In those ancient times, when truly powerful civilizations were just beginning to emerge in Assyria, Persia and Babylon, rulers already existed. Each of them surrounded himself and his yard with the best things that money could get. But it was not only luxury goods that testified to the greatness of the sovereign. The number of women was the main sign of success, which was considered the standard in those days.

The harems of some ancient rulers were truly enormous. It often happened that the concubine never met her master in person, having stayed with him for several years. Of course, the women's team in such conditions was replete with intrigues and squabbles, which had to be somehow suppressed.

That's when the position of harem keeper appeared. Eunuch - who is he? Translated from Greek, the word means “guardian of the lodge,” which fully reflects the essence of this person’s work. Only castrated boys were hired as eunuchs, who did not pose a threat to the ruler’s “living capital”, being physically unable to encroach on the honor of the beauties who lived in the harem.

In addition, the chief eunuch often became the second most important figure in the state, as the ruler often pampered his devoted servant, who was responsible for selecting girls.

Where did they come from?

It is generally accepted that in those days only prisoners of war or criminals sentenced to such a measure for rape and fornication were castrated. Of course, this is not true. Of course, these categories of eunuchs really existed, but they were used exclusively as slaves who did the hardest and dirtiest work. Since they were deprived of male dignity, the owner did not have to fear for the slaves.

But such a worker is not a eunuch. Who is this in the classical sense? Where did they get candidates for such a job? There were two ways.

Firstly, a merchant could purchase a slave boy at the market and castrate him himself or use the services of doctors who specialized in this. By the way, in many countries that used the labor of eunuchs, entire families of doctors sometimes engaged in castration.

Secondly, the merchant could purchase a young man who had already been castrated. Be that as it may, he subsequently sold such a profitable product to the court of the next ruler. They always needed sexless servants to serve the Sultan's harem.

Successful career

But slaves did not always become eunuchs. In ancient China, fathers often gave their sons to doctors. And this is not a matter of inhuman cruelty: out of 10-15 offspring in a family, at best, three survived to childbearing age. The mortality rate during castration in countries with developed medicine rarely exceeded 1-3%. The young man who completed the procedure ended up at the ruler’s court, where he never again tolerated poverty and misery.

So who is a eunuch in a harem? Theoretically, a servant who was supposed to entertain and serve the royal concubines. In reality, it often turned out that he seized all the power not only in the harem, but throughout the country.

Many believe that eunuchs were tormented by impotence while looking at naked female bodies. This is true when we talk about men castrated after puberty. If a boy was castrated at the age of 10-12 years, the result was a completely asexual person who did not experience sexual attraction to women at all.

Such eunuchs were especially common in the Ottoman Empire: the harems there were huge, and the sultans were extremely suspicious. They could not even admit the possibility of an assassination attempt on their odalisques, and therefore acquired only the “correct” castrati.

Family business

However, there were entire families who purposefully brought their sons to court. Each eunuch had a very good allowance. The old eunuchs often lived better than many courtiers, sometimes holding the reins of government in their hands (the Sultan's harem is an excellent place for intrigue).

In Ancient China, there was a widespread custom according to which castrati, assigned to a place of bread by relatives, were obliged to help them. Considering that several eunuchs close to the court could come from one family at once, many Chinese families had no other sources of income at all, except for “trenches” from their castrated relatives.

Family life of eunuchs

Another interesting fact. Often, eunuchs even started families, and adopted exclusively boys of their kind. In this case, the child did not have to worry about the safety of his genitals, since the “father” was concerned about having a full-fledged heir. Needless to say, relatives vying with each other offered boys to such adoptive parents. The history of eunuchs even knows of cases where they adopted the illegitimate sons of their ruler (or even legitimate ones).

And again China. Since the Chinese religion states that a person should be whole at the time of transition to another world, castrati had to preserve their genitals in a special casket. Often its contents were shown to employers. After the death of the eunuch, the precious box was buried with him. It was believed that in the afterlife the body parts would be reunited with each other.

Categories of eunuchs

So, before embarking on the path of “guardian of the bed,” a boy or youth was awaited castration. In total, three varieties of this action were distinguished. In the first case, the genitals were completely removed. In the second, only the penis was removed. In the third, a boy eunuch lost his testicles.

By the way, the classical “guardians of the lodge” were not subjected to operations of the second type. This is how criminals were punished: deprived of a penis, but having testicles responsible for the production of testosterone, the unfortunate people suffered terribly, being unable to perform sexual intercourse. Such workers were clearly of no use in the harem.

Piece goods

But castrati of the third type, with a preserved penis, were highly regarded among the inhabitants of harems. Since a certain amount of testosterone could be produced by the adrenal glands, an erection was maintained, and therefore the eunuch could easily perform sexual intercourse. Enthusiastic reviews from the concubines said that such a servant could make love for hours. In addition, there was absolutely no risk of getting pregnant. In general, the life of the eunuchs in this case was simply fabulously good.

