How did Roksolana-Hyurrem and other inhabitants of the palace of Sultan Suleiman live and what in the series does not correspond to historical reality

« Magnificent century"- one of the most popular Turkish TV series. Exciting 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 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 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 own life, there existed its 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 destined for the harem were taught Turkish, music, dancing, 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 they gave entire palaces to their beloved concubines and showered them with jewelry - 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 external image 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 XVI century and they did not 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 richest men modernity - the Sultan of Brunei - about seven hundred women. Very often in modern harems there are not oriental women and 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 former president 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.

History of the harem in the Ottoman Empire

Kazan researcher Bulat Nogmanov, whose publications are read by Mintimer Shaimiev, continues to acquaint the readers of Realnoe Vremya with his observations about the culture and history of Turkey. In today's column, he continues to talk about such a delicate phenomenon in the life of the empire as Sultan's harem.

Perhaps one of the most controversial topics in the history of the Ottoman Empire is the topic of the Sultan's harem and the position of its inhabitants. Ideas about the harem were largely formed under the influence of notes and memoirs of Western travelers and ambassadors who supposedly happened to be in the harem. It should be noted that at that time this was a rather difficult task, since the harem was a forbidden institution, and entry was ordered there not only to strangers, but also to the male inhabitants of the Sultan's court, of course, except for the Sultan himself. In today's note, we will try to reveal some of the secrets of this mysterious institution.

The first European who told the general public about the harem and its inhabitants was the personal physician of Sultan Murad III, Dominio Hiroso Limiano, who described the layout of the harem and left information about the local traditions, how local women live and about the school for the Sultan's relatives. The second European who, according to his personal statements, managed to see some of the women of the harem was the organ maker Thomas Dellum. In 1599, Queen Elizabeth, together with Dallam, sent an organ with a clockwork to Sultan Murad III as a gift. However, before Dellam's arrival in Istanbul, Murad III dies, and his son Mehmed III ascends the throne. Nevertheless, the English master delivers the gift, and whole month spends in the palace, collecting and tuning the organ. After that, there were many travelers, ambassadors and jewelers who claimed that they were the first who managed to visit the harem. However, for most researchers, the main written source not only in the harem, but also in the history of the Ottoman Empire, the work of an employee of the Swedish embassy Muradya d "Osson" Big Picture Ottoman Empire", which he published in 1791. And as artistic source, depicting life in a harem, the famous engraving by Melling was adopted. The first Ottoman researcher, who, by special permission, managed to visit the Topkapı Palace and describe the place of residence of the courtiers, was Abdurahman Eref. Eref published the results of his research between 1910 and 1911.

Antoine-Ignace Melling. In the Sultan's harem. 1810. Ill. orientaliststyle.com

If I were a sultan, I would be single

Words famous song from the movie " Caucasian captive” were very relevant for the sultans of the Ottoman Empire. In order to avoid political and legal consequences, with the exception of some rulers, they did not marry, but took “jariye”, which is translated into Russian as “concubine”, although the Ottomans themselves put a slightly different meaning into this concept - a female slave or maid.

So, in order to maintain the institution of "jariyye", which, by the way, were recruited according to the principle of "devshirme" (shifters), a harem system was formed in the Ottoman Empire. What did the Sultan's harem represent? First of all, it was a hierarchical system, headed by the mother of the Sultan and the chief eunuch, designed to promote the continuation of the Sultan's line through the male line. Not all the inhabitants of the harem were concubines. Only the most successful girls who were taught the basics of Islam were allowed to the Sultan, Turkic culture, literature, the art of versification, embroidery, music and much more. If the Enderun school under the Sultan was engaged in the preparation of future civil servants, then the harem prepared future wives for these same employees. This was done so that a civil servant appointed to remote corners of the empire would not acquire family ties with the local population and maintain personal loyalty to the Sultan.

Zulfiya is ironing my robe at the blackboard

All the women of the harem were employed in various jobs in the household of the palace. Each of them, depending on the position and social status paid a daily allowance. For example, the mother of Sultan Murad III Nurbanu received 3,000 Akçe daily. For comparison, at the same time, the head of the Janissary corps received only 500 akce. The wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni), Khurrem Sultan, known to many readers from the film The Magnificent Century, received 2,000 Akçe as a daily allowance. distribution wages handled by the chief eunuch.

