The Female Slave Market in Constantinople

(Move your mouse pointer over the images to see full-size versions.)

When the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 they kept the name, and it only changed to "Istanbul" during the Turkish republic in the 1920s. The Ottoman Empire was built on slavery in many ways, not only because the bureaucracy and professional army were staffed by male slaves conscripted in the provinces, but also because the Sultans themselves were the sons of slave concubines kept in the Imperial Harem.

The "Avret (or Aurut) Bazaar" was the female slave market, which is the "Women's Market" in Turkish. It appears to have been within sight of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, and is a real, identifiable place in modern day Istanbul. I've used some of my collection of slave market images to piece together some details about it.

One of the clearest images of the bazaar is in a series of engravings made by Thomas Allom for "Constantinople and the Scenery of Seven Churches of Asia" (1838) that includes descriptions by Dr Robert Walsh, who was chaplain to the British embassy. The mosque with its two minaret towers is visible on the right, along with the the buildings with balconies and overhanging upper stories that surround the central courtyard.

W.H. Barlett's engraving from 1839 and Ippolito Caffi's painting of 1843 clearly show the same place, with the same layout and the mosque on the right with its minarets to the left.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to explore this area of modern-day Istanbul myself, and took these three photos. The first shows the left side of the Nuruosmaniye Mosque and is taken next to the Fortis Bank on the corner of Tavuk Pazari Sk. and C. Nuruosmaniye Cd. The second picture, showing the small square with trees, was taken at right angles to the first, down another side of the bank (it's the same silver car in the foreground in both.) This pretty much corresponds to the location implied by the position of the minarets in the engravings, although it could be somewhat closer or further away along the same line of sight. At the end of the square is a cream wall with an arch, and this is one of the many entrances to the Grand Bazaar. The third photo was taken just inside the arch and shows how the covered bazaar was formed by roofing over many shopping streets, with buildings having slightly overhanging upper storeys.

There are another couple of general views of the slave market. First, William Allan painted a rather melodramatic version in 1838. Although again showing the same identifiable place, it seems likely that Allan swapped the orientation of the minarets to better balance the composition. Finally, J.F. Lewis made an unfinished and possibly hurried sketch during his stay in Constantinople in about 1840. This shows the balconies surrounding the courtyard more closely, and they appear to be arranged almost like cafes and were used for the sale of the more expensive merchandise.

Some of the slaves were exhibited sitting on rugs on the ground, attended by the merchants as shown in these two coloured engravings by Preziosi. Others, of higher value, were sold in the rooms in the buildings surrounding the courtyard, as another of Allom's monochrome engravings shows. During this period the value and role of female slaves was often decided along racial lines, both in the Ottoman Empire and its former province of Egypt. Darker women from south of the Sahara were only employed as servants; less dark slaves from the east coast of Africa, including modern day Somalia, were valued as concubines; and white-skinned Circassian women from southern Russia were only affordable to the rich. Walsh's account expands on this racial division in Islamic domestic slavery of the period: "In the front are platforms raised four or five feet from the ground, and ascended by steps, forming a kind of colonade, and in the rear are latticed windows. In the one, blacks and slaves of an inferior kind are kept and disposed of; in the other those of a choicer quality, who are guarded with a more jealous vigilance, and secluded from the public eye."

Documents

Bon's Seraglio - the Ottoman Sultan's harem in 1607

There is for this purpose a place in Constantinople, near the Bezisten, where every wednesday, in the open street, there are bought and sold slaves of all sorts, and every one may freely come to buy for their several uses; some for nurses, some for servants, and some for their lustful appetites ...

Dallaway's Constantinople, Ancient and Modern, 1797

The females of the seraglio are chiefly Georgian and Circassian slaves, selected from all that are either privately bought, or exposed to sale in the Avret Bazar, and, for many reasons, are admitted at an early age. We may readily conclude that an assemblage of native beauty so exquisite, does not exist in any other place ...

M. Von Tietz St. Petersburg, Constantinople, and Napoli di Romania, Vol II, 1837

there is a gate, built in a high dark wall, which leads to the market of female slaves ... it was by no means, nor under any circumstances, permitted to a Christian to visit this market ...

Allom and Walsh Constantinople and the Scenery of Seven Churches of Asia, 1838

The Aurut Bazaar, or Female Slave Market, stands in the quarter of the city near the burnt column. It consists of a quadrangular edifice, including a square area of about two hundred feet, surrounded with apartments. In the front are platforms raised four or five feet from the ground, and ascended by steps, forming a kind of colonade, and in the rear are latticed windows. In the one, blacks and slaves of an inferior kind are kept and disposed of; in the other those of a choicer quality, who are guarded with a more jealous vigilance, and secluded from the public eye. ...

The above pictures are part of my larger collection of slave market images, mostly 19th century paintings.