The Cultural Aspects of Eunuchism, part 2

[JesusA (imported)]

The mists of antiquity obscure the point at which the gelding of humans was begun. Nor can it be said with any accuracy why the techniques of emasculation or castration should be applied to men. The processes of deprivation of the sexual powers are extremely variable, as variable indeed, as are the functions of emasculated individuals in world civilization. Nor do the terms applied to eunuchs in the various languages give any clue as to why the custom arose. It is possible that castration began as a punishment, perhaps for such a crime as adultery. Punitive emasculation appears more widely than any other form of the practice and is described for primitives as well as peoples of high civilization. The Central African Azande are recorded by Czekanowski as castrating for adultery, while similar practices are noted among other African aborigines. The earliest mention of eunuchs in recorded history is to be found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.), although there is a suggestion of the trait in the somewhat earlier Minoan civilization of Crete. The Laws of Hammurabi forbid the adopted children of a eunuch from leaving their foster parent since he then would lack provision for his old age. But the same code prescribes castration as a punishment for sexual crimes. Emasculation is the punishment for adultery in Egypt, beginning in the XXth Dynasty (1200-1085 B.C.), and in China a few centuries later. Early Frankish law also insisted on castration for the convicted seducer of a free woman.<p>As nearly as can be ascertained, the Assyro-Babylonian region seems to offer the earliest evidence for the phenomenon of eunuchism as an institution, a form of the custom never found in primitive societies. In the earlier Babylonian empire eunuchs appear, fulfilling a host of court functions and emerging as a definite social class. Meissner mentions four classes of eunuchs in early Akkad. There of those he describes acted as major-domos, stewards, chamberlains, viziers, and generally, as servants attached to the body of the king. The fourth class, the so-called assinnu, were generally associated with a temple which in turn was dedicated to a goddess. This is the earliest historical mention of the eunuch priest who appears in the temples of many of the fertility goddesses of the Near East from at least 2000 B.C. until well into the Roman period. Thus in the Chaldean and Mesopotamian area there is an intensification of the concept; eunuchs are of three groups: punished criminals, royal servants, and priests. [While the evidence is ambiguous, some Sumerologists believe that human castration was used in Sumeria. The same term that is used to refer to castrated sheep and goats is used to refer to the male offspring of certain classes of slave women. The practice may well have been invented there.]<p>Since this area offers this intensification as well as the greatest recorded antiquity, it may not be amiss to look to Mesopotamia as the possible center and point of origin of at least the latter two of the three aspects mentioned above. It is known, for example, that numerous elements of culture travelled from the Near East to China and also to India. It is sometimes possible to trace the time sequence between the appearance of a culture element in Asia Minor and its reappearance in China. Thus among such elements which first occur in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and gradually make their way overland to the Far East are certain domesticated animals, wheeled vehicles, concepts of divine kingship, and many others, including, in the present writer's opinion, the practice of eunuchism. If 2000 B.C. is accepted as the earliest date for the phenomenon of eunuchism in early Babylonia [more recent research places it earlier], the first appearance of the trait in China is, according to Chinese sources, 1122 B.C. Actually, 700-800 B.C. would probably be more reasonable. [The earliest clear evidence of eunuchs in China is now dated from about 1300 B.C., again from discoveries made after Spencer wrote his article. It is an oracle bone asking the dieties whether or not a group of prisoners of war should be castrated.] When, from 1500 until about 1000 B.C., the Vedic peoples invaded India, they brought with them the concept of eunuchism. The Vedas, the hymns of these precursors of the Hindus, mention several forms of the castration of men and animals.