Visit to Pasha (Part 2)

Introduction to the text

Child slavery in the Ottoman Empire

Slavery, including child slavery, was widespread in the Ottoman Empire. The main source was captured prisoners of war from Eastern Europe and the Balkans, including Greece. It is estimated that up to two million slaves of various origins came to the empire between 1500 and 1700.

Girls were often taken into the harem as servants or concubines. White girls of Balkan descent were often valued more highly than Black girls, as they were perceived as more "exclusive."

As part of the devşirme, girls and boys were rounded up and sent to the harem or to separate schools. While devşirme primarily involved boys as soldiers, Greek Christian women were also conscripted into the harem, a vast institution consisting of various groups: concubines, wives, eunuchs, and domestic slaves.

The role of wives and favorites in the Ottoman harem

The women in the harem varied in rank and status. At the bottom were the cariye —slaves and concubines; above them were the iqbals (favorites), who received separate apartments and salaries. After giving birth to a son, they could be promoted to kadin—official wives (formal wives were rare, but those who had a son achieved higher status).

Formal marriages within noble families were considered risky—they could lead to excessive family influence. Therefore, female concubines ( cariye ) were preferred, as they produced offspring without having to fulfill the family's political obligations. Concubines who bore a son could achieve great power and wealth as mothers of heirs ( valide sultan ) and had the opportunity to engage in cultural and charitable activities, but everything depended on the ruler's benevolence.

Visit to Pasha (Part 2)

Since he apparently loved his women less than his horses, he personally offered me admission into the harem. I happily accepted the offer, and we went there with Mrs. de Witt, Mrs. Dembowska, and Mrs. Ciesielska. The endless corridors one had to traverse to reach the harem aroused curiosity and fueled the imagination. A gloomy silence reigned there. We met several black slaves and other thin, frightening girls. Finally, we were told to go to the door of the Favorite. We were told she had given birth the day before yesterday and was a relative of a high lord. I entered first. She was in a windowless, curtainless room. She lay on the stage, wearing an enormous, jeweled turban. The dress that barely covered her was made of Turkish cloth, rich and magnificent. Her feet and knees were covered with numerous shawls. For this part of the ceremony—only ten days after giving birth—it was necessary for her, as the Pasha's wife, to wear such a garment due to her status and rank. My husband, a general in Podolia, was considered by the Turks to be the Pasha of Kamieniec. To my surprise, I noticed that the Sultana had painted her fingernails red. Madame de Witt told me that Christian women, upon entering the women's harem, stain their hands so that they touch their eyes, thus breaking the spell of such glances. This precaution struck me as odd. The Sultana was beautiful; she seemed tall. She had magnificent eyes, weak eyebrows, an exceptionally white complexion that brought out the colors in her face, and a charming mouth. Her great courtesy gave her a gentleness and grace that made her interesting. The old women—eunuchs and Turkish women—of repulsive ugliness formed a stark contrast to her.

Meanwhile, little slave girls, aged between two and twelve, native Greeks, enchanting in their youth and beauty, served us sorbet. After half an hour, I stood up to leave. Dismayed by the poor Sultana's condition, I ordered her to offer me my doctor. She accepted it warmly and gratefully, offering me her warm hand. I lowered it, convinced that this beautiful creature was in grave danger.

Madame de Witt asked to see the child. She was a little girl, wrapped in beautiful cloths, who seemed beautiful to me. When my mother saw her, she burst into tears. With a heavy heart, I left that prison, that den of slaves. When I returned to the Pasha, I told him about the doctor he had welcomed. Everything would have been fine if Madame de Witt had not praised his daughter's beauty. As soon as she uttered the word, the old man flew into a rage. He stubbornly repeated the idea of a son and hated the idea of a daughter. His outburst frightened us; He left immediately, and when we returned, one of his men, even more frightened than we were, told us what had happened: "My lord longed for a son, and since the Turks did not dare enter the harem for forty days after their wives had given birth, the young sultana, without thinking of the consequences, hastened to tell the pasha that she had given birth to a son, hoping that this child, who had been raised in the harem for several years, might be recognized and saved."

Unfortunately, he was unscrupulous, and since the Pasha was a hot-tempered and cruel creature, I feared the consequences of the whole affair. I remembered the tears of that poor creature, whose eyes bore a kind of curse and mark. I was glad I didn't speak Turkish and could console myself with the thought that I didn't understand all this confusion. We were just about to return to Kamianets when the Pasha's servant came and told me he was sorry he hadn't cared for me, but he felt unwell. He thanked me for my kindness to the doctor, but he didn't want him anymore. This made me fear for the Sultana's fate. Three days later, I learned, full of grief, that this young, beautiful woman was already dead.