightful person, she often influenced appointments at court. Because of her extravagance, Murad tried several times to send her to the old palace, but she remained a real mistress until her death.”
Ottoman princesses lived in “typical oriental luxury.” European diplomats tried to win their favor with exquisite gifts, because one note from the hands of one of them was enough to appoint one or another pasha. The careers of the young gentlemen who married them depended entirely on them. And those who dared to reject them lived in danger. Pasha “could easily have been strangled if he did not dare to take this dangerous step - to marry an Ottoman princess.”
While Murad was having fun in the company of beautiful slaves, “all the other people admitted to governing the empire made personal enrichment their goal - no matter by honest or dishonest means,” wrote Iorga. It is no coincidence that one of the chapters of his book is called “Causes of Collapse.” When you read it, you get the feeling that this is a script for a television series, such as, for example, “Rome” or “Boardwalk Empire”.
However, behind the endless orgies and intrigues in the palace and in the harem, important changes in life at court were hidden. Before Suleiman's accession to the throne, it was customary for the Sultan's sons, accompanied by their mother, to go to the provinces and remain aloof from the struggle for power. The prince who inherited the throne then, as a rule, killed all his brothers, which was in some ways not bad, because this way it was possible to avoid a bloody struggle over the Sultan’s inheritance.
Everything changed under Suleiman. After he not only had children with his concubine Roxolana, but also freed her from slavery and appointed her as his main wife, the princes remained in the palace in Istanbul. The first concubine who managed to rise to the position of the Sultan's wife did not know what shame and conscience are, and she shamelessly promoted her children through career ladder. Numerous foreign diplomats wrote about the intrigues at court. Later, historians relied on their letters in their research.
The fact that Suleiman’s heirs abandoned the tradition of sending wives and princes further to the province also played a role. Therefore, the latter constantly interfered in political issues. “In addition to their participation in palace intrigues, their connections with the Janissaries stationed in the capital are worthy of mention,” wrote historian Surayya Farocki from Munich.
What associations do we have when we mention the harem? Beautiful girls sitting on sofas and drinking sherbet, saunas where concubines rub themselves with aromatic mixtures, expensive jewelry, a battle in which hundreds of beauties fight for the attention of the ruler. This is a place saturated with bliss, charm, temptation, feminine fluids and the aroma of musk.
While we compete with all our might with men for equal rights, sometimes forgetting about our essence, women of the East treat a man as a ruler. They use ancient techniques that delight men and turn them into slaves of love for a long time.
I propose to travel back several centuries, to the times of prosperity of the Great Ottoman Empire and look at the life of the harem from the inside. Let's lift the veil of secrecy and take a few lessons in preparing for intimacy and developing attractiveness among the Sultan's concubines.
Protected paradise
The word "harem" means secret, inaccessible and closed. Indeed, the place where the Sultan's concubines and wives lived was closed to everyone except selected members of the Sultan's family.
The Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey once wrote: “If the sun were a man, even he would be forbidden to look into the harem.”
The most famous harem was the Seraglio Palace, located in Istanbul. It consisted of 400 spacious rooms, where more than two thousand concubines lived. The palace was the size of a small city surrounded by high walls. An inhabitant of this paradise could only become a real beauty, which has passed a strict selection process.
Casting
Random girls never ended up in the Sultan's harem. There was a special plan according to which a certain number of blondes and brunettes were selected. Most of all, the eastern padishahs valued the hips and waist. The ideal ratio was considered to be 2/3 (waist/hips).
The difference between the waist and hips should have been about thirty centimeters. But the girls’ breasts and height were secondary indicators. Slavic beauty was held in special esteem.
The girls were selected not only according to external criteria. The future concubine had to be smart. Candidates who were lucky enough to get into the harem underwent a thorough medical examination.
Seduction courses
Girls selected to serve the Sultan underwent a special two-year training. They were taught by calfas - old, experienced slaves. Future concubines learned the language, the basics of the Koran, literature, poetry, and calligraphy.
We studied poetry and playing musical instruments. The girls constantly maintained their physical shape, devoting a lot of time to dancing. Odalisques thoroughly studied court etiquette, learned to serve coffee and sweets, fill a pipe and conduct conversations with the Sultan.