<p>To the west of the Tigris-Euphrates system, it is found that eunuchism appears later among the Egyptians than among the intermediate peoples of the Fertile Crescent. There is the assumption that Egypt likewise obtained the concept from Asia Minor. Unlike the Assyro-Babylonians, the Egyptians never took to the harem system. Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Egyptians had eunuchs in the royal house, distinguishable on wall carvings by virtue of their beardless faces and curly short hair, but these were few compared with the many of the Akkadian court. The Egyptians did not follow the Mesopotamian habit of characterizing their eunuchs. Although the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a castration myth, Horus being represented as tearing out the sexual organs of the evil Set, it is not until the Ptolemaic period that eunuchs are numerous. The castrate was far more important among the peoples of the Israelitic domain. Here the practice emerges as a complete institution by 1250 B.C. Mosaic law specifically prohibited eunuchs from entering the priesthood, or as it is even more inclusively put, into the "congregation" (Deut. 23, 1.). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, eunuchs are discussed again and again, indicating the frequency of their appearance if nothing more. [They are mentioned more frequently in the Old Testament than in any other long manuscript surviving from so early a date.]<p>Eunuchism diffuses north from Mesopotamia into Anatolia, Iran, and Greece. The ancient kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia carried the practice to extremes, particularly in respect to the priesthood of the goddess Cybele. Eunuch priests apparently did not extend beyond Asia Minor. The Phrygian priest of the god Attis, the consort of Cybele, the Earth Mother, were obliged to castrate themselves on entering the service of the deity. It seems clear from Frazer's account that these were pederastic priests, associated with the prostitute priestesses of the goddess. A similar institution seems to have existed in Syria, the male prostitutes here being associated with the worship of Adonis, the female ones with Ishtar. The god Attis is said to have emasculated himself under a pine tree; a fiction, according to Frazer, invented by the priests to justify their own self-mutilation. The eunuch priest of this area is said to have become a transvestite, wearing women's garb and performing women's tasks.

[JesusA (imported)]

The mists of antiquity obscure the point at which the gelding of humans was begun. Nor can it be said with any accuracy why the techniques of emasculation or castration should be applied to men. The processes of deprivation of the sexual powers are extremely variable, as variable indeed, as are the functions of emasculated individuals in world civilization. Nor do the terms applied to eunuchs in the various languages give any clue as to why the custom arose. It is possible that castration began as a punishment, perhaps for such a crime as adultery. Punitive emasculation appears more widely than any other form of the practice and is described for primitives as well as peoples of high civilization. The Central African Azande are recorded by Czekanowski as castrating for adultery, while similar practices are noted among other African aborigines. The earliest mention of eunuchs in recorded history is to be found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.), although there is a suggestion of the trait in the somewhat earlier Minoan civilization of Crete. The Laws of Hammurabi forbid the adopted children of a eunuch from leaving their foster parent since he then would lack provision for his old age. But the same code prescribes castration as a punishment for sexual crimes. Emasculation is the punishment for adultery in Egypt, beginning in the XXth Dynasty (1200-1085 B.C.), and in China a few centuries later. Early Frankish law also insisted on castration for the convicted seducer of a free woman.<p>As nearly as can be ascertained, the Assyro-Babylonian region seems to offer the earliest evidence for the phenomenon of eunuchism as an institution, a form of the custom never found in primitive societies. In the earlier Babylonian empire eunuchs appear, fulfilling a host of court functions and emerging as a definite social class. Meissner mentions four classes of eunuchs in early Akkad. There of those he describes acted as major-domos, stewards, chamberlains, viziers, and generally, as servants attached to the body of the king. The fourth class, the so-called assinnu, were generally associated with a temple which in turn was dedicated to a goddess. This is the earliest historical mention of the eunuch priest who appears in the temples of many of the fertility goddesses of the Near East from at least 2000 B.C. until well into the Roman period. Thus in the Chaldean and Mesopotamian area there is an intensification of the concept; eunuchs are of three groups: punished criminals, royal servants, and priests. [While the evidence is ambiguous, some Sumerologists believe that human castration was used in Sumeria. The same term that is used to refer to castrated sheep and goats is used to refer to the male offspring of certain classes of slave women. The practice may well have been invented there.]