Eunuch
European illustration of a eunuch (1749)
A eunuch (pronounced /ˈjuːnək/) is a cas-
trated man, in particular one castrated early
enough
to have major hormonal
con-
sequences; the term usually refers to those
castrated in order to perform a specific social
function, as was common in many societies of
the past. The earliest records for intentional
castration to produce eunuchs are from the
Sumerian city of Lagash in the twenty first
century BC. Over the millennia since, they
have performed a wide variety of functions in
many different cultures such as: courtiers or
equivalent domestics, treble singers, reli-
gious specialists, government officials, milit-
ary commanders, and guardians of women or
harem servants. In some translations of an-
cient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs
seem to include men who were impotent with
women, and those who were celibate.
Origins
Chief Eunuch of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Ham-
id II at the Imperial Palace, 1912.
The English word eunuch is from the Greek
eune ("bed") and ekhein ("to keep"), effect-
ively "bed keeper." Servants or slaves were
usually castrated in order to make them safer
servants of a royal court where physical ac-
cess to the ruler could wield great influence.
Seemingly lowly domestic functions such as
making the ruler’s bed, bathing him, cutting
his hair, carrying him in his litter or even re-
laying messages could in theory give a eu-
nuch "the ruler’s ear" and impart de facto
power on the formally humble but trusted
servant. Similar instances are reflected in the
humble origins and etymology of many high
offices (e.g. chancellor began as a servant
guarding the entrance to an official’s study).
Eunuchs supposedly did not generally have
loyalties to the military, the aristocracy, or to
a family of their own (having neither off-
spring nor in-laws, at the very least), and
were thus seen as more trustworthy and less
interested in establishing a private ’dynasty’.
Because their condition usually lowered their
social status, they could also be easily re-
place