Everyone probably saw the famous photo with an ugly, fat woman, supposedly the beloved wife of the Sultan, and many had the opinion that all the women there were like that, if this one was the beloved. And that's a lie. A harem is a variety of faces, bodies and images. However, see for yourself

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This is the same photo that formed the opinion of many about harems. Now let's see if this is really true

These photos are circulating on the Internet with the caption "Harem". In fact, these are photographs of male actors of the first state theater created by order of Shah Nasereddin (a great lover of European culture) at the Dar el-Funun Polytechnic School in 1890, who performed satirical plays only for the palace nobility. The organizer of this theater was Mirza Ali Akbar Khan Naggashbashi, who is considered one of the founders of modern Iranian theater. Since women were prohibited from performing on stage, these roles were performed by men. The first women appeared on stage in Iran in 1917.

And here are real photos of women from the harems of the sultans of different periods. Ottoman odalisque, 1890

There are few photographs, because, firstly, men were prohibited from entering harems, and, secondly, photography was just beginning its development, but some photographs, paintings and other evidence have been preserved that only the most beautiful were selected for harems representatives of different nations.

Women in a harem, 1912

Woman in a harem with a hookah, Türkiye, 1916

Women from the harem going for a walk. Photo from the Museum of Peru (Istanbul)

Concubine, 1875

Gwashemasha Kadin Efendi, wife of Sultan Abdul Hamid II

Her mother, Geverin Nedak Seteney, together with her sister, was kidnapped by Turkish slave traders around 1865 in Circassia, shortly before devastated by Russian troops, and sold into slavery in the harem of Sultan Abdul Aziz I. On the way to Istanbul, Geverin's sister, not wanting to be slave, threw herself overboard and drowned.

Circassian women were especially popular in harems for their beauty and grace.

Painting by the French orientalist artist Jean-Leon Gerome "Circassian woman under a veil", painted by him during a trip to Istanbul in 1875-76. The painting supposedly depicts Nedak Setenei, the mother of Gwashemash.

Gulfem Hatun (Ottoman: گلفام خاتون, Turkish: Gülfem Hatun) - second concubine of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman, mother of Shehzade Murad, Circassian

A very young Circassian woman in the Sultan’s harem

Khyurem Sultan, the same Roksolana (1502-1558) was his concubine-favorite, and then the main and legal wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent

Princess Durru Shewar (1914 - 2006) Princess of Berar and Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire, wife of Azam Yah, eldest son of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad

And look not at children and members of the royal family. What a beauty! Durrüşehvar Sultan, daughter of the last caliph Abdulmecid Efendi and grandson of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz

Princess Begum Sahiba Nilufer Khanum Sultana Farhat

Nazime Sultan and Caliph Abdulmecid Sultan

Ayse Sultan (Osmanoglu) II. She is the daughter of Abdulhamit

Dürrüşehvar Sultan with his father and husband. 1931

And here are photos of real Turkish women (period 1850-1920). Not in a harem, however, but the Turks clearly had someone to choose from for a wife

