Éphèbes et courtisanes

Jahiz, Maati Kabbal, Malek Chebel

In Arabic, jawari is the plural of jariya, meaning a female servant in the sense of concubine. There were two types of servants, one kind for the household and daily errands, and the other kind, called qina, which could sing and rank higher. In fact, their price was very high, so that only princes and wealthy merchants could afford it. The word ghilman is the plural of ghoulam, which refers to a male servant and also refers to eunuch and ephebe. In this book Al Jahiz enthralls us with stories of an erotic nature that deal with the perception of sexuality in his time.