This exotic mystery excited the minds of many generations of historians and just curious. The almost mystical mystery of the depths of the eastern world is the most famous of all. The mysterious concept came from the distant Middle Ages, from spicy oriental nights and fantastic white cubic buildings, from an amazing and unfamiliar world, the complete opposite of the European, modern, glass and concrete that surrounds us every day. The history of the existence of the harem is one of the most interesting.
If you can imagine all this, then you have managed to look a little into the Sultan's harem. Why exactly in the Sultan's? For the reason that under the Sultan's court of the Ottoman Empire, the harem was not a love, not a personal structure, but a ceremonial, even political one, playing a huge role in the life of the country. In Istanbul, the colossal Topkapi Palace was built, which is a giant complex of buildings. In one of the branches of Topkapi was the Sultan's harem, called "dar-us-saadet" ("house of happiness"). In fact, happiness was rather illusory, because, first of all, the sultans were interested in politics, strengthening the Ottoman Empire
Harem of the Emir of Bukhara
A rare man is able to withstand the electrified atmosphere of a huge (700 people!) Women's team. Therefore, the main concern of the rulers of the harem was to protect the Sultan from all this. After the sultan, the main rank was considered valide - his mother. In fact, it was the Valide who ran the harem. Then came the unmarried sisters of the Sultan (of course, if they were. As a rule, the unmarried relatives of the Sultan himself did not remain long). Then followed the wives (but their power was very illusory, insignificant). Then - the chief eunuch (manager of all eunuchs). And in last place were the concubines, the slaves - the jariye.
In fact, real power belonged to two: the valid and the chief eunuch. Even noble families fought for the "honor" to sell their daughter to the Sultan's harem. There were very few slaves in the Sultan's harem, they were the exception, not the rule. Slave captives were used for rough work and as servants for concubines. The concubines were selected very carefully from the girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training in it. Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 and brought up until 14-15. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, the art of pleasing 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 her for the rest of his life. Therefore, getting into the harem, the girls received a different name. For example, the name of a flower or jewelry. Of the captive slave girls, only four nationalities could rise to the sultan's harem. Ukrainians, Russians, Circassians and Georgians. It was they who were preferred as a valuable commodity and were considered the standard of female beauty. Ukrainian Anastasia Lisovskaya, a slave from Ukraine, got into the harem under the name Khurrem (laughing), became a sultana, the only woman who ruled the Muslim empire.
"Priest's daughter" Anastasia (Nastya) Lisovskaya, many should know about her, and not only in Eastern Europe, but also in Western Europe, where she is known under the name of Roksolana. Anastasia-Roksolana is sung not only in operas, ballets, books, portraits, but even in television series. Therefore, her biography is relatively known to the general public. Only the number of scientific and artistic books about it, written in different languages, exceeds several dozen.
Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya, or Roksolana, or Hurrem (1506-1558) - first a concubine, and then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. There are disputes about the origin of the names: Khurrem in Arabic can mean “cheerful, bright”, but about Roksolana, the disputes are more fierce, I don’t want to participate in them (but in general, the name goes back to the Rusyns, Russians - that’s what they called all the inhabitants of Eastern Europe).
There are still disputes about the place of her birth - either the city of Rogatin, Ivano-Frankivsk region, or the city of Chemerovtsy, Khmelnytsky region. As a very small girl, she was captured by the Crimean Tatars, then sold to a Turkish harem.
And what can a young lady do in such a complex social formation as a harem? Either the abyss (and other competitors beat her hard), or fight. What Anastasia did so successfully that she is now known all over the world.
The seraglio, he is the seraglio - there is no time for tenderness between contenders for the sultan's mercy. To survive on her own, but to put her offspring on her feet.
The life of Roksolana-Nastya is well known. There is less information about other sultanas who actually escaped from the position of slaves.
Getting into the harem, the girls learned etiquette, rules of conduct, ceremonies and waited for that single moment when they saw the Sultan. By the way, such a moment could not be. Never.
belly dancers
One of the most widespread rumors is that the sultan entered into intimate relationships with all women. In fact, it wasn't like that at all. The sultans behaved proudly, with dignity, and very rarely did anyone stoop to outright debauchery. For example, a unique case in the history of the harem is the fidelity of Sultan Suleiman to his wife Roksolana (Anastasia Lisovskaya, Khurrem). For many years he slept with only one woman - with his beloved wife. And that was the rule rather than the exception. The Sultan did not even know most of his concubines (odalisques) by sight. There is another opinion that the concubine was doomed to eternal life in a harem. After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. The Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry. The slave received a document stating that she is now a free person. Unfortunately, family life rarely went well. Accustomed to living in idleness, contentment, women left their husbands. The harem was heaven for them, and the husband's house was hell.
The Sultan could have four favorites - guzide. Choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or a ring). After that, she was sent to the bath, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom. She waited outside the doors until the Sultan got into bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed, kissed the carpet, and only then had the right to share the bed. In the morning, the Sultan sent rich gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her. If the concubine became pregnant, she was transferred to the category of happy - ikbal.
And after the birth of a child (regardless of gender) she received forever a separate room and a daily menu of 15 dishes. The sultan chose four wives personally. The wife received a new name, a written certificate of her status, separate chambers, clothes, jewelry, and many slave servants. And only one of the wives could give the sultan the title of sultana. The sultana (the highest title) again received a new name, and only her son could inherit the throne. Only one son became the heir. The rest of the sons were strangled (!!!) Daughters were left alive.