It is difficult to say when the first harems appeared. In ancient times, men hunted and fought inter-tribal wars, and therefore put their lives in danger. Polygamous relationships saved the tribe from extinction. In the first cells of human society, birth played an important role as soon as possible. more children, especially sons, and therefore men sought to have a huge family. The first harem, discovered by archaeologists during excavations of the Chaldean palace in Tello, was allegedly built at the beginning of the third millennium BC.
It's no secret that in some countries harems are still preserved. More than forty percent of women living in Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo are in polygamous marriages. In Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, such women range from twenty to forty percent. Polygamous marriages are also common in Algeria, Burundi, Egypt, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Syria and Madagascar. It must be said that in the harems of rich sultans, sheikhs and others powerful of the world This is not always the case for local beauties. Among their concubines there are also Europeans - and not only striptease dancers and prostitutes, but also fashion models, beauty pageant winners and even actresses. Some of them end up in the harem of their own free will. Someone is being held there by force.
Some concubines enter into contracts for a certain period and return home, having significantly increased their wealth. It is not surprising that ladies of easy virtue are seduced by easy money and strive to get into harems. But it's not that simple. In the Arab world, people involved in the selection of concubines are called mashate - matchmaker. Naturally, their business is illegal, so it is almost impossible for an outsider to contact the mashate. They usually find girls in nightclubs. Everyone who wants to get into the harem has to go through a series of tests, very specific and difficult. To begin with, potential concubines donate blood for AIDS and undergo a full medical examination. Then the girls undergo hair removal. Hair on female body It shouldn’t be, even barely noticeable hairs are removed from the arms and back. The hair removal product should be natural so that your body smells like milk and honey. A special mixture of sugar and proteins is applied to the skin, a linen napkin is placed on top, and after a minute it is torn off. The procedure is very painful. And the secret of the test is how the woman reacts to hair removal. It is believed that if the future odalisque screams little and quietly, then in bed she is cold and impassive. The next test is sexuality. The examiners are usually two relatives of the mashate. Before intimacy, they take a decoction of special herbs, which acts like a sedative. Many harem owners actually use such herbs instead of wine. Girls should be able to seduce them no matter what. In addition, mashate constantly monitors the behavior of future concubines, provoking quarrels. A woman in a harem must be able to extinguish conflicts, be non-scandalous, and silent. Those who end up in a harem receive a reward from a generous owner, who signs a contract with the chosen ones. The world's largest active harem belongs to the pirate Ben Bela, who robs ships in the South China Sea near Malaysia. About nine hundred captives are kept there. Next comes the Sultan of Brunei, one of the richest men in the world - he has seven hundred concubines in his harem. He never had sexual intercourse with some of them - they only had to dance and sing for him. One of these concubines was Shannon McKetick, winner of the Miss USA 1992 title. She spent three months in the Sultan's harem. After completing the contract and returning home, Shannon sued the Sultan for using her as a prostitute. Subsequently, however, it turned out that during the time she spent in the harem, neither the Sultan nor his younger brothers or the sons did not touch the American woman. In addition, at the end of the contract, Miss McKetik received one hundred thousand dollars and a diamond necklace as a gift. Saddam Hussein's harem contained about five hundred girls of the most different ages and nationalities. In 1993, drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot and killed in Colombia. His harem was a whole town with pavilions, walking parks and artificial ponds where swans swam. About four hundred concubines lived there. The fate of the women of the harem after the death of the owner is unenviable - accustomed to luxury, they are often sold to brothels, and many even commit suicide. In 2000, seventy-year-old Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad died. About forty young concubines, at the request of the new leader of the country, were forced to leave Syria within twenty-four hours, without taking any of their personal belongings and jewelry with them. The German newspaper Bild wrote that among the women there were Germans, Swedes and French - and not a single Arab girl. And thirty-four concubines of the Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha, who died of a heart attack from an overdose of Viagra, were allowed to leave the country on the condition that each pay 15 thousand dollars. Any of them could well have done this, since the general was generous with them. All the women flew to London and opened the Heart of the Jungle club there. The older ones work there as a cook, while the younger ones dance striptease. Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Swaziland, also has his own harem. Which of the wives will be called the “great wife” is decided by the royal family. Her son becomes heir to the throne. The king has about ten wives, but according to tradition, those who have not yet given birth to the king's child are called official brides, not queens. The first two wives of the King of Swaziland are chosen for him by the consuls. These wives play a special role in the rituals, and their sons cannot claim the throne. The king can only marry his brides if they become pregnant and prove that they are capable of producing heirs for him. Once a year, tens of thousands of half-naked women dance in front of the king in the hope of becoming one of his wives - in order to get into the harem and conclude a lucrative contract. However, despite all the delights of polygamous life and centuries-old traditions romantic love sometimes it wins. King Mohammed VI of Morocco ascended the throne after the death of his father Hassan II and immediately dissolved his harem of 132 concubines and two wives, allocating a decent amount of maintenance to each of them.
Previously, the inhabitants of the royal harem were not allowed to go out into the world, their photographs were not supposed to appear in the press, and even wedding ceremonies were exclusively internal matter royal court. But when new king met twenty-four-year-old programmer Salma Bennani, photographs of the future queen of Morocco appeared in the press, and gradually she became known throughout the country. And if a year earlier Mohammed said in an interview that there would be no queen in Morocco, now it seems that he has changed his mind. And for now it looks like the harems are still around...

