Eunuch
European illustration of a eunuch (1749)
A eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) is a cas-
trated man, in particular one castrated early
enough
to have major hormonal
con-
sequences; the term usually refers to those
castrated in order to perform a specific social
function, as was common in many societies of
the past. The earliest records for intentional
castration to produce eunuchs are from the
Sumerian city of Lagash in the twenty first
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, reli-
gious specialists, government officials, milit-
ary commanders, and guardians of women or
harem servants. In some translations of an-
cient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs
seem to include men who were impotent with
women, and those who were celibate.
Origins
Chief Eunuch of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Ham-
id II at the Imperial Palace, 1912.
The English word eunuch is from the Greek
eune ("bed") and ekhein ("to keep"), effect-
ively "bed keeper." Servants or slaves were
usually castrated in order to make them safer
servants of a royal court where physical ac-
cess 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 re-
laying messages could in theory give a eu-
nuch "the ruler’s ear" and impart de facto
power on the formally humble but trusted
servant. Similar instances are reflected in the
humble origins and etymology of many high
offices (e.g. chancellor began as a servant
guarding the entrance to an official’s study).
Eunuchs supposedly did not generally have
loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, or to
a family of their own (having neither off-
spring nor in-laws, at the very least), 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 re-
placed or killed without repercussion. In
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eunuch
1
cultures that had both harems and eunuchs,
eunuchs were sometimes used as harem ser-
vants (compare the female odalisque) or
seraglio guards.
Ancient Middle East
Eunuchs were familiar figures in the Assyrian
Empire (ca. 850 till 622 B.C.), in the court of
the Egyptian Pharaohs (down to the Lagid
dynasty known as Ptolemies, ending with
Cleopatra). Political eunuchism became a
fully
established
institution among
the
Achamenide Persians[1]
China
In ancient China castration was both a tradi-
tional punishment (until the Sui Dynasty) and
a means of gaining employment in the Imper-
ial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty
there were about 70,000 eunuchs (?? huàn-
guān, or ?? tàijiàn) employed by the emperor,
with some serving inside the Imperial palace.
Certain eunuchs gained immense power that
occasionally
superseded
that
of
prime
ministers. Self-castration was commonplace
and half-hearted attempts were sometimes
made to make it illegal. The number of eu-
nuchs in Imperial employ had fallen to 470 in
1912, when the practice of using them
ceased.
It is said that the justification of the em-
ployment of eunuchs as high-ranking civil
servants was that, since they were incapable
of having children, they would not be temp-
ted to seize power and start a dynasty. In
many cases, eunuchs were considered more
reliable than the scholar officials. A similar
system existed in Vietnam.[2]
The tension between eunuchs in the ser-
vice of the emperor and virtuous Confucian
officials is a familiar theme in Chinese his-
tory. 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 stemmed from jeal-
ousy on their part. Ray Huang argues that in
reality, eunuchs represented the personal
will of the Emperor, while the officials rep-
resented the alternate political will of the
bureaucracy. The clash between them would
thus have been a clash of ideologies or polit-
ical agenda.[3]
European Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci was
the first European to reach China with a mu-
sical instrument, who presented a Harpsi-
chord to the Ming imperial court in 1601. He
trained four eunuchs to play it.[4]
Greco-Roman practice
The practice was also well established in
Europe among the Greeks and Romans, al-
though more rarely as court functionaries
than in Asia. The third sex Galli of Cybele
were considered by some to be eunuchs. In
late Rome, emperors such as Constantine
were surrounded by eunuchs for such func-
tions as bathing, hair cutting, dressing, and
bureaucratic functions, in effect acting as a
shield between the emperor and his adminis-
trators from physical contact. Eunuchs were
believed loyal and dispensable.
