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Eunuch

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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 BCE. 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.

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History

The English word eunuch is from the Greek eune ("bed") and ekhein ("to keep"), 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 (e.g. chancellor started out 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 offspring 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 replaced or killed without repercussion. In cultures that had both harems and eunuchs, eunuchs were sometimes used as harem servants (compare the female odalisque) or seraglio guards.

The first mention of eunuchs was made in the Assyrian Empire (ca. 850 till 622 B.C.). Eunuchs were also familiar figures in the court of the Achaemenid emperors of Persia and the Egyptian Pharaohs (down to the Lagid dynasty known as Ptolemees, ending with Cleopatra).

In ancient China castration was both a traditional punishment (until the Sui Dynasty) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were 70,000 eunuchs (宦官 huàn'guān, or 太監 tàijiān) 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 transgenders and effeminate homosexuals. Some eunuchs actually undergo ritual castration although the majority of them do not. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) 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. This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain. [link]


Roman woman liked to keep eunuchs as sexual slaves for thesmelves because their lack of testicles made it virtually impossible for them to become pregnant due to such intercourse. However, the sexual function of an eunuch was limited in time because after a period of about six months following their castration made them impotent.


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 (Topkapi) 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.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)


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." (New American Standard Bible)


Tertullian, a 2nd century Church Father, believed that Jesus himself was a eunuch, and that the apostle Paul of Tarsus also castrated himself.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 eunuch..." Tertullian also declared: "The kingdom of heaven is thrown open to eunuchs."


Eunuch priests have served various goddesses from India for many centuries. Contemporary examples can be found among devotees of Yellammadevi,[Yellamma cult of India] and the Ali of southern India.[The Mystery of the Threshold: "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 (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 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.



European illustration of a Eunuch (1749)

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European illustration of a Eunuch (1749)








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 in 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, including India and Bangladesh, although few actually undergo genital modification, but rather live as a third sex. In India a eunuch named "Shabnam Mausi" (Literally: Shabnam Aunty), created 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 millenium. Five of them, now christened as the 'paanch Pandavas' (Five 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.



Figurative use

There is much evidence indicating that ancient and medieval cultures used the term "eunuch" much differently than we do today.  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 (hermaphroditic).  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 (Authorhouse, Dec. 2003), 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 (see masochism and paraphilia). There has been frequent news coverage of incidents of self-castration (autocastration) 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.




See also 



Some other famous eunuchs



Eunuchs in Fiction




See also



Notes





Sources and references



External links




































 




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