Interesting were the laws established by the Sultan for the husband of his daughter, the princess. The Sultan's son-in-law (damat) had no right to own a harem! The harem was forbidden for him. He was obliged to remain faithful to the princess. In the event of a breach of allegiance, the princess had the right to demand his execution. She could also get a divorce and take another husband. The Sultan sacredly guarded the honor of his daughter (or daughters) and could not allow the Sultan's blood to be offended. The Sultan did not love all his wives equally. Many received this status only due to family ties (for example, the princess of some state). Sometimes the sultan did not even go to such "official wives", did not meet with them for years.
Only the beloved wife became a sultana, regardless of whether she was the first wife or the fourth. All the concubines and slaves of the harem, as well as the rest of the wives, were required to kiss the hem of the sultana's dress. Only the Sultan's mother, Valide, was considered equal to her. Was the harem a nightmare or a paradise, unnatural or normal - who knows the answer to this question? But sometimes, on the basis of intrigues, suppression of will, prohibitions, instructions and hatred, a beautiful flower of love blossomed. Only for two. For the Sultan and one woman. All other 699 were superfluous. Proving the well-known truth that in love there is only one number - two. And that the most beautiful and pure can only be love for two.
The harem is a symbol of the absolute power of a man over a woman. During the conquests of the Caliphate, when the rulers of the Muslim world had no shortage of slaves, it became fashionable to collect multinational collections of concubines, who became a visible embodiment of the power and wealth of emirs and sultans.
The concubines were called "odalisque", a little later the Europeans added the letter "s" to the word and it turned out "odalisque". From among the odalisques, the Sultan chose up to seven wives. Those who were lucky enough to become a wife received the title of "kadyn" - mistress. The main "kadyn" was the mother of the firstborn. A little lower on the hierarchical ladder were favorites - "ikbal" - skillful mistresses and real beauties. These women received a salary, their own apartments and personal slaves.
Odalisques had only one chance to climb the hierarchical ladder - to give birth to a child, and for this it was necessary to get the attention of the Sultan, which was extremely difficult, given that thousands of competitors were waiting for their turn. The ability to attract the attention of a jaded man and arouse desire in him was a matter of survival. Any means were used. Slaves born in various countries brought to the harem the national secrets of “skin like velvet” and “lips like cherry”.
During the time of harems, medicine in the East was flourishing, and wise tabib doctors worked tirelessly so that the “moon-faced” beauties could please their master. As a result, under the arches of the “houses of happiness”, a unique art of creating and maintaining beauty was born, which, despite high walls and strong castles, significantly influenced what is today called modern perfumery. Skin care with oils and herbal extracts, massages, soaps and perfumes entered Europe from behind the walls of harems.
The make-up of oriental beauties was bright and contrasting. Faces were covered with whitewash, solutions and pastes made of gypsum and chalk, bright blush from cinnabar was applied on top, and eyelids were tinted with saffron infusion. And also, to tint the cheeks, they used fine red powder from safflower and the roots of the arnebium plant. The custom, obliging a woman to cover her face, involuntarily focused on the eyes of oriental beauties. Therefore, this part of the body was given special attention. Eyes were supposed to hit the heart of a man at first sight.
The inhabitants of the harems plucked their eyebrows, and for eyelash care they used antimony, which was prepared from lamb fat, almond oil, usma, basma and antimony itself. It was applied with a thin wooden stick, sometimes adding ash.
It was believed that antimony has healing properties and improves eyesight, so even infants were let down with it. In order to make their lips bright red, women of the East chewed betel - a paste based on betel pepper with the addition of palm seeds and lime. For the whiteness of the teeth, a preparation was prepared, which included rock salt, mint, toffee and pepper. Gum was replaced with cinnamon sticks.
According to legend, the Prophet himself refused to accept a letter from a woman whose hands were not decorated with henna. The art of painting with henna on the body is one of the oldest in the East. It is believed to have come from India. Today, henna patterns are made for solemn ceremonies, mainly for marriages. Pictures adorn brides from fingers to forearms and from feet to knees.
Eastern tradition demanded that the skin of a woman be smooth, so odalisques in harems got rid of excess vegetation using compositions based on honey, clay and eggs. To moisturize the skin, natural oils were rubbed into it. A special place in preserving the health and beauty of beautiful concubines was occupied by a hamam - an oriental bath.
TEN BEAUTY SECRETS FROM SCHEHERAZADE
In order for the eyelashes to be long and silky, in the morning and in the evening they must be combed from the bottom up, using a brush lubricated with vegetable oil. In the east, eyebrows were painted on girls from an early age with usma juice. This plant stimulates hair growth, so after a while, where a dark stripe was drawn, new hairs grew. In order for the hair to be thick and silky, a tablespoon of sour cream was added to a liter of warm milk, stirred and placed in a warm place. Kefir, which was obtained as a result of these manipulations, moistened the head, massaged, and then washed the hair with warm water.
In order for hair to grow faster and thicker, crushed sweet almond kernels mixed with milk were used in oriental harems. The creamy mass was rubbed into the head twice a week.
In order to dye hair, henna was poured into a cup, warm water was added, then the gruel was placed in a vessel with hot water and heated. The hair was divided into strands and henna was applied in a thin layer from roots to ends. If the hair is light, they were kept from 5 to 10 minutes, dark - from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. For dark hair, cocoa butter was added to henna.
To keep the lips soft and tender, they were smeared with honey before going to bed. For greater effect, butter or strawberry juice was added to honey.
The beauty and youthfulness of the hands was guaranteed by an ointment prepared on the basis of a raw egg yolk, a tablespoon of linseed oil, a tablespoon of honey and the juice of one lemon. If the skin on the hands is dry, olive oil mixed with tea tree oil was used.