In the second year of study, the harem residents studied the art of self-care. They prepared masks and special aromatic compositions and applied makeup. We learned to dress properly and choose jewelry.
All the girls studied the dance “Raks Sharkhi”. This is a cross between belly dancing and striptease. This dance aroused the love mood and desire of the Sultan.
Then they mastered the subtleties of intimate gymnastics, which we call wumbling. At the end of training, each girl took an exam. In addition to dancing, poetry and etiquette, the exam included several very piquant exercises.
Exercise one: jade egg. The girl was seated on a bench with a hole. The legs were spread wide apart, and a small jade egg, to which several threads were attached, was placed in the subject’s vagina. The girl had to squeeze her muscles so that the threads would break when they were pulled.
Exercise two: dance “Raks Sharkhi”. 100 ml of colored liquid was poured into the bowl. The girl injected liquid into her womb and danced. The dance lasted for half an hour. During this time, the future odalisque should not have lost a drop of liquid.
If all tests were passed successfully, she became a legal resident of the harem.
Along the Golden Path
It was not enough just to get into the harem. You can stay there for several years and never get around to being invited to the Sultan’s bedroom. Hundreds of the most beautiful, seductive girls showed off before the Sultan every day. But luck smiled on only a few. To attract the attention of the padishah, the concubines carefully looked after themselves. They wore the most beautiful dresses and spent several hours a day on makeup. They trained their gait and posture, learned to seduce with just one glance.
If the padishah liked one of the slaves, she received an invitation to the Sultan’s chambers. The girls prepared very diligently for intimacy with the Sultan, because it depended on their skills whether they would be lucky again. Path from shared bedroom before the ruler's rest it was called Golden. To walk along it, the girl walked a whole series beauty rituals.
Hammam
One of the most important self-care rituals for concubines was going to the hammam (bathhouse). The girls bathed in water infused with hibiscus and violet petals. This product not only softened the skin, but also plumped it up. subtle aroma. Then a clay mask was applied to the hair and skin.
Before going to the sauna, the girls removed hair from all parts of the body using a special cream. It consisted of eggs, honey and lemon juice.
In those days, peeling for oriental women was replaced by kese. The steamed skin of the concubine was massaged with a hard silk mitten. This procedure removed dead skin cells and made it soft, like a child’s.
A body worthy of a Sultan
After washing with soap, my hair became stiff. To soften them, Ottoman beauties used hair cream made from mallow flowers. Hundreds of kilograms of these flowers were delivered to the palace every year.
Eastern beauties carefully looked after their hair. Masks were prepared from henna and ground walnut shells. After such a mask, my hair grew very quickly.
To keep the bodies of the concubines elastic and young, clay masks with infusions of flowers and herbs were applied to their skin.
After a thorough bath, the girl’s steamed body is ready for a massage. Specially trained maids relaxed the muscles and bodies of the concubines in anticipation of the night of love.
Steamed skin quickly hardens and wrinkles. Therefore, the girls’ skin was smeared with oils after the hammam. In olive or sesame oil added a few drops of aromatic oil. In summer they usually added oil of violet or rose, and in winter - cloves.
Before going to bed, beauties washed their faces with rose water. It softens the skin and smoothes out wrinkles. Turkish rose oil is still used in the manufacture of luxury cosmetics.
Makeup
Before going to the Sultan's bedchamber, the concubines applied makeup. Particular attention was paid to the eyes. So that the eyes would strike the heart of the padishah at first sight, the girls drew arrows with antimony mixed with ash. To give your lips a scarlet tint, oriental women chewed betel - a paste with pepper, lime and flax seeds. Cinnamon sticks helped freshen my breath the night before.
Inflame the desire of the spoiled female attention it was not so easy for the Sultan. Each girl tried to highlight her best features. Henna drawings helped complete the look. Slave artists painted patterns on the bodies of odalisques. They covered the hands, ankles, back of the neck or collarbone. Sometimes they were applied to the lower back or under the navel, drawing a path to pleasure.
Unlike Christianity, in the Islamic religion pleasure from intimacy was not considered a sin. But the Koran prohibited anal, group and same-sex relationships. Therefore, the orgies and lesbian pleasures between bored concubines imagined by many Europeans were most likely a fairy tale.