Khurem Sultan. Painting of the 15th century. ill. wikipedia.org

The inhabitants of the harem lived in rooms of five people. To four young girls, for the sake of order, a woman aged was sure to share. The mother of the sultan and the pregnant jarias, who had the status of haseki, lived in separate chambers. The greatest authority in the harem was Valide Sultan, that is, the mother of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. After her, the chief eunuch, the daughters of the Sultan and the milk mother of the Sultan.

Between the pregnant "wives" of the Sultan, disputes arose very often about which of the sons would become the next ruler. Various unions and groups were formed, into which viziers, members of the sofa, the Janissary corps and other civil servants were drawn willy-nilly. Intrigues were woven, conspiracies and coups were being prepared.

In view of the fact that legal status the jariye were slaves, and Islam forbade the enslavement of Muslims, the inhabitants of the harems were mainly representatives of other cultures and religions. Among historians there is a conventional wisdom that this is what led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

Bulat Nogmanov

Reference

Bulat Nogmanov- researcher, translator.

• Born on 10/31/1985 in the village of Apastovo, Apastovsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan.
• In 2008 he graduated from the International Kazakh-Turkish University. HA. Yasawi specializing in " International relationships».
• In 2010, he graduated from Ankara University with a master's degree in the same specialty.
• Member of ethnographic expeditions.
• Member of the Tatarstan branch of the Russian geographical society.
• Speaks English, Turkish and Kazakh.

The series "The Magnificent Century" for several years immersed Russian spectators in oriental tales. Romance and intro

How concubines were prepared: the secrets of the Sultan's harem

The series "The Magnificent Century" plunged Russian spectators into oriental tales for several years. Romance and intrigue! Dozens beautiful women and, most importantly, men. In many ways, under the influence of the multi-part masterpiece, the young Muscovite left for Turkey, married a local macho and entered Istanbul University. It was here that she discovered sensational documents that helped develop a unique weight loss complex. Yana Bai-Lilik shared the details.

Minus 10 kilos

“The university was built on the site of the Old Palace, where the concubines of the sultans were trained in the Middle Ages. Including Suleiman the First, who is shown in the series. I wanted to study all the documents of that period that have survived to this day.

When I read the household books of the harem, I realized: how many inventions there are in the "Magnificent Century". That is, writers, artists, and now directors embellish everything. For a good storyline.

The real life of the concubines was three hundred times more boring. But how many useful things they did with themselves in order to remain beautiful and slim! They already had developed whole complexes proper nutrition(the rule of seven meals was in effect in the harem) and reasonable physical activity. So that beauties do not pump over the press, but remain feminine.

I lost 10 kilos on this diet excess weight. I hope that the invaluable experience of medieval beauties will be useful to modern women.”

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Brunettes are in trend

In fact, the word "harem" is translated as a protected area. That is, a place where entry is forbidden to all men, except for the Sultan. Well, eunuchs (although they do not count). This is not just a hostel. There was a fitness center, a beauty salon and an institute for noble maidens in one bottle.

It is written in the books that the selection was closely followed in the harems. It was not just that they brought beauties from all over the empire. Or were captives captured in raids on neighboring countries. There was a clear plan: how many new girls are needed per year. What color should the hair be? According to statistics, 85-90 percent were given to brunettes. There were significantly fewer blondes. But the red-haired beauties were considered taboo: in the Middle Ages, the rulers saw them as the embodiment of demonic forces. By the way, look at how all the winners of the Miss World contest look, for example. See the same trend!

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Where will we make the waist

You will be surprised, but the height of the girls was not particularly important. The main thing is that they are slender. Many Russian tourists have probably seen fat animators who perform belly dance in Turkish hotels. So they have nothing to do with those beautiful concubines that lived in the harem.

The sultans valued the hips and waist. And, oddly enough, almost did not pay attention to the chest. The ideal difference between waist and hips was described as 2/3. This is quite consistent with modern ideal beauty 60/90.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Walking is better than running

The Sultan's harem had about 500 rooms. Also a huge park. Concubines were forbidden to ride in a carriage (with the exception of the beloved wife of the ruler). I had to walk everywhere. And this was only the first of the medieval fitness classes.

