Harem
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Harem (
Although the institution has experienced a sharp decline in the modern era due to a rise in education and economic opportunities for women, as well as the influence of Western culture, the seclusion of women is still practiced in some parts of the world, such as rural Afghanistan and conservative states of the Persian Gulf.[4][7]
In the West, the harem, often depicted as a hidden world of sexual subjugation where numerous women lounged in suggestive poses, has influenced many paintings, stage productions, films and literary works.
Terminology
The word has been recorded in the English language since the early 17th century. It comes from the Arabic: ḥarīm, which can mean "a sacred inviolable place", "harem" or "female members of the family". In English the term harem can mean also "the wives (or concubines) of a polygamous man." The
In the
The practice of female seclusion is not exclusive to Islam, but the English word harem usually denotes the domestic space reserved for women in Muslim households.[11][12] Some scholars have used the term to refer to polygynous royal households throughout history.[13]
The ideal of seclusion
Leila Ahmed describes the ideal of seclusion as "a man's right to keep his women concealed—invisible to other men." Ahmed identifies the practice of seclusion as a social ideal and one of the major factors that shaped the lives of women in the Mediterranean Middle East. [14] For example, contemporaneous sources from the Byzantine Empire describe the social norms that governed women's lives. Women were not supposed to be seen in public. They were guarded by eunuchs and could only leave the home "veiled and suitably chaperoned." Some of these customs were borrowed from the Persians, but Greek society also influenced the development of patriarchal tradition.[15]
The ideal of seclusion was not fully realized as social reality. This was in part because working-class women often held jobs that required interaction with men.
Female seclusion has historically signaled social and economic prestige.[11] Eventually, the norms of female seclusion spread beyond the elites, but the practice remained characteristic of upper and middle classes, for whom the financial ability to allow one's wife to remain at home was a mark of high status.[7][11] In some regions, such as the Arabian peninsula, seclusion of women was practiced by poorer families at the cost of great hardship, but it was generally economically unrealistic for the lower classes.[7]
Where historical evidence is available, it indicates that the harem was much more likely to be monogamous. For example, in late Ottoman Istanbul, only 2.29 percent of married men were polygynous, with the average number of wives being 2.08. In some regions, like Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, prevalence of women in agricultural work leads to wider practice of polygamy but makes seclusion impractical. In contrast, in Eurasian and North African rural communities that rely on male-dominated plough farming, seclusion is economically possible but polygyny is undesirable. This indicates that the fundamental characteristic of the harem is seclusion of women rather than polygyny.[17]
Pre-Islamic background
The idea of the harem or seclusion of women did not originate with Muhammad or Islam.[9] The practice of secluding women was common to many Ancient Near East communities, especially where polygamy was permitted.[18] In pre-Islamic Assyria and Persia, most royal courts had a harem, where the ruler's wives and concubines lived with female attendants, and eunuchs.[9] Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term harem to describe the practices of the ancient Near East.[19]
Ancient Egypt
There has been a modern trend to refer to the women's quarters of the Pharaoh's palace in Ancient Egypt as a harem.[20]
The popular assumption that Pharaonic Egypt had a harem is however an anachronism; while the women and children of the pharaoh, including his mother, wives, and children, had their own living quarters with its own administration in the Palace of the Pharaoh, the royal women did not live isolated from contact with men or in seclusion from the rest of the court in the way associated with the term "harem".[20] The custom of referring to the women's quarters of the pharaoh's palace as a "harem" is therefore apocryphal, and has been used because of incorrect assumptions that Ancient Egypt was similar to later Islamic harem culture.[20]
Assyria
The kings of Ancient Assyria are known to have had a harem regulated by royal edicts, in which the women lived in seclusion guarded by slave eunuchs.[21]
A number of regulations were designed to prevent disputes among the women from developing into political intrigues.[19] The women were guarded by the eunuchs who also prevented their disputes from developing into political plots; they were banned from giving gifts to their servants (as such gifts could be used as bribes) and were not allowed any visitors who had not been examined and approved by officials.[21] When the king traveled, his harem traveled with him, strictly supervised so as not to break regulations even under transport.[21]
In the 7th century BC, Assyria was conquered by the
Greece and Byzantium
Female seclusion and a special part of the house reserved for women were common among the elites of ancient Greece, where it was known as the gynaeceum.[23][24] However, while gender segregation was the official ideal in Classical Athens, it is debated how much of this ideal was actually enforced, and it is known that even upper-class women appeared in public and were able to come in contact with men, at least on religious occasions.[25]