As a scrub, oriental beauties most often used salt, which was mixed with sour cream or coffee grounds. Will not spoil such a scrub and olive oil.
To keep the skin in good shape, they took a spoonful of rosemary, poured a glass of dry red wine and insisted. The infusion bottle was shaken every two days. After 6 weeks, strain and use. The result is firm, wrinkle-free skin.
With early wrinkles, the almond mask successfully fought. To do this, they took a tablespoon of peeled sweet almond seeds, crushed them into powder with a small amount of milk and applied to the face and neck for 15-20 minutes.
MODERN HAREM.
A harem, polygamy, an oppressed woman are the first things a European associates with the East. Many people wonder if modern Arab men have harems? Of course have. But in the word "harem", as the Arabs understand it, there is nothing spicy or reprehensible. The harem is all the women of the family: mother, sisters, aunts, wives. Thus, the word "haram" in the East refers to the female half of the house in general. The United Arab Emirates emerged just over thirty years ago from a few Bedouin tents in the desert.
Today, it combines the achievements of modern civilization and the inviolability of ancient traditions, high technology and - in the view of Europeans - an archaic attitude towards women. It seems to many that women in black clothes are the only sufferers in this magnificence. You can live in the country for several years and never talk to a local woman - she will not support the conversation.
It is believed that foreigners are fraught with danger: they make contact too sharply, ask indecent questions (and it is not customary for Arabs to even be interested in how their wife is doing), and try to shake hands. Which is unacceptable for an Arab woman. Even photographing her is considered an insult.
And this is what a modern oriental prince looks like ... the real one, and not some kind of Tarkan ... Despite the fact that he is not even 30, he is already married and, like any oriental man, the Koran allows him to have ... up to 4 wives. But it seems to me that this Arab sheikh will not be limited to such a small number ...
Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, UAE
The Crown Prince of Dubai is one of 19 children of Sheikh Mohammedin bin Rashid al-Maktoum. Dark-haired, dark-eyed, with long eyelashes and nobly refined features of a swarthy face. Graduated from the London School of Economics and the Sandhurst Military Academy. He has a gold medal, which he won at the Asian Games in horse riding.
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Harem of the Sultans of the Ottoman EmpireHarem-i Humayun is 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 beautiful concubines languishing in it. All this is nothing more than a myth created by the talent of novelists.
The traditional harem (from the Arabic "haram" - forbidden) is primarily the female half of the 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 a strict taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem." Harem - the realm of luxury and lost hopes ...
The Sultan's harem was located in the Istanbul Palace Topkapi. The mother (valid-sultan), sisters, daughters and heirs (shahzade) of the sultan, his wife (kadyn-efendi), 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 (karaagalar), commanded by daryussaade agasy. Kapy-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 kapy-agasy 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 unmarried sisters of the Sultan, then his wives.
The income of the women of the Sultan's family was made up of funds called a shoe (for a shoe).
There were few slaves in the Sultan's harem, usually girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and received special training there became concubines.
In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, the slave went through a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to checking for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam without fail.
Entering the 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. Candidates for concubines, like God's brides, were forced to break all ties with the outside world, received new names and learned to live in humility.
In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of a privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. Showing attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of a temporary wife. This situation was most often shaky and could change at any moment depending on the mood of the master. 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 in the history of the Muslim world was the Istanbul harem Dar-ul-Seadet, in which all women were foreign slaves, free Turkish women did not get there. The concubines in this harem were called "odalisk", a little later the Europeans added the letter "c" to the word and it turned out "odalisque".
And here is the Topkapi Palace, where the Harem lived
From among the odalisques, the Sultan chose up to seven wives. Who was lucky to become a "wife" received the title of "kadyn" - mistress. The main "kadyn" was 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 depot
Just below the "kadyn" on the hierarchical ladder of the harem stood 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" for a certain bribe that one could go directly to the Sultan himself, bypassing the bureaucratic obstacles of the state. Below the "ikbal" were the "concubines". These young ladies were a little less fortunate. The conditions of detention are worse, there are fewer privileges.
It was at the stage of "concubin" that there was the toughest competition, in which a dagger and poison were often used. Theoretically, the "konkubin", like the "ikbal", 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 few chances for 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 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 even more so, it’s not a fact that she won’t organize a miscarriage.
The old slaves followed the concubines, and any pregnancy noticed 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 - a potential contender for the throne.
If, despite all the intrigues and intrigues, the odalisque managed to keep the pregnancy and did not allow the child to be killed during the “unsuccessful birth”, she automatically received her personal staff of slaves, eunuchs and the annual salary “basmalik”.
Girls were bought from their fathers at the age of 5-7 years and raised up to 14-15 years. They were taught music, cooking, sewing, court etiquette, the art of pleasing 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 her for the rest of his life. Getting into the harem, the girls received a different name.
Choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or a ring). After that, she was sent to the bath, 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 rich gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her.
The Sultan could have a favorite - guzde. Here is one of the most famous, Ukrainian Roxalana
Suleiman the Magnificent
Bani Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan (Roksolana), wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, built in 1556 next to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Architect Mimar Sinan.
Mausoleum of Roxalana
Valide with black eunuch
Reconstruction of one of the rooms of the Valide Sultan apartments in the Topkapi Palace. Melike Safie Sultan (possibly born Sofia Baffo) was the concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III and the mother of Mehmed III. During the reign of Mehmed, she held the title of 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).
Aishe Hafsa Sultan is the wife of Sultan Selim I and the mother of Sultan Suleiman I.
Hospice Ayse-Sultan
Kösem Sultan, also known as Mahpeyker, was the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I (she had the title of Haseki) and the mother of Sultans Murad IV and Ibrahim I. During the reign of her sons, she had the title of valid Sultan and was one of the most important figures in the Ottoman Empire.