<p>Since this area offers this intensification as well as the greatest recorded antiquity, it may not be amiss to look to Mesopotamia as the possible center and point of origin of at least the latter two of the three aspects mentioned above. It is known, for example, that numerous elements of culture travelled from the Near East to China and also to India. It is sometimes possible to trace the time sequence between the appearance of a culture element in Asia Minor and its reappearance in China. Thus among such elements which first occur in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and gradually make their way overland to the Far East are certain domesticated animals, wheeled vehicles, concepts of divine kingship, and many others, including, in the present writer's opinion, the practice of eunuchism. If 2000 B.C. is accepted as the earliest date for the phenomenon of eunuchism in early Babylonia [more recent research places it earlier], the first appearance of the trait in China is, according to Chinese sources, 1122 B.C. Actually, 700-800 B.C. would probably be more reasonable. [The earliest clear evidence of eunuchs in China is now dated from about 1300 B.C., again from discoveries made after Spencer wrote his article. It is an oracle bone asking the dieties whether or not a group of prisoners of war should be castrated.] When, from 1500 until about 1000 B.C., the Vedic peoples invaded India, they brought with them the concept of eunuchism. The Vedas, the hymns of these precursors of the Hindus, mention several forms of the castration of men and animals.<p>To the west of the Tigris-Euphrates system, it is found that eunuchism appears later among the Egyptians than among the intermediate peoples of the Fertile Crescent. There is the assumption that Egypt likewise obtained the concept from Asia Minor. Unlike the Assyro-Babylonians, the Egyptians never took to the harem system. Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Egyptians had eunuchs in the royal house, distinguishable on wall carvings by virtue of their beardless faces and curly short hair, but these were few compared with the many of the Akkadian court. The Egyptians did not follow the Mesopotamian habit of characterizing their eunuchs. Although the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a castration myth, Horus being represented as tearing out the sexual organs of the evil Set, it is not until the Ptolemaic period that eunuchs are numerous. The castrate was far more important among the peoples of the Israelitic domain. Here the practice emerges as a complete institution by 1250 B.C. Mosaic law specifically prohibited eunuchs from entering the priesthood, or as it is even more inclusively put, into the "congregation" (Deut. 23, 1.). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, eunuchs are discussed again and again, indicating the frequency of their appearance if nothing more. [They are mentioned more frequently in the Old Testament than in any other long manuscript surviving from so early a date.]<p>Eunuchism diffuses north from Mesopotamia into Anatolia, Iran, and Greece. The ancient kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia carried the practice to extremes, particularly in respect to the priesthood of the goddess Cybele. Eunuch priests apparently did not extend beyond Asia Minor. The Phrygian priest of the god Attis, the consort of Cybele, the Earth Mother, were obliged to castrate themselves on entering the service of the deity. It seems clear from Frazer's account that these were pederastic priests, associated with the prostitute priestesses of the goddess. A similar institution seems to have existed in Syria, the male prostitutes here being associated with the worship of Adonis, the female ones with Ishtar. The god Attis is said to have emasculated himself under a pine tree; a fiction, according to Frazer, invented by the priests to justify their own self-mutilation. The eunuch priest of this area is said to have become a transvestite, wearing women's garb and performing women's tasks.