These traditional Greek ideals were revived as an ideal for women in the Byzantine Empire (in which Greek culture eventually became dominant), though the rigid idealistic norms of seclusion expressed in Byzantine literature did not necessarily reflect actual practice.[23][15] The Byzantine Emperors were Greek Orthodox and did not have several wives, or official concubines, secluded in a harem. When Greek culture started to replace the Roman in the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century, it came to be seen as modest, especially for upper-class women, to keep to a special women's quarters (gynaikonitis), and until the 12th century, men and women are known to have participated in gender-segregated banquets at the Imperial Court; however Imperial women still appeared in public and did not live in seclusion, and the idealized gender segregation was never fully enforced.[26]
The Median and Achaemenid Empires
There is no evidence among early Iranians of harem practices, that is, taking large numbers of wives or concubines and keeping them in seclusion.[
Greek historians have reported of harems of the Achaemenid Empire. Herodotus reported that each Persian royal or aristocratic man had several wives and concubines who came to the husband on a well-regulated, turn by turn basis.[27] and had sole control over their children until they were five years old.[28]
The Old Persian word for the harem is not attested, but it can be reconstructed as xšapā.stāna (lit. night station or place where one spends the night). The royal household was controlled by the chief wife and queen, who as a rule was the daughter of a Persian prince and mother of the heir to the throne,[citation needed] and who was subject only to the king. She had her own living quarters, revenue, estates and staff,[29] which included eunuchs and concubines.[30] The second rank under the queen consisted of the legal secondary wives, with the title bānūka ("Lady"). The third rank consisted of unmarried princesses as well as married princesses who lived with their own family, with the title duxçī (daughter).[31] The fourth group of women in the harem were the royal slave concubines[32] who were bought in slave markets,[33] received as a gifts[34] as tribute,[35] or taken as prisoners of war.[36] The concubines were trained to entertain the king and his guests as musicians, dancers and singers. The harem of Darius III reportedly consisted of his mother, his queen-wife, her children, over 300 concubines and nearly 500 household servants.[19]
However, it is a matter of debate if the Achaemenid court had a full harem culture, as women do not appear to have been fully secluded in the harem. The fact that women lived in separate quarters at the Royal Palace does not necessarily mean that they were secluded from contact with men, and despite the (possibly biased) Greek reports, there is no archeological evidence supporting the existence of a harem, or the seclusion of women from contact with men, at the Achaemenid court.[37]
Royal and aristocratic Achaemenid women were given an education in subjects that did not appear compatible with seclusion, such as horsemanship and archery.[38][19] It does not appear that royal and aristocratic women lived in seclusion from men since it is known that they appeared in public and traveled with their husbands,[39] participated in hunting[40] and in feasts;[41] at least the chief wife of a royal or aristocratic man did not live in seclusion, as it is clearly stated that wives customarily accompanied their husbands to dinner banquets, although they left the banquet when the "women entertainers" of the harem came in and the men began "merrymaking".[42]
Little is known about the alleged harems of the Parthians. Parthian royal men reportedly had several wives and kept them fairly secluded from all men except for relatives and eunuchs.[43] According to Roman sources, Parthian kings had harems full of female slaves and hetairas secluded from contact with men, and royal women were not allowed to participate in the royal banquets.[44] Also aristocratic Parthian men appear to have had harems, as Roman sources report of rich men travelling with hundreds of guarded concubines.[45] However, the Roman reports about Parthian harems seem to mirror the traditional Greek reports about the Achaemenid harems, and they similarly are biased, and cannot be verified by archeological evidence.[37]
Sasanian Empire
The information about the
In the Sassanian Empire, Roman reports say that it was common for men to have multiple wives. The hierarchy of the Sassanian harem is not clear. The Sassanian kings had one chief consort, who was the mother of the heir to the throne, as well as having several wives of lower rank, and concubines, all of whom accompanied him on travels, and even on campaigns.[46] Five titles are attested to for royal women: “royal princess” (duxšy, duxt); “Lady” (bānūg); “Queen” (bānbišn); “Queen of the Empire” ([Ērān]šahr bānbišn) and "Queen of Queens" (bānbišnān bānbišn).[19] The rank of these titles has been a matter of debate and it appears that their status varied depending on circumstances and that the highest female rank was not necessarily borne by the chief wife, but could be held by a daughter or a sister.[19] The Sasanian harem was supervised by eunuchs, and also had female singers and musicians.[19]
However, while the Sasanian kings had harems,
According to
South Asia
South Asian traditions of female seclusion, called purdah, may have been influenced by Islamic customs.[47]
Ashoka, the emperor of the Maurya Empire in India, kept a harem of around 500 women, all of whom were under strict rules of seclusion and etiquette.[48]
In Islamic cultures
Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
In contrast to the earlier era of the
The practice of gender segregation in Islam was influenced by an interplay of religion, customs and politics.
