The Islamic religion allows a master to have intimacy with his slave girls. Therefore, any pretty slave was not purchased for work, but to please the body and soul of her master. How much did young and beautiful girls cost in the Ottoman Empire? I’ll tell you.
Muslims are strictly forbidden to enslave their own co-religionists and Christians or Jews living under their patronage. Therefore, slaves became the inhabitants of neighboring countries with which the empire was in a state of declared or undeclared war.
The main suppliers of live goods were Algerian pirates, Crimean Tatars, Arab slave traders operating south of the Sahara, as well as their own army during campaigns. And by the way, popular uprisings, because on the rebels the protection ceased to apply.
During the “Magnificent Age” about a fifth of the population of Istanbul were slaves. They were sold and bought in special closed markets, the oldest of which was located on the site of a similar Byzantine establishment. Slave traders, especially if they specialized in whites, achieved great wealth and enjoyed considerable influence. They usually kept the best girls for the sultan and the great nobles. Therefore, we know little about the amounts of the sale of the highest priced concubines.
Perfection of the body was an important requirement when buying a slave. Therefore, they were usually offered for sale unclothed and carefully examined. Beautiful and innocent girls could be bought for the highest prices. But if it was later discovered that the slave was not a virgin, the seller could be punished.
African girls were considered less valuable, usually purchased for work rather than pleasure. Whereas white beauties were bought solely for the purpose of gaining access to the body. The most valued were the Circassian girls, as well as Slavic girls, among whom there were many blondes. However, the beauties who got into the sultan’s harem after the pirate raid on Iceland, the ruler did not like. Although they were young and beautiful, the Padishah did not appreciate the temperament, like sleeping dwarfs.
Still, how much?
Well, prices varied greatly over time. And could drop a lot after successful military campaigns, when tens of thousands of slaves hit the market. But normally, only the wealthy could buy young beauties for the master’s bed. After all, for the same money could get a good real estate. For example, in 1671, a young slave girl of Balkan origin was bought in Crete for 350 silver coins. Whereas the cost of a two-story house with a garden and a plot of land was 300 pieces of silver.
In the 19th century, and about this period the greatest amount of written data has been preserved, the Crimean and Algerian slave trade no longer existed. Therefore, the only source of white concubines until the end of the empire was the Caucasus. Before the Caucasian War, a beautiful and innocent Circassian girl aged 13 to 20 years old was sold for 500 silver coins. Whereas for a girl of average appearance and a hundred was considered a good price.
But then the highlanders were forced to leave their homeland en masse. The government took certain measures to improve them, but at first most of them lived very poorly. Therefore, many had to sell their daughters in order to get two birds with one stone: both to settle their children and to earn money.
Formally Circassians were Muslims, but the authorities preferred to turn a blind eye to it. As a result, the price of live goods fell dramatically. In the 1850s, a Goryonka of average handsomeness could be bought for only 5 silver coins! And if earlier she could be sure that she would get into a good family, where she would be treated with dignity and, perhaps, wealth, then from now on any shopkeeper could buy a concubine.
Many people then took advantage of the opportunities and acquired Caucasian beauties as first or second wives. The press reported a mass craze, with lower-class townspeople selling their goods to save up for their own slaves.