The Inside Story of theTurkish Harem

The InsideThe EunuchRole in theSeraglio}duuutNl

• Sultan Mohammed II. ofTurkey had a problem. In 1453he had captured the coveted cityof Con8tantinople for his peopleand later had e8tablished in hisnew-built capitol and palace aluxurious harem of the m08tlovely girl8 his agent8 could find.• Thi8 was his treasure. Buthow was he going to guard iffStrange as it may 8eem, thi8problem was a new one to the8ultan8 of Turkey in the fifteenthcentury. A vigorous A8iatictribe which had recently comeinto great wealth and power inEurope, the Turk8 were thenrelaa;ing the 8word for the firsttime. They had just Oegun tolearn the way8 of leisure andlu:wry. And 80 Sultan Moham-med naturally turned to the 80-phisticated Byzantine Greek8,the former ma8ter8 of hi8toricCon8tantinople, for the an8wer.• The an8wer was "eunuch8."Ii Let eunuchs guard your wom-en," 8aid the 8ubject Greelcs.• And 80 it was done.• Only the eunuch, the manwho is not a man, could be tru8t-ed to guard the harem withoutdefiling it.• In today'8 in8talment of Mr.Penser'« 8tory of the harem wemeet the euntWh8and see whatthese 8trange beings really wereand really did.

By N. M. PENZER(Copyrlaht: 1937: 87 Th. Chlcaa'oTribuDe-New York N.". SyncUcate.)

INSTALMENT IV.

HELOOKED like a fat and, rather formidable middle-aged colored woman who

had long since abandoned allhopes of appearing attractive.He wore a long coat of scarletsilk trimmed with sable andother rare furs which reached towithin an inch of the ground.His hat was a huge sugar-loafaffair, worn at a slant on theback of the head.Thus appeared the ki8lar agha,

'or chief black eunuch of the Irn-perial seraglio palace in Con-stantinople. Curiously enough,his was a position of high respon-sibility and power. He was eon-sidered in the later days of thesultans to rank second only tothe sultan hiniself, and consid-erably higher than any of thewhite eunuchs.Until about the beginning of

the seventeenth century thestatus of the white eunuchs hadbeen much more important thanthat of the black, but so greathad been their greed and graftand thievery that they werelittle by little divested of theirauthority. This was transferredto the black eunuchs, who wereto a certain extent their rivals.Especially in the case of the

chief eunuch the loss was veryconsiderable, for it included notonly the high position of captainof the girls but also the lucra-tive post of nazir, or inspector ofthe religious endowments of theimperial m 0 s que s, includingthose of the holy cities of Meccaand Medina.. With time thepower of the kislar agha grew.He became commander of thecorps of halberdiers, held therank of" pasha with three tails,"was confidential messenger be-tween the sultan and the grandvizier, and alone was entitled tohave both eunuchs and girls asslaves.He was allotted the surprising

number of 300 horses for his per-sonal use, and he alone could ap-proach the sultan at all times ofday and night. In fact, he wascurrently described as " the mostillustrious -of the officers whoapproach his august person, andworthy of the confidence of mon-archs and of sovereigns." Cer-tainly he was the most feared,and consequently the m 0 s tbribed, official in the whole ofthe Ottoman empire.As a member of the privy

council, and in consultation withthe sultan's mother, he made ap-pointments to vacant posts bothin the seraglio and outside. Any-body wishing to gain a favor

October 24. 1937

Story of the Turkish HaremEmployed toGuerd theWomen

The second court of the seraglio. from an early nineteenth century engraving by A.-LMeUing. Generally called the court of the divan. it was for many. years the scene of impressiveceremoDial., military. religious, and civil. Note the •• rvanla tiling out of the sultan's kitchen on the left with trap of food upon their heads.

from the sultan, even with thehelp of the sultan's mother,would only be able to do itthrough the kislar agha.Naturally the ki8Zar ,aghawas

an enormously rich man .andrarely relinquished his post ofhis own accord. But when suchoccasion did arise he was sentto Egypt. Several kisZar aghas,in fact bought property in Egyptsolely with a view to retiringthere later and spending theirlast days in oriental splendor.No objection was made by thesultan to these .acquisitions, sincehe himself was the heir of thekisJar agha and knew thateverything would come back tothe crown in time. A handsomepension was given the honoredblack on retirement.

e e •When one thinks of all this

dignity and importance it is hardto keep in mind that the chiefblack eunuch was really just acrude, ignorant, and corruptedcolored man - and that thethrusting of such power into hishands actually played a largepart in the decline of the Otto-man empire.Next in importance to the ki8-

lar agha came the hazinedaragha, or grand treasurer, whogenerally succeeded him in of-fice. To him was entrusted thefinancial side of the harem, aswell as that of the halberdiers(porters).Next was the bash-mus8ahib, a

liaison officer between the sultanand the kislar agha, and whohad eight or ten eunuchs underhim who were on duty in pairsfor the purpose of, carrying or-ders from the sultan to the mls-tress of the harem. Other of-ficers were the master of thechamber, the chief gatekeeper

