Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans, pt. 1

[JesusA (imported)]

AT LAST!!! A scholarly book on castration and eunuchs in the Moslem world. David Ayalon's last book (he died before it was published) was originally to be titled Harun al-Rashid and His Eunuchs, but the subject got away from him and the book grew in scope and content. The final title is Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study of Power Relationships. The book was published in 1999 by The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. At 376 pages and with a great many footnotes, it is a scholarly masterpiece. The excerpts below will show that it is even fairly well written for a scholarly publication, though there are more than enough boring and scholarly sections. Included are long translations from the Arabic literature that are otherwise inaccessible. (Only French quotations remain untranslated in the book.)<p>The book does not seem to be available from Amazon, but can be ordered directly from the publisher with a check in U.S. dollars. The price is $38, plus $2 for shipping and handling. The book can be ordered from:<p> Director of Publications<br> Institute of Asian and African Studies<br> Hebrew University<br> Mt. Scopus<br> Jerusalem, Israel 91905<p><br>Excerpts from APPENDIX E: Prices of Eunuchs; Age of Castration; Castration (pp. 300-315)<p>THE AGE OF CASTRATION<p>The eunuchs, like the overwhelming majority of the Mamluks [the other major subject which the book covers], were brought to the lands of Islam as children or very young boys. It would be important to find out whether the age limits in both cases were more or less the same.<p>According to Clot Bey [a French physician and the head of Muhammad 'Ali's medical services], the age of the castrated children was, in his time, between 6 and 9.<p>According to source references collected by G. Baer and relating to nineteenth century Egypt, that age did not exceed ten years.<p>According to the traveler H. von Maltzan that age was between 8 to 12.<p>R. Millant states that the Sudanese and Abyssinian boys were castrated well before the age of puberty.<p>According to P. Guyot, castration in Graeco-Roman Antiquity was carried out before the age of puberty. Only when the merchants wanted to sell their eunuchs as objects of lust (Lustknaben), they castrated them at that age, so that they would show sexual reaction.<p>There is a significant agreement between all these statements, covering a period of many centuries.<p>What they imply is that, whereas the Mamluks were imported usually at, or around, the age of puberty, the eunuchs were ordinarily castrated and dispatched to their various destinations before or well before reaching that age. As I have already pointed out on various occasions, the reason for bringing the Mamluks over at that particular age was the following. On the one hand, they have already acquired, at least partly, the qualities of their countries of origin, which made them superbly fit militarily; and on the other hand, they were still young enough to be moulded according to the conceptions and targets of both their patron and their new religion (especially the pagans among them). The eunuchs, by contrast, had to serve a completely different purpose, and even when they formed an essential element in the military hierarchy, they did not necessarily have to possessthe exact kind of military qualities which were essential for an unemasculated Mamluk.<p>As far as the harem is concerned, it was much safer to bring into it "complete," and, as far as possible, "lustless" eunuchs. This is a central theme of the immediately following section.<p>(continued in pt. 2)

[JesusA (imported)]

AT LAST!!! A scholarly book on castration and eunuchs in the Moslem world. David Ayalon's last book (he died before it was published) was originally to be titled Harun al-Rashid and His Eunuchs, but the subject got away from him and the book grew in scope and content. The final title is Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study of Power Relationships. The book was published in 1999 by The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. At 376 pages and with a great many footnotes, it is a scholarly masterpiece. The excerpts below will show that it is even fairly well written for a scholarly publication, though there are more than enough boring and scholarly sections. Included are long translations from the Arabic literature that are otherwise inaccessible. (Only French quotations remain untranslated in the book.)<p>The book does not seem to be available from Amazon, but can be ordered directly from the publisher with a check in U.S. dollars. The price is $38, plus $2 for shipping and handling. The book can be ordered from:<p> Director of Publications<br> Institute of Asian and African Studies<br> Hebrew University<br> Mt. Scopus<br> Jerusalem, Israel 91905<p><br>Excerpts from APPENDIX E: Prices of Eunuchs; Age of Castration; Castration (pp. 300-315)<p>THE AGE OF CASTRATION<p>The eunuchs, like the overwhelming majority of the Mamluks [the other major subject which the book covers], were brought to the lands of Islam as children or very young boys. It would be important to find out whether the age limits in both cases were more or less the same.<p>According to Clot Bey [a French physician and the head of Muhammad 'Ali's medical services], the age of the castrated children was, in his time, between 6 and 9.<p>According to source references collected by G. Baer and relating to nineteenth century Egypt, that age did not exceed ten years.<p>According to the traveler H. von Maltzan that age was between 8 to 12.<p>R. Millant states that the Sudanese and Abyssinian boys were castrated well before the age of puberty.<p>According to P. Guyot, castration in Graeco-Roman Antiquity was carried out before the age of puberty. Only when the merchants wanted to sell their eunuchs as objects of lust (Lustknaben), they castrated them at that age, so that they would show sexual reaction.<p>There is a significant agreement between all these statements, covering a period of many centuries.<p>What they imply is that, whereas the Mamluks were imported usually at, or around, the age of puberty, the eunuchs were ordinarily castrated and dispatched to their various destinations before or well before reaching that age. As I have already pointed out on various occasions, the reason for bringing the Mamluks over at that particular age was the following. On the one hand, they have already acquired, at least partly, the qualities of their countries of origin, which made them superbly fit militarily; and on the other hand, they were still young enough to be moulded according to the conceptions and targets of both their patron and their new religion (especially the pagans among them). The eunuchs, by contrast, had to serve a completely different purpose, and even when they formed an essential element in the military hierarchy, they did not necessarily have to possessthe exact kind of military qualities which were essential for an unemasculated Mamluk.<p>As far as the harem is concerned, it was much safer to bring into it "complete," and, as far as possible, "lustless" eunuchs. This is a central theme of the immediately following section.<p>(continued in pt. 2)

