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Harem
Scene in a Harem, Guardi The term serraglio (Italian from Persian sar?y "palace, enclosed courts") carries a similar meaning.
Etymology
Harem interior, possibly the former summer palace, burned in 1863. Engraving after a drawing by A.I. Melling (1811) 
A Turkish bath provided for a harem. Female privacy in Islam is emphasized to the extent that any unlawful breaking into that privacy is ?ar?m "forbidden". Contrary to the common belief, a Muslim harem does not necessarily consist solely of women with whom the head of the household has sexual relations (wives and concubines), but also their young offspring, other female relatives, etc.; and it may either be a palatial complex, as in Romantic tales, in which case it includes staff (women and eunuchs), or simply their quarters, in the Ottoman tradition separated from the men's selamlik. It is being more commonly acknowledged today that the purpose of Harems during the Ottoman Empire were for the royal upbringing of the future wives of noble and royal men. These women would be educated so that they were ready to appear in public as a royal wife. No forms of sexual activity took place in those Harems. History
Scene from the Harem by Jean-Baptiste van Mour (1st half of 18th century) 
Women of the Harem- Watercolor on Paper by Haydar Hatemi-1997 It is claimed that harems existed in Persia under the Ancient Achaemenids and later Iranian dynasties (the Sassanid Chosroes II reportedly had a harem of 3000 wives, as well as 12,000 other females) and lasted well into the Qajar Dynasty. The women of the Persian royal harem played important though underreported roles in Iranian history, especially during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. However, this claim is disputed by some Persian historians.[1] Harem is also the usual English translation of the Chinese language term hougong, ?? "the palaces behind." Hougong are large palaces for the Chinese emperor's consorts, concubines, female attendants and eunuchs. The women who lived in an emperor's hougong sometimes numbered in the thousands. Depictions in Western cultureThe institution of the harem exerted a certain fascination on the European imagination, especially during the Age of Romanticism (see also Orientalism), due in part to the writings of the adventurer Richard Francis Burton. Many Westerners imagined a harem as a brothel consisting of many sensual young women lying around pools with oiled bodies, with the sole purpose of pleasing the powerful man to whom they had given themselves. Much of this is recorded in art from that period, usually portraying groups of attractive women lounging nude by spas and pools. A centuries-old theme in Western culture is the depiction of European women forcibly taken into Oriental harems - evident for example in the Mozart opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Serraglio") concerning the attempt of the hero Belmonte to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the serraglio/harem of the Pasha Selim; or in Voltaire's Candide, in chapter 12 of which the old woman relates her experiences of being sold into harems across the Ottoman Empire. The same theme was and still is repeated in numerous historical novels and thrillers. For example, Angélique and the Sultan, part of the bestselling French series by Sergeanne Golon, in which a 17th Century French noblewoman is captured by pirates, sold as a pleasure slave to the King of Morocco and installed in his harem, she is dressed in exotic clothing and prepared for the king's pleasure. But when the king has her brought into his bedchamber and tries to make love with her she kills him with his own dagger and stages a dramatic and successful escape. H. Beam Piper used the theme in a science fiction context, portraying a gang which kidnaps girls from a Western-dominated, technologically advanced timeline and sells them to a Sultan's harem in an Asian-dominated timeline (seehttp://hbpiper.wikispaces.com/Indo-Turanian+Sector). Harem Art<gallery> Image:The terrace of the seraglio.jpg|Terrace of the Seraglio, Gérôme, Jean-Léon, 1824?1904, French Image:Swoboda-shopping in harem mid19th.jpg|Shopping in the Harem, Swoboda, Rudolf, 1859-1914. Austrian Image:Quintana Blas Olleras-Harem Scene.jpg|Harem Scene, Olleras Quintana-Blas, 1851-1919, Italian Image:HaremPool.jpg|Harem Pool, Gérôme, Jean-Léon, 1824?1904, French Image:John frederick lewis-reception1873.jpg|The Reception, Lewis, John Frederick, 1805-1875, English Image:Frederick arthur bridgeman-harem fountain.jpg|The Harem Fountain, Bridgeman, Frederick Arthur, 1847-1928, American Image:Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres 008.jpg|Ingres, Odalisque with a Slave Image:Ingre, Grande Odalisque.jpg|Ingres, Grande Odalisque Image:Odalisque.jpg|Lefebvre, Odalisque Image:Carl Spitzweg 055.jpg|Spitzweg, Im Harem Image:Trouillebert-servante du harem.jpg|The Harem Servant, Trouillebert, Paul Desiré, 1829-1900, French </gallery> See alsoSources and references
Non-Fiction
Fiction
External links
cs:Harém da:Harem de:Harem es:Harén eo:Haremo fa:??????? fr:Harem ko:?? hr:Harem id:Harem it:Harem he:????? ku:Harem lv:Har?ms lt:Haremas hu:Hárem ms:Harem nl:Harem ja:??? no:Harem pl:Harem pt:Harém ru:????? sk:Hárem fi:Haaremi sv:Harem tr:Harem uk:????? Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article
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