public baths appropriated to their use. These baths are lighted by bell
glasses at the top, and consist of apartments of different degrees of
temperature. The last room is so hot that high wooden clogs must be
worn to protect the feet from the pavement, and a sudden perspiration
trickles from the pores at the moment of entrance. Yet the women go
very frequently, and sometimes remain in this atmosphere five or six
hours, while their attendants rub them with a kind of brush, and pull
the joints till they crack. This operation, at first a little painful,
is said to be followed by a sensation peculiarly agreeable. Having made
plentiful use of perfumed soap and pomatum, braided their tresses, and
pared their nails, the bathers pass into the next room, the temperature
of which is lower. Here clean beds are prepared for delicious repose
after the relaxation of the bath. Coffee and cordials are likewise
furnished in this room, and sometimes a whole party of women dine
there, and stay till evening, listening to stories, and discussing the
important affairs of love and dress.
Turkish women generally have a sallow complexion with dark eyes. A
face like a full moon, and a person decidedly fleshy, are among their
requisites for beauty. The grandees are said to place a peculiar value
upon fair-haired girls, probably on account of their rarity.
The wedding ceremonies are simple. All the relations send presents of
furniture, clothes, or jewels, which are the property of the wife in
case of her husband’s death. Sometimes, when the marriage contracts are
signed, a solemn promise is exacted from the man that he will never
marry again during the lifetime of his wife. The bridal ceremony is
performed by an iman or priest, who joins the hands of the parties, and
recites certain prayers from the Koran. It sometimes takes place at
the bridegroom’s house, but more generally at a mosque. The day before
the wedding the bride goes to the bath, where her female relations and
friends take off her dress, sing a bridal song, and offer their various
gifts. The parties are escorted to the mosque in state, accompanied
by friends and relations in arabahs,[3] drawn by oxen decorated with
ribbons and garlands. The arabah in which the bride is conveyed is
closed, but the others are open. The bridal veil is bright red bordered
with yellow. The eyebrows of the bride are united in one broad black
streak, by means of antimony and gall nuts; and her fingers are stained
with hennah. When the new part of the nail forms a contrast with the
stained part, it is considered peculiarly beautiful. Sometimes a
childish love of ornament is carried so far, that gilt paper cut in
the form of crescents, and various fantastic shapes, are stuck upon
the face. Before the arabah which contains the bride are borne several
trees surrounded with hoops, from which hang festoons of gold thread
or tinsel, which wave in the breeze, and glitter when the sun glances
on them. The procession consists of dancers, musicians, mountebanks,
horses loaded with the furniture and apparel of the bride, and the
relatives and friends on horseback, or in carriages.
When the bridegroom leaves the mosque, his friends strike him smartly
on the shoulders for good luck. Girls are usually betrothed at the age
of three or four years, and receive the nuptial benediction at twelve
or fourteen. The custom of not allowing the bridegroom to see the bride
until after the ceremony is contrary to the precepts of the Koran; for
Mohammed says to one of his disciples, who was about to take a wife,
“First see her, that you may judge how you should like to live with
her.”
The wedding festivities last four days; the men feasting and frolicking
in one set of apartments, the women in another. They usually begin
on Monday, to avoid interfering with the Mohammedan Sabbath, which
comes on Friday. A single life is very disreputable, and widows almost
invariably marry again, unless they are very old. A Turkish woman is
respected by her family and the world in proportion to the number of
her children. In general they have very numerous claims to this kind of
distinction. The Koran declares that a woman who dies unmarried is in
a state of reprobation.
The common idea that Mohammedans believe women have no souls, is not
founded upon any thing contained in the Koran. Mohammed expressly says:
“Whoso worketh good, male or female, shall enter paradise;” and the
pilgrimage to Mecca, for the salvation of their souls, is enjoined upon
women as well as men, with the proviso that they must be accompanied by
their husbands, or near male relations.
The Mohammedan law forbids pigs, dogs, women, and other impure animals
to enter a mosque; and the hour of prayers must not be proclaimed
by a female, a madman, a drunkard, or a decrepit person. The first
prohibition was no doubt intended to prevent the frequent meetings
between the sexes which would be likely to take place during religious
services. The last regulation implies no peculiar contempt for women;
the same classes would be excluded from the priesthood in Christian
countries.
