Eunuch

A eunuch is a castrated man. His genitals have been removed. This can be cutting off the testicles or removing the penis and the testicles.

Harem Ağası, head of the black eunuchs of the Ottoman Imperial Harem.

Over the millennia since, eunuchs had a lot of different functions in different cultures such as domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. When eunuchs ran a harem, a monarch could be sure he was the one who fathered his wives' children since real eunuchs were always infertile.

In Byzantine art, angels and eunuchs were often shown in a similar light and manner.

References

• English translation of Rudople Guilland's essay on Byzantine eunuchs "Les Eunuques dans l'Empire Byzantin: Étude de titulature et de prosopographie Byzantines", in 'Études Byzantines', Vol. I (1943), pp. 197-238. with many examples

Other websites

• The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
• Eunuchs in Pharaonic Egypt
• Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China Archived 2008-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
• "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library