Harem

The word harem is strictly applicable to Muslim households only, but the system was common, more or less, to most ancient oriental communities, especially where polygamy was permitted.

The imperial harem of the Ottoman sultan, which was also called seraglio in the West, typically housed several dozen women, including wives. It also housed the Sultan's mother, daughters and other female relatives, as well as eunuchs and slave servant girls to serve the aforementioned women. During the later periods, the sons of the Sultan also lived in the Harem until they were 16 years old, when it was considered appropriate for them to appear in the public and administrative areas of the palace. The Topkapi Harem was, in some senses, merely the private living quarters of the Sultan and his family, within the palace complex. Some women of Ottoman harem, especially wives, mothers and sisters of sultans played very important political roles in Ottoman history, and in times it was said that the empire was ruled from harem. Hürrem Sultan (wife of Suleiman, mother of Selim II) and kösen Sultan (mother of Murad IV.) were the two most powerful women in Ottoman history.

In the Ottoman period prior to Atatürk's Reform, "harem", more properly haremlik, meant simply the private or family area of a typical upper-class household, as opposed to the public or reception rooms known as the selamlik.

Sultan Ibrahim the Mad, Ottoman ruler from 1640 to 1648, is said to have drowned 280 concubines of his harem in the Bosphorus.At least one of his concubines, Turhan Hatice, a Ukrainian girl who was captured during one of the raids by tatars and sold into slavery, survived his reign.

By:Greta Palinkas