Valide apartments in the palace
Bathroom Valide
Bedroom Valide 
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 at least for some kind of personal life. After several years of impeccable service and adoration in their eyes, a husband was found, or, having allocated funds for a non-poor life, they were released in all four directions.
Moreover, among the odalisques - outsiders of the harem society - there were also their own aristocrats. A slave could turn into a "gezde" - awarded a look, if the sultan somehow - with a look, gesture or word - singled her out from the general crowd. Thousands of women have lived all their lives in the harem, but neither the fact that the Sultan was seen naked, but they did not even wait for the honor of being "honored with a look"
If the sultan died, all the concubines were sorted by the sex of the children they had given birth to. The mothers of girls could well 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 most fun began. The brothers poisoned each other with enviable regularity and perseverance. Their mothers were also active in putting poison into the food of their potential rivals and their sons.
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In addition to the old proven slaves, eunuchs followed the concubines. Translated from Greek, "eunuch" means "guardian of the bed." They got into the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order. There were two types of eunuchs. Some were castrated in early childhood and had no secondary sexual characteristics at all - a beard did not grow, there was a high, boyish voice and a complete rejection of a woman as an individual of the opposite sex. Others were castrated at a later age.
Incomplete eunuchs (namely, as they were called castrated not in childhood, but in adolescence), they even looked like men, had the most low male bass, thin facial hair, broad muscular shoulders, and oddly enough, sexual desire.
Of course, the eunuchs could not satisfy their needs in a natural way due to the lack of the necessary device for this. But how do you know when we are talking about sex or drinking, the flight of human imagination is simply limitless. And the odalisques, who for years lived with an obsessive dream of waiting for the sultan's gaze, were not particularly legible. Well, if there are 300-500 concubines in the harem, at least half of them are younger and more beautiful than you, well, what's the point of waiting for the prince? And on bezrybe and the eunuch is a man.
In addition to the fact that the eunuchs watched over the order in the harem and in parallel (secretly from the Sultan, of course) consoled themselves and women yearning for male attention in all possible and impossible ways, their duties also included the functions of executioners. Those guilty of disobedience to the concubines they strangled 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 the envoys of foreign states. So, the Russian ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, M. I. Kutuzov, arriving in Istanbul in September 1793, sent gifts to the valid Sultan Mikhrishah, and "the sultan accepted this attention to his mother with sensitivity."
Selim
Kutuzov was honored with reciprocal gifts from the mother of the Sultan and a favorable reception from Selim III himself. The Russian ambassador strengthened Russia's influence in Turkey and persuaded her to enter into 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 Valide Sultan and the padishah himself Our tour of the Topkapi Palace Harem was very brief.
The rooms are dark and deserted, there is no furniture, there are bars on the windows. Close and narrow corridors. Here lived the eunuchs, vengeful and vindictive due to psychological and physical injury ... And they lived in the same ugly rooms, tiny, like closets, sometimes without windows at all. The impression is brightened up 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, looked at Valide's apartments.
It is also crowded, all the beauty is in green, turquoise, blue faience tiles. She ran her 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 not warmed well and the inhabitants of the harem probably often had tuberculosis.
Moreover, this lack of direct sunlight ... Imagination stubbornly did not want to work. Instead of the splendor of the Seraglio, luxurious fountains, fragrant flowers, I saw closed spaces, cold walls, empty rooms, dark passages, incomprehensible niches in the walls, a strange fantasy world. Lost sense of direction and connection to the outside world. I was stubbornly embraced by an aura of some kind of hopelessness and longing. Even the balconies and terraces in some rooms, overlooking the sea and the fortress walls, did not please.
And finally, the reaction of official Istanbul to the sensational series "Golden Age"
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan believes that the TV series about the court of Suleiman the Magnificent offends the greatness of the Ottoman Empire. However, historical chronicles confirm that the palace really fell into complete decline.
Rumors often circulate around forbidden places. Moreover, the more secret they are shrouded in, the more fantastic assumptions are put forward by mere mortals about what is happening behind closed doors. This applies equally to the secret archives of the Vatican and the caches of the CIA. The harems of Muslim rulers are no exception.
So there is nothing surprising in the fact that one of them became the scene of the "soap opera" that has become popular in many countries. The Magnificent Century series is set in the 16th century Ottoman Empire, which at that time stretched from Algeria to Sudan and from Belgrade to Iran. At the head was Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520-1566, in whose bedroom there was a place for hundreds of barely dressed beauties. Not surprisingly, 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, underestimate the greatness of the Sultan and thus the entire Turkish state.
But what does the 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 these 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 much of his time to studying events in the Ottoman court during the time of Suleiman and his heirs, such as 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 in drunkenness, by the way, forbidden by the Koran, and his red face once again confirmed his addiction to alcohol.
The day had barely begun, and he was usually already drunk. He usually preferred entertainment to solving issues of national importance, for which dwarfs, jesters, conjurers or wrestlers were responsible, in which he occasionally shot from a bow. But if the endless feasts of Selim 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 already different.
"Women play an important role in this country," wrote a French diplomat who had some experience in this regard at home. “Since Murad spent all his time in the palace, his environment had a great influence on his weak spirit,” Iorga wrote. "With women, the Sultan was always obedient and weak-willed."
Most of all, Murad's mother and first wife used this, who were always accompanied by "many court ladies, intriguers and intermediaries," Iorga wrote. “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 sovereign until her death.
