Historical castration

[ninacaravalli (imported)]

I would like to ask the members and readers of this board about their opinion. What do you think were the typical circumstances under which men were castrated in the past? And what were the motivations for the castrators?

Thanks in advance.

[JesusA (imported)]

I would suggest that you start by reading some of the posts on the <Non-Fiction Articles> board. There are over 200 threads that relate to your question – many of them quite detailed.

[A-1 (imported)]

I would like to ask the members and readers of this board about their opinion. What do you think were the typical circumstances under which men were castrated in the past? And what were the motivations for the castrators?

Thanks in advance.

You are welcome in advance.

It is so refreshing to find a nice, honest, person like yourself asking legitimate questions about this subject.

Do as Jesus says. You would do well to familiarize yourself with the story of Abelard and Heloise.

AND, as we say here at the E.A., welcome to the Zoo!

[erikboy (imported)]

I would like to ask the members and readers of this board about their opinion. What do you think were the typical circumstances under which men were castrated in the past? And what were the motivations for the castrators?

Thanks in advance.

There were several cultures that castrated males in the past. Chiese, Romans, Assyrians, Byzantine, Arabs and Papal Italy. Probably there were more, but they are less known.

At very early time, castration was used as a punishment normally done to criminals or prisoners of war. There we can speak of forced castration.

In Imperial china Castrations were mostly voluntary for men and boys seeking for better life in imperial court. But it was used also on criminals.

Romans castrated their slaves. To make them more docile or to use them for various pleasures. eunuchs entertained Roman ladies, as they were not fertile. Byzantine Eunuchs were mostly servants of emperor mostly and voluntary mostly. Arabs used eunuchs to keep harems for Sultan.

And in Baroque Italy castratd singers were well known all over the europe for their extraordinary voices.

Where castrations were not voluntary, we can not speak of any circumstances of castration. In China and Byzantine one of the sons in the family was castrated if there was a hope for imperial service and better living for a whole family.

Very little is known of castrators. Well, I haven't heard anything about their intentions. But we can imagine what these intentions were. Someone who learned to do this procedure, must have been motivated or interested more or less.

[Peniisus (imported)]

I would like to ask the members and readers of this board about their opinion. What do you think were the typical circumstances under which men were castrated in the past? And what were the motivations for the castrators?

Thanks in advance.

One of the reasons is surely slavery. A master asserts his power over another man by gelding. It creates an instant inferiority.The other is to either guard or attend females. Castration makes them 'harmless' and impossible to rape their charges.