Persian Eunuchs
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:12 am
Recently I have been doing some reading on the Qajar Dynasty (1789-1925) in Persia/Iran. My interest began when I learned that the founder of the dynasty, Mohammad Khan Qajar, was a eunuch, castrated at age five.
The Qajars were a Turkic tribe in an area of the Persian Empire near the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. Members of the tribe filled many important diplomatic and military positions. Mohammad Khan Qajar's father, a military commander, rebelled against the Zand Dynasty. He was executed and his young son castrated to prevent him from ever becoming a political rival. Instead, he rose to become leader of the Qajar tribe and eventually overthrew the Zand Dynasty to become the Shah. His nephew succeeded him.
The Qajars moved the Persian capital to Teheran, then a small farming village. While they lost some of the northern territories to the Russians, they added territory to the east and west, establishing the modern borders of Iran.
Like Persian dynasties before them, the Shah and other powerful men demonstrated their wealth and power through large harems of women, served by large numbers of eunuchs. Eunuchs also held important positions in the government. Through most of the period of the Qajar Dynasty the main source of eunuchs was warfare along the borders of the empire. Few of the eunuchs were imported from the south (i.e., of African origin). Most eunuchs were Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Georgian, or from Turkic tribes in Central Asia.
One such eunuch who figures prominently in history was Manouchehr Khan Gorji. He was born to a Christian family in what is now Georgia. His father was a translator. Young Manouchehr was captured by Persian troops during border warfare, castrated and sent to work in the Shah's harem. He rose to become Chief Eunuch supervising a harem of over 500 eunuchs before rising to administrative posts outside the harem. One interesting incident from Manouchehr's life was when he was translator for a treaty negotiation between the Persians and the Russians. He discovered that the translator for the Russian side was his biological brother -- still Christian and still intact. Eventually he was put in charge of the governance of the royal city of Isfahan, where he offered protection to the Báb, who led to the foundation of the Bahai faith.
The later Qajar shahs led the modernization of Persia and the last of the dynasty, Ahmad Shah Qajar, was deposed by a vote of the legislature that he had created.
Paolo has added a photo section to the Archive where he has posted two photographs of Persian eunuchs, one photograph taken by the Shah himself of 53 child eunuchs (and one adult eunuch holding a very young eunuch of about two years of age) in his harem and one photograph taken by one of the sons of the Shah of his own son and nine eunuchs.
https://plus.google.com/110168389306232395901/posts
The new photo section is for images with descriptive captions and/or citations of the original source. Full instructions on how and where to submit photos is at:
http://forums.eunuch.org/showthread.php ... ing-Images
The Qajars were a Turkic tribe in an area of the Persian Empire near the southeastern corner of the Caspian Sea. Members of the tribe filled many important diplomatic and military positions. Mohammad Khan Qajar's father, a military commander, rebelled against the Zand Dynasty. He was executed and his young son castrated to prevent him from ever becoming a political rival. Instead, he rose to become leader of the Qajar tribe and eventually overthrew the Zand Dynasty to become the Shah. His nephew succeeded him.
The Qajars moved the Persian capital to Teheran, then a small farming village. While they lost some of the northern territories to the Russians, they added territory to the east and west, establishing the modern borders of Iran.
Like Persian dynasties before them, the Shah and other powerful men demonstrated their wealth and power through large harems of women, served by large numbers of eunuchs. Eunuchs also held important positions in the government. Through most of the period of the Qajar Dynasty the main source of eunuchs was warfare along the borders of the empire. Few of the eunuchs were imported from the south (i.e., of African origin). Most eunuchs were Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Georgian, or from Turkic tribes in Central Asia.
One such eunuch who figures prominently in history was Manouchehr Khan Gorji. He was born to a Christian family in what is now Georgia. His father was a translator. Young Manouchehr was captured by Persian troops during border warfare, castrated and sent to work in the Shah's harem. He rose to become Chief Eunuch supervising a harem of over 500 eunuchs before rising to administrative posts outside the harem. One interesting incident from Manouchehr's life was when he was translator for a treaty negotiation between the Persians and the Russians. He discovered that the translator for the Russian side was his biological brother -- still Christian and still intact. Eventually he was put in charge of the governance of the royal city of Isfahan, where he offered protection to the Báb, who led to the foundation of the Bahai faith.
The later Qajar shahs led the modernization of Persia and the last of the dynasty, Ahmad Shah Qajar, was deposed by a vote of the legislature that he had created.
Paolo has added a photo section to the Archive where he has posted two photographs of Persian eunuchs, one photograph taken by the Shah himself of 53 child eunuchs (and one adult eunuch holding a very young eunuch of about two years of age) in his harem and one photograph taken by one of the sons of the Shah of his own son and nine eunuchs.
https://plus.google.com/110168389306232395901/posts
The new photo section is for images with descriptive captions and/or citations of the original source. Full instructions on how and where to submit photos is at:
http://forums.eunuch.org/showthread.php ... ing-Images