But these castrati were a rarity in harems, since most often only “smooth” eunuchs were taken into service. Why smooth? We'll talk about this soon, but first it's worth focusing on castration technology itself.

Suffering on the operating table

Whatever method was used for castration, the pain was terrible. With two types of castration associated with the removal of all genitalia or just the penis, a bamboo tube or a piece of goose feather had to be inserted into the wound, as this prevented the urethra from clogging in the postoperative period. The inventive Chinese even launched the production of artificial rubber penises, which allowed the wives of castrati to experience all the pleasures of family life.

Description of operation

The English scientist Carter Stent already in the 19th century revealed to the world all the horrors of this inhumane procedure, describing in detail the process of its implementation. The future eunuch did not drink or eat for two days before castration. On the day of the operation, the person took a hot bath, and he needed to wash well. The upper thighs and lower abdomen were then tightly bandaged to prevent excessive bleeding. The parts to be removed were washed three times with a special hot infusion.

After this, the doctor once again asked the candidate for castrati or his relatives about consent to the operation, after which, having received an affirmative answer, he cut off the genitals with a sharp and quick movement. To do this, he used a small curved knife, which was shaped like a sickle.

Postoperative period

The wound was immediately covered with a paper sheet soaked in cold water and bandaged tightly. But the torment did not end there: two people lifted the castrato by the arms, and then, supporting him, forced him to walk in a circle for two hours. Only after this could the person lie down. He was also not allowed to drink or eat for the next three days. The torment was monstrous. This is how the castration of eunuchs was carried out.

Only on the fourth day was the bandage removed, after which the new eunuch was finally able to urinate... or not. If urine passed normally through the urethra, everything was fine. Otherwise, the person would not survive: stagnation of urine led to rupture of the bladder and painful death from peritonitis. More than one eunuch died this way (you already know who he is).

Consequences of the operation

There were many of them, and they all had a negative impact on health. People's metabolism slowed down and their character completely changed. The old eunuchs had flabby skin and had an extremely grumpy and hysterical character. Almost 90% of the eunuchs were ardent fans of smoking opium or strong alcohol. They were all incredible courtiers, cruel, cunning and completely ruthless.

The operation often subsequently led to problems with urination. Almost all eunuchs were required to carry a silver tube with them at all times, which was inserted into the urethra before urinating. Very often, an infection entered the urethra, which resulted in urinary incontinence. Contemporaries recall that it was often possible to recognize the approach of the eunuch even in complete darkness, since he smelled unbearably of ammonia.

Finally, the person became “smooth.” Since his metabolism was hopelessly damaged, he quickly gained weight. His skin was thin, stretched and flabby, all the hair on his head and in his crotch fell out. The voice, due to the larynx remaining in place, remained thin and high. It was impossible to distinguish a eunuch from a boy or a girl by his conversation.

However, there was still one positive effect from the surgical intervention. Having studied data on the average life expectancy of people in different eras, scientists came to the conclusion that castrati lived 12-14 years longer, all other things being equal.

Castrati and the church

Do you think that the barbaric custom of castration was characteristic only of antiquity? Alas, no. Until the beginning of the 20th century, almost half of the boys in church choirs were castrated. As a rule, children were still handed over to the monastery by their fathers. Just one fact: in Italy in those years, up to two thousand boys a year were deprived of their manhood. The official version is a pig attack.

Even if the doctor was forced to perform castration (which was generally prohibited), he always avoided punishment. To do this, all he had to say was that in this way he was saving the unfortunate child from a testicular tumor. Moreover, candidates for all high church positions were even checked for the presence of genitals, which indicates the prevalence of the vicious practice of castration. This came to an end only in 1920, when the Pope officially prohibited the ordination of anyone “who had been deprived of his loins.”

In those same years, the names of opera singers thundered all over the world. Yes, yes, almost all of them were castrati. Do you know why some classical operas are not staged today? The thing is that a woman's voice cannot reproduce the unique modulations that only a eunuch could produce. Who it is, you now know.

Harem - (from Arabic - “forbidden place”) - a habitat or, simply put, the dwelling of women, slaves and children of the Sultan. It was called Dar-us-saadet - “House of Happiness”. The most famous are the harems of the Ottoman sultans, but the Abbasids and Seljuks also had “Houses of Happiness.”

At first, the harem was intended to keep slaves, because the daughters of Christian rulers from neighboring states were taken as wives. But after the reign of Bayezid II (1481−1512), this tradition changed, and the sultans began to choose their wives from the inhabitants of the harem.