At the Byzantine imperial court, there
were a great number of eunuchs employed in
domestic and administrative functions, actu-
ally organized as a separate hierarchy, fol-
lowing 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.[5]
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 (Topkapi) Seraglio.[6]
India
Eunuchs in Indian Royalty
Eunuchs were frequently employed in Imperi-
al Indian palaces as servants for female roy-
alty, and often attained high-status positions
in
Indian society. Eunuchs
in
Imperial
palaces were organized in a hierarchy, often
with a senior or chief eunuch ("Khwaja
Saras") directing Junior eunuchs below him.
Eunuchs were highly valued
for
their
strength, to provide protection for the ladies
palaces, and their trustworthiness, allowing
eunuchs to live amongst women with fewer
worries. This enabled eunuchs to serve as
messengers, watchmen,
attendants,
and
guards for palaces. Often, eunuchs also
doubled as part of the King’s court of ad-
visers.[7][8]
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Eunuch
2
As a result of the number of high-status
job openings available for eunuchs, poor fam-
ilies often converted one of their sons into a
eunuch and had him work in the imperial
palaces to create a steady source of revenue
for the family and ensure a comfortable life-
style for the son. This practice of castration
was banned throughout the Empire in 1668
by Aurangzeb, but continued covertly.
The hijra of India
The Ancient Indian Kama Sutra refers to
people of a "third sex" (triteeyaprakrti), who
can be dressed either in men’s or in women’s
clothes and perform fellatio on men. The
term has been translated as "eunuchs" (as in
Sir Richard Burton’s translation of the book),
but these persons have also been considered
to be the equivalent of the modern hijra of
India.
Hijra, a Hindi term traditionally translated
into English as "eunuch", actually refers to
what modern Westerners would call male-to-
female transgender people and effeminate
homosexuals (although some of them re-
portedly identify as belonging to a third sex).
Some of them undergo ritual castration, but
the majority do not. They usually dress in sar-
is (traditional Indian garb worn by women)
and wear heavy make-up. They typically live
in the margins of society, face discrimina-
tion[9] and earn their living in various ways,
e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births,
new shop openings and other major family
events and singing until they are paid or giv-
en gifts to go away.[10] The ceremony is sup-
posed to bring good luck and fertility, while
the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by
many. Other sources of income for the hijra
are begging and prostitution. The begging is
accompanied by singing and dancing and the
hijras usually get the money easily. Some In-
dian provincial officials have used the assist-
ance of hijras to collect taxes in the same
fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeep-
ers, while dancing and singing, and embar-
rass them into paying.[11] Recently, hijras
have started to found organizations to im-
prove their social condition and fight discrim-
ination. There has even been a wave of hijra
entering politics and being elected to high
political positions. The American transsexual
activist and computer expert Anne Ogborn is
an initiated member of the hijra community.
She travelled to India and was accepted into
the community.
In the epic Mahabaratha of India, Arjuna,
one of the 5 heroes who is originally a hand-
some man, warrior and great archer becomes
Brihannala, a eunuch when they spend their
last year of exile in the kingdom of Virata.
Brihannala/Arjuna lived among the palace
women as a teacher of song and dance.
Religious castration
Among the earliest records of human religion
are accounts of castration as an act of devo-
tion, and sacred eunuchs are found in spiritu-
al roles. Archaeological finds at Çatalhöyük, a
large Neolithic town of southern Anatolia,
suggest that such practises were common in
the worship as far back as 7500 BC of a god-
dess similar perhaps to the Cybele of histor-
ical records. The Galli, later Roman followers
of Cybele, also practiced ritual self-castra-
tion, known as sanguinaria. The practice is
said to have continued throughout Christian
times, with many of the early church castrat-
ing themselves as an act of devotion, al-
though the extent and even the existence of
this practice among Christians is controver-
sial.[12]
An example is the early theologian Origen,
who found scriptural justification in the Mat-
thew 19:12[13]. In this passage, Jesus stated:
"For there are some eunuchs, which were so
born from their mother’s womb: and there
are some eunuchs, which were made eu-
nuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which
have made themselves eunuchs for the king-
dom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to re-
ceive it, let him receive it." (King James
Version)
Tertullian, a second century Church Fath-
er, described Jesus himself and Paul of
Tarsus as spadones, which is translated as
"eunuchs" in some contexts.[14] However,
these statements can be interpreted as a
metaphor for celibacy, especially given the
broad meaning of the term spado in Late
Antiquity (see Non-castrated eunuchs below).