[JesusA (imported)]

The mists of antiquity obscure the point at which the gelding of humans was begun. Nor can it be said with any accuracy why the techniques of emasculation or castration should be applied to men. The processes of deprivation of the sexual powers are extremely variable, as variable indeed, as are the functions of emasculated individuals in world civilization. Nor do the terms applied to eunuchs in the various languages give any clue as to why the custom arose. It is possible that castration began as a punishment, perhaps for such a crime as adultery. Punitive emasculation appears more widely than any other form of the practice and is described for primitives as well as peoples of high civilization. The Central African Azande are recorded by Czekanowski as castrating for adultery, while similar practices are noted among other African aborigines. The earliest mention of eunuchs in recorded history is to be found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.), although there is a suggestion of the trait in the somewhat earlier Minoan civilization of Crete. The Laws of Hammurabi forbid the adopted children of a eunuch from leaving their foster parent since he then would lack provision for his old age. But the same code prescribes castration as a punishment for sexual crimes. Emasculation is the punishment for adultery in Egypt, beginning in the XXth Dynasty (1200-1085 B.C.), and in China a few centuries later. Early Frankish law also insisted on castration for the convicted seducer of a free woman.<p>As nearly as can be ascertained, the Assyro-Babylonian region seems to offer the earliest evidence for the phenomenon of eunuchism as an institution, a form of the custom never found in primitive societies. In the earlier Babylonian empire eunuchs appear, fulfilling a host of court functions and emerging as a definite social class. Meissner mentions four classes of eunuchs in early Akkad. There of those he describes acted as major-domos, stewards, chamberlains, viziers, and generally, as servants attached to the body of the king. The fourth class, the so-called assinnu, were generally associated with a temple which in turn was dedicated to a goddess. This is the earliest historical mention of the eunuch priest who appears in the temples of many of the fertility goddesses of the Near East from at least 2000 B.C. until well into the Roman period. Thus in the Chaldean and Mesopotamian area there is an intensification of the concept; eunuchs are of three groups: punished criminals, royal servants, and priests. [While the evidence is ambiguous, some Sumerologists believe that human castration was used in Sumeria. The same term that is used to refer to castrated sheep and goats is used to refer to the male offspring of certain classes of slave women. The practice may well have been invented there.]<p>Since this area offers this intensification as well as the greatest recorded antiquity, it may not be amiss to look to Mesopotamia as the possible center and point of origin of at least the latter two of the three aspects mentioned above. It is known, for example, that numerous elements of culture travelled from the Near East to China and also to India. It is sometimes possible to trace the time sequence between the appearance of a culture element in Asia Minor and its reappearance in China. Thus among such elements which first occur in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and gradually make their way overland to the Far East are certain domesticated animals, wheeled vehicles, concepts of divine kingship, and many others, including, in the present writer's opinion, the practice of eunuchism. If 2000 B.C. is accepted as the earliest date for the phenomenon of eunuchism in early Babylonia [more recent research places it earlier], the first appearance of the trait in China is, according to Chinese sources, 1122 B.C. Actually, 700-800 B.C. would probably be more reasonable. [The earliest clear evidence of eunuchs in China is now dated from about 1300 B.C., again from discoveries made after Spencer wrote his article. It is an oracle bone asking the dieties whether or not a group of prisoners of war should be castrated.] When, from 1500 until about 1000 B.C., the Vedic peoples invaded India, they brought with them the concept of eunuchism. The Vedas, the hymns of these precursors of the Hindus, mention several forms of the castration of men and animals.<p>To the west of the Tigris-Euphrates system, it is found that eunuchism appears later among the Egyptians than among the intermediate peoples of the Fertile Crescent. There is the assumption that Egypt likewise obtained the concept from Asia Minor. Unlike the Assyro-Babylonians, the Egyptians never took to the harem system. Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Egyptians had eunuchs in the royal house, distinguishable on wall carvings by virtue of their beardless faces and curly short hair, but these were few compared with the many of the Akkadian court. The Egyptians did not follow the Mesopotamian habit of characterizing their eunuchs. Although the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a castration myth, Horus being represented as tearing out the sexual organs of the evil Set, it is not until the Ptolemaic period that eunuchs are numerous. The castrate was far more important among the peoples of the Israelitic domain. Here the practice emerges as a complete institution by 1250 B.C. Mosaic law specifically prohibited eunuchs from entering the priesthood, or as it is even more inclusively put, into the "congregation" (Deut. 23, 1.). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, eunuchs are discussed again and again, indicating the frequency of their appearance if nothing more. [They are mentioned more frequently in the Old Testament than in any other long manuscript surviving from so early a date.]<p>Eunuchism diffuses north from Mesopotamia into Anatolia, Iran, and Greece. The ancient kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia carried the practice to extremes, particularly in respect to the priesthood of the goddess Cybele. Eunuch priests apparently did not extend beyond Asia Minor. The Phrygian priest of the god Attis, the consort of Cybele, the Earth Mother, were obliged to castrate themselves on entering the service of the deity. It seems clear from Frazer's account that these were pederastic priests, associated with the prostitute priestesses of the goddess. A similar institution seems to have existed in Syria, the male prostitutes here being associated with the worship of Adonis, the female ones with Ishtar. The god Attis is said to have emasculated himself under a pine tree; a fiction, according to Frazer, invented by the priests to justify their own self-mutilation. The eunuch priest of this area is said to have become a transvestite, wearing women's garb and performing women's tasks.

