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Speaker(s): Jane Hathaway (Ohio State University)

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The Sultan’s Eunuch: The Chief Harem Eunuch as Shaper of the Ottoman Empire
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Eunuchs were a common feature of pre- and early modern societies that are now poorly understood. Here, Jane Hathaway offers an in-depth study of the chief eunuch who guarded the harem of the Ottoman Empire. A wide range of primary sources are used to analyze the Chief Eunuch’s origins in East Africa and his political, economic, and religious role from the inception of his office in the late sixteenth century through the dismantling of the palace harem in the early twentieth century. Hathaway highlights the origins of the institution and how the role of eunuchs developed in East Africa, as well as exploring the Chief Eunuch’s connections to Egypt and Medina. By tracing the evolution of the office, we see how the Chief Eunuch’s functions changed in response to transformations in Ottoman society, from the generalized crisis of the seventeenth century to the westernizing reforms of the nineteenth century.
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Jane Hathaway is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of History at Ohio State University. She received her Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University in 1992; her advisor was Cemal Kafadar. She has published six books, most recently the second edition of The Arab Lands under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1800 (Routledge, 2020) and The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem: From African Slave to Power-Broker (Cambridge, 2018; paperback 2020), four edited volumes, and numerous articles on Ottoman Egypt, Ottoman Yemen, Ottoman court eunuchs, and Ali ibn Abi Talib’s legendary sword Zülfikar. She has also trained many graduate students.
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The Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies will continue the Wednesday lunch-talks series via Zoom at 12:00 noon (Pacific Standard Time). Email bazzif [at] stanford.edu (bazzif[at]stanford[dot]edu) for the Zoom link.