At first, the harem was intended to contain slaves

Of course, the main guests of the harem were the sultans themselves. After them - the mother of the Sultan (valide). When her son ascended the throne, the Valide, accompanied by a magnificent procession, moved from the old palace to the new one and settled in special chambers. Following the valide, finally, came the wives of the Sultan - Kadyn-effendi. Without a doubt, the most colorful inhabitants of the harem were slaves (jariye). Responsible for the security of the harem were: the heads of the Islamic hierarchy (sheikh-ul-islam), the grand vizier (sadrazam), the chief of harem security (dar-us-saadet agasy), and, of course, especially worthy of attention, a special class of harem servants - eunuchs (harem-agalars).

Slaves

Where did the slaves in the Sultan's harem come from? It’s very simple - the eastern princes themselves sent their daughters to the Ottoman harem in the hope that they would become the sultan’s chosen ones. Slaves were bought at the age of 5-6 and raised until they were fully physically developed. Girls were taught dancing, music, playing musical instruments, etiquette, and the art of giving pleasure to a man. Already in adolescence, the girl was first shown to the Grand Vizier. If she was found to have physical defects, bad manners, or some other defect, her price dropped sharply, and her father, accordingly, received less money than he expected. By the way, when selling their daughter, her parents signed documents indicating that they no longer had any rights to her.

The most beautiful slaves whom the Sultan could choose as his wife had to study very carefully. The first point was the mandatory adoption of Islam, unless of course the girl was of a different faith. Then the slaves were taught to read the Koran and perform prayers together or separately. Having received the status of a wife, they founded charitable institutions and built mosques, somehow providing for Muslim traditions. The surviving letters of the Sultan's wives testify to their education.

In addition, the slaves received a daily salary, the amount of which changed with each new sultan. They were given gifts and money on the occasion of various festivals and celebrations. The slaves were well cared for, but the Sultan severely punished those who deviated from the established rules.

If a slave lived in a harem for 9 years and was never chosen as a wife, she had the right to leave the harem. The Sultan gave her a dowry, a house and helped her find a husband. The slave received a document signed by the Sultan confirming her status as a free person.

Favorites

Slaves lived in a common or lower harem. The favorites lived in the upper harem, and the wives usually lived in palaces. Usually, if the Sultan was going to spend the night with any concubine, he would send her a gift. Then the Sultan's chosen one was sent to the bathhouse. After the bath, she was dressed in loose and clean clothes and escorted to the Sultan’s chambers. There she had to wait at the door until the Sultan went to bed. Entering the bedroom, she crawled on her knees to the bed and only then got up and lay down next to the Sultan. In the morning, the Sultan took a bath, changed clothes and sent gifts to the concubine if he liked the night spent with her. This concubine could then become his favorite.

If the favorite became pregnant, she was immediately transferred to the category of “lucky” (iqbal), but if there were several of them, then they were assigned ranks: first (main), second, third, fourth, and so on. Having given birth to a child, the Iqbal could after some time receive the status of the Sultan’s wife, but this tradition was not always observed.

Each Iqbal had a separate room in the upper harem. Their menu consisted of fifteen dishes: beef, chicken, fruit, yogurt, compote, butter, etc. In the summer, ice was served to cool drinks.

Sultans' wives

After the wedding, the new wife of the Sultan (kadyn-effendi) received a written certificate, she was presented with new fabrics, jewelry, outfits, and, of course, from the lower harem she was settled in a separate room specially allocated for her on the upper floors. The chief keeper and her assistants taught her the imperial traditions. In the XVI-XVIII centuries. Kadyn-effendi who had children began to be called Haseks. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was the first to honor his wife Hurrem (also known as Roksolana) with this title.

The sultans were obliged to spend the night from Friday to Saturday with only one of their wives; the rest of the nights they spent with whomever they wanted. This was the order sanctified by the tradition of Islam. If the wife was not with her husband for three consecutive Fridays, she had the right to appeal to the judge (qadi). By the way, the same guardian monitored the order of meetings between the wives and the Sultan.

The sultans spent the night from Friday to Saturday with only one of their wives

Kadyn Effendi always called their sons “Your Highness”; when they came to visit them, they had to stand up and say: “My brave young man!” Regardless of age, the princes kissed the hand of the Kadyn Effendi as a sign of respect. The women of the harem, in order to demonstrate their respect, kissed the hem of the Kadyn-effendi's skirt. In relations with each other, the Sultan's wives observed a number of formalities. When one of the wives wanted to talk to the other, she sent a maid to her to get consent. The Sultan's wife, riding in a palanquin, was accompanied by eunuchs on foot. If all the wives left at once, then their palanquins were lined up according to the seniority of the owners.

Eunuchs

The first eunuchs appeared in the Ottoman harem during the reign of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. At first, white eunuchs were entrusted with guarding the harem, but Murad III in 1582 appointed the Abyssinian Mehmed Agu as a eunuch. Since then, Abyssinians (Ethiopians) have almost always been selected as eunuchs.

