Encyclopedia
A
eunuch can be either a castrated man or, in ancient terms, any man who is impotent with women for a wide variety of reasons. The earliest records for intentional
castration to produce eunuchs are from the
Sumerian city of
Lagash in the 21st century BC. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. They often served as male prostitutes to other men and were commonly known to engage in homosexual behavior and
crossdressing.
History
The English word eunuch is from the Greek
eune and
ekhein , effectively "bed keeper." Servants or
slaves were usually castrated in order to make them a safer servant 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, giving him "the ruler's ear" could impart de facto power on the formally humble but trusted servant, as reflected in the humble origins and etymology of many high offices . Eunuchs supposedly did not generally have loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, or to a family of their own , and 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. In cultures that had both
harems and eunuchs, eunuchs were sometimes used as harem servants or seraglio guards.
The first mention of eunuchs was made in the
Assyrian Empire . Eunuchs were also familiar figures in the court of the
Achaemenid emperors of Persia and the Egyptian Pharaohs .
In ancient
China castration was both a traditional punishment and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the
Ming Dynasty there were 70,000 eunuchs in the
Imperial palace. The value of such employment—certain eunuchs gained immense power that may have superseded that of the
prime ministers—was such that self-castration had to be made illegal. The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ had fallen to 470 in 1912, when their employment ceased. The justification of 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.
Concurrently, a similar system existed in
Vietnam.
The tension between depraved eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials resisting their tyranny 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 advisors to their emperor, and the resistance of the "virtuous" officials often was procrastination on the part of a privileged class which blindly resisted any change, whether it be for the good or the bad of the empire.
Eunuchs are also known in
India and throughout the East. In India the Hijra are eunuchs who are what we know today as male-to-female transgender people and effeminate homosexuals. Some eunuchs actually undergo ritual castration although the majority of them do not. They usually dress in
saris and wear heavy make-up. They are considered good luck and are often invited to bless the bride and the groom during weddings. They also come uninvited to occasions like childbirth, new shop openings, etc. to give their blessings and receive gifts. When in need, they beg by singing and dancing and usually get the money easily. It is not difficult for Hijra to sustain themselves on such gifts and charity.
The practice was also well established in Europe among the Greeks and Romans, although more rarely as court functionaries than in Asia. For example in late Rome, emperors such as
Constantine were surrounded by eunuchs for such functions as bathing, hair cutting, dressing, and bureaucratic functions, in effect acting as a shield between the emperor and his administrators from physical contact. Eunuchs were believed loyal and dispensable.
At the
Byzantine imperial court however, there were a great number of eunuchs employed in domestic and administrative functions, actually organized as a separate hierarachy, 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.
Allegedly it was only after the Muslim Arabs conquered parts of the Roman Empire that they acquired eunuchs from the Romans, and not knowing what else to do with them, made them into harem guards.
For the Eunuchs in the Ottoman Great Sultan's harem and wider palace service, see the Seraglio.
Religious castration
Among the earliest records of human religion are accounts of castration as an act of devotion, and sacred eunuchs are found in spiritual roles. Archaeological finds at
Çatalhöyük, a large neolithic town of southern
Anatolia, suggest that such practises were common in the worship of the goddess
Cybele in 7500 BCE. The Galli, later Roman followers of Cybele, also practiced ritual self-castration, known as
sanguinaria. The practise continued throughout Christian times, with many of the early church castrating themselves as an act of devotion.
A famous example is the early theologian Origen, who found scriptural justification in the Matthew 19:12. In this passage,
Jesus stated: "...and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." '
Tertullian, a 2nd century Church Father, believed that Jesus himself was a eunuch, and that the apostle
Paul of Tarsus also castrated himself.
Eunuch priests have served various goddesses from India for many centuries. Contemporary examples can be found among devotees of
Yellammadevi, and the Ali of southern India. It should be noted, however, that the "eunuch" servants of Yellamma-devi, known as "jogappas," and the "Ali" or "Aravannis" of South India, do not practice castration. Rather, they tie their genitals tightly up against the groin and live their lives as a "
third sex," whose definition in Hindu texts overlaps somewhat with western transwomen and male homosexuals.
The 18th-century
Russian Skoptzy sect was an example of a
castration cult, where its members regarded castration as a way of renouncing the sins 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. The Hijra of
India still practice a ritual
castration that involves the removal of both the
penis and
testes. They are often referred to as eunuchs.
Castrato singers
Eunuchs castrated before puberty were also valued and trained in several cultures for their exceptional voices, which retained a childlike and other-worldly flexibility and treble pitch; unfortunately the choice had to be made at an age the boy would not yet be able to consciously choose whether to sacrifice his sexual potency, and there was no guarantee that the voice would remain of musical excellence after the operation. Such eunuchs were known as
castrati.
