Where did the Sultan's concubines live (photo)

The history of the eastern countries is fascinating. Particular attention is paid to the harems that existed on the territory of the East. We invite you to get acquainted with how and where the concubines of the Sultan lived.

Where did the concubines live?

Women belonging to the Sultan lived in a harem. By and large, a harem is a house or a palace, where in addition to women, the sultan himself lived, attendants, eunuchs. Each woman who was brought to the harem had its own room.

Interesting!

A number of sources have information about harem girls who have never left the walls of a house. This is actually not the case. They moved freely around the city, however, accompanied by guards.

Of particular interest is the palace of Suleiman, in which, according to eyewitnesses, many women of Slavic appearance lived. Most often they were brought from the North Caucasus. What conditions did Suleiman create for his concubines? It was a huge palace in Istanbul.

In addition to the separate rooms reserved for each woman, there was also a common room for concubines. There were lockers near the windows, and there was also one huge bed where the girls could spend time together in conversations.

There was also a general refectory in the harem, where all the concubines ate together. The harem corridors were quite wide, elegantly arranged, regardless of where they led. On the territory of the harem there were also rooms of eunuchs, located at a distance from the rooms of the concubines.

Not all women in the harem became concubines. It also happened that a woman was not chosen by the Sultan, since she was not interested in him.

Such girls were transferred to another harem, they simply became servants. Some might have been looking after the harem, but it was a great honor for the woman.

Sometimes the concubine had the right to only one night, and it was on that night that she was supposed to become pregnant. If she managed to do this, then she was transferred to two-room chambers. In these chambers, she could not be alone, but with another woman.

If we go into the bathroom, then you can see the deep and shallow baths, where the concubines washed in turn. There was also a general boorish house where women could take a steam bath, put their body in order, and later, in the late afternoon, everyone applied makeup in the hope that today the sultan would choose it on her.

The room of the favorite was different in decoration. It was well equipped. There was everything necessary for a woman. And the bed on which the girl slept was different from those trestle beds where the concubines spent their time awaiting the attention of the Sultan. The main favorite had her own reception room, where she could meet guests, of course, only women.

Of course, everyone knows oriental hospitality. Each harem had several guest rooms, absolutely similar to each other, but differing only in the color of the stained-glass windows.

Almost every room in the harem had a balcony where women could go out and look at what was happening in the courtyard of the palace.

But not all concubines liked the fact that they had to be more slaves. Such concubines were punished and placed in places fenced in bars. Rumor has it that those who were objectionable to the Sultan were sewn into a sack and drowned in the river.

Many will say that the life of the concubines is secured and beautiful. For the most part, this is exactly so. But the woman who fell into the harem hardly had the opportunity to break out of it. Although such cases when the sultan let go of the concubine are also known to history.