The Harem
eBook - ePub

The Harem

Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans

  1. 336 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

The Harem

Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans

About this book

For nearly four centuries, the Ottoman sultans dwelt amid the secret splendors of Topkapi Palace. Access to the Grand Seraglio--which served as the empire's administrative, legislative, and judicial center and an academy of fine arts, as well as the ruler's home--was jealously guarded, even after the sultans ceased to reside there in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1936, a distinguished scholar of Orientalism, Norman Mosley Penzer (1892-1960), was afforded a rare opportunity to step inside the Grand Seraglio; in this eagerly embraced and much-consulted volume, he reveals what he found.
Constructed between 1459 and 1465 at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Topkapi Palace stands in present-day Istanbul, near the confluence of the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, and the Marmara Sea. Penzer surveyed the entire palace from end to end during numerous visits over the course of two years, and he presents photographs and floor plans that provide a comprehensive view of Topkapi's structure. Penzer's illustrations of the opulent gardens, chambers, and pavilions come to imaginative life with his explorations of day-to-day palace life--particularly among the women of the harem and their eunuch guards. His evocative accounts of the manners, dress, and politics of Turkish court life continue to influence the scholarly work of the twenty-first century, and this classic history remains indispensable to studies of harem life.

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Yes, you can access The Harem by N. M. Penzer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Middle Eastern History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. PREFACE
  5. Table of Contents
  6. CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY
  7. CHAPTER II - PREVIOUS ACCOUNTS OF THE SERAGLIO
  8. CHAPTER III - THE HISTORY OF SERAGLIO HILL, ITS WALLS AND KIOSKS
  9. CHAPTER IV - THE FIRST COURT
  10. CHAPTER V - THE SECOND COURT, OR COURT OF THE DIVAN
  11. CHAPTER VI - THE BLACK EUNUCHS
  12. CHAPTER VII - THE ARM—I
  13. CHAPTER VIII - THE ARM—II
  14. CHAPTER IX - THE SELMLIK
  15. CHAPTER X - THE BATHS
  16. CHAPTER XI - THE THIRD COURT
  17. CHAPTER XII - THE FOURTH COURT
  18. KEY
  19. INDEX