Ottoman Imperial Harem
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The Ottoman Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants, female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion of the Ot
A cariye or imperial concubine.
The Courtyard of the Favourites in the harem of Topkapı Palace
Chief Black Eunuch of the Ottoman court; Photo, 1912.
The Courtyard of the Eunuchs in Topkapı Palace
Cariye
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Cariye was a title and term used for a category of enslaved women concubines in the Islamic world of the Middle East. They are particularly known in history from the era of Ottoman Empire, where they
Ottoman Imperial Harem
…the Sultan and the dynastic family on special occasions, recruited within the empire, or procured through the Crimean slave trade to become imperial cariyes (ladies-in-waiting and concubines). The number of female slaves within the harem varied over time, and the harem itself was regularly renewed, as a…
"Great Odalisque"
A Reclining Odalisque, painted by Gustave Léonard de Jonghe, c. 1870
Slavery