Women in the sultan's harem at the time of it. greate.t development num-bered 1,200. Many lands adjacent to Turkey were combed for beautifulfemale slaves. Gerome's painting shows the sale of a slave. the pros-

pective purchaaer te.ting the soundness of her teeth.

of the apartments, his assistant,and a whole set of officers in theservice of the sultan's mother ifshe were alive. Thus the totalnumber of black eunuchs em-ployed in the harem at the timeof its greatest development musthave been between 600 and 800.

The courtyard of the black eunuchs, those strange unaexed creatur.s whoguarded so closely the women of the Grand Turk's harem.

. The women in the harem at thistime (around the year A., D.16(0) numbered 1,200. One esti-mate of the number of eunuchsassigned to guard the gate of thesultan's favorite was 500, thoughfifty would probably be nearerthe truth.• As to the training of eunuchs,it was just as long and carefUlas the training of the janizaries(the sultan's military guards).Here is what a keen observerwrote of the black eunuchs' ap-prenticeship in 1604:"The boys are watched and

disciplined by the other youthsof the seraglio till at a certainage they are ready for service.They are then removed thenceand sent to the women andplaced under others in the serv-ice of the sultana (the numberone favorite), being under thecommand of their chief, the ki3-lar agha. They have a consider-able allowance, two robes of fin- .est silk, clothes, and other thingsfor their needs throughout theyear, besides what is plentifullybestowed on them from otherquarters. They bear names offiowers, such as Hyacinth, Nar-cissus, Rose, and Carnation;since, as they are in the serviceof women, they have names suitable to Virginity, Whiteness, andfragrance."

• ••The young eunuchs were also

entrusted with taking and recelv-ing messages between the sultanand his women, transacting busi-ness, Visiting the men's apart-ments, and many other duties.But from the moment they en-tered it they could never leavethe seraglio without special per.mission from the sultana, eventhough bidden to do somethingby one of the lesser wives. No

white eunuchs were allowed tovisit their black brethren underany circumstances. And eventhe chief physician had to walk,when in the harem, between adouble flle of black eunuchs with-out seeing the sight of a woman.-and the extended hand of thepatient was the most he wascustomarily permitted to inspect.An appreciation of the physi-

cal and mental condition ofeunuchs and their varieties willunquestionably lead to the great-er understanding of the haremsystem and of its gradual decayand fall, so largely caused by theintroduction and increasing In-fluence of t his unproductive,sterile, unnatural, and altogetherunwholesome member of society-the eunuch.Everybody knows t hat the

condition of eunuchs is not nat-ural, but is a terrible mutilationimposed by one male upon an-other. The effect is seen andheard, and the reason is gener-ally appreciated; but the meth·ods by which the mutilation iscarried out and the different de-grees to which this can be doneappear to be hardly known atall. This general ignorance iscertainly not due to lack of Inter-est in the subject, but to severaldistinct factors-the scarcity ofpublished information, the grad-ual discontinuance of the custom,the secrecy which has alwayssurrounded the infamous tradeof making eunuchs, and the con-sequent disinclination of thoseconnected in any way with it todiscuss the subject at all.

• • •Most of the writers on the sub-

ject wrote under noms de plume,while, with the single exceptionof a book by a ~ench doctor,there appears to be no modernwork on the subject whatsoever.As is often the case, the historyof the words ronnected with thesubject atTords a certain amountof information. There is, how-ever, difference of opinion amongscholars about the derivationand meaning of the best knownword of all-" eunuch." It wouldseem that the old derivation,from the Greek words for" bed "and "keep" - the word thusmeaning" he who has charge ofthe bed" - should still be ad-hered to.The only Assyrian connection

appears to be through the He-brew saN, "eunuch," which isa word borrowed from the As"syrtan sa res., meaning" he whodoes not beget." There are sev-eral other words connected withemasculation that are tntorma-tive, as they show that the con-dition was brought about by aform of barbaric surgery.Methods seem to have been

similar in all countries, the onlydifferences being in the localmeans employed to approximateaseptic treatment. The mortal-ity is not great, although exag-gerated figures have been given.It is obvious, however, that thenumber of fatal cases amongyoung Negroes at the mercy ofunskilled " knifers" would beconsiderable. In fact, a largediscount for "losses en route"was always allowed in the deliv-ered price of a eunuch.The physical and mental er-

fects of emasculation naturally

vary according to the age atw h i c h the operation is per-formed. If the subject is a childnot yet arrived at the age ofpuberty, and if proper precau-tions are taken, the operationwas found to be not dangerous.But after puberty both physicaland mental e1fects become av e r y Important factor. Themind has begun to realize thepromptings of nature, and con-sequently the full realization ofthe irreparable loss brings anagony of mind that is hard forus to realize. The constant at-tendance upon w 0men wouldcreate in the minds of the vic-tims a feeling of terrible resent-ment, coupled with a mingledfeeling of revenge and despair.No wonder, then, that eunuchshave been described as tll-tem-pered, morose, childish, petulant,