Ottoman princesses lived in "typically 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 this or that 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 be 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 who were allowed to manage the empire made personal enrichment their goal - it doesn’t matter, honestly or dishonestly,” Iorga wrote. It is no coincidence that one of the chapters of his book is called "The Causes of the Collapse". When you read it, you get the feeling that this is the script of 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 were hidden in life at court. Before the accession of Suleiman to the throne, it was accepted that the sons of the Sultan, accompanied by their mother, left for the province and remained aloof from the struggle for power. The prince who succeeded to the throne, then, as a rule, killed all his brothers, which was in some way not bad, because in this way it was possible to avoid a bloody struggle for the succession of the Sultan.
Everything changed under Suleiman. After he not only had children with his concubine Roksolana, but also freed her from slavery and appointed her his main wife, the princes remained in the palace in Istanbul. The first concubine, who managed to rise to the sultan's wife, did not know what shame and conscience were, and she shamelessly promoted her children up the career ladder. Numerous foreign diplomats wrote about intrigues at court. Later, historians relied on their letters in their studies.
It also played a role that the heirs of Suleiman abandoned the tradition of sending wives and princes away to the province. Therefore, the latter constantly interfered in political issues. “In addition to participating in palace intrigues, their connections with the Janissaries stationed in the capital are worthy of mention,” wrote historian Suraiya Faroki from Munich.
August 16, 2017How did Roksolana-Hyurrem and other inhabitants of the palace of Sultan Suleiman live and what in the series does not correspond to historical reality
"The Magnificent Century" is one of the most popular Turkish TV series. A gripping love story, chic scenery and costumes, the fate of an entire dynasty. The series is called historical, although many critics noted the distortion of facts. And yet the creators tried to recreate the oriental flavor. Especially the life and life of the harem.
In the center of the plot is the fate of the Ukrainian concubine Alexandra/Roksolana(or Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska). This is the story of the most influential and powerful woman in the Ottoman Empire. Being a simple concubine, she managed to achieve the love of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the tenth sultan who ruled the Ottoman Empire from the 1520s, becoming the main wife and mother of the heir to the throne.
Intrigues, slander, lies, cunning, bribery, murders - Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska used everything in order to achieve her goal. Actually, here the creators of the "Magnificent Century" did not exaggerate. In those ages, treachery reigned in harems.
Fact: According to historians, the ancestors of the harems are the dynasty of the Arab caliphs of the Abassids, who ruled in the Middle East from the mid-700s to the middleXIIIcentury. The harem of the Ottoman Empire enjoyed the glory of the largest for five centuries.
Kingdom of women
A harem or haram is a women's abode, where outsiders are barred from entering, it is not for nothing that the word "haram" in Arabic means "forbidden". During the Ottoman Empire, wives, young children, concubines, slaves, numerous sultan's relatives, as well as eunuchs serving them and acting as guards lived there. Harems lived their own lives, they had their own special etiquette and rules. Each of them had a strict hierarchy. The most influential and intelligent inhabitants of the harems could also influence the policy of the state.
Large harems numbered more than a thousand concubines and were symbols of the power of the ruler; the degree of respect shown to him largely depended on the "quality" and quantity of the harem. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest in the world by area was the Winter Harem of the Great Topkapı Seraglio in Istanbul, which consisted of 400 rooms. It was built back in 1589. At the beginning of the twentieth century, by the time of the overthrow of the Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1909, the number of its inhabitants decreased significantly - from 1200 to 370 concubines.
Court agents paid huge sums for beauties at slave auctions. Not a beauty to get there had no chance. Huge sums were spent on their maintenance - sometimes harems ruined the owners and devastated the treasury.
During the Ottoman Empire, after the death of the owner, the harem that had become unnecessary was moved to an old and far from luxurious palace, as the new sultan recruited new odalisques. Over time, the inhabitants of the harem were often dismissed altogether. So, for example, it usually happens today.
The main, and often the only visitor to the harem was the husband, the owner of the house. It was also allowed to enter the guardian of the Sultan's chambers - the vizier, as well as eunuchs. Some harems allowed "guests" - for example, storytellers or musicians.
The life of the inhabitants of the "women's kingdom" was not limited to the walls of the palace. Many harem beauties could visit relatives, go out into the city (of course, accompanied).
At the dawn of the empire, the sultans married the daughters of the rulers of other states, but over time, former slaves increasingly became wives. And in the history of the Ottoman Empire, the very first slave that the Sultan officially took as his wife was Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska. This is what the story of the "Magnificent Age" is built on.
Truth and fiction
The story of the appearance in the harem of Suleiman Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is conveyed truthfully. It was really bought in the market by the vizier of the Sultan Ibrahim Pasha(in the film the role was played by the actor Okan Yalabyk) as a gift to Vladyka. At that time, the girl was 14 years old. All concubines intended for the harem were taught the Turkish language, music, dance, poetry, needlework. Gentiles, as happened with Roksolana, had to accept the Muslim faith. Love science and sexual wisdom were taught by ladies with extensive experience - specially hired mentors or, for example, relatives of the Sultan.
Each woman in the harem had her own status, rights and duties. Based on the status, the amount of her salary, the number of chambers and servants allotted to her, the right to hold a certain position were determined. And this hierarchy is also well reflected in the series.
During leisure hours, the concubines went to the hammam, read, danced, played music, guessed. But it was impossible to tell fortunes, they were punished for it. And it's shown in the show as well. Many viewers remember the scenes where Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska visits a fortune-teller and is afraid that someone will find out about it.
Women who enjoyed special favor received expensive gifts, pampering the harem was one of the main duties of the spouse. Ottoman sultans sometimes gave entire palaces to their beloved concubines and showered them with jewels - the latter were actively demonstrated by women. According to legend, Sultan Suleiman (he was played by an actor Halit Ergench) even made expensive jewelry with his own hands. After the first night, he gave Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska a ring with a teardrop emerald.