Each woman in the harem of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire had her own status and had strictly defined rights and responsibilities. Based on this status, the amount of her salary, the number of occupied rooms or chambers, the number of servants, and the right to occupy any position were determined. But only narrow specialists know about the complete hierarchy of women who lived in the Ottoman harem of the Middle Ages. OLGA74RU talks in detail about all statuses.
Editor LJ Media
The basis, of course, was the harem of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, but other eastern harems had a very similar structure, somewhere a little tougher, somewhere softer, somewhere the names of the titles were slightly different.
So, each woman in the Sultan’s harem, who had a certain title or rank, had her own status, and had strictly defined rights and responsibilities in accordance with it. Based on this status, the amount of her salary, the number of occupied rooms or chambers, the number of servants, and the right to occupy any position were determined. But only narrow specialists know about the complete hierarchy of women who lived in the Ottoman harem of the Middle Ages. I will only voice a list of possible statuses in a harem of the 16th-18th centuries, and tell you in detail about all the statuses.
My story will relate specifically to the Sultan’s harem, but in almost every shehzade harem a similar hierarchy was used, with slight personal changes, which were not uncommon. By the way, in the harem it was customary to add the word “Khatun” to a woman of status from “Jariye” to “Khaznedar” when addressing her. Women who received the status of “Sultan” always had this word added when addressing them. For example, Hurrem Sultan.
In the harem (Artist unknown to me)
So, the possible statuses of women in the Sultan’s harem:
Jariye (in the Khan's harem - “bikech”)- was considered the lowest level of the hierarchy. Every girl who ended up in a harem received exactly this status at the beginning of her journey. It should be noted here that most of the girls never increased their status, even after spending many years in the harem. This status belonged to the simplest slave-concubine, officially belonging to the Sultan’s harem, with a minimum salary. Such concubines were not even allowed to have intimacy with their master. They had no right to command or control anyone. Their responsibilities included cleaning the premises of the palace, serving those who were on more high position in a hierarchical vertical, performing various small tasks. At first they were not even Muslim women, although later almost all of them accepted Islam. For the jariye, courses were organized in the harem, the training of which lasted two or four years, depending on the age at which the slave entered the harem. Concubines were taught basic knowledge and skills. They learned to write in the Ottoman language, studied applied disciplines, for example, embroidery or playing some musical instrument. Primary school...
Kalfa- this was the name of the maids who were part of the palace staff. These were most often former jariye, who received both basic training and additional training, which was necessary in order to obtain such status. They differed from the jariye in that they were engaged in cleaning premises and serving privileged persons as professional activities, and not as an additional activity. They were paid increased salaries, but with this status they still did not have intimate relations with the Sultan. Jariye and the kalfa could count on marriage after serving in the harem for ten years, if they so desired. Their husbands were usually very successful people, and their future lives were decently arranged. There were calfs of three categories. They were divided into junior, middle and senior, depending on their service life. In addition, they taught jariya, and commanded only girls of this status. Bees... The most important kalfa even had a little power. There was only one person in the palace as Unger Kalfa, and it was very difficult to get it. It was even more difficult to obtain the position of Khaznedar, about which - later.
Mouth- this status could be assigned to a jariya who diligently completed the entire period of training, and at a certain moment of her stay in the harem she was supposed to become an exemplary concubine, who did not become a service staff, that is, a kalfa. Usta received an increased salary; thanks to this status, more talented and attractive concubines stood out among the slaves who had just been brought, and they still did not know how to do anything. Such excellent students in combat and political... Bearers of Usta status became candidates for the right to intimate relationships with the Sultan. Only they could move further up the career ladder.
Odalyk- this is the next step after simple slaves. Odalyk is not much different from the mouth, only in his less luck in an intimate relationship with the Sultan, if there was one at all. Odalyk continued to live in the harem with full support and had an increased salary compared to a simple concubine. Excellent students, but failures... They were then married off if they did not make serious mistakes. But any of the concubines could have made a mistake. Obviously, modern word The "odalisque" root comes from this status.