It was believed that white boys endured the operation more difficultly and often died after castration, while much more black boys survived. Therefore, Arab slave traders began to kidnap children from Africa and take them to places known to them for castration.

Since there were more and more eunuchs, they organized a kind of guild. Boys accepted into this guild were raised as adult eunuchs. Young eunuchs were given names of flowers. Trained eunuchs usually served the valides, the wives of the sultan and the princesses. Eunuchs guarded the entrance to the harem.

The chief eunuch of the harem informed the Sultan about the situation in the harem

After 1852, all management of the harem completely passed to the eunuchs. The chief eunuch of the harem bought slaves for his sultan and informed him about the situation - the behavior of his wives and concubines, gave advice on punishments and promotions in the harem hierarchy. At the same time, the range of duties of the chief eunuch was very extensive - he even had the right to prepare the Sultan at the wedding ceremony. When the chief eunuch retired, he was given a pension. The new sultan usually appointed a different chief eunuch, but this did not always happen. Despite the fact that some of the chief eunuchs were completely illiterate, they actively took part in state politics, since they always received the support of the Sultan himself and his wives.

Mothers of the Sultans

The rooms of the Sultan's mother (valide) were the second largest after the Sultan's rooms. The slave maids lived on the lower floor.

The Valides, despite their status, had enormous power. Sultans always revered their mothers and treated them with special respect.

Decline of the harems

Mehmed VI Wahid ed-Din (1918 -1924) was destined to become the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Türkiye, defeated in World War I, was defeated as an ally of Germany and was occupied by the Allied states.
source

On my own behalf, I will add that on the territory of the harem, namely, near the rooms of the Sultan’s mother, Valide, the treasury of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally kept - a kind of analogue of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin.

Since ancient times, as soon as the first powerful eastern rulers appeared, the number of women who belong to him became a sign of the wealth of a real man. So, often the number of which was. Harems, like everywhere else, had their own strict rules: it was always necessary to maintain order, observe morality, and integrity. Who kept order in the harem, who could be entrusted with this important and difficult task?

Women were second-class people; it was believed that they were not allowed anything at all. It is unthinkable to let a man into a harem; few can resist the temptation of so many beautiful women.

How did eunuchs appear?

A solution was found - eunuchs (from the Greek eunuchos - “guardian of the bed”), castrated men who can be trusted with the most important thing that the padishah has - his beautiful women. They tried to take eunuchs with dark skin color (blacks) into harems, in the hope that if suddenly one of them, by some chance, was able to have sexual intercourse with a concubine at the birth of a child, it would be clear that there had been treason.

Three types of castration.

Before becoming a eunuch, a boy or man was castrated. There were three types of this painful operation. The first involved complete castration: the man was deprived of both his penis and testicles. The second consisted of removing only the penis. The third is testicular deprivation. During any castration, when the wound around the edges had healed, a treated metal or bamboo tube was inserted into the resulting cavity for urination. Later they came up with an artificial penis made of rubber.

Eunuchs, who were completely castrated at a young age, before puberty, often had feminine manners; their voices did not break and remained youthful throughout their lives.

The suffering and pain of the eunuchs.

At the end of the 19th century, the English scientist Carter Stent, an expert on China, spoke in detail about the suffering eunuchs experienced during the operation. He wrote in 1877: “The operation is performed as follows. The lower abdomen and upper thighs are tightly bandaged to prevent excessive bleeding. Then the body parts to be removed are washed three times with hot pepper water and cut off at the very base with a small curved knife resembling a sickle. Upon completion of the case, the wound is covered with paper soaked in cold water and bandaged thoroughly. The patient, supported by two operators, is forced to walk around the room for 2-3 hours, after which he is allowed to lie down, but is forbidden to drink anything for three days. On the fourth day, the bandage is removed, and the sufferer can finally get relief. If this turns out to be the case, it means he is out of danger; if not, he is doomed to a painful death, since his passages are already swollen and nothing will save him.”

Harem games

Meanwhile, castration, especially partial, often did not deprive a person of male hormones, and sometimes eunuchs experienced torment because they were in the company of beautiful women. This is how one sufferer described his torment: “I entered the seraglio, where everything made me regret my loss. Every minute I felt an excitement of feelings; thousands of natural beauties unfolded before me, it seemed, only to plunge me into despair... Every time I accompanied a woman to my master’s bed, every time I undressed her, I returned to myself with rage in my heart and with terrible hopelessness in my soul... I remember how once, putting a woman into the bath, I felt such excitement that my mind became clouded, and I dared to touch a certain place on her body with my hand... Having come to my senses, I thought that my last day had come. However, I was lucky and escaped the most severe punishment.”

However, the absence of a penis did not at all prevent the eunuchs from caressing the beauties, and while the rulers were busy with their affairs, the eunuchs were not at all bored in the company of their wives.

