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Emperor1956 -> RE: Met my ONE...girl must leave now. (8/11/2006 3:36:02 PM)
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(OK, this is a hijack, but a hijack of an already silly thread. If hijacks offend you, skip this. but hey....you COULD learn something. Or not).
The image of the harem is enchanting, and even more so to those of us who enjoy the D/s life. But Chantrea, I think your numbers on harem residents are a bit off, and that piece you quote that you found on the Web is entirely fantasy. It is, if you read carefully, a college class project on Jane Eyre and the images of the harem are fictionalized first by Bronte, then the students. It has no semblance of reality.
The women residents of harems in Oriental/Islamic culture numbered in the hundreds, not the thousands. And ALL women in the royal enclave were residents of the harem -- women were not allowed to roam freely in these cultures, and therefore every woman from scullery wench to Queen was confined to the seraglio. (This didn't apply to the 90% of common people who were just trying to eke out a living, by the way.)
Harems were complex social systems with diplomatic qualities. For instance, in Japan, Korea and China, when there was an unmarried but eligible prince on hand (beginning at about age two), high born families, families of prominence or pretensions to prominence, and regional politicians all sent their young, eligible daughters to the harem in hopes that their daughter might be selected for a higher position, and bring wealth and status on the families. This meant, of course, that young women became both objects of barter and diplomatic hostages -- what father would jeopardize his daughter's life, or his social standing, with a plot against the ruling family, or other entrenched power groups, when the girl was in the hands of the potential enemies?
When the prince chose a consort...or several...the "disappointed" young women had lived for a few years in the capital city, been exposed to refinement, and made good catches for the prominent men of their home districts. In rare instances, well born men of the capital city were able to "capture" these girls through arranged marriages. (You can't really say these women "met" their husbands -- often a bride's first official glimpse of her betrothed was on her wedding day. If you read the extensive "harem literature" that women have left behind, there was a lot of peeking in at men doing business, relaxing, and especially in the public (male only ) baths.)
If you are seriously interested in harem life as it was, miss, ignore the fantasies you find on the Web and do some reading. The real action is the Ottoman or Turkish empire, and as much as I love my Japanese feudal culture, there just isn't much accessible in English to read. I'd suggest these books: First, at a minimum, John Freely's Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul, a definitive study of the end of Turkish feudalism (Ahmet III). Then Penzer's definitive study of the same period (although it is really heavy on architecture and decorative arts) The Harem: Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans.
Then, for pure fun if not fact, and to get an Oriental flair, every girl should read the charming narrative of the real "Anna" in "The King and I" ( I read it to my daughter many years ago): "The English Governess at the Siamese Court being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at Bangkok" by Anna Harriette Leonowens. Published in 1870, it remains a charming and naive account of a proper Victorian lady's encounter with "noble savages". There are extensive chapters on the harem, the role of slaves, servants, serving girls, odalisques and princes. The Thai people HATE this book, by the way. It was banned, as was every Hollywood version of "The King and I" including the recent 1999 version.
Finally, if you are truly into harem life (and who wouldn't be, hmmmm?), there are any number of "true life" accounts of Englishmen and women visiting "the Levantine", beginning in about 1700 and going into the early 20th Century (there were "harems" of sorts in Morocco pre WWI). If you want more info, look it up or contact me for references.
Now the Pasha wants to recline on his pink stuffed silk pillows and watch the newest Nubian girl dance! Servants (CLAP CLAP) more mint tea! And sweetmeats! Let the revels begin (again)!
E.
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