The growing seclusion of women was illustrated by the power struggle between the Caliph Al-Hadi and his mother Al-Khayzuran, who refused to live in seclusion but instead challenged the power of the Caliph by giving her own audiences to male supplicants and officials and thus mixing with men.[53] Her son considered this improper, and he publicly addressed the issue of his mother's public life by assembling his generals and asked them:
- 'Who is the better among us, you or me?' asked Caliph al-Hadi of his audience.
- 'Obviously you are the better, Commander of the Faithful,' the assembly replied.
- 'And whose mother is the better, mine or yours?' continued the caliph.
- 'Your mother is the better, Commander of the Faithful.'
- 'Who among you', continued al-Hadi, 'would like to have men spreading news about your mother?'
- 'No one likes to have his mother talked about,' responded those present.
- 'Then why do men go to my mother to speak to her?'[53]
Conquests had brought enormous wealth and large numbers of slaves to the Muslim elite. The majority of the slaves were women and children,[54] many of whom had been dependents or harem-members of the defeated Sassanian upper classes.[55] In the wake of the conquests an elite man could potentially own a thousand slaves, and ordinary soldiers could have ten people serving them.[54]
Nabia Abbott, preeminent historian of elite women of the Abbasid Caliphate, describes the lives of harem women as follows.
The choicest women were imprisoned behind heavy curtains and locked doors, the strings and keys of which were entrusted into the hands of that pitiable creature – the eunuch. As the size of the harem grew, men indulged to satiety. Satiety within the individual harem meant boredom for the one man and neglect for the many women. Under these conditions ... satisfaction by perverse and unnatural means crept into society, particularly in its upper classes.[55]
The marketing of human beings, particularly women, as objects for sexual use meant that elite men owned the vast majority of women they interacted with, and related to them as would masters to slaves.[56] Being a slave meant relative lack of autonomy, and belonging to a harem caused a wife and her children to have little insurance of stability and continued support due to the volatile politics of harem life.
Elite men expressed in literature the horror they felt for the humiliation and degradation of their daughters and female relatives. For example, the verses addressed to Hasan ibn al-Firat on the death of his daughter read:
- To Abu Hassan I offer condolences.
- At times of disaster and catastrophe
- God multiplies rewards for the patient.
- To be patient in misery
- Is equivalent to giving thanks for a gift.
- Among the blessings of God undoubtedly
- Is the preservation of sons
- And the death of daughters.[57]
Courtesans and princesses produced prestigious and important poetry. Enough survives to give us access to women's historical experiences, and reveals some vivacious and powerful figures such as: the Sufi mystic
Al-Andalus
- See also: Slavery in Al-Andalus
The harem system that developed in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates was reproduced by the Islamic realms developing from them, such as in the Emirates and Caliphates in Muslim Spain, Al-Andalus, which attracted a lot of attention in Europe during the Middle Ages until the Emirate of Granada was conquered in 1492.
The most famous of the Andalusian harems was perhaps the harem of the
The harem could contain thousands of slave concubines; the harem of
However, concubines were always slaves subjected the will of their master. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III is known to have executed two concubines for reciting what he saw as inappropriate verses, and tortured another concubine with a burning candle in her face while she was held by two eunuchs after she refused sexual intercourse.[64] The concubines of Abu Marwan al-Tubni (d. 1065) were reportedly so badly treated that they conspired to murder him; women of the harem were also known to have been subjected to rape when rivaling factions conquered different palaces.[65]
Afghanistan
- See also: Slavery in Afghanistan
The rulers of Afghanistan customarily had a harem of four official wives, as well as a large number of unofficial wives for the sake of tribal marriage diplomacy.[66] They also had a large amount of enslaved women in the royal harem, known as kaniz and surati, guarded by the ghulam bacha (eunuchs).[67] Habibullah Khan (r. 1901–1919) famously had at least 44 wives and hundreds of slave women (mostly Hazara) in his harem in the Harem Sara Palace. The women of the royal harem dressed in Western fashion as far back as the reign Habibullah Khan, but did not show themselves other than completely covered outside of the enclosed area of the royal palace. The royal harem was first abolished by king Amanullah Khan, who in 1923 freed all slaves of the royal harem as well as encouraging his wife, queen Soraya Tarzi, and the other women of the royal family to unveil and live public lives.[67] While the royal women returned to the purdah of the royal complex after the deposition of Amanullah in 1929, it was dissolved with the final unveiling of the royal women in 1959.