The Turkish proverb, that “A woman causes the ruin or prosperity of a
house,” implies that female influence is in some degree acknowledged
and appreciated.
Jests at the expense of women prevail in Turkey, as they do all over
the world. Nass-red-dyn, the Turkish Æsop, wishing to propitiate the
conquering Tamerlane, proposed to carry him some fruit. “Hold,” said
he, “two heads are better than one; I will ask my wife whether I had
better carry quinces or figs.” His wife replied, “Quinces will please
him best, because they are larger and finer.” “However useful the
advice of others may be,” rejoined Nass-red-dyn, “it is never well to
follow that of a woman; I am determined to take figs.”
When he arrived in the camp, Tamerlane amused himself with throwing the
figs at his bald head. At every blow Nass-red-dyn exclaimed, “God be
praised!” Tamerlane inquired what he meant. “I am thanking God that I
did not follow my wife’s advice,” replied Nass-red-dyn; “for if I had
brought quinces instead of figs, I should certainly have a broken head.”
Women do not attend funerals in Turkey, the ceremonies of which are
very simple. At the death of a husband they put on a particular kind
of head-dress, and wear no ornaments for twelve months. At the grave
the iman repeats a prayer, and calls the deceased three times by
his name, and by that of his mother, never by his father’s. If the
mother’s name be unknown, they call him “son of Mary,” the blessed
virgin; if the deceased be a woman under similar circumstances, they
call her “daughter of Eve.” A column with a sculptured turban on the
top designates the grave of a man; a kind of vase, or marble bowl, is
placed on the top of columns erected for women. After a rain, the birds
come to these vases to drink. In Syria, Armenia, and Turkey, the color
of mourning is celestial blue.
In 1755, Othman III. made very severe ordinances with regard to women.
He forbade their going abroad on Friday; would not allow them to do
their own shopping; (that task being transferred to their husbands
and male relations;) ordered them to wear coarse dull-colored cloth
instead of fine Cashmeres; and made an express edict against their high
head-dresses. The women, to avoid this last ordinance, contrived a
species of machinery by which they could suddenly diminish their caps,
and raise them again, when the police officers were out of sight.
These regulations were but temporary. The wives and daughters of the
wealthy Turks dress with extreme magnificence. Rich colored damask
brocades embroidered with silver and gold, and looped up with buttons
of diamond or pearl, are much worn. Though the national costume remains
the same, fashion plays a thousand freaks with the details of dress.
The Turks do not consider it polite to make inquiries concerning each
other’s wives. Among the class of vicious women in cities the number
of Mohammedans is said to be very small, because the laws restraining
them are peculiarly severe. If it be discovered that a Mohammedan woman
has a Christian lover, he is compelled to marry her, and renounce his
religion.
Perhaps there is no country where slavery exists in so mild a form as
in Turkey. The children of slaves are brought up in the same way as the
legitimate children, and enjoy the same privileges and rights. Female
slaves are free by law at the end of six years, and allowed to form the
most advantageous marriages they can.
Instances are numerous of slaves rising to the highest dignities of the
empire. The black eunuchs of the seraglio often acquire immense wealth
and influence.
It is a singular fact, that the Mohammedan nations treat slaves better
than the Christian; and that, among Christians, the Catholic nations
treat them better than the Protestant.
Both European and Asiatic Turkey have been described under the head of
Asia, because their manners and customs are so decidedly and entirely
oriental.
Of the Asiatic Greeks nothing is here said, because their character and
condition is essentially the same as that of the Greeks in Europe.
Numerous Frank and Armenian merchants reside in Smyrna, the manners
and costumes of which are a curious combination of various nations.
It seems very odd to travellers to meet ladies with English or French
names, wearing the Turkish or Greek costume, and speaking the Greek
language. The Carnival is celebrated at Smyrna with extraordinary
splendor. On this occasion the ladies appear in their richest attire,
and there is a continual succession of waltzing parties, concerts, and
theatricals.