[JesusA (imported)]

AT LAST!!! A scholarly book on castration and eunuchs in the Moslem world. David Ayalon's last book (he died before it was published) was originally to be titled Harun al-Rashid and His Eunuchs, but the subject got away from him and the book grew in scope and content. The final title is Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study of Power Relationships. The book was published in 1999 by The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. At 376 pages and with a great many footnotes, it is a scholarly masterpiece. The excerpts below will show that it is even fairly well written for a scholarly publication, though there are more than enough boring and scholarly sections. Included are long translations from the Arabic literature that are otherwise inaccessible. (Only French quotations remain untranslated in the book.)<p>The book does not seem to be available from Amazon, but can be ordered directly from the publisher with a check in U.S. dollars. The price is $38, plus $2 for shipping and handling. The book can be ordered from:<p> Director of Publications<br> Institute of Asian and African Studies<br> Hebrew University<br> Mt. Scopus<br> Jerusalem, Israel 91905<p><br>Excerpts from APPENDIX E: Prices of Eunuchs; Age of Castration; Castration (pp. 300-315)<p>THE AGE OF CASTRATION<p>The eunuchs, like the overwhelming majority of the Mamluks [the other major subject which the book covers], were brought to the lands of Islam as children or very young boys. It would be important to find out whether the age limits in both cases were more or less the same.<p>According to Clot Bey [a French physician and the head of Muhammad 'Ali's medical services], the age of the castrated children was, in his time, between 6 and 9.<p>According to source references collected by G. Baer and relating to nineteenth century Egypt, that age did not exceed ten years.<p>According to the traveler H. von Maltzan that age was between 8 to 12.<p>R. Millant states that the Sudanese and Abyssinian boys were castrated well before the age of puberty.<p>According to P. Guyot, castration in Graeco-Roman Antiquity was carried out before the age of puberty. Only when the merchants wanted to sell their eunuchs as objects of lust (Lustknaben), they castrated them at that age, so that they would show sexual reaction.<p>There is a significant agreement between all these statements, covering a period of many centuries.<p>What they imply is that, whereas the Mamluks were imported usually at, or around, the age of puberty, the eunuchs were ordinarily castrated and dispatched to their various destinations before or well before reaching that age. As I have already pointed out on various occasions, the reason for bringing the Mamluks over at that particular age was the following. On the one hand, they have already acquired, at least partly, the qualities of their countries of origin, which made them superbly fit militarily; and on the other hand, they were still young enough to be moulded according to the conceptions and targets of both their patron and their new religion (especially the pagans among them). The eunuchs, by contrast, had to serve a completely different purpose, and even when they formed an essential element in the military hierarchy, they did not necessarily have to possessthe exact kind of military qualities which were essential for an unemasculated Mamluk.<p>As far as the harem is concerned, it was much safer to bring into it "complete," and, as far as possible, "lustless" eunuchs. This is a central theme of the immediately following section.<p>(continued in pt. 2)

[JesusA (imported)]