Crimean Khanate
- See also: Crimean slave trade
In the Muslim dynasties of Central Asia, the harem culture did not initially exist, since the customary nomad culture made it impractical. The wives of the rulers of the Golden Horde did not live secluded in a harem but were allowed to show themselves and meet men who were not their relatives.[68] The system of harem gender segregation was not fully implemented in the Islamic dynasties of Central Asia until they stopped living a nomadic lifestyle, such as in the Crimea.[68]
The household organization of the khans of the Giray dynasty in the Crimean Khanate was described first during the reign of Sahib I Giray; most court offices were initiated by Sahib I Giray.[69] It is clear that there were separate women's quarters in the court of Sahib I Giray, however complete gender segregation in the form of a harem does not appear to have been introduced until the 1560s.[69]
The Giray court appears to have been organized in the slave-household manner that was normal in other Muslim dynasties. Many of the officials and courtiers (such as the viziers and equerries) as well as the servants were enslaved, while some were free Muslim noble clients and
Inside the harem, the highest positions were that of ana biyim and ulug biyim (ulug hani), which were given to the khan's mother and to the khan's first wife or the eldest Giray princess, respectively.[69] The royal women had their own property and administered it from the harem through their legal agents, known as vekils, who also acted as their intermediaries with supplicants and petitioners.[69]
The princes and the khans normally married free Muslim daughters of the Circassian vassal begs and trusted high officials; the khans also customarily practiced
Initially, the royal women did not live in seclusion in the harem. Notably, they gave their own audiences to men, such as during the ceremonial visit of the Russian ambassador, who would present them with diplomatic gifts. But in 1564, the Russian ambassador was given the message that such audiences were no longer allowed.
There are a few examples of politically active and influential women of the Giray harem:
Khedivate of Egypt
- See also: Slavery in Egypt
The royal harem during the Khedivate of Egypt (1805–1914) was modelled after Ottoman example, the khedives being the Egyptian viceroys of the Ottoman sultans. Similar to the Ottoman Imperial harem, the harem of the khedive was modelled on a system of polygyny based on slave concubinage, where each wife or concubine was limited to having one son.[71]
The khedive's harem was composed of between several hundreds to over a thousand enslaved women, supervised by his mother, the walida pasha, and his four official wives (hanim) and recognized concubines (qadin).
This system started to change in 1873, when Tewfik Pasha married Emina Ilhamy as his sole consort, making monogamy the fashionable ideal among the elite; the throne succession had been changed to primogeniture, which favored monogamy. Around the same time, the Tanzimat made several reforms, such as the abolition of the training of male slaves to become military men or civil servants, and replacing them with free students.[71] The Anglo-Egyptian Convention for the Abolition of Slavery in 1877 officially banned the slave trade to Sudan, followed by the 1884 ban on the import of white women as slaves, (often Circassians), a ban on selling existing slaves, and the introduction of a law giving slaves the right to apply for manumission.[71] All of this gradually diminished the royal harem, though it, as well as the harem of the elite families, still maintained a smaller number of male eunuchs and slave women until at least World War I. Khedive Abbas II of Egypt bought six "white female slaves" for his harem in 1894, and his mother still maintained sixty slaves as late as 1931.[71] The royal harem was finally dissolved when they escaped seclusion and took on a public role in the 1930s.
Morocco
- See also: Slavery in Morocco
Many of his concubines are only fragmentarily documented. As concubines, they were slave captives, sometimes acquired via the Barbary slave trade from Europe. One of them, an Irishwoman by the name Mrs. Shaw, was brought to his harem after having been enslaved. She was forced to convert to Islam when the Sultan wished to have intercourse with her, but was manumitted and married off to a Spanish convert when the Sultan grew tired of her. The Spanish convert being very poor, witnesses described her as being reduced to beggary.[74][75] Other slave concubines would become favorites and thus allowed some influence, such as an Englishwoman called Lalla Balqis.[74] Another favorite was a Spanish captive renamed Al-Darah, mother to Moulay Ismail's once favorite sons Moulay Mohammed al-Alim; and Moulay Sharif, whom he, himself educated. Around 1702, Al-Darah was strangled by Moulay Ismail; Lalla Aisha Mubaraka, a later favorite, convinced him that Al-Darah had betrayed him; she wanted to secure the succession of her own son.[76]
According to the writings of the French diplomat Dominique Busnot, Moulay Ismail had at least 500 concubines and even more children. A total of 868 children (525 sons and 343 daughters) is recorded in 1703, with his seven-hundredth son being born shortly after his death in 1727, by which time he had well over a thousand children.[77][78] The final total is uncertain; the Guinness Book of Records claims 1042,[79] while Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer of the University of Vienna put the total at 1171.[80] This is widely considered to be the largest number of children of any human in history.
