Product Code Database
A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. (1998). 9780198612636, Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198612636 The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium BCE.Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Animal and human castration in Sumer, Part II: Human castration in the Ur III period. Zinbun Journal, pp. 1–56.Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Female Weavers and Their Children in Lagash – Presargonic and Ur III. Acta Sumerologica 2:81–125. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: or equivalent Domestic worker, for espionage or clandestine operations, castrato singers, Concubinage or sexual partners, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials, and guardians of women or harem servants.
Eunuchs would usually be servants or Slavery who had been castrated to make them less threatening servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions—such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter, or even relaying messages—could, in theory, give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power to the formally humble but trusted servant.
Eunuchs supposedly did not generally have loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, or a family of their own (having neither offspring nor in-laws, at the very least). They were thus seen as more trustworthy and less interested in establishing a private dynasty. Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion.
Eunuchs have been documented in several ancient and medieval societies, including the Byzantine Empire, Imperial China, the Ottoman Empire, and various Middle Eastern cultures. They often held significant power and influence in these societies, particularly in royal courts and harems.
The earliest surviving etymology of the word is from late antiquity. The 5th century (CE) Etymologicon by Orion of Thebes offers two alternative origins for the word eunuch: first, , "guarding the bed", a derivation inferred from eunuchs' established role at the time as cubicularius in the imperial palace, and second, , "being good with respect to the mind", which Orion explains based on their "being deprived of intercourse (), the things that the ancients used to call irrational (, literally: 'mindless')". Orion's second option reflects well-established idioms in Ancient Greek, as shown by entries for , and in Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, while the first option is not listed as an idiom under in that standard reference work. However, the first option was cited by the late 9th century Byzantine emperor Leo VI in his New Constitution 98 banning the marriage of eunuchs, in which he noted eunuchs' reputation as trustworthy guardians of the marriage bed () and claimed that the very word eunuch attested to this kind of employment. The emperor also goes further than Orion by attributing eunuchs' lack of male–female intercourse specifically to castration, which he said was performed with the intention "that they will no longer do the things that males do, or at least to extinguish whatever has to do with desire for the female sex". The 11th century Byzantine monk Nikon of the Black Mountain, opting instead for Orion's second alternative, stated that the word came from ( "good" + "mind"), thus meaning "to be well-minded, well-inclined, well-disposed or favorable", but unlike Orion he argued that this was due to the trust that certain jealous and suspicious foreign rulers placed in the loyalty of their eunuchized servants. Theophylact of Ohrid in a dialogue In Defence of Eunuchs also stated that the origin of the word was from eupnoeic and ekhein, "to have, hold", since they were always "well-disposed" toward the master who "held" or owned them. The 12th century Etymologicum Magnum (s.v. eunoukhos) essentially repeats the entry from Orion, but stands by the first option, while attributing the second option to what "some say". In the late 12th century, Eustathius of Thessalonica ( Commentaries on Homer 1256.30, 1643.16) offered an original derivation of the word from eunis + okheuein, "deprived of mating".
In translations of the Bible into modern European languages, such as the Luther Bible or the King James Bible, the word eunuchs as found in the Latin Vulgate is usually rendered as an officer, official or chamberlain, consistent with the idea that the original meaning of eunuch was bed-keeper (Orion's first option). Modern religious scholars have been disinclined to assume that the courts of Israel and Judah included castrated men, even though the Septuagint used the word eunoukhos.
The early 17th-century scholar and theologian Gerardus Vossius therefore explains that the word originally designated an office, and he affirms the view that it was derived from eunē and ekhein (i.e. "bed-keeper"). He says the word came to be applied to castrated men in general because such men were the usual holders of that office. Still, Vossius notes the alternative etymologies offered by Eustathius ("deprived of mating") and others ("having the mind in a good state"), calling these analyses "quite subtle". Then, after having previously declared that eunuch designated an office (i.e., not a personal characteristic), Vossius ultimately sums up his argument in a different way, saying that the word "originally signified continent men" to whom the care of women was entrusted, and later came to refer to castration because "among foreigners" that role was performed "by those with mutilated bodies".
