When the word "harem" is used, most people think of colorful pictures - an abundance of seductive half-dressed women, bubbling water of fountains, sweet wine and constant bliss. In general, a heavenly pleasure. But do not forget that the times when harems existed were cruel, and the life of a woman was even harder.
Day. Az reports with reference to bigpikcha.ru that in fact, the Sultan's harems were far from this idealistic picture.
Translated from Arabic, "harem" means "separated, forbidden." This place in the house was always hidden from prying eyes and was carefully guarded by servants. Women lived in this secret room. Chief among them was recognized either the wife, who was honored to be the first to marry and held a high title with the betrothed, or eunuchs.
Often in the sultan's harems there were a huge number of women, the number of which could reach several thousand. Wives and concubines for the Sultan were always chosen by his mother - this is a strict rule. It was very easy to find yourself in a harem - for this you just had to be a beautiful young virgin. But even in a harem, not everyone managed to establish a relationship with their “husband” and give him an heir.
Such high competition among wives allowed only the most intelligent, calculating, dexterous and cunning women to be nominated among the first. Those who did not possess such talents were doomed to perform household duties and serve the entire harem. They could never see their betrothed in their entire life.
There were special orders in harems that could not be violated. So everything was not nearly as romantic as, for example, in the popular TV series The Magnificent Century. The overlord could be carried away by a new girl, and those who had numb eyes could be executed. Moreover, the methods of reprisal were striking in their cruelty.
One of the options to get rid of the annoying wife is to immerse her in a leather bag with snakes, tie her tightly, tie a stone to the bag and throw her into the sea. An easy method of execution is strangulation with a silk cord.
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Laws in the harem and the state
According to the documents, the first harems arose in the Ottoman Empire. Initially, it was formed exclusively from slaves, and the sultans took only the heirs of the Christian rulers of the neighboring states as wives. However, during the reign of Bayezid II, the usual attitudes changed. From that time on, the Sultan did not limit himself to marriage at all, and acquired children from his slaves.
Undoubtedly, the most important in the harem was the sultan, then his mother, called "valid", was in the chain of hierarchy. When the ruler in the country changed, his mother always moved to luxurious mansions, and the process of moving was accompanied by a luxurious procession. After the mother of the Sultan, his betrothed were considered the main ones, who were called "kadyn-effendi". Next came the disenfranchised slaves, called "jariye", with whom the harem was often simply filled.
Caucasian princes wanted their daughters to end up in the Ottoman harem of the Sultan and marry him. Putting their daughters to bed, caring dads sang songs to the little ones about a happy fate, a gorgeous fairy-tale life, in which they would find themselves if they were lucky enough to become the sultan's wives.
The overlords could buy future slaves when the little ones were five to seven years old, they raised and raised them until puberty, that is, until the age of 12-14 years. The girls' parents waived the rights to their child in writing after they voluntarily sold their daughter to the Sultan.
While the baby was growing up, she learned not only all the rules of social communication, but also how to please a man. Upon reaching adolescence, the matured girl was shown in the palace. If, upon examination, a slave showed defects in appearance or on the body, if she never learned etiquette and showed bad behavior, then she was considered unfit for a harem and was cheaper than others, so her father was paid a smaller amount than the one he expected.
Everyday life of slaves
The lucky women, whom the Sultan supposedly thought to take as his concubines, had to know the Koran perfectly well and master the female wisdom. And if the slave still managed to take the honorable place of his wife, her life changed radically. The Sultan's favorites organized charitable foundations and financed the construction of mosques. They honored Muslim traditions. The Sultan's wives were very smart. The high intelligence of these women is confirmed by letters that have survived to our times.
The attitude to the concubines was relatively dignified, they were well cared for, they were regularly given gifts. Every day, even the simplest slaves received a payment, the amount of which was set by the Sultan personally. On holidays, be it a birthday or someone's wedding, money and various gifts were given to slaves. However, if the slave was disobedient, regularly violated the established orders and laws, the punishment for her was severe - brutal beating with whips and sticks.
Marriage and adultery
After 9 years of living in the harem, the slave received the right to leave it, but on condition that the master approves it. In case of a positive decision of the Sultan, the woman received from him a paper that she was a free person. The sultan or his mother in this case without fail bought her a luxurious house, additionally gave her a dowry, and looked for her husband.
Well, before the onset of heavenly life, especially passionate concubines struck up intimate relationships with each other or with eunuchs. By the way, all the eunuchs were brought from Africa, so they were all black.
This was done for a specific purpose - thus it was not difficult to figure out the person who had committed adultery with the servant. Indeed, in the event of pregnancy, dark-skinned babies were born. But this happened extremely rarely, because often the slaves fell into the harem already castrated, so they could not have children. Love relationships often developed between concubines and eunuchs. It even got to the point that the women who left the harem left their new husbands, complaining that the eunuch gave them much more pleasure.
Roxolana
Until the 16th century, girls from Russia, Georgia, Croatia and Ukraine fell into the harem. Byazid tied himself in marriage with a Byzantine princess, and Orhan-gazi chose as his wife the daughter of Emperor Constantine, Princess Carolina. But the most famous Sultan's wife, according to the legends, was from Ukraine. Her name was Roksolana, she stayed in the status of Suleiman the Magnificent's betrothed for 40 years.
According to the literary works of that time, Roksolana's real name is Anastasia. She was the daughter of a priest and was distinguished by her beauty. The girl was preparing for the wedding, but shortly before the celebration was kidnapped by the Tatars and sent to Istanbul. There, the failed bride ended up in the Muslim market, where the slave trade took place.
As soon as the girl found herself within the walls of the palace, she converted to Islam and learned the Turkish language. Anastasia turned out to be especially cunning and calculating, therefore, through bribery, intrigue and seduction, in a short time she got to the young padishah, who was carried away by her, and then got married. She gave her husband three healthy heroes, among whom was the future sultan - Selim II.
There are no more harems in modern Turkey, the latter disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. A museum was subsequently opened in its place. Nevertheless, among the elite, polygamy is still practiced today. Young 12-year-old damsels against their will are given as wives to age rich men. Basically, this is done by poor parents who do not have enough money to feed a large number of children.
In the United Arab Emirates and in a number of other Muslim countries, polygamy is legalized, but at the same time it is allowed to have no more than four wives at the same time. All the same law imposes on a polygamist man the obligation to adequately support his ladies and children, but not a word has been written about respect. Therefore, despite the beautiful life, wives are often held in extreme severity. In the event of a divorce, children always remain with their father, and mothers are prohibited from seeing them. Here is such a payback for a comfortable and luxurious life with an influential Arab man.