Facts that embellished the filmmakers
The image of the historical Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska is different from the one embodied by the Turkish actress Miriem Weatherly. The memoirs of the Venetian ambassador of those times have been preserved. He writes that Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska was rather pretty than beautiful. In The Magnificent Century, Hürrem is just a beauty. And it's hard to call her modest. However, all those tricks and tricks that she used in order to win the favor of Suleiman and then achieve privileges for her sons are indeed recorded in history. Researchers confirm that after her appearance in the harem, Sultan Suleiman stopped "entering" other women.
Another romantic fiction of the creators of the "Magnificent Century" is connected with the story of Suleiman's first wife. In real Mahidevran Sultan(played by an actress in the TV series) Nur Aysan) was not the wife of the Sultan. And after, in a fit of jealousy, she tried to poison Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, she was forever expelled from the palace. In the series, the lord forgave her, allowing her to return to the palace.
Embellished the creators of the series and the external image of the heroines. First of all, this concerns clothes, which the costume designers of the "Magnificent Century" noticeably modernized. Such low-cut dresses were definitely not worn during the Ottoman Empire. The outfits in those centuries were much simpler in style, the main wealth of the costumes was the decoration, as well as expensive and textured fabrics with sparkles and gold threads. And, of course, decorations.
The creators of the "Magnificent Century" were free to do with the hairstyles of the heroines. While in the series the beauties flaunted luxurious curls, the real inhabitants of the harems put their hair in a neat hairstyle. Oriental beauties of the 16th century did not even dare to think about walking with loose hair - most often they had to wear braids.
HaremsXXIcentury
The inhabitants of modern harems are most often free to do whatever they want with their hairstyles. But as far as hierarchy and internal rules are concerned, the principles remain the same. And today harems are far from a relic of the past. According to statistics, more than 40% of women in Pakistan, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, Madagascar, Iran, Iraq and some African countries live in a polygamous marriage.
The owner of one of the largest harems was the ex-president of Iraq Saddam Hussein- According to some sources, he had about five hundred concubines. And in the harem of one of the richest men of our time - the Sultan of Brunei - about seven hundred women. Very often in modern harems there are not oriental women, but Europeans and Americans. So in the harem of the Sultan of Brunei at one time there was "Miss USA-1992" Shannon McKetik. And in 2000, after the death of the former president of Syria Hafez Al-Assad it turned out that among his 40 concubines there was not a single Arab girl - as the European press wrote, among them were Germans, Swedes, and French women.
Many commoners sold their beautiful daughters to the harem. Circassian women sang a lullaby to their little daughters with these words: “You will become the wife of the Sultan, you will be strewn with diamonds ...”. When selling, the parents signed documents waiving their rights to their daughter.
If a concubine bought in this way had physical defects, bad manners, or any other defects, her price dropped sharply, and her parents received less money than they expected.
Received an education in a harem
The harem was like an educational center. The concubines were taught literacy, theology, dancing, playing musical instruments, etiquette, eloquence and the ability to keep up the conversation. And already, among other disciplines, there was the art of giving pleasure to a man (as you already understood, this discipline could never be needed).
The most beautiful slaves whom the sultan could choose as his wife had to be especially carefully dealt with - the surviving letters of the sultan's wives testify to their high education. Having received the status of a wife, they founded charitable institutions and even supervised the construction of mosques.
Sex with the Sultan was rare
Most of the concubines spent their whole lives in the harem, without even seeing their master with their own eyes. Despite the fact that the court flatterers extolled the male power of the Sultan to the skies (they were paid for this), he was just an ordinary man, and could not satisfy the innumerable regiments of his wards of women even with a strong desire.
It also happened that the Sultan had no interest in the opposite sex at all. And then already the harem entirely vegetated in forced celibacy.
Life in the harem was strictly regulated
The harem had a strict hierarchy and rigid discipline. The concubines were paid daily. They were well cared for, but also severely punished for misconduct.
Judging by the list of positions, the harem looked more like a bureaucratic institution: it had the heads of the harem protocol service, the keepers of the key to the treasury and the keepers of the great sultan's seal, responsible for the wine cellar. In the 18th century, 320 inhabitants of the harem were in “economic” positions, and only 15 slaves were officially listed as the favorites of the Sultan.
Sex on Fridays - only with my wife!
The bureaucracy has spread to such an informal side as sex. Of course, the Sultan could have fun with anyone and at any time (again, subject to certain ceremonial and bureaucratic formalities), but not on Friday. Sultans were required to spend the night from Friday to Saturday with only one of their wives. If the padishah neglected his duties for three consecutive Fridays, the wife had the right to go to court.
Since the sultan, by law, could have from four to eight wives, in order to avoid overlaps, one of the concubines, like the floor attendant in Soviet hotels, kept a “log book”, where she carefully recorded all the visits of the padishah with her spouses.
You could quit the harem
The concubine, on whom the choice of the Sultan did not fall, after 9 years of service in the harem, had the right to apply for resignation of her own free will and leave the harem. The Sultan gave her a dowry, a house, helped her find a husband and issued a document confirming her status as a free person.
Not everyone used this right, preferring a comfortable life in a harem to the complexities of life in freedom. And some dissolute concubines, having married, after a while divorced their husbands, explaining this by the fact that they were used to getting more pleasure in the harem from black eunuchs.
The harem was the state apparatus
The harem was also an important, albeit informal, state body. It is known that sometimes the inhabitants of the harem had such a strong influence on the sultans that they even interfered in state affairs.
