The masculine form of the term, concubinus, is frequently explained as the term for a young male slave used for sexual release until his master married. Usually no other possibilities are given. This is very often exactly what the term refers to.
In the Judeo-Christian world, the term concubine has almost exclusively been applied to women, although a cohabiting male may also be called a concubine.
Consubine is a woman who lives with a man, but who is not a wife or has lower status than his wife. They are not married. Example: a mistress staying in house. Consort is the spouse of a monarch.
In modern usage, the term concubine often denotes the status of a quasi-wife who is not legally married to a man with whom she lives. The man (but not the woman) may or may not be in an ongoing legal marriage with another person.
Background of the Concubine
It is usually translated into English as “concubine” and understood to refer to a wife or sexual partner of secondary status. Although certain men in the Hebrew Bible have both wives and concubines, no wives or additional concubines are referred to in Judges 19.
The origins for a male to hold a concubine were for sexual pleasure and to ensure numerous children. Mostly concubines served to satisfy sexual pleasure since any children that resulted from a mistress was considered illegitimate, and unless allowed by their father, had no rights of inheritance.
Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as Empress Dowager Cixi, was arguably one of the most successful concubines in Chinese history. Cixi first entered the court as a concubine to Xianfeng Emperor and gave birth to his only surviving son, who later became Tongzhi Emperor.
This was forbidden by Qur'an 4:22. A man could not have two sisters simultaneously as wives or concubines. Thus, when Muhammad received two sisters as a gift, he took one as a concubine but not the other.
A prince consort is the husband of a monarch who is not a monarch in his own right. In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal title, such as prince. Some monarchies use the title of king consort for the same role.
Any woman working in the palace who caught the eye of the king could become a concubine, so it is likely there were many concubines that were not recorded in the official books. Concubines were given one of eight ranks and placed under the queen.
Male concubines did exist historically. Some Romans took a concubinus, a slave in a subservient relationship with his master before he married.
Some Roman men kept a male concubine (concubinus, "one who lies with; a bed-mate") before they married a woman. Eva Cantarella has described this form of concubinage as "a stable sexual relationship, not exclusive but privileged".
reverse harem (plural reverse harems) A group of someone's boyfriends and/or husbands in a polygamous household. A situation in anime and manga in which a woman is the love interest of three or more men.
In the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), historians Sima Qian and Ban Gu both included reports on ningxing, the emperors' male concubines. From these, Pan concludes that almost every emperor during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) had or was suspected of having male partners. The best known among these was Dong Xian.
Adultery and Concubinage are penalized under separate provisions in the Revised Penal Code (RPC) according to the sex of the offending spouse.
Despite these nuances to the biblical perspective on polygamy, many important figures had more than one wife, such as in the instances of Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9), Jacob (Gen 29:15-28), Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8), David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).
Adultery VS Concubinage
Adultery is committed by a wife and should be charged together with the other man, while concubinage is committed by a husband and should be charged together with the other woman or concubine.
A similar term is concubine, though it has a slightly different meaning. Concubines date from earlier times, to the Biblical era and beyond, and refer to women who were generally kept far more closeted socially, unlike courtesans, who often had great independence and freedom.
The tennō, kugyō (court officials), shōgun and daimyōs often had several wives to ensure the birth of an heir. The seishitsu had a status above other wives, called sokushitsu (側室, concubine).
So concubine do not mean the same thing in the west. Today in some countries it is still used as a legal term for unmarried cohabitating couples, but is different from the idea of a harem sex slave in oriental cultural.
Concubines had their own rooms and would fill their days applying make-up, sewing, practising various arts and socialising with other concubines. Many of them spent their entire lives in the palace without any contact with the emperor.
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Wang Zhaojun volunteered to sacrifice herself for marriage for the sake of land peace. The king admit it, but in the end the emperor really regret what he has done because he just realized that Wang Zhaojun is the most beautiful concubine.
The Imperial Harem wing at the Topkapı Palace of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) in what is now Istanbul, Turkey, was constructed in various stages from the 1459 onwards.