Every day, competitions were held in the park - one girl ran away, clutching a scarf or handkerchief in her hand. The rest were caught. The one who managed to deftly grab the handkerchief from the driver became the queen of the day. She was allowed boors, massage and other cajoling. The award is chic, since only the winner of the race and the concubine who was preparing for the night with the Sultan were allowed to such procedures. It is understandable, a crowd of people (up to a thousand women lived in the harem at the same time), everyone will not fit in the steam room.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Dance while you are young

And there were also dances. They danced a lot until the orchestra collapsed from fatigue. Contrary to popular belief, the concubines could do nothing besides bellydance. But in the books it is written that in the classroom they learned up to 20 different dances, and all - with loads.

Both at rehearsals and in front of the Sultan, the girls wore heavy bracelets on their wrists and ankles, and sometimes also necklaces. Or they could just hold oranges, pomegranate fruits in their hands ... Try to dance in this mode at least 2-3 times a week - an amazing effect.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Don't swim behind the buoys

Another type of physical activity is swimming. The concubines splashed in three big pools on the territory of the harem. It is believed that in the 15th century there were already some elements of water aerobics: the girls were engaged in stretching in tandem with each other. By the way, it was at the pool that the Sultan watched his beauties and compiled a list of contenders. On Wednesday - Thursday - Friday, for example.

But most importantly, all these exercises - walking, running, swimming and dancing - did not require any superhuman effort. Everything happens as if by itself, and the effect is amazing. Modern girls can enjoy it and become slimmer at the same time.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

Rule of seven meals

1. In the morning on an empty stomach, the girls drank ayran. In Turkey, it is preferred salty, but you can replace it with regular.

2. Breakfast: boiled eggs, chicken, vegetables, fruits. And again ayran, but with greens chopped into it.

3. Coffee break. Coffee in those days was considered a drink only for the elite. And women were forbidden to drink it at all. Only for the concubines of the Sultan did an exception. Dates and raisins were usually served with coffee.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

4. Lunch. There was an obligatory soup here - vegetable (like Minestrone) or lentil. They also served meat, olives and thin lavash rolls stuffed with cheese and greens. By the way, stuffed olives (with salmon, lemon and other goodies) are very popular now, so this idea was invented in the harem of Sultan Suleiman. Historical fact.

5. Another lunch. But already fishy. As well as octopuses and other seafood. And again, vegetables, cheese (most often - cheese) and olives.

Important! In harem books, portion consumption is indicated. Girls were not allowed to eat more than 250 grams at one meal. And the plates were small, so as not to lead into temptation.

Photo: frame from the series "The Magnificent Century"

6. Dinner. Mostly just fruits. But those who went to the bedchamber to the Sultan (and several spare concubines) were allowed to drink coffee.

7. At night again a glass of ayran with herbs.

The concubines limited themselves only to sweet pastries. It was allowed only in the morning, after the night in the chambers of the Sultan. Before noon! Considering how rarely the concubines got into the lord's bedroom, many of them had not eaten cakes for years.

Features of national cuisine

Turkish cuisine is ideal for those who want to go on a diet.

Firstly, everything is cooked in olive oil, which is not only tasty, but also very healthy.

Secondly, they use the most dietary meat - lamb, veal and chicken.

Vegetables in large quantities is also a plus. Especially baked eggplants (after all, babaganush was also invented in the Sultan's harem).

One can also note the addiction of Turkish chefs to yogurt, with which they actively flavor everything. Even meat is cooked in yogurt.

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, seduction, feminine vibes and the scent of musk.

While we compete with men for equal rights with all our might, sometimes forgetting about our essence, women of the East treat a man as a master. They use ancient techniques that delight men and turn them into slaves of love for a long time.

I propose to go back several centuries, during the 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 in the sultan's concubines.

guarded paradise

The word "harem" means secret, inaccessible and closed. Indeed, the place where the sultan's concubines and wives lived was closed to all but selected members of the sultan's family.

The Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey once wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem."

The most famous harem was the Seral Palace, located in Istanbul. It consisted of 400 spacious rooms, where more than two thousand concubines lived. The palace was the size of small town surrounded by high walls. Only a real beauty who passed a strict selection could become an inhabitant of this paradise.

casting

Random girls never got into the Sultan's harem. There was special plan, according to which a certain amount of blondes and brunettes. 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 breasts and height of the girls were secondary indicators. Slavic beauty was held in high esteem.

Girls were selected not only by 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

The girls selected to serve the Sultan underwent a special two-year training. They were taught by Kalfs - old, wise slaves. Future concubines learned the language, the basics of the Koran, literature, poetry, calligraphy.

