Did women living in the harems of the Safavid shahs had an opportunity for any kind of education or did they waste their lives behind the walls of a gilded prison? The following presentation, based on contemporary sources, will reveal some interesting aspects of this hidden world. Sixteenth and seventeenth-century Primary Persian sources, as well as numerous records by European travelers to Iran in that period, indicate that many women in the harem did not waste their lives. Some studied the Qur’an, fiq, and other religious texts; others read literature and poetry; some wrote poems and learned calligraphy; while others studied dancing, singing and playing musical instruments. Women learned to sew and make slippers and a number of them were proficient in herbal medicine and acted as medics. Sources also indicate that some of the women rode horses, accompanied the shahs on their hunt and carried weapons. In addition, the presentation will enumerate a number of women in the harem who wielded great political power. The paper will identify the women by name and refer to the period of their residence in the harem (i.e, the reign of Shah Isma`il, Shah Tahmasp; Shah `Abbas, etc.).