10 Historic Facts That Show Unexpected Sides of the Past

2. Iranian Shah and his harem

There is a pretty controversial story about the harem of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar who ruled in Iran in the late 19th century. Many people were shocked when they saw the photos of his women. Some of the women were beautiful… in an unconventional way. They had mustaches!

There are people who believe that these are the real photos of Nasser al-Din’s harem. They claim that he loved photography and tried to break the prohibition of taking pictures of faces, and especially faces of women.

However, there is an opposing theory suggesting that the “women” we see in the photos are actually not women at all! According to this idea, because of the photo prohibition, men from the first State Theater were invited to take part in the photoshoot and dress as women!