Studied versification and playing musical instruments. The girls were always supportive physical form spending a lot of time dancing. Odalisques thoroughly studied court etiquette, learned to serve coffee and sweets, fill a pipe and conduct conversations with the Sultan.

In their second year, the women of the harem learned the art of self-care. Prepared masks and special aromatic compositions, applied makeup. They learned how to dress properly and choose jewelry.

All the girls studied the Raks Sharhi dance. It's a cross between belly dancing and striptease. This dance aroused the love mood and desire of the Sultan.

Then they mastered the intricacies of intimate gymnastics, which we call wumbling. At the end of the training, each girl took an exam. In addition to dancing, versification, and etiquette, the exam included several very piquant exercises.

Exercise one: jade testicle. The girl was seated on a bench with a hole. The legs were spread wide, and a small jade testicle was placed in the subject's vagina, to which several threads were attached. The girl had to squeeze the muscles so that the threads broke when they were pulled.

Exercise two: dance "Raks sharkhi". 100 ml of colored liquid was poured into the bowl. The girl injected the 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 the 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 still not bother with an invitation to the Sultan's bedroom. Every day, hundreds of the most beautiful, seductive girls flaunted in front of the Sultan. But luck smiled only a few. To attract the attention of the padishah, the concubines carefully looked after themselves. Dressed the most beautiful dresses, for several hours a day spent on makeup. They trained their gait and posture, learned to seduce with just a glance.

If the padishah liked one of the slaves, she received an invitation to the Sultan's chambers. The girls worked very hard to prepare for intimacy with the Sultan, because it depended on their skills whether they were lucky again. The path from the dormitory to the master's chamber was called the Golden one. To walk on it, the girl went through a series of beauty rituals.

Hamam

One of the most important self-care rituals for concubines was a trip to the hammam (bath). The girls bathed in water infused with hibiscus and violet petals. This tool not only softened the skin, but also filled it with a delicate 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 with a special cream. It included 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 allowed to remove dead skin cells and made it soft, like a child's.

Body worthy of a sultan

After washing with soap, the hair became stiff. To soften them, Ottoman beauties used a hair cream made from mallow flowers. Hundreds of kilograms of these flowers were delivered to the palace every year.

Oriental beauties carefully looked after their hair. Masks were prepared from henna and ground walnut shells. After such a mask, the hair grew very quickly.

In order for the bodies of the concubines to remain elastic and young, clay masks with infusions of flowers and herbs were applied to their skin.

After a thorough bathing, 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 skin of the girls after the hamam was smeared with oils. In olive or Sesame oil a few drops of aromatic oil were added. In summer, violet or rose oil was usually added, and in winter, cloves.

Before going to bed, the beauties washed themselves with rose water. It softens the skin and smoothes wrinkles. Turkish rose oil is still used in the manufacture of luxury cosmetics.

Makeup

Before going to the Sultan's bedchamber, the concubines applied make-up. Particular attention was paid to the eyes. So that the eyes struck the heart of the padishah at first sight, the girls drew arrows with antimony mixed with ash. To give their lips a scarlet tint, Eastern women chewed betel - a paste with pepper, lime and flax seeds. Cinnamon sticks helped freshen breath the night before.

It was not so easy to inflame the desire of the sultan spoiled by female attention. Each girl tried to emphasize her best features. Henna drawings helped to complete the look. Slave artists painted patterns on the bodies of odalisques. They covered the hands, ankles, back of the neck or collarbones. Sometimes they were applied to the lower part of the waist or under the navel, drawing a path to pleasure.

Unlike Christianity, in the Islamic religion, the pleasure of intimacy was not considered a sin. But the Koran forbade anal, group and same-sex relationships. Therefore, the orgies and lesbian pleasures between bored concubines, presented by many Europeans, were most likely a fairy-tale fiction.

The ideas of Europeans about the Sultan's harem are still based on myths and legends. And this is not surprising: in the Ottoman Empire there was no more closed place for the immodest glance of a stranger than the harem - the abode of the sultan's wives and concubines. The canvases of Delacroix, Ingres and the books of romantic writers only contributed to the strengthening of these myths and exaggerations, but they are romantics to embellish reality.

In fact, in the main harem of the empire (“haram” in Arabic is a forbidden female half at home of a Muslim) there was little romance. A golden cage (whatever one may say, but a cage!) for wives and concubines is a place of confinement in which life is regulated by a strict harem regime and a rigid internal hierarchy. And this women's prison was exemplary in many respects - for the six centuries of the existence of the Ottoman dynasty, the illustrious jailers had time to polish the rules " internal regulations”for the inhabitants of the“ House of Happiness ”, as the Sultan’s harem was called.

