Eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire

By the term eunuchos, as well as by the terms thladias (a man whose testicles were intentionally crushed), spadon (a eunuch due to natural reasons), and ektomias (a castrated man), which designated different types of eunuchs, the Byzantines identified any male person deprived, fully or in part, of his genitals. This may have occurred in early childhood or at a later age, of his own will, through natural processes, or by the acts of others, and it may have happened for moral, medical, or economic purposes. A eunuch could also be any person who, for natural reasons, a lack of hygiene, or other reasons, had become permanently or temporarily unfit to procreate, or even, in some cases, to sexually perform. These terms also appear in theological contexts to reflect the situation of pre- or post-lapsarian man, as well as to sometimes denote the angels. Therefore, as a concept expressed through many terms, eunuch referred to a variety of cases and people, situations, and behaviors; at the same time, it alluded to the biblical imaginary and the theological symbolism established upon it. However, the secondary literature dedicated to eunuchs has until now mainly focused on the ektomiai, or castrati, and the roles they assumed in Byzantine society. The history of the study of eunuchs in Byzantium closely follows and, in a way, exemplifies the ways in which modern historians have viewed Byzantium itself more generally (i.e., in close relation to the values of their own societies). In general, moving past the strongly orientalist perspective which prevailed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scholars proceeded to study the role of eunuchs in the administration of state and Church. Eunuchs are treated in these approaches as a separate category of people or as influential individuals who were sometimes even worthy of a biography. In recent years, eunuchs have begun to be treated as sexual beings and a discussion has arisen concerning the question of whether they constituted a third sex or gender or whether they remained within the margins of the sexual dimorphism that was seen as a divinely established ‘reality.’ These approaches, which appeared successively, are now studied in a comprehensive fashion and have given rise to a fairly diversified bibliographical landscape, where the study of the political role of eunuchs coexists with that which focuses on their sexual identity. An openly orientalist (and regressive) approach nevertheless remains present in publications for the general public and in historical novels.