Word: ikbal
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sultans were understandably fin, icky about their companions. Concubines to whom they tossed a preliminary handkerchief of approval were known as gozde, literally "in the eye." The handful of gdzde who reached the canopied royal bed by way of secret passages became ikbal, or "bedded...
...seraglio, however, sex was sometimes secondary to intrigue, and the queen mothers and chief eunuchs often ruled the roost as much as the rooster. Too much ikbal resulted in too many male heirs eligible to succeed as sultan. Aggressive siblings-or their mothers-cut down the rival candidates neatly. As soon as he was named sultan in 1595, for example, Mohammed III murdered 19 half brothers and, to be certain of obliterating all possible competition, also killed seven of his father's concubines who happened to be pregnant at the moment. This was extreme even by Topkapi ground rules...
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