And the period from 1550 to 1656 is completely known as the "Women's Sultanate" - at this time a whole series of women had a great influence on the state affairs of the Ottoman Empire. The period, however, was marked by the gradual decline of the state, but, of course, it was just a coincidence.
The sultan set the beauty standards of the harem
For example, Sultan Ibrahim I (1640-1648) had a weakness for obese women. Slaves of outstanding size were sought out throughout the empire and brought to the Sultan's harem, where they were forced to lead a sedentary lifestyle and overeat with sweets so that they would get even stronger. The weight of the beauties of Ibrahim's harem varied between 114-220 kg. Ibrahim's favorite concubine Sheker Para ("Sugar") was an impressive lady weighing about 230 kg.
Text: Andrey Dubrovsky
How many romantic and not very rumors, how much gossip and slander, and sometimes even direct condemnation, is caused by the mere mention of the word "harem". Most often, we imagine a kind of oriental brothel, or, at best, an image from the French film "Angelica and the Sultan" appears in our heads with crowds of destitute girls, suffering from the attention of the monarch, but in practice it was not at all like that ...
Harem (from Arabic haram - separated, forbidden) - a closed and guarded residential part of a palace or house in which the wives of a high-ranking eastern statesman lived. Women, as a rule, were under the supervision of the first wife or eunuchs. The first wife had the right to share the title of owner of the harem.
In fact, much more often, the caliph, speaking of his "khuram" - the plural of the same word - had in mind the women at court, and in a broader sense of the word, all those under his protection. Khuram was more of a group of people than a specific structure or physical location. The Venetian Ottaviano Bon, a Renaissance traveler, describes the harem as follows: “In their dwelling, women live like nuns in a monastery.” And a little lower: “Girls break all former ties once and for all, as soon as they enter the seraglio. They get new names."
In Turkish, a harem was called a "barn" (saray), that is, a large house or palace. Hence the French "seraglio", as they liked to call the chambers of the Sultan in Europe in the XVIII-XIX centuries, drawing in their imagination a voluptuous image of a huge brothel.
The Venetian ambassador to Turkey, who served there in the 17th century, writes that the complex of buildings known by this name included many buildings and pavilions connected by terraces. The main one was the magnificent carved pavilion, where the throne room was located.
All the servants of this and other buildings, as well as the harem, consisted of men. The harem itself, in its appearance and internal composition, looked like a huge monastery, which housed bedrooms, refectory rooms, bathrooms and other premises of various kinds, designed to create convenience for the women who lived there. It was surrounded by huge flower beds and orchards. In hot weather, the inhabitants of the harem walked along the cypress alleys and enjoyed the coolness emanating from the fountains, which were arranged there in considerable numbers.
However, these were just idle speculations, although the number of Sultan's slaves really cannot but impress. So, under Mehmed III (1568-1603), there were about five hundred of them.
Even noble families fought for the "honor" to sell their daughter to the Sultan's harem. There were very few slaves in the Sultan's harem, they were the exception, not the rule. Slave captives were used for rough work and as servants for concubines. The concubines were selected very carefully from the girls who were sold by their parents to the school at the harem and underwent special training in it.
The seraglio was replenished with captives captured in military campaigns, bought at slave markets or donated to the Sultan by his entourage. Usually they took Circassian women, which then called all the inhabitants of the North Caucasus. Slavs were at a special price. But in principle, anyone could be in the harem. For example, the Frenchwoman Aimé de Riveri, cousin of Josephine Beauharnais, Napoleon's future wife, spent most of her life there. In 1784, on her way from France to Martinique, she was captured by Algerian pirates and sold at the slave market. Fate was favorable to her - later she became the mother of Sultan Mahmud II (1785–1839).
Usually the age of young slaves was 12-14 years. They were selected not only for their beauty and health, but also for their intelligence: they didn’t take “fools”, because the Sultan needed not just a woman, but also an interlocutor. Those who entered the harem underwent a two-year training under the guidance of kalfs (from the Turkish kalfa - “chief”) - old experienced slaves who still remember the grandfathers of the reigning sultans. The girls were taught the Koran (everyone who got into the harem converted to Islam), dancing, playing musical instruments, belles-lettres (many odalisques wrote good poetry), calligraphy, the art of conversation and needlework. Of particular note is court etiquette: every slave had to know how to pour rose water for her master, how to bring him shoes, serve coffee or sweets, stuff a pipe or put on a dressing gown.
The harems of Constantinople, Arabia and some other countries associated with various Indian and Eastern religious concepts have always been guarded by eunuchs. And only they were allowed to go inside. Eunuchs were used out of a simple precaution - so that the concubines lived in safety and pleased only their master.
There were three types of eunuchs: full, who was deprived of reproductive organs as early as childhood; incomplete, who lost only his testicles in his youth, and, finally, the eunuch, whose testicles atrophied due to the fact that in childhood they were subjected to special friction.
The first type was considered the most reliable, the other two were not, since they were still awakening sexual desire at the beginning of adolescence. The first, due to castration, changed physically and mentally, they did not grow a beard, the larynx was small and therefore the voice sounded like a child; in character they approached women. The Arabs claimed that they did not live long and died before reaching the age of 35.
The main idea was that the eunuch was sexually neutral, he had neither female nor male sex characteristics and thus his presence in the harem in no way disturbed the atmosphere of this special place, besides he remained in any case loyal to the master of the seraglio.
Getting into the harem, the girls learned etiquette, rules of conduct, ceremonies and waited for that single moment when they saw the Sultan. By the way, such a moment could not be. Never.