Mughal Empire
The king's wives, concubines, dancing girls and slaves were not the only women of the Mughal harem. Many others, including the king's mother, lived in the harem. Aunts, grandmothers, sisters, daughters and other female relatives of the king all lived in the harem; male children also lived in the harem until they grew up.[citation needed] Within the precincts of the harem were markets, bazaars, laundries, kitchens, playgrounds, schools and baths. The harem had a hierarchy, its chief authorities being the wives and female relatives of the emperor and below them, the concubines.[81]
The women of the Mughal harem could exercise enormous political power. Nur Jahan, chief consort of Jahangir, was the most powerful and influential woman at court during a period when the Mughal Empire was at the peak of its power and glory. More decisive and proactive than her husband, she is considered by historians to have been the real power behind the throne for more than fifteen years. Nur Jahan was granted certain honours and privileges that were never enjoyed by any Mughal empress before or after. Nur Jahan was the only Mughal empress to have coinage struck in her name.[85] She was often present when the Emperor held court, and even held court independently when the Emperor was unwell. She was given charge of his imperial seal, implying that her perusal and consent were necessary before any document or order received legal validity. The Emperor sought her views on most matters before issuing orders. The only other Mughal empress to command such devotion from her husband was Nur Jahan's niece Mumtaz Mahal, for whom Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal as a mausoleum. However, Mumtaz took no interest in affairs of state and Nur Jahan is therefore unique in the annals of the Mughal Empire for the political influence she wielded.
Ottoman Empire
The Imperial Harem of the
The Ottoman sultans normally did not marry in the period circa 1500–1850, but instead procreated with enslaved concubines provided via the
Kösem's son, Sultan
Safavid Empire
The royal harem played an important role in the history of
The monarchs of the Safavid dynasty preferred to procreate through slave concubines, which would neutralize potential ambitions from relatives and other inlaws and protect patrimony.[94] The slave concubines (and later mothers) of the Shah mainly consisted of enslaved Circassian, Georgian and Armenian women, captured as war booty, bought at the slave market or received as gifts from local potentates.[94] The slave concubines were sometimes forced to convert to shia Islam upon entering the harem, and referred to as kaniz.[96][97] In contrast to the common custom in Islamic courts allowing only non-Muslim women to become harem concubines, the Safavid harem also contained Muslim concubines, as some free Persian Muslim daughters were given by their families or taken by the royal household to the harem as concubines.[98]
The enslaved harem women could achieve great influence, but there are also examples of the opposite. Shah Abbas II (r. 1642–1666) burned three of his slave-wives alive because they refused to drink with him,[99] and another wife for lying about her menstruation period.[100] Shah Safi (r. 1629–1642) stabbed his wife to death for disobedience.[99]
Slave eunuchs performed various tasks in many levels of the harem as well as in the general court, where they had offices such as in the royal treasury, as the tutors and adoptive fathers of non-castrated slaves selected to be slave soldiers (ghilman). Inside the harem they served as a channel between the secluded harem women and the outside court and world, which gave them a potentially powerful role at court.[94]
In the early Safavid period, young princes were placed in the care of a
The administration of the royal harem constituted an independent branch of the court, staffed mainly by eunuchs.[104] These were initially black eunuchs, but white eunuchs from Georgia also began to be employed from the time of Abbas I.[104]
The mothers of rival princes in league with eunuchs, engaged in palace intrigues in an attempt to place their candidate on the throne.
Qajar Empire
The harem of the monarchs of the Qajar dynasty (1785–1925) consisted of several thousand people. The harem had a precise internal administration, based on the women's rank.
As was customary in Muslim harems, the highest rank of the harem hierarchy was that of the monarchs' mother, who in Qajar Iran had the title Mahd-e ʿOlyā (Sublime Cradle). She had many duties and prerogatives, such as safeguarding the harem valuables, particularly the jewels, which she administered with the help of female secretaries.[108]
In contrast to what was common in the Ottoman Empire, where the sultans normally only had slave consorts, the Qajar shahs also had a custom of diplomatic marriages with free Muslim women, daughters of Qajar dignitaries and princes.