The wealthy Frank merchants residing in Turkey are extremely cautious
in arranging the marriage contracts of their daughters. The bridegroom
engages to secure his wife a certain portion of his fortune, in case
she survives him, and receives, on his part, a written promise from her
father of the money, jewels, clothes, &c. constituting the dowry, and
of the portion he intends to leave her at his death.
* * * * *
The Persians seem to have been remarkable among the ancient nations for
a savage jealousy of women, which led them to keep the objects of their
love perpetually imprisoned and guarded. Their severity is spoken of as
extraordinary, by Plutarch, and other authors, who wrote at a period
when even the most enlightened nations allowed very little freedom
to their women. Yet the Persians are said to have been the first who
carried their wives and children into the field of battle: “We do it,”
said they, “that the sight of all that is most dear to us, may animate
us to fight more valiantly in their defence.”
The Medes and Persians are likewise supposed to have been the first who
introduced dancing and singing women to entertain their guests at a
banquet; but the fact that Cyrus gave two captive female musicians to
his uncle Cyaxares, proves that music was cultivated at a very early
period, by nations which yielded to the dominion of Persia.
The character of Cyrus is the brightest page in Persian history. At a
time when female captives taken in war were treated with the utmost
indignity, and sometimes with savage barbarity, he was distinguished
for a degree of respectful gallantry, which would have done credit to
the most refined prince of modern times.
When told that the exquisitely beautiful wife of Abradatas had been
assigned to him among other spoils of the Assyrian camp, and that
the woman wept incessantly for her husband, to whom she was fondly
attached, Cyrus at once resolved not to see her, lest her unrivalled
loveliness should make it difficult for him to do his duty. In fact,
he protected her against himself, and against one of his favorite
officers, who, being appointed to attend upon the beautiful Panthea,
had become a captive to her charms. Nothing could exceed the gratitude
of the princess, when she found herself and her attendant maidens
living in the midst of the Persian camp with as much safety and
seclusion, as if she had been in the palace of her husband. Abradatas
having received information of the magnanimous conduct of Cyrus,
immediately hastened to engage himself, his troops and treasures, in
the service of the virtuous monarch. When he was about to go forth to
battle with Cyrus, Panthea brought him a golden helmet and arm-pieces,
with broad bracelets for his wrists, which without his knowledge
she had caused to be made from her own jewels. When he asked, with
affectionate surprise, if she had sacrificed her ornaments for him,
she replied that her husband was her greatest ornament. She then
reminded him of their obligations to Cyrus, and told him that much as
she loved him, she had rather be buried with him than live to know he
had been deficient in courage. Abradatas laid his hand gently on her
head, and looking upward, exclaimed, “O, great Jove, make me worthy of
such a wife as Panthea, and such a friend as Cyrus!” As the princess
put on his armor, she turned aside to conceal her tears; and when the
door of his chariot was closed, she kissed the steps by which he had
entered, and followed after him. When he perceived this, he again bade
her farewell, and entreated her to return. Her attendants placed her
on a litter, and threw a tent-covering over her, to conceal her from
the admiring troops. When the dead body of Abradatas was brought from
the battle, Panthea reproached herself that she had urged him to such
desperate courage. With the stern enthusiasm of ancient times, she
stabbed herself to the heart, and died on her husband’s breast; having
first given directions that their corpses should be wrapped in the
same mantle. The Persian monarch, with sincere lamentations, ordered
magnificent funeral rites, and a monument to be erected to their memory.
There is reason to suppose that Cyrus was blessed in his own domestic
relations; for we are told that he mourned for his wife Cassandana with
the sincerest grief, and commanded public demonstrations of sorrow
throughout the empire.
The virtuous decorum of Cyrus was an exception to the general character
of Persian princes. Men of rank, who could indulge their whims without
control, sometimes married their own sisters and daughters. Artaxerxes
Memnon, being in love with his beautiful daughter Atossa, had some
fears that the affair would not redound to his credit; but his mother
quieted these scruples by saying, “Are you not set over the Persians
by the gods, as the only rule of right and wrong?”
