Database: Harem
The original meaning of the word harem was "sanctum," but it came to denote the private apartments of the caliph, where the women and children of his family resided. As an institution it is particularly associated with the Abbasids, but this seclusion of women was actually a long-practiced tradition in antiquity. For example, Mesopotamian and Persian courts practiced seclusion as a way to both demonstrate a ruler's wealth and ensure the legitimacy of his children.
The Abbasid caliphs chose both free and enslaved women to be wives and consorts. Most caliphs were themselves the children of enslaved women. In the eighth century, given that the dynasty was still fragile, most of these women were the daughters of the ruler's political allies. In time, as the caliphs' power was solidified and political alliances became less important, they increasingly chose enslaved women as consorts. Such women were highly educated and talented poets, musicians and significant figures in Abbasid cultural life. Wives and concubines all lived together in the harem with their children, the unmarried, widowed, or divorced sisters of the caliph, and his mother. The mother managed the community, which ensured the day-to-day running of the harem (servants, educators, cooks, singers, errand boys, eunuchs). Particularly important to this community were the qahramanat, female servants who had the capacity to move freely between the harem and the outside world.
The complexity and luxury of the caliphal harem did not represent the life of most households. The strict seclusion of women was unaffordable for all but the wealthiest urban families, in which women did not have to play any active economic role. Indeed, outside of the houses of a few elite members of Abbasid society, many women participated actively in the economic and social life of the city.