Every consort had white and black slave servants (women or eunuchs), whose number varied according to her status. Some wives had their own residence and stables.[113] There were different types of female officials within the harem: some managed the royal coffeehouse inside the harem, a body of female sentinels commanded by women officials "protected the king's nightly rest",[114] and women called ostāds (masters) supervised the group of female dancers and musicians who entertained the harem; they were housed with their servants in a separate compound.[115] Young slave boys below puberty (ḡolām-bačča) were used as servants and playmates in the harem.[116] Eunuchs were mainly African slaves.[116]
The women of the harem were responsible for everything inside the harem quarters, but the harem was guarded from the other parts of the palace (biruni) by the eunuchs, who together with visits from relatives, physicians and tailors served as links to the outside world for the women; the women were not allowed to leave the harem themselves.
The harem women had daily entertainments such as music, dance, theatrical performances and games. They studied the arts, calligraphy and poetry, and entertained themselves and the shah with music, dance and singing, and by reciting verses and telling stories, which the shah enjoyed at bedtime.[117] The harem had its own theatre where passion plays (taʿzia) were performed, and one of the shah's wives was the custodian of all the paraphernalia and props.[118] Toward the end of the Qajar dynasty, foreign tutors were allowed into the harem.
Inside the harem, women performed religious functions such as rawża-ḵᵛāni (the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Ḥosayn at Karbalā); they preached from the pulpit on the day of ʿĀšurā (q.v., the 10th of Moḥarram) and directed the ritual of sina-zadan (beating of the chest).[119]
The Qajar harem also had the political influence and intrigues common in royal harems. Until a regulated succession to the throne was established by
Uzbekistan
In the Islamic Khanates of Central Asia, harems existed until the introduction of Communism by the Soviets after the Russian Revolution.
Khiva
The royal harem of the ruler of the Khanate of Khiva (1511–1920) in Central Asia (Uzbekistan) was composed of both legal wives and slave concubines. The khan had four legal wives, who were obliged to be free Muslim women. Aside from his legal wives, enslaved women were acquired from slave markets and were obliged to be non-Muslims since free Muslim women could not be slaves. The enslaved girls were initially given as servants to the khan's mother. She provided them with an education to make them suitable for concubinage, after which some of them were selected to be the concubines to the khan.
Only the khan's legal wives were allowed to give birth to his children, and the slave concubines who conceived were given forced abortions.[122] The women could be sold off if they did not please the khan, or given in marriage to his favored subjects. The son of the khan was not allowed to inherit his father's concubine, so when a khan died, his concubines were sold at the slave market.[122] Men were normally not allowed to visit the harem, but Jewish tradeswomen were allowed in to sell their wares, such as clothes, to the harem inhabitants.
Bukhara
The royal harem of the ruler of the Emirate of Bukhara (1785–1920) in Central Asia (Uzbekistan) was similar to that of the Khanate of Khiva. The last Emir of Bukhara was reported to have a harem with 100 women (provided via the
Zanzibar
- See also: Slavery in Zanzibar
The model of the royal harem of Zanzibar were similar to most royal harems at the time. Enslaved eunuchs were employed to guard and manage the affairs of the harem, while female slave maids were employed to see to the needs of the slave concubines, the wives and the female relatives.
The memoirs of Princess
Emily Ruete described the multi ethnic Royal harem in her memoirs:
- Arabic was the only lauguage really sanctioned in my father's presence. But as soon as he turned his back, a truly Babylonian confusion of tongues commenced, and Arabian, Persian, Turkish, Circassian, Swahely, Nubian, and Abyssinian were spoken and mixed up together, not to mention the various dialects of these tongues. [...] Both at Bet il Mtoni and at Bet il Sahel the meals were cooked in the Arab as well as in the Persian and Turkish manner. People of all races lived in these two houses — the races of various beauty. The slaves were dressed in Swaihily style, but we were permitted to appear in Arab fashion alone. Any newly-arrived Circassian or Abyssinian woman had to exchange her ample robes and fantastic attire within three days for -the Arab costume provided for her. [...] On the seventh day after the birth of a child my father used to' pay a visit to the infant and its mother to present some article of jewellery to the baby. In the same way a new Surie received at onco the necessary jewels, and had her servants assigned to her by the chief eunuch."[131]
Modern Era
The practice of female seclusion witnessed a sharp decline in the early 20th century as a result of education and increased economic opportunity for women, as well as Western influences, but it is still practiced in some parts of the world, such as rural Afghanistan and conservative states of the Persian Gulf region.[4][7] Since the early 1980s, a rise in conservative Islamic currents has led to a greater emphasis on traditional notions of modesty and gender segregation, with some radical preachers in Saudi Arabia calling for a return to the seclusion of women and an end of female employment. Many working women in conservative societies have adopted hijab as a way of coping with a social environment where men are uncomfortable interacting with women in the public space. Some religious women have tried to emulate seclusion practices abandoned by their grandmothers' generation in an effort to affirm traditional religious values in the face of pervasive Westernization.[7]
