him privately. The only person in the harem who had access to public only with "ritual and retinue appropriate to her status," was the valide sultan. The institution was introduced in the Turkish society with adoption of Islam, under the influence of the Arab caliphate, which the Ottomans emulated. To ensure the obedience of the women, many of them were bought and kept into slavery. However, not all members of the harem were slaves. The main wives, especially those taken into marriage to consolidate personal and dynastic alliances, were free women. This was the exception, not the rule. The imperial harem also served as a parallel institution to the sultan's household of male servants. The women were provided with an education roughly equal to with that provided to male pages. At the end of their respective educations, the men and women would be married off to one another and "graduated" from the palace to occupy administrative posts in the empire's provinces. There was a distinct hierarchical structure within the harem, founded on family-based relationships among the women. This family was not limited to blood connections but included the whole royal household, consisting mainly of slaves for the majority. Following the evolution of the imperial harem from the sixteenth century onward shows that, while the organizational structure of the harem was never static and the numbers and roles of servants within the palace was constantly fluid, there was a strong sense of institutional continuity and unchangingly rigid hierarchies within the harem. The valide sultan, the sultan’s mother, held power over the harem and this power sometimes extended over society. She was the custodian of imperial power, and worked to consolidate both her son’s rule and continuation of the dynasty. She resided at the top of the female hierarchy. Next in line were the sultan’s daughters, who were also called sultans. These princesses were admired and could rival their father for popularity and recognition. They were also useful for the political alliances that their marriages secured for the empire. These women were known throughout the empire and had an important reputation to uphold. Consequently, only a small fraction of the women in the harem actually engaged in sexual relations with the sultan, as most were destined to marry members of the Ottoman political elite, or else to continue service to the valide sultan. Within the harem, the valide sultan and the sultan's