Moreover, there was a legend among castrati that as a result of constant sexual contacts, the genitals would grow back. And the eunuchs caressed other people’s concubines, however, while being terribly afraid of the ruler’s revenge. The Chinese eunuch Li Guo was careless, and the concubines were left with bites and bruises on their bodies. His master discovered these traces, and since entry into the harem was prohibited to everyone except the emperor and the eunuch, it was not difficult to identify the culprit. A terrible punishment fell on Li Guo: he was sentenced to be cut into small pieces.

Eunuch Wei was in charge of the Qianlong Emperor's harem. Wei became so confident in his power that he quarreled with the chief minister and stopped noticing him. In response, the chief minister informed the emperor that his eunuchs were frolicking in the harems. The minister proposed to immediately subject the eunuchs to a second operation, and, naturally, first of all, the chief eunuch, Wei, was subjected to painful torture...

Career of a castrato and who could become a eunuch?

Who became a eunuch? Oddly enough, many went to this work voluntarily - the eunuchs lived comfortably, in luxurious palaces, and ate well. Some were sold by their parents, and sometimes the children later thanked them - often the eunuchs made a career for themselves and became officials, military leaders or advisers to the owner.

For example, the eunuch Taijiang planned the entire irrigation system in China. The castrate Guo Shoujing built a large canal near Beijing for the Great Khan Kublai Khan. The eunuch Liu Chin even ruled the entire Middle Empire - from 1505 to 1510 - under the young Emperor Wi-Tsu.

The most famous Chinese eunuch was Admiral Cheng He. In the 15th century, he made sea voyages to India, Sri Lanka, Arabia, and sailed along the coast of East Africa. Was close to the discovery of Europe. He commanded a huge fleet of three hundred ships and thirty thousand sailors. In China, eunuchs were a respected and authoritative part of society. They united into special clans, sometimes very powerful, and the rulers were forced to reckon with them.

Humiliated pride and the inability to have sex made eunuchs sometimes extremely warlike and cruel, which their masters skillfully used. Emperor Xuan Zong, owner of a harem with five hundred concubines, appointed the eunuch Gao Lishi as his bodyguard and security advisor. One day, the emperor ordered Gao Lishi to undertake a punitive operation against Buddhist monks. The eunuch, having captured the monks, dealt with them in a sophisticated manner. He ordered the monks to be castrated, their genitals boiled and fed to the nuns. The nuns, in turn, had their breasts cut off, boiled and fed to the monks.

The executioner-eunuch came up with other tortures. They placed bags filled with quicklime over the eyes of the unfortunate people, crushed their fingers, and finally wrapped their naked bodies in soft metal pipes in the shape of snakes and poured boiling water into their open “mouths.”

Another eunuch of Xuan Zong was a certain Wang Feyen, who erected the “Palace of Desired Monsters.” It was inhabited by the ugliest and ugliest women, collected from all over the Celestial Empire: dwarfs and giantesses, hunchbacked and defoliated, covered with scabs and bleeding pus... And even, as historical chronicles testify, a woman with two heads, distinguished by her particular passion. It was this idea with the “palace” that contributed to the rise of Wang...

E grandsons were ideal servants of the harem, used out of a simple precaution: so that the concubines lived in safety and pleased only their master. But there was another reason.

The main advantage of eunuchs was the absence of female and male gender characteristics and complete neutrality in sexual relations. The harem was essentially a huge female army, waging continuous secret wars, and neither a man nor a woman could lead it, who were deprived of impartiality by the emotions inherent in both sexes. Both would inevitably die, but the eunuchs would survive. They were ideally suited to leading the complex harem system and, by their position, became the most powerful persons in the state.

Ottoman Empire: from harem to trade union

Castrated guards, eunuchs (from the Greek Eunuchos - “guardians of the bed”), the Ottoman ruler had an entire army, the number of which at different times ranged from 600 to 800 people...

Several methods were used for castration; the method itself of transforming a man into an asexual being was kept in deep secrecy, but it is known that after forced castration, many died, losing their lives from loss of blood and unsanitary conditions in which the “operation” was carried out. It happened that some men could not stand the horror of being transformed into asexual creatures and went crazy.

There are three known methods of castration: complete cutting off of the testicles and penis; cutting off the penis; removal of testicles only. The first type of eunuch was considered the most reliable, the other two were not, since they could still awaken sexual desire.

The appearance of the eunuchs, subjected to the most radical method of castration, was pathetic. Over the years, their body became flabby and fat, their voice became squeaky, their hair disappeared, and their character became closer to that of women. Eunuchs aged very early and at the age of 40 they already seemed sixty years old... A painful consequence of castration was urinary incontinence, and, as eyewitnesses stated, the approach of a eunuch could always be recognized from afar by the strong ammonia smell emanating from him. In order to urinate, a silver tube was used, which the eunuchs wore in their turbans.