Another of the Persian kings called the magi together to give their
opinion on a similar occasion. The accommodating priests answered, “We
can find no law that authorizes a man to marry his own daughter; but
our laws authorize a king to do whatever he pleases.”
Some idea of the excessive voluptuousness of the Persian court in
ancient times may be derived from the account given of Ahasuerus.
By an old custom the queen had a right to ask any favor she thought
proper on the king’s birthday, and he was bound to grant it. Amestris,
the wife of Xemes, on one of these occasions, being filled with
vindictive jealousy, demanded that her sister-in-law should be mangled
in a most shocking manner and thrown to the dogs. The innocent victim,
who had in fact discouraged and resisted the king’s passion, was
destroyed in the most cruel manner.
The splendor which now characterizes Persian princes prevailed in
ancient times. The revenues of provinces were devoted to particular
articles of the queen’s wardrobe. This was implied by their names; one
being called the Queen’s Sandals, another the Queen’s Girdle, &c. The
use of false hair was not uncommon in Media and Persia.
The account given of Alexander’s marriage with the daughter of Darius
seems to imply that the ancient marriage ceremonies were very simple.
A great feast was prepared, the bride was seated beside her lover, he
took her hand and kissed her in presence of the assembled guests, and
she became his wife.
The ancient Persians considered matrimony so essential, that they
believed those who died single would infallibly be unhappy in another
world; for this reason, when a relation of either sex died unmarried,
they hired some person to be formally married to the deceased as soon
as possible.
It was considered a great misfortune to be childless. “Children,” said
the prophet Zerdhust, “are a bridge that reaches to paradise; and how
shall ye pass if he have provided no bridge? The angel shall ask every
soul, if he have provided children; if he answer, no, the soul that has
contributed so little to society shall himself be left desolate on the
banks of a river, where he shall see the fresh springs and blooming
fruits of paradise, but shall never be able to reach them.”
A boy was kept in the female apartments, and not permitted to see
his father, till his fifth year, in order that his parent might not
experience so much uneasiness in case he died before that period.
The slightest rudeness to a Persian woman was punished with instant
death by her husband or guardian. He who spoke to one of the numerous
inmates of the king’s harem, or touched their persons even in the most
accidental manner, or passed their chariots on the road, was killed
immediately. The modern laws are but little less severe.
A Persian woman, under the dominion of the kindest master, is treated
in much the same manner as a favorite animal. To vary her personal
graces for his pleasure is the sole end and aim of existence. As moral
or intellectual beings, it would be better for them to be among the
dead than the living. They are allowed to learn a little reading,
writing, and embroidery; but their reading is confined to the Koran,
and even that they generally read very imperfectly. Dancing and music
are little practised, except by a public class of women, usually
hired at festivals and entertainments, and of a character notoriously
profligate. These girls are more remarkable for agility than grace in
their motions.
The Persian women are kept continually shut up in the _harem_, which
they rarely leave from the cradle to the grave. They are visited only
by female relations, or female teachers, hired to furnish them their
scanty apparatus of knowledge. The mother instructs her daughter in
all the voluptuous coquetry by which she herself acquired precarious
ascendency over her absolute master; but all that is truly estimable in
female character is neglected, as it ever must be where nothing like
free and kind companionship exists between the sexes. A resident in
Persia declares that the women are ignorant, and inconceivably gross
in their ideas and conversation. Under such a system it could not be
otherwise.
The contempt in which women are held is singularly exemplified by a
Persian law, which requires the testimony of four of them in cases
where the declaration of two men would be deemed sufficient. While
talking with a person of rank, it would be considered grossly impolite
to make the most remote allusion to the female part of his family; even
if his beloved wife were on her death-bed, it would be deemed an almost
unpardonable insult to make any inquiries concerning her.
A large black eye, full of amorous softness, is considered the chief
requisite in Persian beauty. To increase this voluptuous languor of
expression, they make lines around the eyes with powder of antimony.
They take great pains to make their eyebrows meet; and if this charm
be denied, they paint them, so as to produce the effect. They not only
dye their hair and eyebrows, but also stain the face and neck with a
variety of figures of birds, beasts, and flowers, the sun, moon, and
stars. A large proportion of the noble families are descended from
Georgian and Circassian mothers, and consequently have fair complexions.