As women were sometimes forbidden to sing in Church, their place was taken by castrati. The practice, known as
castratism, remained popular until the
18th century and was known into the
19th century. The last famous Italian castrato,
Giovanni Velluti, did not die until 1861. The sole existing recording of a castrato singer documents the voice of
Alessandro Moreschi, one of the last eunuchs in the
Sistine Chapel choir. Unfortunately, the early
20th century recording is of poor quality and Moreschi, who was never trained for the stage, is not considered a great singer.
Eunuchs in modern times
There are eunuchs in many countries around the world, although few actually undergo genital modification, but rather live as a
third sex. In India a hijra named "Shabnam Mousie" , made history by becoming the first eunuch to be elected to the state Legislative Assembly. Eunuchs were granted voting rights in 1994.
A eunuch wave swept the state of Madhya Pradesh with the advent of the new millennium. Five of them, now christened as the 'paanch Pandavas' , were elected to various public offices. Kamla Jaan, a eunuch, captured the Katni mayor's post, while Meenabai became the president of the Sehora town municipality, the oldest civic body in the state.
Non-castrated eunuchs
There is much evidence indicating that ancient and medieval cultures used the term "eunuch" much differently than we do today. In the compendium of ancient Roman civil law created by
Justinian I in the 6th century known as the Digest or
Pandects, eunuchs are characterized as "not diseased or defective" and as physically capable of procreation -- that is, unless they are "missing a necessary part" of their anatomy . This implies that some eunuchs are anatomically whole. The word eunuch is said to be a general designation that includes eunuchs "by nature" as well as those who have suffered some kind of physical injury . Eunuchs are also distinguished from "castrati" in the Roman laws: eunuchs, if not castrated, were eligible to marry women , institute posthumous heirs , and adopt children , while castrati were excluded from all of these rights.
In her essay "Living in the Shadows: Eunuchs and Gender in Byzantium," Kathryn M. Ringrose demonstrates how eunuch societies included not only castrated men but also homosexuals, transgenders, ascetics, celibates and a wide range of men who were technically impotent or disinterested in women for a wide range of reasons. In India, for instance, a recent study of "eunuchs" revealed that only 8% were actually castrated and less than 1% were intersexed . The vast majority of the Indian eunuchs studied were either effeminate homosexual men or crossdressing transgenders, causing many historians to wonder if a similar reality existed in other "eunuch" cultures around the world.
Involuntary disorder
The body dysmorphic disorder or dysmorphophobia characterized by desire to be a eunuch is called skoptic syndrome, named after the Skoptzy sect. However, in the latest issue of
DSM, there are no references to the term, and it is virtually unknown in psychological literature. It is also important to notice that the term, along with GID, can and is also used to imply "minority mainstream view/practices" without negatively implying dysfunction or 'wrongness', nor is it applicable to all people with a desire for castration, due to the highly diverse nature of reasons for volunteer castration. This particularly in view that castration has a history, up to the modern age, of therapeutic use; according to Victor T. Cheney, in his
Castration: Advantages and Disadvantages , castration has been documented to effectively reduce symptoms in people with
schizophrenia, psychosis, violent behaviors,
paraphilias, manias, overactive libido,
baldness,
sleep apnea, as well as prostate disorders and prevention of various
sexually transmitted diseases, by means of eliminated or reduced sexual activity. Many men indeed chose to become eunuchs for some of these reasons. This desire is still present in modern populations, as evidenced in the large membership in message boards on the Internet related to the topic. Alternatively, some men derive sexual excitement from the idea of being castrated or otherwise having their genitals mutilated, usually by another person . There has been frequent news coverage of incidents of self-castration and underground networks of people without medical licenses performing castrations. Most urologists have experience with patients who have attempted castration on themselves. According to a June 12 2002 article by
Detroit Free Press: self-castrations tend to be more common than leaving the job to someone else, said Dr. Dana Ohl, a urologist at the U-M Medical Center who has operated on botched amateur castrations. "Usually, when these people just chop their own
testicles off, they don't pay attention to the blood supply," he said.
Myths
According to Tom Burnam's
Dictionary of Misinformation, a common misconception about eunuchs is that, since they were castrated, they were either unable or unwanting to defile or perform
sexual intercourse with the women in the harem they were employed to watch over. This was not always true, however. Though they would be expected to have a lower sex drive, eunuchs could often achieve an
erection and engage in
coitus, though no pregnancy could result. According to Burnham, some women preferred eunuchs as lovers since they never
ejaculated and could, therefore, maintain erections longer. However, this does not hold true against present medical knowledge.
Historically significant eunuchs
In chronological order.
- Aspamistres or Mithridates Bodyguard of Xerxes I of Persia, and his murderer.
- Bagoas Prime minister of king Artaxerxes III of Persia, and his murderer.
- Bagoas A favorite of Alexander the Great. Influential in changing Alexander's attitude toward Persians & therefore in the king's policy decision to try to integrate the conquered peoples fully into his Empire as loyal subjects. He thereby paved the way for the relative success of Alexander's Seleucid successors and greatly enhanced the penetration of Greek culture to the East.