Eunuch priests have served various god-
desses from India for many centuries. Similar
phenomena are exemplified by some modern
Indian communities of the hijra type, which
are associated with a deity and with certain
rituals and festivals - notably the devotees of
Yellammadevi, or
jogappas, who are not
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Eunuch
3
castrated[15] and the Ali of southern India, of
whom at least some are.[16]
The eighteenth-century Russian Skoptzy
(скопцы) 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 twentieth century
Heaven’s Gate cult were found to have been
castrated, apparently voluntarily and for the
same reasons.
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. Such eunuchs were known as
castrati. Unfortunately the choice had to be
made at an age when the boy would not yet
be able to consciously choose whether to sac-
rifice his sexual potency, and there was no
guarantee that the voice would remain of mu-
sical excellence after the operation.
As women were sometimes forbidden to
sing in Church, their place was taken by cas-
trati. The practice, known as castratism, re-
mained popular until the eighteenth century
and was known into the nineteenth century.
The last famous Italian castrato, Giovanni
Velluti, died 1861. The sole existing record-
ing of a castrato singer documents the voice
of Alessandro Moreschi, the last eunuch in
the Sistine Chapel choir, who died in 1922.
Unfortunately, the early twentieth century re-
cording is of poor quality.
Non-castrated eunuchs
According to Byzantine historian Kathryn
Ringrose,[17] while the pagans of Classical
Antiquity based their notions of gender in
general
and eunuchs
in particular on
physiology (the genitalia),
the Byzantine
Christians based them on behaviour and
more specifically procreation. Hence, by Late
Antiquity the term "eunuch" had come to be
applied not only to castrated men, but also to
a wide range of men with comparable behavi-
or, who had "chosen to withdraw from
worldly activities and thus refused to procre-
ate".[18] The broad sense of
the term
"eunuch" is reflected in the compendium of
Roman law created by Justinian I in the sixth
century known as the Digest or Pandects.
That text distinguishes between two types of
eunuchs - spadones (a general term denoting
"one who has no generative power, an impot-
ent person, whether by nature or by castra-
tion",[19] D 50.16.128) and castrati (castrated
males, physically incapable of procreation).
Spadones are eligible to marry women (D
23.3.39.1),
institute posthumous heirs (D
28.2.6), and adopt children (Institutions of
Justinian 1.11.9), unless they are castrati.
Historically significant
eunuchs
In chronological order.
• Aspamistres or Mithridates (5th century
BC) Bodyguard of Xerxes I of Persia, and
(with Artabanus) his murderer.
• Artoxares: An envoy of Artaxerxes I and
Darius II of Persia.
• Bagoas (4th century BC) Prime minister of
king Artaxerxes III of Persia, and his
murderer. (Bagoas is an old Persian/Farsai
word meaning Eunuch.)
• Bagoas (4th century BC) A favorite of
Alexander the Great. Influential in
changing Alexander’s attitude toward
Persians and 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.
• Philetaerus (4th/3rd century BC): founder
of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum
• Sima Qian - old romanization: Ssu-ma
Chi’en (2nd/1st century BC) ?Was the first
person to have practiced modern
historiography - gathering and analyzing
both primary and secondary sources in
order to write his monumental history of
the Chinese empire.
• Ganymedes (1st century BC) Highly
capable adviser and general of Cleopatra
VII’s sister & rival, Princess Arsinoe.
Unsuccessfully attacked Julius Caesar
three times at Alexandria.
• Pothinus (1st century BC) Regent for
pharaoh Ptolemy XII.
