Paolo just sent me a link to an interesting site in the Netherlands. A consortium of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (Royal Library) and the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum has a catalog of pages of illustrated Medieval manuscripts. SIX of the illustrations clearly depict castrations and/or eunuchs:

1. Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar has Jewish youths castrated

2. Attis castreert zichzelf; Minerva en Kybele liggen in bed achter hem; drie mannen staat met getrokken zwaard aan het voeteneind van het bed

3. De wreedheid van sommige religieuze rituelen, b.v. zelfverminking, en de bespottelijke verering van Venus, Jupiter, Juno, Diana en Apollo in de vorm van dieren (aldus de kritiek van Seneca)

4. Kybele in een wagen getrokken door leeuwen; zelf-castratie van een van de Galli, eunuchs en priesters van Kybele

5, Attis, die niet in staat is de liefde van Agdistis te beantwoorden, verliest zijn verstand en castreert zichzelf

6. Saturnus verslindt zijn kinderen; priesters van Kybele (Galli) castreren zichzelf

While I was once a Fellow of the Koninklijke Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Royal Dutch Institute for Linguistics, Geography and Anthropology), my Dutch has slipped so badly that I decided not to provide a broken translation of the captions listed above. Maybe one of our Dutch members will provide a better English translation than I now could muster.

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts - a database application of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek and the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum

http://collecties.meermanno.nl/handschr ... rder=SI_FO

OR use the link HERE (http://collecties.meermanno.nl/handschr ... rder=SI_FO)

Great pictures. A bad translation is better than nothing, so I used an online translation tool to get the following:

2. Attis castrates himself; Minerva and Kybele lie in bed behind him; three men stand with getrokken sword at the foot of the bed.

3. The cruelty of some religious rituals, e.g. self-injury, and the ridiculous worship of venus, Jupiter, Juno, Diana and Apollo in the form of animals.

4. Kybele in a carriage drawn by lions; self-castrated of the Galli, eunuchs and priests of Kybele.

5. Attis, who cannot return the love of Agdistis, loses his verstand and castrates himself.

6. Saturnus devours his children; priests of Kybele (Galli) castrate themselves.