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The Picture: Constanza's Capitulation
Time – Late 18 th Century, Place – Harem of the Sublime Porte, Istanbul
Introduction
Mozart got it all wrong. But then he was a man, and he was an infidel, and he had never seen the inside of a seraglio. In fact he had never talked to anyone who had been inside a harem. Actually all the events he based his opera on had taken place well before he was even born. And he left me, probably the most important actor in the drama, out of his opera. Mozart focused it on that stupid Constanza who was no more than my tool and my toy. It was probably because he was thinking of his vacuous blond wife when he wrote music for the concubine's part. And the poor Austrian composer sadly underestimated Blonde the serving girl who had ten times the brains and courage of her mistress. However, I didn't and Blonde still serves me. But remember, my son became the next Pasha and that is what counts. Constanza , in the end, provided me with nothing more than a pair of slippers and gloves.
Part I - Pasha Selim
Pasha Selim was of course the center of it all. He was, after all, technically the ruler of the largest and richest empire on Earth. Theoretically the empire of the Ottoman Turks stretched from the Atlantic Coast of Morocco to Mughal India and from the Sudan to the Balkans. And Selim was its Pasha. Realistically though, most of this empire paid little heed to the Sublime Porte. The Islamic emirates of the Southern Mediterranean coast gave only the merest lip-service to Istambul . The Mughal emperors of India had not paid homage in almost two hundred years. Egypt, Greece and Persia were getting restless under Turkish rule. About the only provinces that the Pasha could regard as loyal were Anatolia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and the Balkans. Still this is not an inconsiderable expanse, larger than any kingdom of infidels.
But my poor husband Selim was not all-powerful in this limited domain. First of all, the actual administration of our loyal territories is by the provincial governors who have very little respect for what Istanbul decrees, even in the matter of providing troops and tax tribute. On top of this, civil administration is really province of the Grand Vizier. The Pasha is supposed to be a military leader. Now the Grand Vizier is a eunuch. However, the last hundred years or so, the Vizier has been selected from the male offspring of a closely intermarried group of families. These families also supply the young girls from among whom are selected the four wives of the Pasha. Without armies and money the job of the Pasha - go out and conquer - has become a joke. And as the job has become a joke so has the man. It has been a hundred years since we stood before the gate of Vienna while the infidels trembled. And it has probably been a hundred years since a real man sat the throne of the Sublime Porte on the shores of the Golden Horn. Now he sits in his harem and we his four wives bicker and scheme for his favor.
At the time of this story Selim was actually a handsome man. When Constanza came into our lives he was not the elderly corpulent buffoon usually depicted on the stage. He was in fact a fine figure of man although not exactly hung like a bull. His mustache and beard were neatly trimmed and he allowed us to dress him well, although he resisted sumptuous garb. His fatal flaw was that he had nothing to do. The Grand Vizier, my first cousin on my mother's side and my second cousin on my father's side, did not bother Selim with the nasty details of government and insulated him from petitioners who would only cause my husband upset. In reality, Selim seldom set foot outside the Seraglio and its twenty acres of inner courtyards. Instead he heavily indulged in the hooka and a bubble pipe was ever at his side. One benefit of being supreme in a vast Middle East empire was having access to every form of formidable hashish. I myself have never cared for the resin. After the age of fifteen when he assumed the thone , Selim probably never had a whole day with a clear head. Well, that was not his task in our society. His job was to father a son to carry on the line. For that purpose he had the four wives permitted by the Koran. In that respect he was observant. And in never touching alcohol. And in the first few years of his reign, he did pay some attention to us and fathered many children. Three with his number one wife, Fatima , one with me, Miriam, and two each with wives number three and four. Unfortunately, except for my Mahmoud , they were all girls. Actually there were a number of male babies born but all of them except for my Mahmoud , did at birth or within a day or so of birth. Very unfortunate for them. But at the time of our story, Mahmoud was not yet conceived.
And then there were the concubines. But more of that later.
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