Another thing is that some "lucky women" spontaneously mastered the well-known ladies' tricks, which allowed them to turn from slaves into mistresses. In the history of the empire, more than one case is known when the sultan's concubines not only subordinated the master himself to their influence, but also actively interfered in state affairs. However, only a few succeeded - it was still necessary to somehow get to the body, heart and ear of the ruler, which, in the presence of hundreds of competitors, was a task of serious complexity.

Surprisingly, many concubines spent their whole lives in the harem, never seeing their master with their own eyes. Most of the ladies were quite content with peace, relative idleness and the luxury surrounding them. Until the beginning of the 16th century, there was no other happiness, except for marble fountains, pools, peacocks, oriental sweets on golden dishes, music and chatter with "roommates" - and only in rare cases the master's bed! - for the inhabitants of the harem and was not provided. The harem contained only slaves. The age-old tradition of keeping concubines in the harem, but marrying not them, but the eminent daughters of neighbors, was interrupted only during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II - his successors began to marry slaves.

The appearance of wives in harems disturbed the peace and leisurely idleness of the harem, adding many problems to the life of the harem. Everyone knows that even a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law do not get along in one apartment, and here in one harem there are dozens and hundreds of female hostesses: slaves, wives, their princess daughters! In order for this whole family not to turn into an explosive "communal apartment" with its inevitable intrigues, squabbles and jealousy, it was necessary to create a rigid mechanism for managing the restless "woman's kingdom".

In addition to this multi-stage hierarchy, the harem had a whole staff of teachers (dances, songs, cosmetics, the basics of physiology - the list of disciplines is huge ...), a kindergarten for young daughters, boys “just in case”, aging concubines, maidservants who came out “in circulation” ...
All this economy required the constant vigilant eye of the owner himself, the army of eunuchs and grandmothers, designed to control the eunuchs. Passions and intrigues, flourishing in full bloom, did not at all allow the then rulers to naively think that the harem is paradise gardens pleasures.

It is curious that even the sultans were not free from restrictions on their personal lives. So, for example, they were obliged to spend the night from Friday to Saturday with only one of their wives. And the wife, who did not wait for an invitation to her husband's bedchamber for three Fridays in a row, had the right to apply to the judge for the protection of violated rights. The rulers of the Ottoman Empire, according to the law, had from four to eight wives, and in order to avoid overlaps, one of the slaves kept a “record book”, where she scrupulously recorded all the meetings of the Sultan with her spouses.

For centuries, the Ottomans have had a strange attraction to non-Christian wives. The proud black-haired daughters of the Caucasus and plump fair-haired Slavs were valued above others. Many did not even have to be captivated: it is known that the Caucasian princes themselves often sent their daughters to the Sultan's harem in the hope that the Sultan would like them and eventually become his wives.

History has preserved the names of some European sultanas. The beloved wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, during whose reign the empire reached its peak, was Hürrem, the daughter of the Ukrainian Orthodox priest Anastasia Lisovskaya, kidnapped and sold into the harem, better known as Roksolana. She conquered the Sultan not only with her beauty, but also with her education, writing poems in Arabic to her husband - an exceptional achievement for the 16th century!

A century and a half later, the path of the priest's daughter was repeated by the Frenchwoman Emmy de Riveri, cousin of Napoleon's wife Josephine. She was also kidnapped by pirates and sold to the Algerian governor, and he gave this beauty to his sovereign, Sultan Abdul-Hamid I, under the name Nakshidil (“Delight of the Heart”). Emmy, who converted to Islam, became his fourth wife, and when her son himself took the throne in the Istanbul palace, Nakshidil-Emmi took the title of Valide - Queen Mother.

This is how they lived for six long centuries - the sultans and their numerous families. The first one put an end to all this. World War. Turkey entered it on the side of Germany, and after the defeat was occupied by the powers of the Entente. A revolution began in the country under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. When the victorious revolutionaries entered Istanbul, an empty Sultan's palace awaited them. The last of the Ottomans fled on a British warship, and all his wives, daughters, favorites, slaves and eunuchs, having lost their master, dispersed in all directions. In the same place, in the Sultan's Palace, in March 1924, the Turkish Republic, one of the first laws of which was the law on the abolition of the institution of the harem.