ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the immediate household of the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir. Archaeologically, the palaces related to the Abbasid dynasty in Baghdad are not well known since almost nothing of the monuments and of the urban fabric of the Abbasid city remains. The Abbasid caliphs maintained a secluded female household, conventionally called harem, meaning the protected or inviolable part of the house. The family members in the Abbasid harem of the early fourth/tenth century included the caliph's mother, the wives of the caliph, his concubines, the children and the unmarried, widowed or divorced sisters and aunts. The notion of polygamy is not limited to the four legal wives but to the multiplicity of concubines who populated the caliphal harem. The royal children seem to have lived with their mothers in the harem of the caliphal palace. The young al-Muqtadir and his mother lived in the same residence, as revealed in an anecdote related to al-Muqtadir's childhood.
