Eunuch
A eunuch is a castrated man. His genitals have been removed. This can be cutting off the testicles.[1] The term "castration" is sometimes used to refer to emasculation where both the testicles and the penis are removed together.
Over the millennia since, eunuchs had a lot of different functions in different cultures such as domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. When eunuchs ran a harem, a monarch could be sure he was the one who fathered his wives' children since eunuchs were always infertile.
In Byzantine art, angels and eunuchs were often shown in a similar light and manner.[2]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Wilson, Jean D.; Roehrborn, Claus (December 1999). "Long-Term Consequences of Castration in Men: Lessons from the Skoptzy and the Eunuchs of the Chinese and Ottoman Courts". The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 84 (12): 4324–4331. doi:10.1210/jcem.84.12.6206. ISSN 0021-972X. PMID 10599682.
- ↑ Brown, Amelia R. "Painting the Bodiless: Angels and Eunuchs in Byzantine Art and Culture". Inter-disciplinary.net – via www.academia.edu.
Other websites
[change | change source]- The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
- Eunuchs in Pharaonic Egypt
- Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China Archived 2008-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
- "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library