- Sima Qian - old romanization: Ssu-ma Chi'en Was the first person to have practiced modern historiography - gatherering and analyzing both primary and secondary sources in order to write his monumental history of the Chinese empire.
- Ganymedes Highly capable adviser & general of Cleopatra VII's sister & rival, Princess Arsinoe. Defeated & almost killed Julius Caesar in battle at Alexandria, capturing his cloak in the process. Could have changed the history of Rome and of the eastern Mediterranean if he had not been displaced through Egyptian court intrigue.
- Pothinus Regent for pharaoh Ptolemy XII.
- Cai Lun - Ts'ai Lun in the old romanization Reasonable evidence exists to suggest that he was truly the inventor of paper. At the very least, he established the importance of paper and standardized its manufacture in the Chinese empire.
- Origen - early Christian theologian, castrated himself based on his reading of the Gospel of Matthew 19:12 . Despite the fact that the early Christian theologian Tertullian wrote that Jesus was a eunuch, there is no corroboration in any other early source. Tertullian also wrote that he knew, personally, the author of the Gospel of Matthew, and that he was a eunuch. Again, this is not attested elsewhere.
- Eutropius Only eunuch known to have attained the highly distinguished and very influential position of Roman Consul.
- Narses General of Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, responsible for destroying the Ostrogoths in 552 at the Battle of Taginae in Italy and saving Rome for the empire.
- Ignatius of Constantinople . Twice Patriarch of Constantinople during troubled political times [847-858 & 867-877]. First absolutely unquestioned eunuch saint, recognised by both the Orthodox & Roman Churches.
- Ly Thuong Kiet , general during the Ly Dynasty in Vietnam. Penned what is considered the first Vietnamese declaration of independence. Regarded as a Vietnamese national hero.
- Pierre Abélard , French scholastic philosopher & theologian.
- Zheng He , famous admiral who led huge Chinese fleets of exploration around the Indian Ocean.
- Judar Pasha A blonde, blue-eyed Spanish eunuch who became the head of the Moroccan invasion force into the Songhai Empire. In 1591, despite overwhelming odds, his forces conquered a large swath of sub-Saharan Africa for the Saadi Dynasty and firmly entrenched Islam in the region.
- Carlo Broschi, called Farinelli
...
, the most famous Italian
castrato.
See also
Some other famous eunuchs
- Shu Diao Intrigant eunuch who was responsible of a successor civil war in the feudal state of Qi
- Zhao Gao Favourite of Qin Shihuangdi, who plotted against Li Si
- Zhang Rang Head of the infamous "10 Changshi" of Eastern Han Dynasty
- Huang Hao Eunuch in the state of Shu; also appears in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Lu Gunzhong [i] in the 14th century [i], is a Chinese historical novel [i] ...
- Cen Hun Eunuch in the state of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period
- Gao Lishi A loyal and trusted friend of Tang emperor Xuanzong
- Li Fuguo The Tang eunuch who began another era of eunuch rule
- Yu Chao'en Tang eunuch who began his "career" as army supervisor
- Tong Guan A eunuch of Song Dynasty; also appears in the novel Water Margin or Outlaws of the Marsh is one of the Four Classical Novels [i] of Chinese literature [i] ...
- Wang Zhen First Ming eunuch with much power, see Tumu Crisis
- Liu Jin Another "famous" eunuch despot
- Wei Zhongxian Most infamous eunuch in Chinese history
- An Dehai Corrupt eunuch of Qing Dynasty - Favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi
- Li Lianying Another despotic eunuch of the Qing Dynasty
- Sun Yaoting last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history
- Boston Corbett, who killed John Wilkes Booth, castrated himself to avoid temptation from prostitutes.
- Nick Evesham, the famous Belgian born computer programmer who in the late 1970's played a cruicial role in the SATA program.
- El Don, erasmus eunuch.
- The Grey Eagle, member of the Sons of Sam Horn message board
Eunuchs in Fiction
- Eunuchs appear often as villains in Hong Kong kung fu and wuxia films set in ancient China. For example, the films "Dragon Inn ", "Butterfly Sword ", and "A Touch of Zen " all feature a eunuch or a group of eunuchs as the main villain. A popular eunuch villain used in ancient China stories is Eunuch Wei, who is based on a historical figure named Wei Zhongxian. Eunuch villans are usually in charge of powerful political posts, such as being the leader of the East Chamber.
- The character and narrator Taita in Wilbur Smith's "Egyptian" series of novels is a eunuch .
- Varys, the spymaster is a Eunuch and a character in George RR Martins, Epic Fantasy Series A Song of Ice and Fire. There are also many other eunuchs of minor importance. There is also an army of Eunuchs called the Unsullied led by the Dragon Princess Daenerys.
- Bagoas was the eunuch favorite of Alexander the Great . Bagoas is the main character and narrator of The Persian Boy, a 1972 historical novel by Mary Renault.
See also
Notes
Sources and references
External links
