Customer Reviews

Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans in Istanbul

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed John Freely's latest book immensely. It is full of rare information on the private lives of the Ottoman sultans and yet is very readable. Other books on Ottoman history, as far as I am aware of, do not provide so many interesting details about daily life in the Seraglio.

Despite this strength of the book, however, I think that a familiarity with the Ottoman history is a must to thoroughly enjoy it. Otherwise, one cannot help but get the impression that all Ottoman sultans were either savages that killed their brothers to secure their throne or drunkards who spent all their time in the pleasure world of the Harem. Also, by focusing too much on the story of the Ottoman dynasty, the author fails to provide the connection between the outside events that change the society and the lives of the Sultans. Without seeing the big picture, it is difficult to really understand how the decline of the Empire coincided with the reign of the later weak Sultans.

Overall, though, the book is full of interesting facts, stories and legends and is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the social history of the Ottoman Empire or in the history of monarchies and dynasties.

This fascinating book summarizes the court life of the Ottoman sultans in Istanbul. It begins with a few short passages on the founding of the dynasty in the 13th Century, but the most intriguing stories begin after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Ottoman takeover of the city.

John Freely writes in a clear and concise manner that makes what could be complex material simpler to read. And the characters, from the royal courtiers to the concubines to the sultans themselves are all portrayed with fascinating insight. The text is illustrated throughout by some beautiful prints and sketches as well.

This is a great book about the inner workings of the court life of the Ottoman dynasty, and will likely whet the reader's appetite to do delve more deeply into the subject.

Those guys sure knew how to have fun. Until, of course, a brother, uncle or ambitious vazir came along to crash the party. This book provides a very vivid account on how the Sultan's lived, character and their priorities. As the title suggests, the focus is very much on the private lives of the Sultans; not a general commentary on the Ottoman Empire.

For no fault of the author, the book did get a little mundane and predictable as Freely runs down the dynasty. History repeats itself adnauseum when it comes to the Ottomans.

Not having read too many historical accounts that span several centuries, I did not find this to book to be gripping. I took my time to finish it.

Finally, Freely's account of the Ottoman dynasty was an eye opener for me. I had often been told of the glory of the Ottoman Empire. It was fascinating to see just how morally corrupt the leadership was; how inconsistent with idealogies of Islam. Given the success and longevity of this Empire, this book certainly refutes the myth "Practice what you preach"

John Freely's Inside the Seraglio is an enjoyable, engaging book. This look into the lives of the sultans during the Ottoman's period of decline is insightful and thought provoking. I especially like the dialogue that is exchanged during the scenes in which the sultans spend time in The House of Felicity. The mixture of erotica and historical fiction is a literary delight in this book. I recommend Inside the Seraglio to those who love the combination of the aforementioned genres.

As indicated in the subtitle, "Inside the Seraglio" is about the 'private' lives of the Osmanli Sultans during the decline of the Ottoman Empire. For instance, the Crimean War gets one sentence:

"The end of the Crimean War was celebrated at a banquet in Dolmabahçe Sarayi on 13 July, 1856, an occasion that also marked the dedication of the new palace."

Private means private, although there isn't much sex in the book. But it does dispel a few European myths about the Sultan's love life--for instance, the myth that he tossed a handkerchief to the woman with whom he wished to spend the night. Only Sultan Ibrahim the Mad (1640-8) seems to have lived down to our expectations. According to Demetrius Cantemir (his biographer):

"'As Murad [Mad Murad, the previous sultan] was wholly addicted to wine, so was Ibrahim to lust...He cover'd the walls of his chamber with looking glass, that his love-battles might seem to be acted in several places at once...he put whole sable skins under him, in a notion that his lust would be inflam'd, if his love-toil were render'd more difficult by the glowing of his knees...'"

Mostly, the author writes about the politics of the seraglio: the power of the Sultan's mother, the 'valide sultan'; the imprisonment and frequent murder of his brothers; the hierarchy of concubines, wives, favorites, and eunuchs. It's quite a fascinating and beautiful, self-absorbed world, although I wouldn't have wanted to have been one of the Sultan's brothers. It's no wonder three Sultans in a row went mad while they were imprisoned by the previous ruler (before Mad Murad came Sultan Mustafa, whose "mental condition had not been generally known he became sultan, but then it became obvious to all who came into contact with him that he was insane and incapable of ruling on his own..."

Many of the Osmanli Sultans were deposed and reincarcerated by their relatives, and the rumor about their concubines ending up in a sack in the Bosphorus seems to be verified by the author.

All in all during Osmanli rule, it was a bad time to be a Sultan's brother, or a deposed Sultan's concubine.

If you'd like to read about the public lives of the sultans, try "The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire," by Alan Palmer. Another fascinating book about the Seraglio of Topkapi Palace in Instanbul is, "Harem: The World Behind the Veil," by Alev Lytle Croutier, whose grandmother actually lived in one.

The House of Osman must surely have been the most useless dynasty in all history, even more so than the Japanese emperors. At least the Japanese emperors performed the annual rites of planting rice. Although the Osmanli claimed to be both sultans and caliphs, not one made the hajj.

Such occasional odd facts present the justification for spending time with John Freely`s "Inside the Seraglio," which is otherwise nothing much but court gossip. Freely never even describes the origins of the Seraglio, which was not a Turkish custom.

The strange combination of hysteria about women's sexuality and a preference (much of the time) for coupling with boys was taken from the Arabs, but the ferocious habit of strangling all the brothers of a new sultan was a characteristic Turkish touch, even if justified by a verse from the Koran -- an interpretation not usually made by other Muslim ruling families.

The allure, for Europeans, of the Seraglio was its aura of lasciviousness, which is on prominent display here. Freely quotes freely from European observers and (less often) Ottoman sources about orgies. Not only sexual orgies, but, at various times, orgies of music, tulips, wrestling, mayhem, alcohol. Even, sometimes, orgies of devotion. Curiously, given Turkey's reputation for poppies, no sultans are described as opium users.

Most were drunks, and at least half were deranged. Considering how precarious and nerve-wracking being a sultan or a sultan's woman, servant or vezir could be, it is a surprise that none ever made a break for freedom. Life was certainly precarious. For 200 years, a period of 11 rulers, no son succeeded his father.

Despite the fecklessness of the last 30 or so sultans, the dynasty lasted much longer than most, about 600 years. Because the harem girls were almost always foreigners (latterly, almost exclusively Circassians), most of the Osmanli rulers had very little Turkish ancestry.

Although "Inside the Seraglio" has its moments, it does not make a good book. Call it Licentiousness-lite.

We really are given no reason to care who these people were, not in the context of a great state. There are many interesting illustrations, taken from Turkish miniatures or European engravings, but they are too small, muddy and monochromatic to reveal much. Freely has written a number of travel books, and something could have been made of the fabulous architecture than the sultans put up, but nothing is.