AT LAST!!! A scholarly book on castration and eunuchs in the Moslem world. David Ayalon's last book (he died before it was published) was originally to be titled Harun al-Rashid and His Eunuchs, but the subject got away from him and the book grew in scope and content. The final title is Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study of Power Relationships. The book was published in 1999 by The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. At 376 pages and with a great many footnotes, it is a scholarly masterpiece. The excerpts below will show that it is even fairly well written for a scholarly publication, though there are more than enough boring and scholarly sections. Included are long translations from the Arabic literature that are otherwise inaccessible. (Only French quotations remain untranslated in the book.)<p>The book does not seem to be available from Amazon, but can be ordered directly from the publisher with a check in U.S. dollars. The price is $38, plus $2 for shipping and handling. The book can be ordered from:<p> Director of Publications<br> Institute of Asian and African Studies<br> Hebrew University<br> Mt. Scopus<br> Jerusalem, Israel 91905<p><br>Excerpts from APPENDIX E: Prices of Eunuchs; Age of Castration; Castration (pp. 300-315)<p>THE AGE OF CASTRATION<p>The eunuchs, like the overwhelming majority of the Mamluks [the other major subject which the book covers], were brought to the lands of Islam as children or very young boys. It would be important to find out whether the age limits in both cases were more or less the same.<p>According to Clot Bey [a French physician and the head of Muhammad 'Ali's medical services], the age of the castrated children was, in his time, between 6 and 9.<p>According to source references collected by G. Baer and relating to nineteenth century Egypt, that age did not exceed ten years.<p>According to the traveler H. von Maltzan that age was between 8 to 12.<p>R. Millant states that the Sudanese and Abyssinian boys were castrated well before the age of puberty.<p>According to P. Guyot, castration in Graeco-Roman Antiquity was carried out before the age of puberty. Only when the merchants wanted to sell their eunuchs as objects of lust (Lustknaben), they castrated them at that age, so that they would show sexual reaction.<p>There is a significant agreement between all these statements, covering a period of many centuries.<p>What they imply is that, whereas the Mamluks were imported usually at, or around, the age of puberty, the eunuchs were ordinarily castrated and dispatched to their various destinations before or well before reaching that age. As I have already pointed out on various occasions, the reason for bringing the Mamluks over at that particular age was the following. On the one hand, they have already acquired, at least partly, the qualities of their countries of origin, which made them superbly fit militarily; and on the other hand, they were still young enough to be moulded according to the conceptions and targets of both their patron and their new religion (especially the pagans among them). The eunuchs, by contrast, had to serve a completely different purpose, and even when they formed an essential element in the military hierarchy, they did not necessarily have to possessthe exact kind of military qualities which were essential for an unemasculated Mamluk.<p>As far as the harem is concerned, it was much safer to bring into it "complete," and, as far as possible, "lustless" eunuchs. This is a central theme of the immediately following section.<p>(continued in pt. 2)

[JesusA (imported)]

AT LAST!!! A scholarly book on castration and eunuchs in the Moslem world. David Ayalon's last book (he died before it was published) was originally to be titled Harun al-Rashid and His Eunuchs, but the subject got away from him and the book grew in scope and content. The final title is Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans: A Study of Power Relationships. The book was published in 1999 by The Magnes Press of The Hebrew University, Jerusalem. At 376 pages and with a great many footnotes, it is a scholarly masterpiece. The excerpts below will show that it is even fairly well written for a scholarly publication, though there are more than enough boring and scholarly sections. Included are long translations from the Arabic literature that are otherwise inaccessible. (Only French quotations remain untranslated in the book.)<p>The book does not seem to be available from Amazon, but can be ordered directly from the publisher with a check in U.S. dollars. The price is $38, plus $2 for shipping and handling. The book can be ordered from:<p> Director of Publications<br> Institute of Asian and African Studies<br> Hebrew University<br> Mt. Scopus<br> Jerusalem, Israel 91905<p><br>Excerpts from APPENDIX E: Prices of Eunuchs; Age of Castration; Castration (pp. 300-315)<p>THE AGE OF CASTRATION<p>The eunuchs, like the overwhelming majority of the Mamluks [the other major subject which the book covers], were brought to the lands of Islam as children or very young boys. It would be important to find out whether the age limits in both cases were more or less the same.<p>According to Clot Bey [a French physician and the head of Muhammad 'Ali's medical services], the age of the castrated children was, in his time, between 6 and 9.<p>According to source references collected by G. Baer and relating to nineteenth century Egypt, that age did not exceed ten years.<p>According to the traveler H. von Maltzan that age was between 8 to 12.<p>R. Millant states that the Sudanese and Abyssinian boys were castrated well before the age of puberty.<p>According to P. Guyot, castration in Graeco-Roman Antiquity was carried out before the age of puberty. Only when the merchants wanted to sell their eunuchs as objects of lust (Lustknaben), they castrated them at that age, so that they would show sexual reaction.<p>There is a significant agreement between all these statements, covering a period of many centuries.<p>What they imply is that, whereas the Mamluks were imported usually at, or around, the age of puberty, the eunuchs were ordinarily castrated and dispatched to their various destinations before or well before reaching that age. As I have already pointed out on various occasions, the reason for bringing the Mamluks over at that particular age was the following. On the one hand, they have already acquired, at least partly, the qualities of their countries of origin, which made them superbly fit militarily; and on the other hand, they were still young enough to be moulded according to the conceptions and targets of both their patron and their new religion (especially the pagans among them). The eunuchs, by contrast, had to serve a completely different purpose, and even when they formed an essential element in the military hierarchy, they did not necessarily have to possessthe exact kind of military qualities which were essential for an unemasculated Mamluk.<p>As far as the harem is concerned, it was much safer to bring into it "complete," and, as far as possible, "lustless" eunuchs. This is a central theme of the immediately following section.<p>(continued in pt. 2)