The other day, news spread around the world: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has revived the tradition of his grandfather and father and started his own harem, the “Garden of Delights.” The harem seems to the European to be a sort of abode of young and beautiful women from Arabian fairy tales "1000 and one nights". Meanwhile, interesting photos of the harem of Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar, who ruled Iran at the end of the 19th century, destroy existing stereotypes. In our review you can see the beauties of the Iranian ruler's harem with your own eyes.

Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar, the fourth Shah of Iran, gained power in 1848 and ruled for 47 years. His reign was the longest in Iran's 3,000-year history.

Historians say about Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar that for his time he was well educated and was known as a sybarite, so much so that he subsequently displeased his associates.

One of Shah Qajar's many passions was photography. He liked photography as a child, and when he came to power, he decided to create the first official photo studio in his palace. In the 1870s, Russian photographer Anton Sevryugin opened his studio in Tehran, who became the court photographer of the Iranian ruler. Sevryugin created a photo chronicle of Iran and was awarded an honorary title for his services.

A Russian photographer could photograph the Shah himself, his male relatives, courtiers and servants. And Qajar, an ardent admirer of photography, reserved the right to photograph his harem, in which, according to historians, he had about 100 concubines.

It is known that Nasser ed-Din Shah printed the photographs himself in the palace laboratory and kept them in satin albums in his Golestan Palace, where the museum is currently located.

The extraordinary nature of the photographs of his concubines lies in the fact that according to Shiite laws at that time it was prohibited to photograph people’s faces, and especially the faces of women. And only the most powerful man in the country could afford to break the law.

Looking at the photos of the ladies from the harem, you understand that they look quite modern for their time. Women are confident in front of the camera, calm, not timid or flirtatious.

Photographs of women challenge the generally accepted idea of ​​life in a harem - the Shah's wives look quite modern for that time and self-confident, they calmly look into the camera lens, without flirting or shyness.

One can even assume that the wives in the harem had friendly relations - some photographs show groups on a picnic.

From the photographs one can judge the tastes of the Iranian monarch - all women in the body, with fused thick eyebrows and a clearly visible mustache. It is clearly seen that the women did not suffer from hunger and were not burdened with physical work. Experts say that Golestan’s collection even contains nude photos, but they are safely hidden.

We have all seen films about sultans and emirs who had their own harems. And, for sure, most men at least sometimes dreamed of acquiring their own collection of sweet and beautiful wives.

But don’t rush to envy the sultans - it’s not just that all concubines used to wear burqas. And it must be said that such a situation in the harems of the last century was not only among Arabs, but also among Asians.

However, men used to have a strange idea about female beauty. And never believe movies - they lie a lot. :)

The Iranian Shah Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar, who ascended the throne in 1848 and ruled the country for the next 47 years, was a very educated man for his time and a great connoisseur of art. At the invitation of the Russian Emperor Alexander II, in 1873 the Shah visited St. Petersburg, where for the first time in his life he saw ballet.

Upon returning home, Qajar ordered all his concubines, and there were about 100 of them, to sew skirts similar to those worn by ballerinas. What the women from the harem of the Iranian ruler, who had a very extraordinary taste, looked like will be shown in photographs taken by Qajar himself or his court Russian photographer Anton Sevryugin.

According to historians, Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar was very well educated for his time and was known as a sybarite. One of Shah Qajar's many passions was photography. When he came to power, he decided to create the first official photo studio in his palace.
In the 1870s, Russian photographer Anton Sevryugin opened his own studio in Tehran, and later became the court photographer of the Iranian ruler. Sevryugin created a photo chronicle of Iran and was awarded an honorary title for his services.

The Russian photographer was allowed to photograph the Shah himself, his male relatives, courtiers and servants. And Qajar, an ardent admirer of photography, reserved the right to photograph his harem, in which, according to historians, he had about 100 concubines.
According to Shiite law, it was not permissible at that time to photograph people’s faces, much less the faces of women. And only the most powerful man in the country could afford to break the law.

Completeness in those years was held in high esteem.