When a Persian father has selected a family with which he wishes to
have his son connected, he sends an elderly female to ascertain the
girl’s personal endowments, and the probable consent of her parents
or guardians. If the report prove favorable, the bridegroom sends
messengers to explain his merits, and make a formal offer of marriage.
The heads of the family meet to make all arrangements concerning
presents, ornaments, dowry, &c.; and the papers are sealed and
witnessed before magistrates.
On the morning of the wedding, the bridegroom sends a train of mules
laden with presents to the bride, preceded by music, and followed by
numerous servants, bearing costly viands on silver trays, to be spread
before the inmates of her father’s house. The day is spent in mirth
and feasting. Toward evening, the bride veiled, in scarlet or crimson
silk, is mounted on a superbly caparisoned mule, preceded by music, and
followed by a long train of relatives and friends to the house of her
destined husband, who rides forth with a similar procession to meet
her. The female attendants conduct her to the apartments prepared for
her, and she is from that moment a lawful wife. The bridegroom prepares
a sumptuous feast for his friends and relatives, who generally keep up
the festivities for three days.
The jointure settled upon a wife varies according to the wealth of the
husband. If he is in middling circumstances, he merely bestows two
dresses, a ring, and a mirror; but he is likewise expected to supply
all the requisite furniture.
It is deemed an irretrievable disgrace for a bride to be sent back
after she has left her father’s house. Sometimes the bridegroom
promises a jointure beyond his means; and in these cases, curious
scenes sometimes take place. He shuts the door against the cavalcade,
and declares the girl shall not enter his dwelling, unless the jointure
be reduced. Under these circumstances he is generally able to make his
own terms.
The harems of grandees are the most magnificent portion of their
palaces. In the king’s seraglio the same offices and places exist
as at court; but the chief equerry, the captain of the gate, the
captain of the guards, &c., are all of them women. Women likewise
read public prayers, and perform the rites of the Mohammedan religion
within the inclosures of the harem. Women practise medicine, and
bury the dead. A Persian harem is in fact a miniature city, with its
mosques, cemeteries, bazaars, &c. The inhabitants are divided into
four classes. The princesses of the blood are called _begum_; such of
the king’s women as have brought him children are called _kanoom_;
inferior women are called _katoon_; and those kept for the purpose of
waiting upon them are termed slaves. Each female has an apartment to
herself, or lodges with some aged women, and cannot go into the other
rooms, without express permission. The harem is watched by three sorts
of guards, over all of whom is placed a governor, or superintendent.
White eunuchs guard the outside, and are never permitted to enter the
interior; black eunuchs dwell round the second inner inclosure; and
within are stationed elderly women to watch day and night by turns. It
is indispensably requisite that the governor of the seraglio should be
very old, and exceedingly ugly. The inmates are sometimes allowed to
walk in the garden, after it has been well searched, and all persons
ordered to retire.
When it is necessary to remove the king’s women from one dwelling
to another, public notice is given five or six hours beforehand of
the road they are to pursue. All the inhabitants of the villages
through which they are to pass must forthwith quit their habitation.
A horseman rides before the cavalcade, calling with a loud voice,
Prohibition! Prohibition! The ladies sometimes ride astride on
horseback, closely veiled; but the wealthy generally travel in
palanquins, or cages of wicker-work, covered with cloth, and supported
by mules or camels. No excuse avails if any male, over seven years of
age, is caught in any place where he could so much as see the camels
that carry these women; even if a traveller were to stumble in his
hurry to get out of the way, the guards would beat him almost to death.
The first wife generally has a rank above her numerous rivals,
particularly if she be the mother of children; but this depends
entirely on the caprice of the master. Misdemeanors are punished
according to the discretion of the husband. When divorces take place,
the dowry originally given to the wife is set aside for her support.
The Persians have a superstition that the spilling of a woman’s blood
brings ill luck; for this reason, when the inmates of the harem are
discovered in any love-intrigue they are generally muffled up in their
long veils, and thrown from the top of a high tower.