What was it really like to live in a harem?
If you were a eunuch, then you were lucky to survive the operation; only 1 in 10 boys survived castration. Obesity was a problem, as food was the only pleasure available. If you were a smart eunuch, you could become a bureaucrat.
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If you were a simple girl, you scrubbed floors and worked in the kitchen. Ironically, beautiful girls captured in raids were not raped, since they could command a higher price from the sultan if their hymens were intact, or they could sell them to wealthy men who wanted to curry favor with the sultan by providing him with a new girl for his harem.
Like Roxelana, who was captured in Ukraine and became the mother of the crown prince. She became Haseki Sultan: the most powerful person in the harem. The Sultan ruled the empire, since the mother’s word is the word of Allah.
