Harem in the context of "Darius II"

A eunuch (/ˈjuː.nək/ YOO-nək, Ancient Greek: εὐνοῦχος) is a boy or man who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BC. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, concubines or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants.

Eunuchs would usually be servants or slaves who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power to the formally humble but trusted servant.

The Topkapı Palace or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.

Construction, ordered by the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, began in 1459, six years after the conquest of Constantinople. Topkapı was originally called the "New Palace" (Yeni Saray or Saray-ı Cedîd-i Âmire) to distinguish it from the Old Palace (Eski Saray or Sarây-ı Atîk-i Âmire) in Beyazıt Square. It was given the name Topkapı, meaning Cannon Gate, in the 19th century. The complex expanded over the centuries, with major renovations after the 1509 earthquake and the 1665 fire. The palace complex consists of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. Female members of the Sultan's family lived in the harem, and leading state officials, including the Grand Vizier, held meetings in the Imperial Council building.

The Ottoman Imperial Harem (Ottoman Turkish: حرم همايون, romanized: Harem-i Hümâyûn, lit. 'Imperial Harem') of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman sultan's harem – composed of the wives, servants (both female slaves and eunuchs), female relatives and the sultan's concubines – occupying a secluded portion (seraglio) of the Ottoman imperial household. This institution played an important social function within the Ottoman court, and wielded considerable political authority in Ottoman affairs, especially during the long period known as the Sultanate of Women (approximately 1534 to 1683).

Historians claim that the sultan was frequently lobbied by harem members of different ethnic or religious backgrounds to influence the geography of the Ottoman wars of conquest. The utmost authority in the imperial harem, the valide sultan, ruled over the other women in the household. The consorts of the sultan were normally of slave origin, including the valide sultan.

Saqaliba (Arabic: صقالبة, romanized: ṣaqāliba, singular Arabic: صقلبي, romanized: ṣaqlabī) was a term used in medieval Arabic sources, initially to refer to Slavs, but it also came to be used as a designation for European slaves in Muslim countries in the 10th and 11th centuries. In the Arab world, the Saqaliba served as servants, harem concubines, eunuchs, craftsmen, mercenaries, slave soldiers, and as Caliph's guards. In the Iberian Peninsula, their military role may be compared with that of mamluks in the Ottoman Empire. Many rose to prominent positions in the caliphates of the Maghreb, and some became rulers of taifas (small independent states) in Levante at the beginning of the 11th century (known as the "Amirids").

Slavery in Egypt was practised until the early 20th century. It differed from slavery in ancient Egypt, being managed in accordance with Islamic law from the conquest of the Caliphate in the 7th century until the practice stopped in the early 20th century, having been gradually phased out when the slave trade was banned in the late 19th century.

During the Islamic history of Egypt, slaves were mainly of three categories: male slaves used for soldiers and bureaucrats, female slaves used for sexual slavery as concubines, and female slaves and eunuchs used for domestic service in harems and private households. At the end of the period, there was a growing agricultural slavery. The people enslaved in Egypt during Islamic times mostly came from Europe and Caucasus (who were referred to as "white"), or from the Sudan and Africa South of the Sahara through the Trans-Saharan slave trade (who were referred to as "black"). British pressure led to the abolishment of the slave trade between 1877 and 1884. Slavery itself was not abolished, but it gradually died out after the abolition of the slave trade, since no new slaves could be legally acquired, and existing slaves were given the right to apply for freedom. People were still held as slaves as late as the 1930s.

Mohamed Tewfik Pasha (Arabic: محمد توفيق باشا Muḥammad Tawfīq Bāshā; April 30 or 15 November 1852 – 7 January 1892), also known as Tawfiq of Egypt, was khedive of Egypt and the Sudan between 1879 and 1892 and the sixth ruler from the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. He inherited a state suffering under the financial and political mismanagement of his predecessor Isma'il. Disaffection in the Egyptian army as well as Anglo-French control of the state in the 1880s culminated in the anti-foreign Urabi revolt. Tewfik also took interest in matters concerning irrigation, education and justice; as well as selling his father's female slaves and closing the court's harem quarters.