The harem guards made up for the loss of love pleasures with other joys of life. They were fine gourmets, enjoyed music and dancing, loved to listen to fairy tales and the singing of nightingales, being considered the most refined connoisseurs of this favorite of the harem. To drown out melancholy and fill the “emptiness of the body,” eunuchs sometimes used light intoxicants - hookahs mixed with opium...

It was believed that cut penises grew back, so usually all eunuchs were periodically examined by a doctor. They preferred to take castrati with a repulsive appearance as harem guards, and this was understandable. Those who retained their penis could experience sexual desire and make love, reaching extraordinary heights in this art, especially in oral sex. The beauty of love relationships with eunuchs was also their complete safety, because it is impossible to get pregnant from castrati...

The custom of keeping eunuchs in service came to Turkey from Byzantium. And in the Ottoman harem, eunuchs appeared during the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. At first, the harem was guarded by white eunuchs supplied from the North Caucasus, Armenia and Georgia, but they could never be Turks, since castration is prohibited for Muslims by the Koran. Since 1582, when Sultan Murad III (1574-1595) appointed the Abyssinian Mehmed Aga as a eunuch, Abyssinians (Ethiopians) were almost always selected as eunuchs. It turned out that white boys endured castration more difficultly, while black boys survived much more... Black eunuchs were preferable to white ones for another reason. There was an opinion that eunuchs were still capable of conception, and the birth of a black child to an odalisque would immediately indicate its illegal origin.

When entering the harem, eunuchs received new names - the names of flowers. And the huge, ugly sentinels were called delicate carnations, roses, daffodils and hyacinths. It was believed that this was most befitting of those who guard the “clean and fragrant” wives of the Sultan.

Eunuchs, like all servants of the harem, had their own hierarchy and responsibilities. White eunuchs headed by Kapu-Aga were charged with external guarding the harem and the Sultan's chambers; they were forbidden to enter the women's quarters. The chambers of the black eunuchs, who were engaged in the upbringing and training of the crown princes, differed in their decoration and luxury from the living quarters of other black eunuchs...

Eunuchs were well off, receiving a salary of 60 to 100 akche per day and a separate annual allowance. A significant addition to this were gifts from other palace services. They also had their own secret sources of income. The eunuchs formed a special trading partnership, setting prices for goods and jewelry needed by the harem, purchasing them from merchants and reselling them to the women of the harem.

Eunuchs were the biggest bribe-takers in the Ottoman Empire, where truly monstrous corruption reigned. They received gifts not only from their master, but also from petitioners. The Sultan's favorites could influence the resolution of a particular issue in favor of the petitioner. But it was possible to “reach out” to them for a good bribe given to the eunuchs, who created a complex system of relations with the outside world.

A comical incident occurred with Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, the future field marshal and Napoleon's winner in the 1812 campaign. Arriving as the head of the diplomatic mission in Istanbul, he collected information about the signs and preferences of the Sultan’s favorites and, having established relations with the eunuchs, penetrated the Great Seraglio. The famous commander was a courageous man and risked entering the harem garden alone. There, Kutuzov, who spoke Turkish, conquered them with his eloquence and precious jewelry, precisely designed for the taste of every high-ranking lady. The long conversation with the “roses of the Sultan” became known, Istanbul was shocked, and the frightened chief eunuch, making excuses before Sultan Selim III, was forced to name the brave military man and father of the family Kutuzov as the chief eunuch of Empress Catherine II! This caused a storm of merriment in the Russian mission, but the main thing was done: all issues were settled within a week, and the resulting peace terms were extremely beneficial for Russia.

The dream and pinnacle of a eunuch’s career is the position of kizlyaragasa. Enormous power was concentrated in his hands, and his official position could be equated to that of the prime minister of the European court. He was the commander-in-chief of the palace guard, his range of responsibilities was extremely wide, and his influence was enormous. Kizlyaragasy acted as the main witness at the wedding of the Sultan and his children, performed circumcision and engagement ceremonies, and announced to the prince the death of his father or his abdication. He was also responsible for the promotion of the harem of women and eunuchs up the hierarchical ladder, and their careers largely depended on his location. The responsibilities of the kizlyaragasy also included protecting the women of the harem and supplying new odalisques there.

Any woman who addressed the Sultan had to do so through the chief eunuch, which, given the custom of gifts, enriched him immensely, and the right to personally report to the Sultan and frequent meetings with him made it possible to increase his fortune at the expense of other courtiers, and Kizlyaragasy was one of the most rich people of the Ottoman Empire. He was also one of the Sultan's most trusted people. It was Kizlyaragasy who escorted the odalisque to the Sultan’s bedroom. If something extraordinary happened in the harem at night, then only the chief black eunuch could enter there. The figure of the black eunuch was not only powerful, but also formidable and ominous. He announced sentences for the women of the harem and took the condemned to the executioner, and when the unfortunate ones were drowned in the sea, he himself put leather bags on them.

