A harem or hareem (an Arbic word meaning the prohibited) is a term used to signify the women's apartments in a household establishment, forbidden to every man except the husband and near relations. The women of the 19th century harems consisted simply of a wife and her attendants, or there could be several wives and an indefinite number of concubines or female slaves, with black eunuchs, etc. The greatest harem during the 19th century was that of the Sultan of Turkey. The women of the imperial harem were all slaves, generally Circassians or Georgians. Their life was spent in bathing, dressing, walking in the gardens, witnessing the voluptuous dances performed by their slaves, etc. The women of other Turks enjoyed the society of their friends at the baths or in each other's houses, and appeared in public accompanied by slaves and eunuchs; but the women of the sultan's harem had none of these privileges. Research Harem
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