Women were fed heavily and had limited physical activity.

On the right is the Shah's beloved wife, Anis al-Doleh.

The incomparable Anis al-Doleh (sitting).

The concubines were often given picnics.

It is known that in 1873 Nasser ed-Din Shah, at the invitation of Alexander II, visited St. Petersburg and attended the ballet. According to legend, he was so fascinated by Russian dancers that he introduced full skirts like tutus for his women.

The skirts of Western ballerinas looked very unique on the residents of the harem.

Anis al-Doleh.

Fused eyebrows were also fashionable among Iranian beauties.

According to Shiite laws, it is forbidden to photograph the faces of people and especially women, but the Shah allowed himself everything

And here is Shah Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar himself.

Shah is preparing for photography.

The main entrance of the Gulistan Palace.

Nasser ad-Din Shah Qajar with some women from the harem.

I can say one thing: in these photographs we see the wives of the Shah,” Boris Vasilyevich Dolgov, candidate of historical sciences, senior researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told KP.

These are not men or hermaphrodites, as many thought when they saw these photos. It cannot be said that there were no such inhabitants in the harem. But these were isolated rare cases that were kept secret, since the Koran, like other religions, prohibits such things. Whether these women are beautiful or not, what difference does it make? There are no comrades for taste and color, as they say. I also don’t see anything surprising in the facial hair of the harem concubines. Small mustaches are characteristic of oriental women. If women deliberately drew on their mustaches, then the owner of this harem simply liked such ladies. I haven't heard of this fashion in other harems.

But fused eyebrows can safely be called an element of fashion of that time. As for the plumpness of the inhabitants of the harem, in the 18th and 19th centuries there were a lot of well-fed women. Moreover, plumpness was considered a sign of beauty. The women were specially fed tightly and were practically not allowed to move so that they would become as plump as the ladies in these photographs.

From the photographs one can judge the tastes of the Iranian monarch - all women are in the body, with fused thick eyebrows and a clearly visible mustache. This once again proves that beauty is a subjective concept, and the criteria for attractiveness differ radically in different countries and at different times.

Cute naughty girls

In many photographs, the harem concubines are depicted in short full skirts like a ballet tutu.

Historians also say that the Shah’s photo collection also contains nude shots, but they are safely hidden. Although, I don’t think anyone would want to see them - Kajar had a very specific concept of female beauty.

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Bukhara. Emir of Bukhara Said Alim Khan (1880-1944)

The main house of the emir, where his wives and concubines lived. The wives lived on the first floor of the house, and the concubines on the second

The sad story of the last one emir Bukhara

China

For them, a harem is a space of absolute sexual freedom, complete power of a man over a woman, dark men in exotic outfits and luxurious ladies without them. But was it really so, or did we have to make a fair amount of speculation under the impression of the exotic? Let's compare with a real photo?

The East permeates our lives, we know almost everything about it, but for a European of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, the Middle East was an almost unknown, but very alluring place. By this time, the once powerful Ottoman Empire had entered a period of decline. Over the next two hundred years, the empire lost almost all previously captured territories, shrinking to modern Turkey. And as you know, the decline of any empire is characterized by an atmosphere of luxury and hedonism.

And rumors about the splendor of the Sultan’s court spread in all directions, reaching Europe, where industrialization, ugly and depersonalizing, was gaining momentum at that time. People of art suffocated in a mechanistic atmosphere and found a way out by traveling towards the unexplored world of the East. European scientists, artists, writers flocked there in search of inspiration, new impressions and simply adventure.

This research and the works of art born in its process were subsequently called “Orientalism.” The period of Orientalism lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, ending with a grandiose surge in fashion for everything oriental.
Everyone who was even slightly interested in the East has seen paintings by Orientalist artists. Jean-Leon Jerome, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and their contemporaries largely determined the global idea of ​​what the East looks like. Their paintings are full of bright light, dark men in exotic outfits and luxurious women without exotic outfits. Writers did not lag behind; the opinion of Europeans about eastern morals and customs is based on the works of Montesquieu, Hauff, Flaubert and Wilde.

