Unhappy Offspring? Concubines and Their Sons in Early Abbasid Society. (20th January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gordon, Matthew
• Is Part Of: International journal of Middle East studies. Volume 49:Number 1(2017)
• Page Start: 153
• Page End: 157
• Publication Date: 2017-01-20
• Subjects: Middle East -- Periodicals; 915.603305
• DOI: 10.1017/S0020743816001215
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7438

Abstract

Abstract : Contemporary and later Arabic texts provide much evidence that wayward conduct by elite young adult males was a source of considerable stress in early Abbasid cities. This brief essay turns on a question: to what extent is such conduct to be attributed to concubinage? I treat two sample texts, each describing untoward activity on the part of well-placed adult sons and its impact on the Abbasid body politic. Neither text, however, speaks to concubinage. What follows, then, is an argument from circumstantial evidence. Concubinage seems a most likely source, and so can reasonably be connected to the broader patterns of social disjunction of the first Abbasid period (roughly the mid-8th to mid-10th centuries).