The kislar agha. or chief blackeunuch. of the imperial seraglio.couid.red in lat.r days to ranks.cond in power to the Turkish sul:

tan himseU.

revengeful, cruel, and arrogant;and, on the other hand, as sim-ple, credulous, harmless, fawn-ing, fond of pleasure, and verygenerous in their dealings.

• • •This apparent contradiction of

characteristics would seem to.arise from the widely varyingeffects the operation has on dif-ferent SUbjects. It is not onlythe age of the victim that has tobe considered In the forming ofhis mental makeup, but the ctr-cumstances that led to his opera-tion. A boy captured in a raidand sold later would never bearthe terrible grudge against hu-manity in general, and his par-ents in particular, harbored by aboy who had been sold by hisparents for the mere lust of gain.The physical e1fects of emascu-

lation are well kncwn-s-completelack of bodily hair, the femininevoice (deeper, however, in theblack race), the gradual fiabbi-ness of the body, often aecom-panied by obesity and u g 1y

wrinkling of the skin in laterlife. Among other etrects maybe mentioned loss of memory, In-somnia, and bad eyesight.Eunuchs have no liking for

alcohol, of which the smallestamount is sufficient to makethem ill. They prefer cakesand sweetmeats to meat. Theirfavorite color is red. They likemusic, especially the rhythmicbeat of the drum or tambou-rine and all central Africaninstruments. They are neat intheir habits, but are miserly andfond of accumulating wealth.They unite the small brain of theNegro with the childish imagina-tion of the ignorant oriental.Consequently they believe thewildest stories, and once an ideahas entered their minds, nothingcan change it. 'They adore what we call fairy

stories and can listen to recita-tions of "The Thousand Nightsand a Night" and similar collec-tions for an indefinite period.They love children and animals,including chickens, sheep, cows,and monkeys, but most of allcats, which they keep as pets andtreat with the utmost care andattention.As regards normal feelings, it

is quite incorrect to imagine thatthe operation removes all de-sires immediately. Not only Isthe new eunuch often attractedstrongly to women, but, strangeas it may seem, evokes affectionIn return, and in the history ofthe harem many marriages ofeunuchs have taken place. Insuch cases, however, the eunuch"lives out" and is usually draft-ed to one of the lesser palaces inthe town.That eunuchs often nurse their

grievances for years and taketheir revenge if opportunity of-fers is well known from the his-tory of Hermotimus the Peda-sian, "the most favored of allthe eunuchs of Xerxes." Accord-ing to Herodotus, he was cap-tured by an enemy and sold toone Panionius, whose businesswas to buy good looking boys,operate on them, and sell 'themas eunuchs at Sardis and Ephe-sus for large sums.

•• •Hermotimus was one of these

unfortunates. Long afterwardhe chanced upon Panionius oncemore and persuaded him to moveto Sardis with his wife and chilodren. Having thus got his oldenemy into his power, Hermo-tlmus upbraided him for his hor-rible doings and forced him toperform the same operation onhis own four sons. Not being yetsatisfied, he then persuaded thesons to wreak vengeance in kindon their father. Thus did Her-motimus overtake Panionius.Of course, the sultans of Tur-

key generally were very carefulin picking their eunuchs-espe-clally those who were to guardtheir harems. White eunuchs-Georgians -a n d Circassians-were given jobs that would neverbring them into close touch withthe women. But as regards theNegroes, the highest prices werepaid for those who, besides being100 per cent eunuchs, possessedthe ugliest and most revoltingfaces, it being imagined (correct-ly or not) that this was a furtherguard against any profligacy onthe part of the women.The seraglio doctors not only

inspected the eunuchs on admis-sion but examined them everyfew years just to see that every-thing was in order.But the days of the eunuch are

over. With the passing of theh are m in the Mohammedanworld (save in Mecca itself) thenecessity for the eunuch has dis-appeared, and despite all my ef·forts in Turkey I met only two,or p 0 s sib 1y three, of thesestrange beings. I was told thatthese were the last of them. Theyhad been a necessary evil wheredespotism and polygamy heldsway, but now they are a thingof the past and already have re-turned in our minds to the pagesof the Arabian Nights, wherealone they seem rightly to be-long.

NEXTWEEIC: The Favorite.