A still from the series “The Magnificent Century” (from left to right - a eunuch of the harem, two kalfas at the door, an odalyk holding a box and Haseki Hurrem Sultan) Pake- this is a type of concubine who was able to approach and become an assistant to the owner of one of the highest titles. This is, in essence, the confidant of Haseki, Valide or Mistress (Sultana) in the harem. Companions... They were paid a very good salary, even more than that of experienced calfs. Peik was required to respect all other concubines. This was a very respectable status, practically the maximum hierarchy in the harem that a simple concubine who had no relationship with the Sultan could achieve. Only Khaznedar was higher in this regard.
Gözde- this status was considered the first really serious one that a slave who was allowed to have a relationship with the Sultan could achieve. At least even for one night. Most often, before this she was an Usto (an excellent student in combat and politics). After that, she turned into a favorite concubine, and she was no longer entrusted with the tasks that the other concubines were doing in the harem. The Gözde could continue their relationship with the Sultan, which could lead to higher titles if the Sultan remained favorable to them or they became pregnant. Gözda was given two maids and a separate room for each. There also followed a serious increase in salary, and many gifts from the Sultan. Every concubine aspired to the status of gezde if she wanted to be at the very top of the harem hierarchy, but only a few were able to obtain this status, although even with it a cloudless life was not guaranteed to anyone.
Iqbal- this is already a real constant favorite of the Sultan, who enjoyed the favor of the Padishah for a long time, and he spent more than one night with her. This status was awarded to gezde who became pregnant by the Sultan, but had not yet given birth. There was greater respect for such concubines than for the gyezda, but if they lost the fetus, they no longer had a further path in the harem. They could be transferred to odalyk, so pregnant women had to be very careful. For the convenience of the Iqbals, they were moved to more spacious comfortable chambers. They were served by several maidservants, twice as many as the Gözde.
Khaznedar- this is the status of the chief treasurer, or, as they would say today, the administrator of the harem. This was the right hand and main assistant of Haseki or Valide. Depending on the title of the current harem manager. Only one person could have such a status in the palace at a time. Khaznedar is a unique title; even the pregnant favorites of the Sultan are lower in status. Sometimes the former kalfa managed to become Khaznedar, with a successful combination of circumstances, but most often this position went to girls with the status of odalyk or peik. The position of Khaznedar was unlimited, and if received, they could have it until death. Obtaining such a position was the only way to continue working in the harem even in old age. But in this case it was necessary to forget about creating your own family. Khaznedar had the opportunity to refuse their position, but then they found themselves at the previous level of the hierarchy or even retired. This status was a guarantee of a further comfortable life, because it guaranteed high prestige, a good salary, large number gifts. Khaznedar communicated with the Sultan's family, and could in the future count on life outside the walls of the palace in full security. Khaznedar could be stripped of her status by the sultan or head of the harem if she made serious mistakes. She was replaced by a more suitable candidate. Further fate The fired Khaznedar was unknown, and this was a rather rare case. However, there were situations when the former Khaznedar received her position again.
Kadyn- this was the name of the former Iqbal, who gave birth to a daughter to the Sultan. Sometimes she became the former mistress, the Sultana, who lost her title due to the loss of male heirs, but had a girl child, who was the daughter or granddaughter of the current Padishah.
Sultan (Mistress or Sultana)- this title was considered one of the highest that could be assigned to a woman in the Ottoman Empire. Before Sultan Suleiman began to rule, this title was considered the second among women's titles after Valide. This title could be given to a former Iqbal who gave birth to a son, and all daughters of the current Sultan automatically received it. According to one version, the sisters and daughters of the Sultan had this title from birth, but after marriage they lost this title. But this statement is not true. Even after marriage to the Sultan's sisters and daughters, their title was retained if the current Sultan had no objections. Most often this is what happened. But the irony of fate is that the Sultan’s sisters and daughters did not have the opportunity to receive a higher title, but the concubine who gave birth to the Sultan’s son had the opportunity to become Valide or Haseki in status. Thus, women who bore the title of Sultan by birth were not involved in the official management of the harem, but concubines who managed to “grow” to the highest position managed the harem. The only exception was Mihrimah Sultan, who headed the harem of Sultan Suleiman, her father. She ruled the harem from 1558 to 1566. In the eighteenth century, the Ottoman Empire underwent a reform, and all women of the harem were prohibited from using this title and a similar prefix to their name. Further, the title of Sultan in relation to women was generally abolished.