• Unidentified eunuch of the Ethiopian court
(1st century BC), described in The Acts of
the Apostles (chapter 8). Philip the
Evangelist, one of the original seven
deacons, is directed by the Holy Spirit to
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Eunuch
4
catch up to the eunuch’s chariot and hears
him reading from the Book of Isaiah
(chapter 53). It’s a section, which
prophesies Jesus’ crucifixion, and Philip
witnesses to the eunuch about the
fulfillment of the prophecy. The eunuch is
baptized shortly thereafter. It’s the first
recorded case of the conversion of
someone who had possibly been
marginalized for gender reasons.
• Cai Lun - Ts’ai Lun in the old romanization
(1st/2nd century AD) 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,
allegedly castrated himself based on his
reading of the Gospel of Matthew 19:12
(For there are eunuchs, who were born so
from their mother’s womb: and there are
eunuchs, who were made so by men: and
there are eunuchs, who have made
themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven. He that can take, let him take it.).
Despite the fact that the early Christian
theologian Tertullian wrote that Jesus was
a eunuch, there is no corroboration in any
other early source. (The Skoptsy did,
however, believe it to be true.) 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, nor is the account of
Origen’s self-castration.
• Eutropius (5th century AD) Only eunuch
known to have attained the highly
distinguished and very influential position
of Roman Consul.
• Chrysaphius - chief minister of Eastern
Roman Emperor Theodosius II, architect
of imperial policy towards the Huns.
• Narses (478-573) 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 (799-877).
Twice Patriarch of Constantinople during
troubled political times [847-858 and
867-877]. First absolutely unquestioned
eunuch saint, recognized by both the
Orthodox and Roman Churches. (There
are a great many early saints who were
probably eunuchs, though few either as
influential nor unquestioned as to their
castration.)
• Ly Thuong Kiet (1019-1105), 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 (1079-1142), French
scholastic philosopher and theologian.
Forcibly castrated while in bed by his
lover’s uncle.
• Zheng He (1371-1433), famous admiral
who led huge Chinese fleets of exploration
around the Indian Ocean.
• Judar Pasha (late sixteenth century) A
Spanish eunuch who became the head of
the Moroccan invasion force into the
Songhai Empire.
• Carlo Broschi, called Farinelli (1705-82),
the most famous Italian castrato.
• Kim Cheo Son, one of the most famous
eunuchs in Korean dynasty, ably served
kings in the Joseon dynasty. His life is now
the subject of a popular historical drama
currently airing in South Korea.
• Mohammad Khan Qajar, was the chief of
the Qajar tribe. He became the King/Shah
of Persia in 1794 and established the
Qajar dynasty.
See also Eunuchs
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 (died 210 BC)
• Zhang Rang Head of the infamous "10
Changshi" (Ten attendants) of Eastern
Han Dynasty
• Huang Hao Eunuch in the state of Shu;
also appears in the Romance of the Three
Kingdoms
• Cen Hun Eunuch in the state of Wu during
the Three Kingdoms Period
• Gao Lishi A loyal and trusted friend of
Tang emperor Xuanzong
• Le Van Duyet Famous eighteenth century
Vietnamese eunuch, military strategist
and government official (not a true
eunuch, he was born a hermaphrodite)
• Li Fuguo The Tang eunuch who began
another era of eunuch rule
• Yu Chao’en Tang eunuch who began his
"career" as army supervisor
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Eunuch
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• Wang Zhen First Ming eunuch with much
power, see Tumu Crisis
• Gang Bing Patron Saint of Eunuchs in
China who castrated himself to
demonstrate his loyalty to emperor Yongle
• Yishiha Admiral in charge of expeditions
down the Amur River under the Yongle
and Xuande Emperors
• 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 (1902–1996) last surviving
imperial eunuch of Chinese history
• Boston Corbett, who killed John Wilkes
Booth, castrated himself to avoid
temptation from prostitutes
Eunuchs in fiction
• The Eunuch; a comedy by Roman
playwright Terence.
• The Pardoner in Chaucer’s "Canterbury
Tales" is referred to in the General
Prologue as either a "geldynge" or a
"mare" (a gelding is a castrated male
horse; a mare is a female horse). Neither
the literary pilgrims nor modern scholars
know whether he is a eunuch or a
homosexual, as the text can be interpreted
either way.
