Most Important Eunuchs in History

[Xan (imported)]

I always believed that Daniel from the Old Testiment (of lion den fame) was a eunuch.

[An Onymus (imported)]

The mention of Cai Lun reminded me of a conversation I had a few years ago, with a woman who made her own paper. According to what she said, paper may be one of those things which was invented several times, in different periods and in different places. This seems credible, since all you need to do to make it, is to prepare a fibrous slurry from something like grass or wood chips, spread a thin layer of the slurry on a screen, a piece of felt, or on something else which will form it to a flat shape, and then let the stuff dry. (Dick Blick and other craft suppliers sell papermaking kits.)

Again, according to what the lady told me, it's thought that papermaking started out as a craft in which small pieces of paper were produced, for uses which we would now consider peripheral. This would be for things like the translucent sides of oriental lanterns, paste-on decorative paper scraps, decorative streamers which could be colored, envelopes or wrapping for powders, a substitute for kindling in starting fires; also, perhaps, with the addition of paste, tape, and, I would guess, maybe even a substitute for cloth wicks in oil lamps.

I'm not sure about this, but I think that the Mayans used something similar to paper in Precolumbian times. They had books of a sort, almost all of which were destroyed by the Spaniards. That would presumably be an independent invention of paper, if that was what the Mayans used.

Cai Lun conceivably was the person who realized that, if you made sheets of paper, they could be used as a surface to write on or to paint on. It's also possible that he made improvements in the papermaking process (such as adding sizing to the slurry) which improved the usability of paper as a writing surface.

I don't think there are any examples or Chinese paintings on paper, until at least the tenth century. This, of course, could be because any paintings on paper made before that, deteriorated and were destroyed.

All this also reminds me of the old question, "What did people use for toilet paper, before paper was invented?" The period before paper was in common use, takes up at least 75% of history, and all of prehistory. All the pharaohs, all the caesars, and all the classical Greeks, lived out their lives without ever using a roll of toilet paper. Didn't have bidets, either.

[bullgeo (imported)]

I am am currently attempting to produce a list of the ten most important eunuchs in history. Below is my provisional list. Please make comments and suggestions as to anyone you think ought to be added or subtracted. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

Jesus

________________

The 10 Most Significant Eunuchs in History

(In chronological order)

Bagoas

4th century BCE

Catamite of Darius III of Persia & then 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.

Ganymedes

1st century BCE

Highly capable adviser & general of Cleopatra VII’s sister & rival, Princess Arsinoe. Uniquely 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.

Cai Lun (Ts'ai Lun in the old romanization)

1st/2nd century CE

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. Try to imagine the modern world without his invention.

Eutropius

5th century CE

Only eunuch known to have attained the highly distinguished and very influential position of Roman Consul.

Narses

478-573

General of Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, responsible for destroying the Ostrogoths in 552 at Taginae in Italy and saving Rome for the empire.

Stauracius

8th century CE

Loyal & successful servant & general of Empress Irene of Byzantium. Would probably have uniquely succeeded her on the throne as emperor if he had not succumbed to untimely disease in 800.

Ignatius of Constantinople

799-877

Worthy ecclesiastic. Twice Patriarch of Constantinople during troubled political times [847-858 & 867-877]. First absolutly unquestioned eunuch saint, recognised by both the Orthodox & Roman Churches. (There are a great many early saints who were probably eunuchs, though none either as influential nor unquestioned as to their castration.)

Abelard, Pierre

1079-1142

French scholastic philosopher & theologian

Zheng He

1371-1433

Great Chinese admiral & explorer.

Broschi, Carlo called Farinelli

1705-82

Greatest Italian castrato.

__________________

As an academic, I’m also drawn to Sima Qian (old romanization: Ssu-ma Chi’en) (2nd/1st century BCE), who 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. If I decide to add him, he would probably replace Stauracius.

I have excluded infamous eunuchs & those with unproven histories, such as Hadrian’s Antinous, whose demise as a result of a botched castration is only one theory regarding the reason for his untimely ‘Death on the Nile’ as described in the story of that name by Pueros on the Archive. He may have

become a diety in the Roman panthe

on, but he may or may not have been a eunuch – and then only in the last day of his life.

I have also excluded Origen of Alexandria, as I cannot think of him as a great Christian philosopher if part of his early beliefs included a need to castrate himself and he then renounced and regreted those beliefs later in life.

Despite the fact that Tertullian, the first great Christian theologian, wrote that Jesus Christ was a eunuch, I doubt that I could include him on this list. There is no corroboration that Jesus was a eunuch in any other early source. (The Skoptzy did, however, believe it to be true.)

Any suggestions will be gratefully accepted.

King Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia had seven eunuchs: Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Aethar, and Carkas.

The seven aformentioned eunuchs were not very well known, but one of the most popular eunuchs that I know of is the "Ethiopian Eunuch".

Bull

[Colinwexler (imported)]

What about Michael Jackson? It would explain everything!

[Moreschi (imported)]

What about Michael Jackson? It would explain everything!

Yes- everything except he claims to have children!

[Riverwind (imported)]

I thought thats what he is in trouble for?

The scum bag,

RW

[_g (imported)]

Yes- everything except he claims to have children!

His children do not look anything like him



_g

[Moreschi (imported)]

His children do not look anything like him



_g

I never looked that closely. Doesn't he keep his kids' faces covered up with a veil?

I've always suspected he's not hormonally normal what with that voice! Though, I did know a guy with a speaking voice not much lower than my own (and I'm a soprano) who sang Tenor and who wasn't a eunuch.

[Phole (imported)]

I just wanted to say that I agree with Xan. It is my belief tha Daniel could have been a Eunuch. I would have to get out my big concordance but I'm pretty sure that a prophet before Daniel's time predicted that the household of the king would be brought into babylon in bondage and that his desendants would serve as Eunuchs in the palace of the babylonian king (Nebechanezer). That is exactly where Daniel found himself. Incidentally this is my first post on the message board. Thanks for your help.

[JesusA (imported)]

Daniel is an interesting case for discussion in any “Top Ten” list of the

most important eunuchs in history.

The Book of Daniel was written centuries after the period that it depicts. Biblical scholars usually date it about somewhere around 165 to 164 BCE and it depicts events following soon after the Babylonian exile (beginning 586 BCE), making it the last-written book to be included in the Hebrew canon and reporting on events that took place 400 years earlier.

What is important, though, is that the author of Daniel attributed to him a governmental position that was reserved exclusively for eunuchs, as all contemporary readers of the text would have known. While there are, of course, some theologians who deny that Daniel (if he really existed) had been castrated, most of those whom I have read agree that he would have been a eunuch. His three companions are generally agreed by all but Sunday school textbook writers (and the illustrators of children’s books) to have been castrated as small boys.

There was recently posted an internet address for a Medieval painting showing the castration of Jewish children for Nebuchadnezzar’s court. Check it out at Illustrated Medieval Manuscripts (http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=6802).

Since the list is being developed for a book proposal, Daniel might be an imporant addition. Whether he actually existed or not, he is thought by over one billion Christians and Jews to be an historical figure. Including him would naturally lead to a discussion of the important role of eunuchs in the ancient world.