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Aseraglio,[a]serail,[b]seray orsaray (fromPersian:سرای,romanized: sarāy,lit. 'palace', viaTurkish,Italian andFrench) is acastle,palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the formerOttoman Empire.
"The Seraglio" may refer specifically to theTopkapı Palace, the residence of the formerOttoman sultans inIstanbul (known asConstantinople in English at the time of Ottoman rule).[1]The term can also refer to other traditional Turkish palaces (every imperial prince had his own) and other grand houses built around courtyards.
The termseraglio, fromItalian,[2][3][4] has been used in English since 1581.[5]The ItalianTreccani dictionary gives two derivations:[4][6]
The term may also be speltserail, viaFrench influence, based on the Italian term.[3]
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Since the Topkapı Palace's harem (commonly known as "The Seraglio harem"[10]) grew in prominence and fame, the term saray/serail/seraglio began also being commonly used as a synonym ofharem, the sequestered living quarters used by wives andconcubines in an Ottoman household.[d][10]
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Besides theTopkapı Palace ("The Seraglio"), the most famous seray is theGrand Serail of Beirut (Arabic:السراي الكبير,romanized: Al-Sarāy al-Kabir) in Lebanon, which is the headquarters of theprime minister. It is situated atop a hill in downtown Beirut a few blocks away from the Lebanese Parliament. The hill was the site of an Ottoman army base from the 1840s, which was built up, fortified, and expanded in the 1850s. At first it was known asal quishla, from the Turkish wordkışla, meaning barracks.
Other examples include:
Seventeen saraya were established in Palestine during Ottoman rule; most were established by regional officials and their families such as theRidwan dynasty andZahir al-Umar and his family.[11]
In modern Italian the word is spelledserraglio. It may refer to a wall or structure, either for defence — such as the Serraglio ofVillafranca di Verona, a defensive wall built by theScaligeri — or for containment, for example of caged wild animals.[c][6] Theghettoes established in many Italian cities following the promulgation byPope Paul IV in 1555 of thepapal bullCum nimis absurdum were initially calledserraglio degli ebrei,lit. 'enclosure of the Jews'.[12]
Seraglio is also the name of the artificial island on whichMantua is located.
In the context of theturquerie fashion, the seraglio became the subject of works of art, the most famous perhaps being Mozart's 1782Singspiel,Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), based onChristoph Friedrich Bretzner's 1781librettoBelmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Belmonte and Konstanze, or The Abduction from the Seraglio). In Montesquieu's 1721Persian Letters, one of the main characters, a Persian from the city ofIsfahan, is described as an occupant of a seraglio.
Saraya is also used as a military unit title in the Arab world. In this case, the Arabic isسرية, a different word from "saraya" (السرايا), as in a building. The etymology of the two terms also differs:سرية is from Arabic and communicates the idea of a "private group". However, the plural isسرايا (saraya), indistinguishable from the term "saraya" which is a variant (in the singular) of saray (the building).
The normal translation forسرية iscompany (military unit), but in the case of theLebanese Resistance Saraya the term is often arbitrarily translated asbrigades.
Another example is the SyrianDefense Saraya.
