Zaydan Qahramana

Zaydan the qahramana (9th-century - 10th-century) was a courtier of the Abbasid harem during the reign of Caliph Al-Muqtadir (r. 908–929).

She was taken as a slave and placed in the Abbasid harem, were she was given the office of qahramana (stewardess). The qahramana's acted as the intermediaries of the women of the harem and the outside world, was assigned a number of different tasks such as managing economic and judicial affairs of the harem, and was the most influential of the offices a woman could have.

Zaydan is known as one of the most powerful of the qahramana's. She was assigned to be the guardian of the state jewels.^[1]

She acted as the jailkeeper of high status prisoners. This enabled her to form a net of contacts among influential officials, and act as an intermediary between them and the Caliph.^[2] One of the most famous of her prisoners were the vizier Ibn al-Furat, who was placed in her care after he had fallen out of favor. She managed the have him restored to power through her harem contacts. She was revarded by him with lands and wealth, and they formed a mutually favorable alliance which continued for the rest of their careers.^[3]

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