Eunuchs in ancient times

[moi621 (imported)]

This is always a good resource, a simple google search and choose wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuch

[gareth19 (imported)]

Renault's The Persian Boy and Funeral Games deal with Persian eunuchs from the late Achaemenian period; they are works of fiction, but readable and well researched, and Renault has an afterword detailing the assumptions she makes about various historical problems associated with the scant information concerning Bagoas, the Achaemenian eunuch who became one of Alexander's advisors.

The Cambridge History of Iran is the source for historical background on the period you mentioned.

Roland Grubb Kent's Old Persian Grammar, Texts and Lexicon (American Oriental Society 1952) is breathtakingly boring but it contains translations of all of the then known Old Persian texts including the great Behistan inscription in which Darius the Great describes in excruciating detail how he defeated, tortured, and dismembered his political rivals.

Though it deals with the Ottomans, Penzer's The Harem, originally published in 1936 but with later reprints, has detailed material on the castration and training of eunuchs which is probably valid for antiquity as well. Since Renault's description of Bagoas's castration parallels much of Penzer's material, I assume she consulted it.

[Pueros]

marcialou might like to know that I have already written two multi-part stories here about ancient Persia, although this fact should not deter him from producing his own.

One, also based on the Biblical Book of Esther, was, given this fact, rather incongruously titled 'Spartans'. The second, based on Heroditus' works, was 'Tribute', and both contain fairly comprehensive historical information relating to the period.

PUEROS

[kizahakan (imported)]

Hi,

I'm writing a piece of fiction about ancient Persia, a time and place where eunuchs were created for the purpose of guarding the royal women and performing many other domestic tasks. Some may have become scribes or held positions of responsibilty in the government. Does anyone have any information on eunuchs in ancient history?

Thanks,

Marcia

Dear Marcia,

Though not 100 % correlated please find below the link for "Ottoman's Harem" which at those times especially between 1500 till 1840, there were countless of eunuchs at the Harems, think then we were of the countries having q huge population of eunuch. At the link it gives info about where they have come from and alittle about the castration procudure...

http://www.allaboutturkey.com/harem.htm

Greetings from istanbul

Hakan

[JesusA (imported)]

While I would always caution about trusting Wikipedia articles, I would be especially cautious about their article on eunuchs. I was asked a couple of years ago to check it for accuracy and found some glaring errors. I made a copy of the article and went to my set of academic resources on the history of castration and eunuchs (nearly 12 feet of bookshelf space) and spent a couple of days rewriting the article to reflect the best current scholarship.

A few days after posting the revision, I checked back and discovered that nearly every change that I had made had been removed and the previous error put back. About the only bit that remains of my corrections is a single UNATTRIBUTED point that I had taken from a letter that had been sent to me by Prof. Maekawa Kazuya, one of the world's foremost Sumerologists. I had read a couple of his articles in Japanese academic journals and had written to him asking for clarification.

You should also be aware that there is no solid evidence that I have been able to find that prepubertal eunuchs in the ancient Near East had their penises removed. That seems to have been reserved for use as a judicial punishment and the resulting eunuchs would not have been in administrative or palace service. In fact, the early Moslem conquerors of the area (as well as of the Byzantine Empire) saw the lack of penectomy of harem eunuchs in those areas as a sign of sexual perversion. They were the ones who insisted that eunuchs serving in the women's quarters be "clean cut."

A couple of Eunuch Archive posts that give information relevant to the proposed piece of fiction can be found at:

http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=12171

http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=12344

[marcialou (imported)]

Once again, thanks to everyone for your interest. I just got Persian Boy out of the library but I haven't started it yet.

Pueros, How do I find your fiction? I'm eager to read another story based on Esther.

Marcia

[Pueros]

In answer to your question, marcialou, go to the story board here & the grid representing the alphabetical author index. Click on 'P' & scroll down to 'Pueros', where you'll find all of the stories I've written for the board, including the 12-part 'Spartans', based loosely on the Biblical Book of Esther, although that fact is not revealed until towards the end. My other completed story about ancient Persia, 'Tribute', set at a similar time, is there too.

PUEROS

[nullorchis (imported)]

In the printed word, or spoken word, the content is either

Fabricated

Inaccurate

Incomplete

Altered

Based on one or more of the above

or

True

The statistical odds are thus against something being true.

In all things: doubt, question, multi-source research for validation.

[marcialou (imported)]

I just finished Persian Boy by Mary Renault. Thanks to those who recommended it to me. It's a great source.

Jesus: I'm trying to track down some of those scholarly sources you cite in your article. No luck yet. I've traced the Llewellyn Jones piece to a Harvard library to which I don't have access. I know a few students who might be willing to borrow it for me, so with luck, I'll get to look at it.

Marcia