[JesusA (imported)]

The mists of antiquity obscure the point at which the gelding of humans was begun. Nor can it be said with any accuracy why the techniques of emasculation or castration should be applied to men. The processes of deprivation of the sexual powers are extremely variable, as variable indeed, as are the functions of emasculated individuals in world civilization. Nor do the terms applied to eunuchs in the various languages give any clue as to why the custom arose. It is possible that castration began as a punishment, perhaps for such a crime as adultery. Punitive emasculation appears more widely than any other form of the practice and is described for primitives as well as peoples of high civilization. The Central African Azande are recorded by Czekanowski as castrating for adultery, while similar practices are noted among other African aborigines. The earliest mention of eunuchs in recorded history is to be found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.), although there is a suggestion of the trait in the somewhat earlier Minoan civilization of Crete. The Laws of Hammurabi forbid the adopted children of a eunuch from leaving their foster parent since he then would lack provision for his old age. But the same code prescribes castration as a punishment for sexual crimes. Emasculation is the punishment for adultery in Egypt, beginning in the XXth Dynasty (1200-1085 B.C.), and in China a few centuries later. Early Frankish law also insisted on castration for the convicted seducer of a free woman.<p>As nearly as can be ascertained, the Assyro-Babylonian region seems to offer the earliest evidence for the phenomenon of eunuchism as an institution, a form of the custom never found in primitive societies. In the earlier Babylonian empire eunuchs appear, fulfilling a host of court functions and emerging as a definite social class. Meissner mentions four classes of eunuchs in early Akkad. There of those he describes acted as major-domos, stewards, chamberlains, viziers, and generally, as servants attached to the body of the king. The fourth class, the so-called assinnu, were generally associated with a temple which in turn was dedicated to a goddess. This is the earliest historical mention of the eunuch priest who appears in the temples of many of the fertility goddesses of the Near East from at least 2000 B.C. until well into the Roman period. Thus in the Chaldean and Mesopotamian area there is an intensification of the concept; eunuchs are of three groups: punished criminals, royal servants, and priests. [While the evidence is ambiguous, some Sumerologists believe that human castration was used in Sumeria. The same term that is used to refer to castrated sheep and goats is used to refer to the male offspring of certain classes of slave women. The practice may well have been invented there.]<p>Since this area offers this intensification as well as the greatest recorded antiquity, it may not be amiss to look to Mesopotamia as the possible center and point of origin of at least the latter two of the three aspects mentioned above. It is known, for example, that numerous elements of culture travelled from the Near East to China and also to India. It is sometimes possible to trace the time sequence between the appearance of a culture element in Asia Minor and its reappearance in China. Thus among such elements which first occur in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and gradually make their way overland to the Far East are certain domesticated animals, wheeled vehicles, concepts of divine kingship, and many others, including, in the present writer's opinion, the practice of eunuchism. If 2000 B.C. is accepted as the earliest date for the phenomenon of eunuchism in early Babylonia [more recent research places it earlier], the first appearance of the trait in China is, according to Chinese sources, 1122 B.C. Actually, 700-800 B.C. would probably be more reasonable. [The earliest clear evidence of eunuchs in China is now dated from about 1300 B.C., again from discoveries made after Spencer wrote his article. It is an oracle bone asking the dieties whether or not a group of prisoners of war should be castrated.] When, from 1500 until about 1000 B.C., the Vedic peoples invaded India, they brought with them the concept of eunuchism. The Vedas, the hymns of these precursors of the Hindus, mention several forms of the castration of men and animals.