, all eunuchs found themselves 'free' all of a sudden and many faced a difficult predicament, as newspapers of the period indicate (Kandemir, 1936, pp. 66-70; 1950, pp. 432-433, 438). Nadir Agha was one of the 'luckiest' ones, as he had his own pavilion and a servant to serve him at home. He was also the only one, to our knowledge, who left behind memoirs. The positive aspects of his life story have prompted some historians to view either Ottoman or Islamic forms of slavery as more or less benign because of a sociocultural understanding that provided slaves with the opportunity to rise to a high social status. Against those interpretations, his life story shows that Ottoman slavery was also injurious, having deprived Nadir Agha not only of his freedom and dignity but also exposed him to all sorts of physical and psychological violence.