• In The Country Wife, the main character,
Mr. Horner, pretends to be a man turned
eunuch by impotence caused by syphilis in
order to gain access to the bedrooms of
married women, with interesting
consequences.
• Being proud of not being a Eunuch is the
subject of the song "At Least You’re Not a
Eunuch" in the play Life and Death in
Jaffna (The Musical!)" by Edward Cress
• Eunuchs appear often as villains in Hong
Kong kung fu and wuxia films set in
ancient China. For example, the films
"Dragon Inn (Xin long men ke zhan)",
"Butterfly Sword (Xin liu xing hu die
jian)", and "A Touch of Zen (Hsia nu)" 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 villains are
usually in charge of powerful political
posts, such as being the leader of the East
Chamber.
• The Queen Salmissra, in David Eddings’
The Belgariad and The Malloreon, is only
allowed to be served by eunuchs. Her
Chief Eunuch Sadi becomes a principal
character in the Mallorean, and is referred
to in "The Prophecy" as "The Man who is
no Man."
• The character and narrator Taita in
Wilbur Smith’s "Egyptian" (1991-) series
of novels is a eunuch (performed as a
punishment while a slave).
• Bagoas was the eunuch favorite of
Alexander the Great (referenced above).
Bagoas is the main character and narrator
of The Persian Boy, a 1972 historical novel
by Mary Renault.
• Punk rock band the Descendents wrote a
song about a eunuch called "Eunuch Boy",
which was on their 1996 comeback album
Everything Sucks.
• Eunuchs feature prominently in
Montesqieu’s 1722 novel Lettres
persanes, supposedly about Persian
visitors to eighteenth-century France.
• Anne Rice wrote of castrati in her 1982
novel "Cry To Heaven". The story is
centered on the castrati characters of
Guido Maffeo and Tonio Treschi, teacher
and student.
• The Alteration, a 1976 alternative history
novel by Kingsley Amis, is set in a parallel
universe in which the Reformation did not
take place. The main plot is the proposal
to turn the boy chorister Hubert Anvil into
a castrato singer to preserve his voice.
• In the 2006 film One Night With the King,
Hadassah’s (Esther’s) would-be boyfriend,
Jesse, is captured by the Persian empire
and castrated.
• The 2002 historical science fiction novel
The Years of Rice and Salt features many
eunuchs in its opening section, including
the character Kyu and the historical
Chinese admiral Zheng He.
• Two best selling novels by Jason Goodwin,
The Janissary Tree and The Snake Stone,
chronicle the investigations of Yashim
Togalu, a Turkish eunuch detective to the
Sultan’s royal court, in 1830’s Ottoman
Empire.
• The historical novel Memoirs of a
Byzantine Eunuch, by Christopher Harris
(2002 Dedalus Books, ISBN 1 903517 03
6)
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Eunuch
6
• The Japanese novel (and later anime
series) Ai no Kusabi has within their caste
system "Furniture", or eunuchs who act as
servants to the highest social class. The
character Katze was once Furniture, but
now works on the black market.
• In the Japanese anime Code Geass:
Lelouch of the Rebellion (R2) the de facto
rulers of the communist Chinese
Federation are a group of eight eunuchs
called "High Eunuchs."
• The character Naboo the Enigma from the
British comedy act and television series
The Mighty Boosh is a eunuch.
• For the greater part of Iain Banks’s 1984
novel The Wasp Factory, the 16-year-old
narrator Frank Cauldhame claims to be a
eunuch, the result of being savaged by a
dog when he was an infant. At the novels
climax, Frank discovers that she was in
fact born female.
• In the tv show Major Dad, a Eunuch was
in charge of the Security wives of Emir of
Katodd.
• One of the characters that Voltaire’s
Candide meets on his adventures is a
eunuch.
• The Vampire Eli in John Ajvide Lindqvist’s
novel Let The Right One In is a Eunuch.
