Odalisques ( chambermaids) in history and their role in literary and cultural life

Abstract

Odalisques ( chambermaids) in history and their role in literary and cultural lifeAssi. Prof. Jihad Kadhum Alogaily Assi. lect. Afrah Thiab SalihUniversity of Baghdad - Center for woman studiesAbstractThe odalisque ( chambermaid) is every owned woman (possessed ). Her master has owned her either by buying her from the slavers who were travelling around in the lands to buy the odalisques and then selling them or they are captives of war. Whenever odalisques are mentioned their ingenuity is mentioned with them in the arts of singing, literature and other arts like morphology and linguistic category This duality of ingenuity and slavery was the feature that distinguished the odalisques, the ingenuity of the odalisque was the equivalent to the freedom that she missed. The Abbasid era was more famous than all any other eras with the widespread of odalisques and singer odalisques in the palaces of the caliphs and in the houses of the slavers as a result of social factors of prosperity and luxury. Many types of odalisques emerged who contributed in transferring the cultures of their countries into the Islamic society, like the poet odalisque Oreib and odalisque Dananeer.

Keywords

Odalisques