The harem dated back to the time when the Osmanli Turks were no more than nomadic traders living on the wild plains of Anatolia and Azerbaijan. The idea of the harem was borrowed from the Persians. When the Osmanlis gave up their nomadic lifestyle, creating a capital first at Bursa, then at Stamboul, the sultan’s harem had become an institution in itself, and a rigid hierarchy had evolved with its own protocols and government. This reclusive community of eunuchs and virgins was governed by the sultan’s mother, the valide. She was assisted by the kapi agha, the chief white eunuch, who was both
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