Orientalists were generally people raised in strict European Christianity. Faced with new customs, they perceived and presented them in their own way, sometimes even deliberately distorting or speculating. When they returned from their travels, their stories formed myths and attracted new “explorers” to the east. It can be assumed that their stories about life in the Ottoman Empire became the source of the idea that exists in the West of the harem as a place where the countless, certainly beautiful, concubines of the Sultan were kept, and where the main man of the Ottoman Empire indulged in endless amusements.

In reality, of course, none of the Western travelers had the chance to observe those scenes that they later painted so vividly with pen and brush. But they probably found their way to the hot spots of Cairo and Istanbul, communicated with dancers, no less exotic for them, but easily accessible.

They also went to the bathhouse. The Turkish bath - hammam - has survived to this day practically unchanged, with one important exception. During the Orientalist era, clients in Turkish baths were served by cute boys. They not only soaped and massaged visitors, but also openly offered intimate services. The European could not help but be shocked by this custom.

In addition, when visiting the houses of the nobility, or even the Sultan’s palace, European travelers could not help but notice that a significant part of the premises was closed to outsiders, and especially to men. “If such wonderful lewdness is happening in the city and in the bathhouse, how much more debauchery must be hidden in the imperial harem,” they thought. Fantastic stories filled their heads and poured out onto canvases, and the same street dancers acted as models. And the models were not always of indigenous nationality. They could have been Irish, Romanian, and Algerian Jewish women posed for Delacroix, for example.

Only at the end of the 19th century, with the final weakening of the sultanate and the growth of liberal and educational sentiments in Turkey, information about the internal structure of the harem became available to the general public, but the beautiful tales of the Orientalists to this day remain the basis of Western people’s idea of ​​the harem.

But what actually happened in the closed chambers of the Sultan’s palaces? The word harem comes from the old Semitic root "h-r-m". In modern Arabic There are three main derivatives from this root: haram - “sacred place or thing” (compare with the Russian word “temple”), kharaam - “something forbidden by religion, unworthy, taboo” and hareem - “inviolability privacy" The familiar word “harem” comes from the Turkish version of the last word.

The Ottomans took the protection of their privacy seriously. For example, the harem of the Topkapi Palace is built in such a way that it is almost impossible to see, neither from the Palace premises, nor even more so from outside the palace. In a similar way, other noble people of the empire sought to protect their harems. As the chronicler Tursun Bey wrote in the 15th century, “If the sun had not had a feminine gender in the Persian language, even it would not have been allowed into the harem.”

But in fact, the harem of the Turkish Sultan was, first of all, just a private residence of the monarch, closed from outsiders. In addition to the wives and concubines of the Sultan, other members of the ruling family also lived in the closed chambers: sisters, sometimes brothers of the Sultan, his daughters, sons until they reached adulthood, as well as their numerous servants. The role of the harem is also important as a school that provided its “listeners” with the best education that a woman could receive in the East. The harem in the form in which it existed in the Ottoman Empire is not at all prescribed by the Koran, but is a development of ancient Turkish traditions, taking into account Islam. The Sultan's harem was replenished by captives captured in the war or slaves bought at the market. The peoples of many peoples subject to the Turks could voluntarily send beauties to the harem as tribute. At the end of the XIX-XX centuries. poetess Leila Saz, who came from a noble Turkish family, said in her memoirs: “Some Circassian women specifically raised their daughters in luxury and wealth in order to prepare them for future life in the harem of the padishah.”

Usually the age of young slaves was 12-14 years. They were selected not only for their beauty and health, but also for their intelligence: “fools” were not taken, because the Sultan needed not just a woman, but also an interlocutor. Those who entered the harem underwent two-year training under the guidance of kalfa (from the Turkish kalfa - “chief”) - old, experienced slaves who remembered the grandfathers of the reigning sultans. The girls were taught the Koran (everyone who ended up in the harem accepted Islam), dancing, playing musical instruments, and fine literature (many odalisques wrote good poems), calligraphy, conversational arts and handicrafts. It is especially worth mentioning about court etiquette: every slave had to know how to pour rose water for her master, how to bring him shoes, serve coffee or sweets, fill a pipe or put on a robe.”
So the Western travelers were right about one thing - they really were gathered in the Sultan’s palace best women empires. True, only a few of the inhabitants of the harem at least once saw the Sultan. Most were simply odalisque slaves (from the Turkish “odalik” - “maid”) and were at the very bottom of the harem hierarchy, in the service of other inmates. Only if a girl stood out for her special beauty or other talents did she have a chance to rise higher. Others performed various household roles, and after a few years in the harem, those who did not receive any post were allowed to leave the harem and get married.