Modern etymologists have followed Orion's first option. In an influential 1925 essay on the word eunuch and related terms, Ernst Maass suggested that Eustathius's derivation "can or must be laid to rest", and he affirmed the derivation from eunē and ekhein ("guardian of the bed"), without mentioning the other derivation from eunoos and ekhein ("having a well-disposed state of mind").
In Latin, the words , (Greek: σπάδων spadon),. and were used to denote eunuchs.
Some men have falsified the status of their castration to gain entrance into the palace. Chinese eunuch Lao Ai, for instance, became the lover of the mother of Qin Shi Huang, who bore him two sons, before Lao Ai and his sons were executed after participating in a rebellion against Qin Shi Huang.
In Imperial China, eunuchs managed the imperial household and were involved in state affairs, often wielding significant political power.
Sir Henry Yule saw many Muslims serving as eunuchs during the Konbaung dynasty period of Burma (modern Myanmar) while on a diplomatic mission.
Eunuchs existed in China from about 4,000 years ago, were imperial servants by 3,000 years ago, and were common as civil servants by the time of the Qin dynasty.Melissa S. Dale, Inside the World of the Eunuch (2018, ), page 14.Victor T. Cheney, A Brief History Of Castration: Second Edition (2006, ), page 14. From those ancient times until the Sui dynasty, castration was both a traditional punishment (one of the Five Punishments) and a means of gaining employment in the imperial service. Certain eunuchs, such as the Ming dynasty official Zheng He, gained immense power that occasionally superseded that of even the Grand Secretaries. Self-castration was a common practice, although it was not always performed completely, which led to it being made illegal.
It is said that the justification for the employment of eunuchs as high-ranking civil servants was that, since they were incapable of having children, they would not be tempted to seize power and start a dynasty. In many cases, eunuchs were considered more reliable than the scholar-officials.For an extended discussion see Mitamura Taisuke, Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics tr. Charles A. Pomeroy, Tokyo 1970, a short, condensed version of Mitamura's original book =三田村泰助, 宦官, Chuko Shinsho, Tokyo 1963 As a symbolic assignment of heavenly authority to the palace system, a constellation of stars was designated as the Emperor's, and, to the west of it, four stars were identified as his "eunuchs."
The tension between eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials is a familiar theme in Chinese history. In his History of Government, Samuel Finer points out that reality was not always that clear-cut. There were instances of very capable eunuchs who were valuable advisers to their emperor, and the resistance of the "virtuous" officials often stemmed from jealousy on their part. Ray Huang argues that in reality, eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, while the officials represented the alternative political will of the bureaucracy. The clash between them would thus have been a clash of ideologies or political agenda.
The number of eunuchs in imperial employ fell to 470 by 1912, when the practice of using them ceased. The last imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting, died in December 1996.
They usually dress in or shalwar kameez (traditional garbs worn by women in South Asia) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live on the margins of society and face discrimination. Hijra tend to have few options for earning a wage, with many turning to sex work and others performing ritualistic songs and dances. They are integral to several Hindu ceremonies, such as dance programs at marriage ceremonies. They may also earn a living by going uninvited to large ceremonies such as weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events, and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away. The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Hijra often engage in prostitution and begging to earn money, with begging typically accompanied by singing and dancing. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion—they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, embarrassing them into paying. Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination, such as the Shemale Foundation Pakistan.
The naesi system included two ranks, those of , who held the official title of senior second rank, and , both of which held rank as officers. A total of 140 naesi served the palace in the Joseon dynasty period. They also took the exam on Confucianism every month. The naesi system was repealed in 1894 following Gabo reform.
During the Yuan dynasty of China, eunuchs became a desirable commodity for tributes.
Eunuchs were the only males outside the royal family allowed to stay inside the palace overnight. In one historical study of court records, going back to 1392, researchers surmised that the average lifespan of eunuchs appeared to have been 70.0 ± 1.76 years, and that this was 14.4–19.1 years longer than the lifespan of non-castrated men of similar socioeconomic status. However, the quality of this evidence is lacking, and in a letter to the editor of the journal Gerontology, Éric Le Bourg notes that this single study should not be relied upon to conclude that eunuchs in fact lived longer than men, even in this Korean case.