<p>To the west of the Tigris-Euphrates system, it is found that eunuchism appears later among the Egyptians than among the intermediate peoples of the Fertile Crescent. There is the assumption that Egypt likewise obtained the concept from Asia Minor. Unlike the Assyro-Babylonians, the Egyptians never took to the harem system. Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Egyptians had eunuchs in the royal house, distinguishable on wall carvings by virtue of their beardless faces and curly short hair, but these were few compared with the many of the Akkadian court. The Egyptians did not follow the Mesopotamian habit of characterizing their eunuchs. Although the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a castration myth, Horus being represented as tearing out the sexual organs of the evil Set, it is not until the Ptolemaic period that eunuchs are numerous. The castrate was far more important among the peoples of the Israelitic domain. Here the practice emerges as a complete institution by 1250 B.C. Mosaic law specifically prohibited eunuchs from entering the priesthood, or as it is even more inclusively put, into the "congregation" (Deut. 23, 1.). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, eunuchs are discussed again and again, indicating the frequency of their appearance if nothing more. [They are mentioned more frequently in the Old Testament than in any other long manuscript surviving from so early a date.]<p>Eunuchism diffuses north from Mesopotamia into Anatolia, Iran, and Greece. The ancient kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia carried the practice to extremes, particularly in respect to the priesthood of the goddess Cybele. Eunuch priests apparently did not extend beyond Asia Minor. The Phrygian priest of the god Attis, the consort of Cybele, the Earth Mother, were obliged to castrate themselves on entering the service of the deity. It seems clear from Frazer's account that these were pederastic priests, associated with the prostitute priestesses of the goddess. A similar institution seems to have existed in Syria, the male prostitutes here being associated with the worship of Adonis, the female ones with Ishtar. The god Attis is said to have emasculated himself under a pine tree; a fiction, according to Frazer, invented by the priests to justify their own self-mutilation. The eunuch priest of this area is said to have become a transvestite, wearing women's garb and performing women's tasks.

[JesusA (imported)]

The mists of antiquity obscure the point at which the gelding of humans was begun. Nor can it be said with any accuracy why the techniques of emasculation or castration should be applied to men. The processes of deprivation of the sexual powers are extremely variable, as variable indeed, as are the functions of emasculated individuals in world civilization. Nor do the terms applied to eunuchs in the various languages give any clue as to why the custom arose. It is possible that castration began as a punishment, perhaps for such a crime as adultery. Punitive emasculation appears more widely than any other form of the practice and is described for primitives as well as peoples of high civilization. The Central African Azande are recorded by Czekanowski as castrating for adultery, while similar practices are noted among other African aborigines. The earliest mention of eunuchs in recorded history is to be found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.), although there is a suggestion of the trait in the somewhat earlier Minoan civilization of Crete. The Laws of Hammurabi forbid the adopted children of a eunuch from leaving their foster parent since he then would lack provision for his old age. But the same code prescribes castration as a punishment for sexual crimes. Emasculation is the punishment for adultery in Egypt, beginning in the XXth Dynasty (1200-1085 B.C.), and in China a few centuries later. Early Frankish law also insisted on castration for the convicted seducer of a free woman.<p>As nearly as can be ascertained, the Assyro-Babylonian region seems to offer the earliest evidence for the phenomenon of eunuchism as an institution, a form of the custom never found in primitive societies. In the earlier Babylonian empire eunuchs appear, fulfilling a host of court functions and emerging as a definite social class. Meissner mentions four classes of eunuchs in early Akkad. There of those he describes acted as major-domos, stewards, chamberlains, viziers, and generally, as servants attached to the body of the king. The fourth class, the so-called assinnu, were generally associated with a temple which in turn was dedicated to a goddess. This is the earliest historical mention of the eunuch priest who appears in the temples of many of the fertility goddesses of the Near East from at least 2000 B.C. until well into the Roman period. Thus in the Chaldean and Mesopotamian area there is an intensification of the concept; eunuchs are of three groups: punished criminals, royal servants, and priests. [While the evidence is ambiguous, some Sumerologists believe that human castration was used in Sumeria. The same term that is used to refer to castrated sheep and goats is used to refer to the male offspring of certain classes of slave women. The practice may well have been invented there.]