The “graduates” of the Sultan’s harem were highly valued in the empire for their education and comprehensive training, and to receive an odalisque with a dowry from the Sultan as a gift, especially one that had not yet been in the royal bed, was an incredibly high honor. Those girls who were not distinguished by either high academic performance or economic talents could be married off before the expiration of the allotted period. A school for boys located in the same palace prepared the sons of noble families for various government positions, and graduates often received such an odalisque dropout as their first wife before leaving for the far corner of the empire.

If a girl was considered worthy of being in the presence of the Sultan, new prospects opened up for her. The next step up was to attract the attention of the Sultan and receive an invitation to share his bed. From that moment on, the Sultan’s concubine was called “ikbal” (“happy”) and immediately received a personal room and servants as a sign of her new status. During the heyday of the Ottoman Empire, the number of potential concubines in the harem numbered in the hundreds, and according to some sources exceeded a thousand, so the Sultan could afford to see most of the concubines only once, and this time was the only chance for further “career growth” - birth child of the royal family.

If a son was born to a concubine, then she joined the ranks of the harem elite and was called “Haseki Kadyn” or even “Haseki Sultan”. In fact, the Haseki Kadyn were the full-fledged wives of the Sultan, although this fact was rarely officially registered. Above them in the female hierarchy of the harem, and the empire as a whole, there was only one person: the mother of the monarch, the Valide Sultan. Valide Sultan was, in fact, the ruler of the harem and was in charge of his entire life, but her power was not limited to this, because her own son ruled the empire. Without formal power, the valide sultan could secretly be aware of the most important affairs in the country and exert significant influence both through direct whispering in the sultan’s ear and bypassing the monarch, bribing, persuading, intimidating or even eliminating statesmen and heads of the church. The figure of Valide Sultan, the Queen Mother, inspired fear and respect far beyond the harem and palace.

But, you must admit, the image of a woman standing at the helm of an empire sharply diverges from the image of a languid, half-naked beauty that was popularized by the Orientalists. The harem, contrary to reputation, was not a house of carnal pleasures at all, but a cadet corps and an important part of the state structure. The residents of the harems did not spend their days in bliss, but made a tangible career in their field. Even though they never directly measured their strength with men, their power and influence were no less.

But women did not make up the entire population of the harem. In the Sultan's chambers there were positions for which women were not suitable. They would not, for example, be expected to perform guard duties or perform heavy physical work. At the same time, obviously, the Sultan had to remain the only man entering the harem. To resolve this contradiction, in parallel with the army of concubine slaves, there was an army of eunuch slaves in the palace.

Like slaves for the harem, eunuchs were bought in the markets from merchants, and already in a “ready” form, since Islam forbade castrating slaves. Black eunuchs were valued above all others. They, as a rule, were deprived of any ability to reproduce even in childhood, and therefore were allowed to serve in the inner premises of the harem. The eldest of them was Kizlar Aga (“manager of the maidens”), whose responsibility included guarding the female population of the harem and looking after all the maids and concubines. The white eunuchs who entered the palace were not always completely desexed, and some could even become fathers, so they were entrusted only with the protection of the harem, hence the name of the position of the eldest of them - Kapa Aga (“door manager”).

It was believed that eunuchs, being neither free people nor men, were devoid of worldly attachments and therefore loyal only to their master. However, eunuchs often pursued their own interests and were involved in the dirtiest palace and state intrigues.

But the Orientalists, or rather exoticists, did not know all this and could not know it. In their harem paintings, peace often reigns, not implying any passions. Wives and odalisques (captives or slaves), eunuchs, black servants are completely serene; they usually recline or swim in the pool; this is just the fantasy world of a shallow European male, for whom the harem is a space of absolute sexual freedom, complete power of a man over a woman.