Castration was sometimes punitive; under Assyrian law, homosexual acts were punishable by castration.
Eunuchs were familiar figures in the Neo-Assyrian Empire ( "the one who stands by the head of the king", often abbreviated as ša rēš; until 622 BCE) and in the court of the Egyptian (down to the Lagid dynasty known as Ptolemies, ending with Cleopatra VII, 30 BCE). Eunuchs sometimes were used as for underage heirs to the throne, as it seems to be the case for the Syro-Hittite state of Carchemish.
Political eunuchism became a fully established institution among the Achaemenid Empire. Eunuchs (called , an Assyrian loanword) held powerful positions in the Achaemenid court. The eunuch Bagoas (not to be confused with Alexander's Bagoas) was the vizier of Artaxerxes III and Artaxerxes IV, and was the primary power behind the throne during their reigns until he was killed by Darius III. cf. in
Marmon (1995) writes "Mamluk Sultanate biographies of the eunuchs often praise their appearance with adjectives such as jamil (beautiful), wasim (handsome), and ahsan (the best, most beautiful) or akmal (the most perfect)."
For several centuries, Muslim Eunuchs were tasked with honored roles in Medina and Mecca. They are thought to have been instituted in their role there by Saladin, but perhaps earlier. Their tasks included caring for the Green Dome, maintaining borders between males and females where needed, and keeping order in the sacred spaces. They were highly respected in their time and remained there throughout the Ottoman Empire's control of the area and afterward. In the present day, it is reported that only a few remain.
Eunuchs were an active component in the slave market of the Islamic world until the early 20th-century for service in harem as well as in the corps of mostly African eunuchs, known as the Aghawat, who guarded the Prophet Muhammad'
/ref>
Most slaves trafficked to Hijaz came there via the Red Sea slave trade. Small African boys were castrated before they were trafficked to the Hijaz, where they were bought at the slave market by the Chief Agha to become eunuch novices.Marmon, S. (1995). Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. Ukraina: Oxford University Press. 105
It was noted that boys from Africa were still openly bought to become eunuch novices to serve at Medina in 1895.Junne, G. H. (2016). The Black Eunuchs of the Ottoman Empire: Networks of Power in the Court of the Sultan. Storbritannien: Bloomsbury Publishing. 12
In Medina there was a part of town named Harat al-Aghawat (Neighborhood of the Aghas).Hathaway, J. (2018). The Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Harem: From African Slave to Power-Broker. Indien: Cambridge University Press. 123
The Red Sea slave trade became gradually more suppressed during the 20th-century, and Slavery in Saudi Arabia was abolished in 1962. In 1979, the last Agha was appointed. In 1990 seventeen eunuchs remained.Marmon, S. (1995). Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society. Ukraina: Oxford University Press. IX
Once enslaved, eunuchs were often placed into positions of significant power in one of four areas: the service of the male members of the court; the service of the Fatimid harem, or female members of the court; administrative and clerical positions; and military service.Gul, R., Zafar, N., & Naznin, S. (2021). Legal and Social Status of Eunuchs Islam and Pakistan. sjesr, 4(2), 515–523. For example, during the Fatimid occupation of Cairo, Egyptian eunuchs controlled military garrisons ( shurta) and marketplaces ( hisba), two positions beneath only the city magistrate in power. However, the most influential Fatimid eunuchs were the ones in direct service to the caliph and the royal household as chamberlains, treasurers, governors, and attendants. (2017). 9781315566658, Routledge. ISBN 9781315566658 Their direct proximity to the caliph and his household afforded them a great amount of political sway. One eunuch, Jawdhar, became hujja to Imam-Caliph al-Qa'im, a sacred role in Shia Islam entrusted with the imam's choice of successor upon his death.Marmon, S. E. (1995). Eunuchs and sacred boundaries in Islamic society. Oxford University Press on Demand.