However, this detail is not made
abundantly clear in the book’s 2008 Film
adaptation of the same title.
See also
• Genital modification and mutilation
• Female genital cutting
• Circumcision
• Transwoman
Notes
[1] Orlando Patterson, Slavery and Social
Death, 511 pp., Harvard University
Press, 1982 ISBN 067481083X,
9780674810839 (see p.315)
[2] 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 =?????, ??, Chuko Shinsho, Tokyo
1963
[3] Huang, Ray (1981). 1587, A Year of No
Significance: The Ming Dynasty in
Decline. New Haven: Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-02518-1. .
[4] Jones. Andrew F. [2001] (2001). Yellow
Music — CL: Media Culture and Colonial
Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age. Duke
University Press. ISBN 0822326949.
[5] This article incorporates content from
the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in
the public domain. [1]
[6] Lad, Jateen. "Panoptic Bodies. Black
Eunuchs in the Topkapi Palace",
Scroope: Cambridge Architecture
Journal, No.15, 2003, pp.16-20.
[7] "Akbar-Birbal Anecdotes".
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/
pritchett/00urduhindilinks/
txt_akbar_birbal.html. Retrieved on
2008-11-02.
[8] "Ghilmans and Eunuchs".
http://www.bharatvani.org/books/mssmi/
ch9.htm. Retrieved on 2008-11-02.
[9] Ravaging the Vulnerable: Abuses Against
Persons at High Risk of HIV Infection in
Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch,
August 2003. Report online.
See also: Peoples Union of Civil Liberties
(Karnataka) Report on Human Rights
Violations Against the Transgender
Community, released in September
2003. Reported in Being a Eunuch, By
Siddarth Narrain, for Frontline, 14
October 2003.
[10] [2] Eunuchs ’cut off man’s penis’. By
Baldev Chauhan BBC correspondent in
Himachal Pradesh. BBC News. Thursday,
24 July 2003.
[11]Dancing eunuchs taxing red-faced
shopkeepers. Reuters. November 10
2006.
[12]Hester, J. David (2005), Eunuchs and the
Postgender Jesus: Matthew 19:12 and
Transgressive Sexualities. Journal for the
Study of the New Testament, Vol. 28, No.
1, 13-40 (2005)
[13]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
[14]Tertullian, On Monogamy, 3: “...He
stands before you, if you are willing to
copy him, as a voluntary spado (eunuch)
in the flesh.” And elsewhere: "The Lord
Himself opened the kingdom of heaven
to eunuchs and He Himself lived as a
eunuch. The apostle [Paul] also,
following His example, made himself a
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Eunuch
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eunuch..." Tertullian also declared: "The
kingdom of heaven is thrown open to
eunuchs."
[15]Yellamma cult of India
[16]The Mystery of the Threshold: "Ali" of
Southern India
[17] "Wells, Collin. Review of The Perfect
Servant: Eunuchs and the Social
Construction of Gender in Byzantium,
2003 by Kathryn M. Ringrose".
http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/
mailing_lists/BMCR-L/2004/0046.php.
Retrieved on 2006-10-21. .
[18] "Review of Herdt, Gilbert (ed.) (1994)
Third Sex, Third Gender: Beyond Sexual
Dimorphism in Culture and History".
http://www.galva108.org/
thirdgender.html. Retrieved on
2006-10-21.
[19] "Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A
Latin Dictionary".
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/
ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aen
Retrieved on 2006-10-21. .
Sources and references
• English translation of Rudople Guilland’s
essay on Byzantine eunuchs "Les
Eunuques dans l’Empire Byzantin: Étude
de titulature et de prosopographie
byzantines", in ’Études Byzantines’, Vol. I
(1943), pp. 197-238 with many examples
External links
• The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the
Social Construction of Gender in
Byzantium
• Eunuchs in Pharaonic Egypt
• Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of
Imperial China
• "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library
• The Eunuchs of Ming dynasty china
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuch"
Categories: Eunuchs
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Eunuch
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