Video: East is a delicate matter: how girls dreamed of getting into a harem to the sultan
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
For many, the harem is associated with unhappy prisoners locked behind high walls and forced to please their sultan in every possible way. In fact, the historical chronicles testify to something completely different. Of course, it had its own hierarchy, intrigues, intrigues. However, there were periods when free girls dreamed of getting into a harem.
Surprisingly, initially the harem was filled at the expense of the daughters of the eastern princes. They themselves sold girls in the hope that one of them could still become a sultana. Plus, parents signed papers in which they waived the rights of ownership of their daughters. Slaves were taught etiquette, dance, music, and the ability to please a man. When the girls got older, they were shown to the grand vizier. Only the best went to the Sultan's chambers.
While in the harem, the girls received salaries and gifts on holidays. According to the rules, if a slave, being 9 years in a harem, was never chosen by the Sultan as a wife, then the ruler gave her freedom, having previously found a worthy husband.
If the sultan chose a slave to spend the night with, he would send a gift. This girl was sent to the bathhouse, then dressed up in loose clothing and sent to the chambers of the Sultan. After the sovereign went to bed, the concubine had to crawl on all fours to his bed, and, without raising her eyes, lie down next to him. If the sultan liked the girl, she became his favorite and moved to from the lower chambers to the upper ones.
If the favorite became pregnant, she already belonged to the category of “happy” (ikbal) by seniority. A separate room in the harem became another privilege of such women. In addition, they were served 15 types of dishes.
If the favorite became the wife of the Sultan (kadyn-effendi), new fabrics, jewelry and a written marriage certificate were sent to her. Wives who had several children were called Haseki (in the 16-18th centuries). For the first time, Haseki named his wife Khyurrem (Roksolana) Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
The harem even had a schedule for visiting the chambers of the Sultan's concubines and wives. From Friday to Saturday, the overlord was obliged to receive one of his spouses. If the wife did not come to the Sultan's chambers for 3 Fridays in a row, she had the right to complain to the judge. No one had the right to see the faces of the Sultan's concubines and wives outside the harem. Except for just the ruler. So Sultan Nasser ad-Din Shah Qadraj, who ruled at the end of the 19th century, was very fond of photography, and took pictures of his wives with pleasure. Thanks to this, you can personally see beloved wives of the Sultan with a mustache and bushy eyebrows.
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