Those eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the harem did not have the right to cross its threshold themselves. The artist Vereshchagin knew this for sure

When the chief eunuch retired, he was given a pension. The new sultan, as a rule, chose a different chief eunuch, but sometimes left the old one. Eunuchs were the guardians of the Sultan's treasury, his wives and, most importantly, the secrets of the harem, on which the lives of many often depended. Their influence on state affairs grew, becoming truly enormous during the reign of women (1541-1687), and in the 17th and 18th centuries, together with the sultanas and valides, they, in fact, led the empire, playing a significant role in its decline. Eunuchs organized conspiracies, overthrew and elevated sultans to the thrones. They decided the outcome of the “war” between Sultanas Turhan and Kesem, strangling the latter.

But from the beginning of the 19th century, the power of the chief black eunuch began to weaken, and by the beginning of the 20th century, his functions were reduced to monitoring order in the harem... With the disappearance of harems, the eunuchs also disappeared. Conversations about how to arrange their future lives quickly died down, and attempts by the former harem guards to organize their own trade union failed...

China: son for father

The institution of eunuchs in China, according to some historians, dates back at least 3-4 thousand years, and in no other country did they have such power as in the Middle Kingdom. Eunuchs formed a narrow circle of the emperor's trusted representatives, often exerted a decisive influence on state affairs, and sometimes, with the help of intrigues and conspiracies, became more powerful than their overlords. Eunuchs helped each other defend common interests, and their power often reached limits that made it possible to usurp power, which, as a rule, led to disastrous consequences for the country.

At first, people became eunuchs as a punishment. Castration in China was made one of the six serious punishments... Then, when eunuchs began to be used in harems, their physical inferiority was compensated for by many advantages, and children began to undergo castration by decision of their parents, and sometimes adult men voluntarily underwent this humiliating operation. The easy, well-fed service at the court of an emperor or prince served as a temptation that overcame the natural desire for a full life, and the matter of emasculation acquired scope.

According to some sources, the emperor could have up to 3 thousand eunuchs, princes and princesses - up to 30 eunuchs each, the emperor's younger children and nephews - up to 20, their cousins ​​- up to 10.

There were whole families of specialists involved in castration... Here is what the traveler Kartner Stenz wrote in 1877: “This operation is performed as follows. The lower abdomen and upper thighs are tightly bandaged to prevent excessive bleeding. Then those parts of the body that are to be operated on are washed three times with hot pepper water; the future eunuch is reclining. After these parts of the body are washed well enough, they are cut off at the very base with a small curved knife, shaped like a sickle. Upon completion of castration, the wound is covered with paper soaked in cold water and carefully bandaged. After dressing the wound, the patient, supported by two “operators,” is forced to walk around the room for two to three hours, after which he is allowed to lie down. The patient is not allowed to drink anything for three days, and during this time he often experiences terrible agony, not only because of thirst, but also because of severe pain and the inability to relieve himself throughout the entire period. After three days, the bandage is removed, and the sufferer can finally get relief. If he succeeds, this means that the patient is out of danger, for which he is congratulated. If, however, the poor fellow is unable to urinate, he is doomed to a painful death, for the necessary passages are swollen and nothing can save him.”

Castration of boys who were taken into the service of the emperor was usually carried out before reaching puberty, but not all fathers had the money for it, and children were castrated in a home, “private” manner, during which those castrated often died. The surviving castrated people were reported to the district government so that the boy's name could be included in the list of candidates for the imperial servants. The ambitious plans of the fathers concerned not only the fate of their sons, but also the entire family and clan, for, having reached a high position, the castrato was obliged to help all their members...

A peculiarity of the eunuchs of China was their reverent attitude towards the removed “jade stalk,” which was carefully stored so that the body could be buried entirely, because, as the Chinese said, “the skin covering the body was received from birth and cannot be damaged or injured.” If the integrity of the body is violated, the Chinese, according to beliefs, will not be allowed to see their ancestors in the next world...

Having established himself in the palace, the eunuch usually got a wife who looked after him, and adopted a boy (usually a relative) to continue his family...

The dominance of eunuchs in China was a consequence of the secluded life of the emperor, which he had to lead according to etiquette. The Son of Heaven rarely left his palace; when traveling, ministers saw their master only at audiences, where they addressed not directly to him, but to officials (most often eunuchs) surrounding the throne. It was the eunuchs who conveyed the opinions and advice of dignitaries to the emperor, and the accuracy of the messages lay entirely on the conscience of the transmitters. They were the only channel of communication between the emperor and the outside world. The eunuchs were thoroughly aware of all the palace secrets, but they could only learn about the state of affairs in the provinces and behind the Chinese Wall at second hand, and, as a rule, their conduct of state affairs had dire and sometimes catastrophic consequences for the empire.

