Many rulers and senior members of society had not only wives, but also concubines. This showed not only the prestige of a person due to the ability to produce children, but also indicated limitless possibilities for satisfying sexual desires.
First concubines
It was believed that the very first concubines appeared in ancient China, but this is not at all the case. They were still in the civilizations of ancient Babylonia and Mesopotamia. The highest members of society took on concubines. Many of these girls were slaves.
In some ancient states, women were priestesses and held a very high position in society. Basically, they never got married. In some Mesopotamian cultures, married men visited such women. Society not only justified it, but considered it a fulfillment of its religious duty.
Concubines in Christianity
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Concubines were also in the Bible. The Israelites often kept concubines despite being legally married. The wives had a dowry, but the concubines did not. We can say that this was the main difference between these women.
One of the most famous rulers who had concubines is King Solomon. He had three hundred concubines and seven hundred wives. Although it is not customary in Christianity today to have concubines, some biblical commentators believe that God allowed men to have more than one wife and several concubines after the Great Flood to populate the earth.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, the difference between a concubine and a wife is that the lawful spouse received a marriage contract and there was an engagement before the wedding. Some historians believe that concubines were intended only for rulers, and ordinary people could not have sex before marriage.
Concubines in Islam
In Islam it was also allowed to have a concubine. The Quran says that a man can be married to no more than 4 women. However, this is only possible if he treats them fairly and can provide. A man can have not only wives, but also concubines, but only if certain conditions are met.
In ancient times, captured women became concubines. In addition, in pre-Islamic and pagan times, it was considered normal to buy and sell slaves. Therefore, many concubines were slaves. However, after their adoption of Islam, it was recommended to free the slaves and to marry them.
Some historians say that the Prophet Muhammad married a total of 15 women and had at least 4 concubines. All his concubines were slaves. According to the records, he visited all of his women in one night.
Concubines in Ancient Greece
The practice of keeping concubines in ancient Greece is little studied, but there are records that they were throughout the entire existing Athenian history. The law said that a man could kill anyone who wished to establish a relationship with his concubine. In addition, the children of the concubine were not granted citizenship, and they were slaves, not free people.
Concubines in ancient Rome
According to Roman law, a concubine must be tolerant, since her relationship with a man was quite strong and special. This allowed men in Rome to enter into an unofficial, but publicly recognized relationship with a woman who was not his wife. Often, her social status was very low, which made it difficult to get married.
The title of concubine was not derogatory, and it was often inscribed on tombstones. The Romans often chose male slaves as sexual partners. They did not consider same-sex relationships homosexual if an adult man used a slave as a passive partner.
Concubines in ancient China
In ancient China, there was a whole hierarchy of concubines. They were divided according to the level of favor towards the emperor. The concubine could improve her position by giving birth to an heir (although their sons were in a worse position than legitimate children). She could climb the social ladder, in accordance with the favors of the emperor.
One of the most beloved wives and concubines of Emperor Xuanzong was Yang Guifei. She was famous for her beauty and was able to rise from the bottom and reached the highest rank that only a concubine could reach.
However, not everyone was so lucky. If the concubine could not have children, then her life often became not very pleasant. Chinese emperors kept their concubines in the Forbidden City, and during the Qing dynasty, their number numbered about 20,000.
The concubines were guarded by an equal number of eunuchs to ensure that they could not get pregnant from anyone other than the emperor. In some cultures, it was not uncommon for poorer families to give their daughters to the ruler to see if they would be chosen as concubines. This pursued two goals, namely, to get rid of the extra feeding mouth and to provide privilege, protection and comfort for her daughter.
The daily life of concubines
The internal hierarchy of the palace was very precisely distributed. Spouses and concubines guarded their ranking and did everything to move forward. There were constant quarrels and jealousy between the concubines. Their life was far from a pleasant holiday. Due to the large number of spouses and concubines, it was very difficult to spend the night with the emperor, so they constantly competed with each other.
All the wives and concubines of the emperor who lived in the palace could not communicate with the outside world either personally or even through mail. This prohibition went so far that it was not even allowed for the doctor to come to the palace and examine the sick concubine. Her illness was described to doctors, and they made appropriate conclusions and prescriptions.
However, in history there were cases when the concubine left the palace. Since the emperor of China could receive a spouse as a gift from a foreign ruler, he could also give one of his concubines as a gift. However, for the girl, this meant that one prison was replaced by another.
Some concubines were allowed to return to their families after a long stay in the palace with a good salary. The minimum stay must be 5 years. Concubines could lead normal lives and even get married. Many of the concubines remained in the palace for life.
They were the property of the emperor, and he could dispose of the concubines at will. He could even take them with him to the afterlife. In many tombs of the emperors, the remains of women buried next to a man were found. The spouses of the emperor were executed by the palace eunuchs or decided to commit suicide.
In the Ming dynasty, concubines were stunned and buried in separate graves near the emperor. In some cases, concubines were buried while standing to await the arrival of the emperor.
The last concubine of China
The last concubine was Li Yupin. The last emperor of China, Pu Yi, had many concubines, but various misfortunes happened to them. The emperor's associates decided that he needed a new concubine and showed photographs of local schoolgirls. The emperor liked Li Yupin, who was literally pulled out of her home and told that she was going to the palace to study. The young girl did not understand what awaited her.
The concubine said that the emperor was irritable, timid and suspicious. He constantly suffered from pain and endured it much more difficult than other people.
Olga Simchenko