There were several other eunuchs of high regard in Fatimid history, mainly being Rifq and Barjawan.Tolino, S. (2017). Eunuchs in the Fatimid empire: Ambiguities, gender and sacredness. In Celibate and Childless Men in Power (pp. 246–267). Routledge. Rifq was an African eunuch general who served as governor of the Damascus until he led an army of 30,000 men in a campaign to expand Fatimid control northeast to the city of Aleppo, Syria. He was noted for being able to unite a diverse group of Africans, Arabs, Bedouins, Berbers, and Turks into one coherent fighting force which was able to successfully combat the Mirdasid dynasty, , and Byzantines.
Barjawan was a European eunuch during late Fatimid rule who gained power through his military and political savvy which brought peace between them and the Byzantine empire. Moreover, he squashed revolts in the Libya and the Levant. Given his reputation and power in the court and military he took the reins of the caliphate from his then student al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah; then ruled as the de facto Regent 997 CE. His usurpation of power from the caliph resulted in his assassination in 1000 CE on the orders of al-Hakim.
Since imams during this period ruled over a majority non-Shi'a population, the court eunuchs served an important informal role as ambassadors of the caliph, promoting loyalty and devotion to the Shi'a sect and the imam-caliph himself. The multicultural, multilingual eunuchs were able to connect to the commoners through shared cultural ground.
The Imperial Harem—within the Topkapı Palace (1465–1853) and later the Dolmabahçe Palace (1853–1909) in Istanbul—was under the administration of the eunuchs. These were of two categories: black eunuchs and white eunuchs. Black eunuchs were slaves from sub-Saharan Africa via the Trans-Saharan slave trade, the Red Sea slave trade or the Indian Ocean slave trade, who served the concubines and officials in the Harem together with chamber maidens of low rank.
The white eunuchs were slaves from the Balkans or the Caucasus, either purchased in the slave markets or taken as boys from Christian families in the Balkans who were unable to pay the jizya tax. They served the recruits at the Palace School and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem. An important figure in the Ottoman court was the Chief Black Eunuch ( Kızlar Ağası or Darüssaade Ağası). In control of both the harem and a net of spies among the black eunuchs, the Chief Eunuch was involved in almost every palace intrigue and thereby could gain power over either the sultan or one of his viziers, ministers, or other court officials.Lad, Jateen. "Panoptic Bodies. Black Eunuchs in the Topkapi Palace", Scroope: Cambridge Architecture Journal, No.15, 2003, pp.16–20.
One of the most powerful Chief Eunuchs was Beshir Agha in the 1730s, who played a crucial role in establishing the Ottoman version of Hanafi Islam throughout the Empire by founding libraries and schools.
Edmund Andrews of Northwestern University, in an 1898 article called "Oriental Eunuchs" in The American Journal of Medicine, refers to Coptic priests in "Abou Gerhè in Upper Egypt" castrating slave boys.
Coptic castration of slaves was discussed by Peter Charles Remondino, in his book History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present, published in 1900. He refers to the "Abou-Gerghè" monastery in a place he calls "Mount Ghebel-Eter". He adds details not mentioned by Andrews such as the insertion of bamboo into the victim. Bamboo was used with Chinese eunuchs. Andrews states his information is derived from an earlier work, Les Femmes, les eunuques, et les guerriers du Soudan, published by a French explorer, Count Raoul du Bisson, in 1868, though this detail does not appear in Du Bisson's book.
Remondino's claims were repeated in similar form by Henry G. Spooner in 1919, in the American Journal of Urology and Sexology. Spooner, an associate of William J. Robinson, referred to the monastery as "Abou Gerbe in Upper Egypt".
According to Remondino, Spooner, and several later sources, the Coptic priests sliced the penis and testicles off Nubian people or Habesha people slave boys around the age of eight. The boys were captured from Abyssinia and other areas in Sudan like Darfur and Kordofan, then brought into Sudan and Egypt. During the operation, the Coptic clergyman chained the boys to tables, then, after slicing off their sexual organs, stuck a piece of bamboo into the urethra and submerged them in neck-high sand under the sun. The mortality rate was said to be high. Slave traders made especially large profits off eunuchs from this region.