One of the most widespread rumors is that the sultan entered into intimate relationships with all women. In fact, it wasn't like that at all. The sultans behaved proudly, with dignity, and very rarely did anyone stoop to outright debauchery. For example, a unique case in the history of the harem is the fidelity of Sultan Suleiman to his wife Roksolana (Anastasia Lisovskaya, Khurrem). For many years he slept with only one woman - with his beloved wife. And that was the rule rather than the exception.
The Sultan did not even know most of his concubines (odalisques) by sight. There is another opinion that the concubine was doomed to eternal life in a harem. After 9 years, the concubine, who had never been elected by the Sultan, had the right to leave the harem. The Sultan found her a husband and gave her a dowry. The slave received a document stating that she is now a free person. Unfortunately, family life rarely went well. Accustomed to living in idleness, contentment, women left their husbands. The harem was heaven for them, and the husband's house was hell.
Odalisques were usually forced to prevent pregnancy using homeopathic ointments and decoctions. But, of course, such protection was not effective enough. Therefore, in the back half of the Topkapi Palace, the chirping of children's voices was always heard. Everything was easy with my daughters. They received a good education and were married to senior officials. But the boys - shah-zade - were not only a source of maternal joy. The fact is that every shah-zade, no matter whether he was born from a wife or a concubine, had the right to claim the throne. Formally, the reigning sultan was succeeded by the eldest male in the family. But in reality there were different options. Therefore, in the harem there was always a hidden but merciless struggle between mothers (and their allies), dreaming that they could someday receive the title of valid sultan.
In general, the fate of the shah-zade was unenviable. From the age of eight, each of them was placed in a separate room, called a cafes - a "cage". From that moment on, they could only communicate with servants and teachers. They had a chance to see their parents only in the most exceptional cases - at big celebrations. They received a good education in the so-called "School of Princes", where they were taught writing, reading and interpretation of the Koran, mathematics, history, geography, and in the 19th century, French, dance and music.
After the completion of the course of sciences and the onset of adulthood, the shah-zade changed servants: now the slaves serving and protecting them were replaced by deaf-mutes. So were the odalisques that brighten up their nights. But they not only could not hear and speak, their ovaries and uterus were removed in order to prevent the appearance of illegitimate children in the harem.
Thus, the shah-zade were the link that connected the harem life with the sphere of big politics, turning the mother, wives and concubines of the Sultan into an independent force that had a direct impact on state affairs. The struggle of the parties at times acquired an exceptional character in its desperation. The fact is that, by order of Mehmed II (İkinci Mehmet, 1432–1481), the new sultan had to kill all his brothers. This was supposed to avoid behind-the-scenes political struggle. But in fact, this measure led to the opposite: the doom of the shah-zade forced them to fight for power even more actively - after all, they had nothing to lose except their heads. The cage and the deaf-mute guard did not help here, the harem was filled with secret messengers and informants. The decree of Mehmed II was canceled only in 1666. However, by this time the harem had already become an integral part of the internal political life of the Ottoman Empire.
Daughters were treated differently. The daughters of the sultan (princess), who completed their studies, had to wear long clothes and cover their heads with a turban. Upon reaching marriageable age, they were given in marriage to princes from neighboring principalities, and when there were none, to viziers, pashas and other officials of the empire. In the latter case, the Sultan ordered the Grand Vizier to find a suitable candidate. If the candidate chosen by the grand vizier was married, he was forced to divorce. They did not have the right to divorce the daughter of the Sultan, while the latter, on the contrary, could do this with the permission of her father. In addition, the husbands of the princesses, who bore the title of damad (son-in-law of the Sultan), had to forget about the concubines forever.
The daughters of the Sultan arranged a magnificent wedding. The city was decorated with arches, flags, fireworks flashed in the sky at night, a feast for the bride took place in the harem. The dowry was exhibited in the palace so that the people could see it. Perhaps the brightest part of the wedding was the henna evening, which was considered a symbol of prosperity and abundance, when the bride's nails and fingers were painted with henna. This tradition is still preserved in Anatolia.
Several categories of women stood out in the harem: slaves, guzide and ikbal, and the wife of the Sultan.
For a long time, Ottoman padishahs married only titled persons, most often European and Byzantine princesses, but after the tradition of marrying harem slaves appeared, Circassians, Georgians and Russians enjoyed the greatest preference.
The Sultan could have four favorites - guzide. Choosing a concubine for the night, the Sultan sent her a gift (often a shawl or a ring). After that, she was sent to the bath, dressed in beautiful clothes and sent to the door of the Sultan's bedroom. She waited outside the doors until the Sultan got into bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed, kissed the carpet, and only then had the right to share the bed. In the morning, the Sultan sent rich gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her.
If the concubine became pregnant, she was transferred to the category of happy - ikbal. And after the birth of a child (regardless of gender) she received forever a separate room and a daily menu of 15 dishes. The sultan chose four wives personally. The wife received a new name, a written certificate of her status, separate chambers, clothes, jewelry, and many slave servants. And only one of the wives could give the sultan the title of sultana. The sultana (the highest title) again received a new name, and only her son could inherit the throne.
The first wife was called the main one, the rest, respectively, the second, and so on. The new kadyn-efendi received a written certificate, new clothes were ordered for her, and then a separate room was allocated. The chief guardian of the harem and her assistants introduced her to the course of imperial traditions. The sultans spent the nights with whoever they wanted, but they were required to spend the night from Friday to Saturday with only one of their wives. Such was the order consecrated by the tradition of Islam. If a wife was not with her husband for three consecutive Fridays, she had the right to turn to a qadi (judge). The keeper of the harem followed the sequence of meetings of the wives with the Sultan.