Eunuchs and slavery
According to
The dark eunuch was held as the embodiment of the sensual tyranny that held sway in the fantasized Ottoman palace, for he had been "clipped" or "completely sheared" to make of him the "ultimate slave" for the supreme ruler.[137] In the Ottoman court, white eunuchs, who were mostly brought from castration centers in Christian Europe and Circassia, were responsible for much of the palace administration, while black eunuchs, who had undergone a double-castration, were the only male slaves employed in the royal harem.[138]
The chief black eunuch, or the
Nineteenth-century travelers' accounts tell of being served by black eunuch slaves.[140] The trade was suppressed in the Ottoman Empire beginning in the mid-19th century, and slavery was legally abolished in 1887 or 1888.[141] Late 19th-century slaves in Palestine included enslaved Africans and the sold daughters of poor Palestinian peasants.[141] Circassians and Abazins from North of the Black Sea may also have been involved in the Ottoman slave trade.[142]
Non-Islamic equivalents
African royal polygamy
In Africa south of the Sahara, many non-Muslim
The
Usually, African royal polygamy does not expect wives to be secluded from men or to be prevented from moving outside the harem. Where this is not the case, and the royal wives do live in the harems in isolation, they tend to have a ritual significance in their kingdoms' traditions.The wives of the
Aztec Empire
In
Cambodia
There is no support for a harem in Buddhist writings. Nevertheless, harems have been common for Buddhist royal rulers. Normally, the royal Buddhist harems of South East Asia were not as strict as Muslim harems, allowing women some limited freedom outside the harem, but the royal harem of Cambodia was particularly severe, and secluded women for fear they would be unfaithful.[147]
The
When Cambodia became a French colony, the French colonial officials viewed the abolition of the royal harem and an emancipation of harem women as a part of modernization, as well as a way of cutting the costs of the royal court.[148] After the death of king Norodom in April 1904, the French officials took control of the royal finances, reviewed the allowances of each person in the royal palace, and reduced the number of women that the king could support, in effect, dissolving the harem.[148] King Sisowath (r. 1904–1927) did keep some of the No kang chao (concubines) he had prior to his accession, but no more were added, and the custom of giving daughters as tribute to the royal harem had waned by 1913; after this, the palace women, at least officially, were servants; they also staffed the royal ballet corps.[148]
India
The harem likely existed in Hindu India before the Islamic conquest; it is mentioned in the ancient stories of the Buddha. However, it appears to have become more common and strict after the Islamic conquests.
After the Islamic conquest of India and the loss of Hindu rulership, gender segregation and seclusion of women practiced by the Muslim conquerors was adopted by Hindus in India, where it became known as purdah.[150] The whole society became more gender segregated after the Muslim conquests. In Bengal, for example, where men and women had previously worked together reaping, men started to do the reaping alone and women were relegated to the more domestic task of husking.[150] Male Hindu rulers commonly had harems as well as Muslim rulers in India from the Middle Ages until the 20th-century. One of the reasons why upper-class Hindu men started to seclude women in harems after the Muslim conquest was due to the practice of the Muslim conquerors putting the wives of defeated Hindus into their harems. Disruption of the Hindu social system followed from the mixing of Hindus and Muslims.[150] The seclusion of Hindu women was thus a way to preserve the cast system.[150]
Imperial China
Harem is also the usual English translation of the Chinese language term hougong (hou-kung;
The women who lived in an emperor's hougong sometimes numbered in the thousands.
Muscovite Terem
In
Western representations
A distinct, imaginary vision of the harem emerged in the West starting from the 17th century when Europeans became aware of Muslim harems housing numerous women. In contrast to the medieval European views that conceived Muslim women as victimized but powerful through their charms and deceit, during the era of European colonialism, the "imaginary harem" came to represent what Orientalist scholars saw as an abased and subjugated status of women in the Islamic civilization. These notions served to cast the West as culturally superior and justify colonial enterprises.[4] Under the influence of One Thousand and One Nights, the harem was often conceived as a personal brothel, where numerous women lounged in suggestive poses, directing their strong but oppressed sexuality toward a single man in a form of "competitive lust".[3][4]
A centuries-old theme in Western culture is the depiction of European women being forcibly taken into Oriental harems. Some examples are the
In Voltaire's Candide, an old woman relates her experiences of being sold into harems across the Ottoman Empire.