In the late period of the Roman Empire, after the adoption of the oriental royal court model by the Emperors Diocletian (r. 284–305) and Constantine I (r. 306–337), emperors were surrounded by eunuchs for such functions as bathing, haircutting, dressing, and bureaucratic functions, in effect acting as a shield between the emperor and his administrators from physical contact, thus enjoying great influence in the imperial court (see Eusebius and Eutropius). Julian (r. 361–363) released the eunuchs from their service because he felt they were overpaid, and he subsequently realized how much they had contributed to palace operations.
The Roman poet Martial rails against a woman who had sex with partially castrated eunuchs (those whose testicles were removed or rendered inactive only) in the bitter epigram (VI, 67): "Do you ask, Panychus, why your Caelia only consorts with eunuchs? Caelia wants the flowers of marriage – not the fruits."Penzer, N. M. (1965) The Harem, Spring Books, London, p. 147. It is up for debate whether this passage is representative of any sort of widely practiced behavior, however.
At the Byzantine Empire court, there were a great number of eunuchs employed in domestic and administrative functions, actually organized as a separate hierarchy, following a parallel career of their own. Archieunuchs—each in charge of a group of eunuchs—were among the principal officers in Constantinople, under the emperors. Under Justinian in the 6th century, the eunuch Narses functioned as a successful general in a number of campaigns.
Advantages of eunuchs were that they prevented offices from becoming hereditary, allowing appointments to be made on merit; they were more dedicated to their jobs, not being distracted by family obligations; and they were ineligible for the throne, and for that reason thought by emperors to be safe. Those who had been deprived not only of their testicles but also their penises were known in Greek as carzimasia, and were highly prized.
The practice of religious castration continued into the Christian era, with members of the early church practicing celibacy (including castration) for religious purposes, although the extent and even the existence of this practice among Christians is subject to debate. The early theologian Origen found evidence of the practice in :Frend, W. H. C., The Rise of Christianity, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1984, p. 374, which in footnote 45 cites Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica VI.8.2 "His disciples said to him, 'If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.' But he said to them, 'Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can. (NRSV)
Tertullian, a 2nd-century Church Father, described Jesus himself and Paul of Tarsus as spadones, which is translated as "eunuchs" in some contexts. Quoting from the cited book: "Tertullian takes 'spado' to mean virgin". The meaning of spado in late antiquity can be interpreted as a metaphor for celibacy. Tertullian even goes so far with the metaphor as to say St. Paul had been "castrated". Tertullian also ridiculed his theological opponent Marcion of Sinope as a eunuch who advocated for sexual abstinence.
Eunuch priests have served various goddesses from India for many centuries. Similar phenomena are exemplified by some modern Indian communities of the hijra, which are associated with a deity and with certain rituals and festivals – notably the devotees of Yellammadevi, or jogappas, who are not castrated, and the Ali of southern India, of whom at least some are.
The 18th-century Russian Skoptzy ( скопцы) sect was an example of a castration cult, where its members regarded castration as a way of renouncing the of the flesh. Several members of the 20th-century Heaven's Gate cult were found to have been castrated, apparently voluntarily and for the same reasons.
One of the earliest converts to Christianity was an Ethiopian eunuch who was a high court official of Kandake, the Queen of Ethiopia, but was already a eunuch at the time of conversion (Acts 8:27–39).
In the deuterocanonical Wisdom of Solomon, the eunuch who has done no lawless deed is praised and special favor is claimed to be shown to him.
The Hebrew language word saris () derives from ša-rēši, the Akkadian word for eunuch, and thus has been generally understood by scholars as referring to eunuchs. However, its technical meaning is a male who has not shown signs of typical sexual maturity by the age of 20. Per the Talmud, only one known as a saris adam – a castrated male; one made sterile intentionally or via accidental injury – might be considered a eunuch (a saris ḥama is one who is congenitally sterile, and is not considered a eunuch).
As women were sometimes forbidden to sing in Church, their place was taken by castrati. Castrati became very popular in 18th century opera seria. The practice, known as castratism, remained popular until the 18th century and was known into the 19th century. The last famous Italian castrato, Giovanni Battista Velluti, died in 1861. The sole existing sound recording of a castrato singer documents the voice of Alessandro Moreschi, the last eunuch in the Sistine Chapel Choir, who died in 1922.
This Italian practice of castrating young males to maintain their soprano voices was ended by Pope
/ref>
|
|
