Topkapi Palace from across the Bosporus, Istanbul.
Connected to the harem but tucked away behind a high wall was the chamber of the Ottoman princes.
Its a single story building handsomely decorated on the inside with high ceiling, tiled walls and carpeted floors.
Ornate stained glass windows looked out across the high terrace and the garden of the pool below.
These chambers were known as kafes, whose literal translation is cage.
The cruel practice was invented in the early 17th century to replace an even more barbarous tradition.
This led many to conspire against their own brothers, leading to revolt, war and even murder.
Chamber of Crown Princes, also called the kafes, at Topkap Palace, Istanbul.
Photo credit:Ruslan Kalnitsky/Shutterstock.com
Interior detail from Chamber of Crown Princes at The Twin Kiosk inside Topkapi Palace.
Photo credit:Mattia Panciroli/Flickr
Interior detail from Chamber of Crown Princes at The Twin Kiosk inside Topkapi Palace.
In that case, the next eldest heir was released from the kafes and thrust towards the throne.
He banned the drinking of coffee and forbid the use of intoxicants such as alcohol and tobacco.
Anyone found flouting the ban was severally beaten.
Repeat offenders were executed by drowning in the Bosporus.
Murad IV reportedly patrolled the streets and the taverns of Istanbul at night in disguise policing the enforcement.
Murad IV
Another tragic victim of the kafes system was Ibrahim the Mad.
Ibrahim had to be coaxed out of the kafes by his mother and shown the sultans dead body.
He spent most his life getting laid, but had bizarre ideas of foreplay.
Then, neighing like a horse, the sultan would gallop between them.
Ibrahim the Mad
The adverse effect of spending long years in confinement is well documented.
It is better to die once than to die every day.
What terror we endure for a single breath.
It was the longest and last confinement of a sultan by his predecessors.
He reigned until the the Ottoman Empire was dissolved after World War I.