Much of Verdi's opera Il corsaro takes place in the harem of the Pasha Seid, where Gulnara, the Pasha's favorite, chafes in captivity, longing for freedom and true love. She eventually falls in love with the dashing corsair Corrado and kills the Pasha to escape with the him—only to discover that he loves another woman.
The 1919 novel
Angelique and the Sultan, part of the Angélique historical novel series by Anne and Serge Golon, later made into a film, has the theme of a 17th-century French noblewoman captured by pirates and taken into the harem of the King of Morocco, where she stabs the King with his own dagger when he tries to have sex with her and stages a daring escape.
The Russian writer Leonid Solovyov an adapted the Middle Eastern and Central Asian folktales of Nasreddin into his book Возмутитель спокойствия (translated as "The Beggar in the Harem: Impudent Adventures in Old Bukhara", or6as , and "The Tale of Hodja Nasreddin: Disturber of the Peace", 2009[160] about hero Nasreddin's beloved being taken into the harem of the Emir of Bukhara and his efforts to extract her from there, (a theme completely absent from the original folktales.)
In
Science Fiction writer
Image gallery
Many Western artists have depicted their imaginary conceptions of the harem.
-
The Pasha in His Harem by Francois Boucher c.1735-1739
-
Scene from the Harem,Jean-Baptiste van Mour
-
Scene in a Harem, by Francesco Guardi
-
The Dormitory of the Concubines, by Ignace Melling, 1811.
-
Harem scene, Odalisque with Slave, byDominique Ingres
-
The Reception, John Frederick Lewis, 1805–1875
-
Scene from the Harem by Fernand Cormon, c. 1877
-
Harem Scene,Quintana Olleras, 1851–1919
-
Belle of Nelson, whiskey poster (1878), based on a harem scene by Jean-Léon Gérôme.
-
In the harem, Lehnert & Landrock postcard, 1900s-1910s
-
The Virgin of Stamboul, 1920 film poster
Modern day harems
Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei is alleged to have kept a harem of up to 25 women for several years, which included the writer Jillian Lauren, who published Some Girls: My Life in a Harem about her experiences.[164][165]
Saudi
See also
People
Places
- Arcadia (utopia)
- Gynaeceum
- Turkish bath(hammam)
- Ōoku
- Seraglio
- Zenana
Other
- Culture of the Ottoman Empire
- Harem (genre)
- Hypergamy
- Imperial Chinese harem system
- Ottoman Imperial Harem
- Islamic views on concubinage
- Kippumjo
- Mughal Harem
- History of concubinage in the Muslim world
- Women-only space
Bibliography
Citations
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{{cite book}}
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- Doumato, Eleanor Abdella (2009). "Seclusion". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021.
- Duben, Alan; Behar, Cem (2002). Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880–1940. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521523035.
- Fay, Mary Ann (2012). Unveiling the Harem: Elite Women and the Paradox of Seclusion in Eighteenth-Century Cairo. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815651703.
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Further reading
- İlhan Akşit. The Mystery of the Ottoman Harem. Akşit Kültür Turizm Yayınları. ISBN 975-7039-26-8
- Abbeville Pressin 1989).
- ISBN 978-0-7892-1206-1
- Alan Duben, Cem Behar, Richard Smith (Series editor), Jan De Vries (Series editor), Paul Johnson (Series editor), Keith Wrightson (Series editor). Istanbul Households: Marriage, Family and Fertility, 1880–1940, new ed. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-52303-6
- John Freely. Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul: The Sultan's Harem, new ed. Penguin (Non-Classics), 2001. ISBN 0-14-027056-6
- ISBN 978-5-906842-39-8
- ISBN 978-81-85179-03-2.
- Reina Lewis. Rethinking Orientalism: Women, Travel, And The Ottoman Harem. Rutgers University Press, 2004 ISBN 9780813535432
- Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood. Perseus, 1994
- ISBN 0-19-508677-5.
- ISBN 0-486-44004-4(reissue of: The Harēm: An Account of the Institution as it Existed in the Palace of the Turkish Sultans with a History of the Grand Seraglio from its Foundation to the Present Time; 1936)
- M. Saalih. Harem Girl: A Harem Girl's Journal reprint ed. Delta, 2002. ISBN 0-595-31300-0(erotic novel)
- Royal French Women in the Ottoman Sultans' Harem: The Political Uses of Fabricated Accounts from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century