Product Description

Ahmet III (1703-30) was the 23rd sultan of the imperial Osmanli dynasty. His predecessors had created the vast Ottoman empire, but by the time of Ahmet's reign, the empire was in decline, and the sultans spent most of their time in Istanbul's fabled pleasure palace, Topkapi Sarayi-known to the Turks as the House of Felicity. In this fascinating work, John Freely explores the decadent world within the palace walls and exposes most of the later sultans as weak, some as insane, and many as dominated by their wives or mothers. Freely describes the imperial harem, black eunuch guards, and the other people who served and amused the sultans-and sometimes imprisoned and murdered them. Witty, detailed, and illustrated throughout, this book is an opulent pleasure.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323497 in Books
• Published on: 2001-07-01
• Released on: 2001-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

About the Author
John Freely was born in New York in 1926. He joined the U.S. Navy at the age of seventeen and served with a commando unit in Burma and China during the last months of World War II. He has written more than twenty books.

Customer Reviews

The House of Felicity? Not!
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.

A beautiful, colorful look into the lives of Ottoman Sultans
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.

Great Stories of the Ottoman Imperial Court
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.