– What was sex like in Prehistory?
– What was sex like in antiquity? – How was sex in the Modern Age?
It wasn’t a crazy orgy as some people think. On the contrary, the thing was so organized that there was even a scale to choose the woman who would spend the night with the owner of the harem. There was also a hierarchy, dividing women into slaves, mistresses and official wives. Nowadays, despite a certain taboo on the subject, harem-like schemes still operate in more conservative regions of Arab countries. Nothing, however, compares to what happened at the Topkapi Palace between the 16th and 17th centuries. Located in the current city of Istanbul, Turkey, the palace, which was the seat of the Ottoman Empire, housed the most famous harem in the world, which arrived counting up to a thousand women! Most of them arrived there as prisoners of war, traded slaves and even as gifts from other leaders to the powerful Ottoman sultan. Today, the hundreds of rooms in this historic harem are open to visitors. Understand how the whole thing worked. 🙂
MOTHER-IN-LAW’S HOUSE
The most powerful woman was neither a wife nor an odalisque, but the sultan’s mother.
THE OTHERS
They attracted less attention than the «favorite» wife, but three other women also earned the right to be the sultan’s wife. This status guaranteed such luxuries as private rooms and eunuchs for each of them.
WOW, MANO!
Since they could have their eyes on the throne, the sultan’s brothers lived in a secluded room, overlooking the harem but without access to the women’s household. On the other hand, some guests of the sultan could receive the honor of receiving an odalisque as a gift.
FIRST JOB
The odalisques occupied the lowest hierarchical position among the sultan’s women and also had to do domestic services, such as cleaning. Those who stood out the most could be “promoted” to mistresses (concubines)
OFFICIAL LOVERS
The concubines were the most beautiful and educated slaves, who sang and danced for the sultan. In general, they were entitled to only one night of lovemaking with him. But, if they got pregnant, they became regular lovers – supposedly because they were more fertile to generate heirs.
WELL, BALLS
To prevent a woman from bearing a child that was not the sultan’s, palace officials were castrated and said goodbye to their testicles. There were both black and white eunuchs. These, usually captured in Europe, assumed administrative functions.
TOTAL LOSS
Black eunuchs were African slaves who took care of women’s safety. Living close to them cost them the removal not only of the testicles but also of the penis! It was the head of the black eunuchs who led the mistresses to the sultan’s chambers.
ALL POWERFUL SULTAN
During the day, preoccupied with leading the empire, the sultan had almost no contact with all the women at his disposal. Sex even only on the nights of love and with one woman at a time – no calling several odalisques for a party…
HOUSEHOLDER
The real owner of the piece was the sultan’s mother. In addition to participating in the administration of the palace as an adviser, she selected the candidates to join the harem and chose the girls who would be entitled to a night of love with her son, in the imperial suite.
THE FAVORITE
Among the official wives, there was the “favorite”, who was the second most powerful woman in the harem. Her big dream was to see her son assume the throne when the sultan died. But there was always the risk that the sultan would appoint a son by another wife as heir.