boomerang wrote:denizaksulu wrote:YFred wrote:It just goes to prove that they are GCs in that picture.
They are playing a game called 'oğlancılık'. Very common in the palaces of the Ottoman Sultans. It is likely they are 'devshirme' from the Balkans.
yeah and the clan latched on it straight away huh?...
You can imagine that a lot of offsrping would sprout out from the 'cariye's' as well. I suppose it was a kind of 'entertainment' for the residents of the seraglio (read prison). Some of these became high ranking officials at the 'Porte'. I wont say incest too was unknown but a few of the Sultans were 'mad'. The most famous being 'Deli Ibrahim'.
Yep. It did catch on, from wherever it appeared.
My sources were books written in Turkish, published in Turkey many years ago. I guess you'd say more Turkish propaganda.