<p>Since this area offers this intensification as well as the greatest recorded antiquity, it may not be amiss to look to Mesopotamia as the possible center and point of origin of at least the latter two of the three aspects mentioned above. It is known, for example, that numerous elements of culture travelled from the Near East to China and also to India. It is sometimes possible to trace the time sequence between the appearance of a culture element in Asia Minor and its reappearance in China. Thus among such elements which first occur in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley and gradually make their way overland to the Far East are certain domesticated animals, wheeled vehicles, concepts of divine kingship, and many others, including, in the present writer's opinion, the practice of eunuchism. If 2000 B.C. is accepted as the earliest date for the phenomenon of eunuchism in early Babylonia [more recent research places it earlier], the first appearance of the trait in China is, according to Chinese sources, 1122 B.C. Actually, 700-800 B.C. would probably be more reasonable. [The earliest clear evidence of eunuchs in China is now dated from about 1300 B.C., again from discoveries made after Spencer wrote his article. It is an oracle bone asking the dieties whether or not a group of prisoners of war should be castrated.] When, from 1500 until about 1000 B.C., the Vedic peoples invaded India, they brought with them the concept of eunuchism. The Vedas, the hymns of these precursors of the Hindus, mention several forms of the castration of men and animals.<p>To the west of the Tigris-Euphrates system, it is found that eunuchism appears later among the Egyptians than among the intermediate peoples of the Fertile Crescent. There is the assumption that Egypt likewise obtained the concept from Asia Minor. Unlike the Assyro-Babylonians, the Egyptians never took to the harem system. Beginning about 1200 B.C., the Egyptians had eunuchs in the royal house, distinguishable on wall carvings by virtue of their beardless faces and curly short hair, but these were few compared with the many of the Akkadian court. The Egyptians did not follow the Mesopotamian habit of characterizing their eunuchs. Although the Egyptian Book of the Dead contains a castration myth, Horus being represented as tearing out the sexual organs of the evil Set, it is not until the Ptolemaic period that eunuchs are numerous. The castrate was far more important among the peoples of the Israelitic domain. Here the practice emerges as a complete institution by 1250 B.C. Mosaic law specifically prohibited eunuchs from entering the priesthood, or as it is even more inclusively put, into the "congregation" (Deut. 23, 1.). Throughout the pages of the Old Testament, eunuchs are discussed again and again, indicating the frequency of their appearance if nothing more. [They are mentioned more frequently in the Old Testament than in any other long manuscript surviving from so early a date.]<p>Eunuchism diffuses north from Mesopotamia into Anatolia, Iran, and Greece. The ancient kingdoms of Lydia and Phrygia carried the practice to extremes, particularly in respect to the priesthood of the goddess Cybele. Eunuch priests apparently did not extend beyond Asia Minor. The Phrygian priest of the god Attis, the consort of Cybele, the Earth Mother, were obliged to castrate themselves on entering the service of the deity. It seems clear from Frazer's account that these were pederastic priests, associated with the prostitute priestesses of the goddess. A similar institution seems to have existed in Syria, the male prostitutes here being associated with the worship of Adonis, the female ones with Ishtar. The god Attis is said to have emasculated himself under a pine tree; a fiction, according to Frazer, invented by the priests to justify their own self-mutilation. The eunuch priest of this area is said to have become a transvestite, wearing women's garb and performing women's tasks.