Still from the TV series “The Magnificent Century”. Kösem (part 1)“(There is still a controversial situation here, since the grandson is already ruling, and the grandmother still cannot be sent to Old Palace) (from left to right - Valide Handan Sultan, the Sultan’s aunt Fatma Sultan, “Grand” Valide Safiye Sultan, Jennet Kalfa is standing, Kösem is still in the status of gözde, Halime Sultan (mother of the Sultan’s brother) Haseki- is the second highest title after Valide in the Ottoman Empire. It was introduced by Sultan Suleiman in 1521 for his legal wife Hurrem Sultan. The daughters and sisters of the Padishahs were not supposed to receive this title, and their position in the harem hierarchy was lower. Haseki received a salary of approximately 30 thousand akche per month. This title was unique: it could not be alienated, regardless of the gender of the children, the number of living heirs, the age of the title holder, or her location. It could not be lost even due to official changes in members of the dynasty (change of sultans, for example). For the first one hundred and fifty years of the title's existence, there was only one Haseki in the harem at any given time. Only at the end of the eighteenth century were several concubines at once able to receive such a title from the Sultan, so its owners were at that time less influential and had fewer opportunities. The Haseks received the best fabrics, furs and jewelry, and their chambers were most often located next to the Valide's chambers; they also had a large staff of servants and received large salaries: for example, the Haseki of Murad III Safiye received a salary of 100 akche per day. In addition, in the event of the death of the Sultan, Haseki continued to receive payments from the treasury. Known in different times Haseki: Gulnush Sultan, Telli Haseki, Kösem Sultan, Safiye Sultan, Nurbanu Sultan, Hurrem Sultan.
Still from the series “The Magnificent Century” (from left to right - Mahidevran Sultan (mother of the Sultan’s eldest son), Valide Aisha Hafsa Sultan, the Sultan’s sister - Hatice Sultan and Haseki Hurrem Sultan) Valide (Valide Sultan)- There was no higher title for a woman in the Ottoman Empire. It was first assigned to Aisha Hafsa Sultan, the mother of Suleiman the Magnificent. A concubine could receive such a title only when her son received the title of Sultan. This title was assigned to the former concubine for life or until her son was the current Sultan. Valide was in charge of managing the harem. She enjoyed great respect and influence both inside and outside the palace, actively interfering in state affairs. All the great concubines of the famous Women's Sultanate had this title. These are the well-known ones - Turhan Sultan, Kösem Sultan, Safiye Sultan, Nurbanu Sultan. These four women were the most famous bearers of this title. In total, this title was awarded to twenty-three women during the Ottoman Empire. The Valide Sultan had income (bashmalyk) from the Sultan's lands in various parts of the empire, owned summer and winter estates, and also received gifts from the Ottoman nobility and foreign states. The affairs of the Valide Sultan outside the palace were managed by the Babussaade agalars (heads of the white eunuchs). The Valide Sultans invested significant capital in the waqfs (funds) they established in Istanbul, Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The waqfs were monitored by Darussaade agasy (the head of the black eunuchs).
The harem could be controlled even without the title Valide, that is, while still under the sultan. So, in the 16th century, the Sultan’s harem was ruled for the longest time by Haseki Hurrem Sultan, who never bore the title Valide (she died during her husband’s lifetime and did not see her son reign). She ruled Suleiman's harem for twenty-four years.
If we talk about the chronological sequence in which the Sultan’s harem was controlled in the 16th century, it looks like this:
Valide Ayşe Hafsa Sultan - reign: 1520-1534
Haseki Hurrem Sultan - reign: 1534-1558
Mihrimah Sultan - reign: 1558-1566
Haseki (received the title Valide in 1574) Nurbanu Sultan - reign: 1566-1583
Haseki (received the title Valide in 1595) Safiye Sultan - reign: 1583-1603
Such a strict hierarchy helped maintain at least some kind of discipline in the harem, in this female kingdom. Although, “wars” and “disasters” of various scales often happened.
Still from the series “The Magnificent Century. Kösem" (This is still a controversial situation, since the grandson is already ruling, and the grandmother still cannot be sent to the Old Palace) (from left to right - Valide Handan Sultan, the Sultan’s aunt Fatma Sultan, “Grand” Valide Safiye Sultan, standing Cennet Kalfa, Haseki Kösem Sultan, Halime Sultan (mother of the Sultan's brother)