Their intimate access to centers of power allowed them to achieve greatness. For more on the history of Chinese eunuchs, I spoke with Jonathan Hsy, an associate professor of English at George Washington University: "In medieval Chinese imperial contexts certain eunuchs were well-regarded. Thousands of Miao boys had been castrated following the Miao rebellions, when castration was used as a technique by the Ming Dynasty against conquered people. In Ming China, the famous eunuch admiral, Zheng He (1371– 1433), came to renown. This is perhaps where the character of Grey Worm most closely resembles other historical examples. Within the military realm, eunuch-soldiers also rose to prominence. Consequently, they were often viewed as the best people to navigate certain spaces: between the sacred and profane, the political and the social. They were individuals who were neutral, but also privileged. As historian Kathryn Ringrose has noted in her book on Byzantine eunuchs, it was at this time that eunuchs became the ultimate mediators and defined their own gender. They wielded the most influence between the tenth and eleventh centuries CE. Eunuchs reached special prominence within the Byzantine empire, beginning in the seventh century.
Unik person skin#
Many later Byzantine depictions of the eunuch show him with dark skin and the story is further evidence to support the broad spectrum of people and skin tones in the ancient Mediterranean. In Acts ( 8:26-40), we are introduced to an Ethiopian eunuch who is converted by the evangelist Philip while traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Thus we know that Philetairos was the eunuch ruler of Pergamon and founded the Attalid dynasty.Įunuchs are also mentioned within biblical texts. There were even eunuch rulers during the Hellenistic era, perhaps due to Alexander's extended contact with the east and a rising knowledge of the use of eunuchs as effective administrators. Like Varys and Grey Worm, eunuchs could become trusted parts of court life in certain ancient societies. As classics professor Llewelyn Morgan noted in an article on Earinus, "To a culture that associated sexual potency with social respectability, eunuchs were beneath contempt." Echoes of this contempt come out in the invective hurled at Varys on Game of Thrones, but not in relation to Grey Worm, the eunuch commander of the Unsullied. Although the emperor had himself banned castration on Roman soil, he owned a eunuch named Earinus ("Spring"), a man who was commemorated in a poem by the poet Statius. One of the most well-known Roman eunuchs was owned by the emperor Domitian (r. Bronze ritual Roman era castration clamps found in the river Thames and now at the Museum of London.
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