The status of the other wives was very inferior to this; and it is difficult to see how such persons were really in a position much superior to that of the concubines.  As daughters of the chief nobles—­for the king could only choose a wife within a narrow circle—­they had, of course, a rank and dignity independent of that acquired by marriage; but otherwise they must have been almost on a par with those fair inmates of the Gynaeceum who had no claim even to the name of consort.  Each wife had probably a suite of apartments to herself, and a certain number of attendants—­eunuchs, and tirewomen—­at her disposal; but the inferior wives saw little of the king, being only summoned each in their turn to share his apartment, and had none of the privileges which made the position of chief wife so important.

The concubines seem to have occupied a distinct part of the Gynaeceum, called “the second house of the women.”  They were in the special charge of one of the eunuchs, and were no doubt kept under strict surveillance.  The Empire was continually searched for beautiful damsels to fill the harem, a constant succession being required, as none shared the royal couch more than once, unless she attracted the monarch’s regard very particularly.  In the later times of the Empire, the number of the concubines became enormous, amounting (according to one authority) to three hundred and twenty-nine, (according to another) to three hundred and sixty.  They accompanied the king both in his wars and in his hunting expeditions.  It was a part of their duty to sing and play for the royal delectation; and this task, according to one author, they had to perform during the whole of each night.  It is a more probable statement that they entertained the king and queen with music while they dined, one of them leading, and the others singing and playing in concert.

The Gynaeceum—­in the Susa palace, at any rate—­was a building distinct from the general edifice, separated from the “king’s house” by a court.  It was itself composed of at least three sets of apartments—­viz. apartments for the virgins who had not yet gone into the king, apartments for the concubines, and apartments for the Queen-Consort and the other wives.  These different portions were under the supervision of different persons.  Two eunuchs of distinction had the charge respectively of the “first” and of the “second house of the women.”  The Queen-Consort was, at any rate nominally, paramount in the third, her authority extending over all its inmates, male and female.

Sometimes there was in the Gynaeceum a personage even more exalted than any which have as yet been mentioned.  The mother of the reigning prince, if she outlived his father, held a position at the Court of her son beyond that even of his Chief Wife.  She kept the ensigns of royalty which she had worn during the reign of her husband; and wielded, as Queen-Mother, a far weightier and more domineering authority than she