Eunuchs also used the rich “female resource” of the harem, elevating or, conversely, leaving concubines in oblivion. They received bribes from them with money, and then with promotions, in which their elevated protégés helped.

The emperor's heir was surrounded by eunuchs from birth. They determined the boundaries of his knowledge about everything that was outside the walls of the Forbidden City, and very often the future ruler, from childhood, turned into a toy of eunuchs who knew all his weaknesses and preferences and used them to achieve their own, most often selfish goals, and sometimes simply corrupting your pupil...

Homosexual relationships between the Sons of Heaven were not uncommon; eunuchs also became lovers of emperors, and the initiative often came from their side...

The irrepressible lust for power of the eunuchs reached the point that if the ruler interfered with them, he could be physically eliminated; emperors and members of their families often became victims of the eunuchs.

They hid the death of Emperor Qin Shihuang, and while the procession with his body (the emperor died on a journey) followed through the country, the eunuchs pretended to feed him, read out some decrees allegedly signed by the Son of Heaven, and hid the will according to which he was appointed heir a prince they don't like. Instead, they fabricated a message ordering the prince and the military leader loyal to him to commit suicide, and installed a convenient prince on the throne to carry out their plans.

When the intrigues of the eunuchs failed, the retribution was merciless. After the death of Emperor Lindi (189), a fierce struggle broke out between the eunuchs and the army. Ten chief eunuchs lured the commander-in-chief Prince He Jin (brother of the empress) and, having executed him, put his head on the wall of the palace. The consequences were disastrous for the perpetrators of the crime. The troops burst into the palace and cut down all the eunuchs. The country was plunged into anarchy and the Han Empire fell.

There have been repeated attempts to limit the power of eunuchs, and some emperors bequeathed to their descendants “to keep the eunuchs in check.” “If you make them your confidants,” warned Emperor Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang, 1368-1398), “your soul will hurt, if you make them your eyes and ears, your eyes and ears will deteriorate...” In the opinion of this emperor, eunuchs and the emperor’s female relatives bring harm to the cause political management of the country. They are needed in palaces, but there they should only be slaves and servants and serve the emperor, serving wine or sweeping the floor. The emperor's fears were not in vain. The next Emperor Chengzu (1403-1424) seized the throne with the help of eunuchs, and they usurped power. In the second half of the Ming dynasty, there were several tens of thousands of eunuchs, and by the end of the Ming period there were several hundred thousand. At the court, eunuchs captured 24 public places, 12 departments and 8 directorates. Their formidable camarilla appointed dignitaries, executed ministers, robbed the people, and the eunuch Wei Zhongxian actually ruled the empire on behalf of the emperor.

Among the eunuchs there were also talented leaders who acted for the benefit of society and the country, in particular, the famous expeditions to the shores of Africa in 1405 were led by the eunuch - Admiral Zheng He. But the influence of eunuchs on the politics and economy of China was corrupting and largely contributed to the decline of the empire...

Eunuchs were divided into categories. Those belonging to the first category enjoyed special privileges and served the emperor, empress, mother of the emperor and imperial concubines. Those belonging to the second category served everyone.

The duties of eunuchs were extremely varied - from household to state and priestly. They were supposed to be present during sleep and at the awakening of the Son of Heaven and his household, take part in the meal of the emperor and members of his family, accompany the emperor and his retinue, as well as the imperial doctors. Eunuchs provided fire protection, monitored the safety of books and antiques, paintings, clothing, weapons, and household utensils. They also provided materials for the palace builders and prepared medicines.

Their duties also included disseminating the highest decrees, escorting officials and foreign guests to the emperor, accepting petitions, receiving money and grain from the court treasurers, and storing the imperial jewelry.

Careful distribution of responsibilities did not guarantee their fulfillment. Emperor Pu Yi recalled: “Since childhood, I constantly heard that thefts, fires and even murders were happening in the palace, not to mention gambling and opium smoking. The theft reached such a degree that, for example, before my wedding ceremony had even ended, all the pearls and jasper decorations of the crown were replaced with fake ones”...

Eunuchs were punished harshly. For an offense they were beaten with bamboo sticks, for an attempt to escape the punishment was the same. When he tried again, a block was hung around his neck, which he had to wear without removing it for two months. During the subsequent attempt, he was sent to the ancient capital of the Manchus - Mukden. They were executed for theft, and Empress Cixi dealt with the undesirables with the help of poison, which she chose herself. There are cases from Chinese history when over 100 eunuchs died at the same time...

No related links found



In the eastern monarchies, great importance was attached to the purity of dynastic blood, which legitimized the monarch's claims to descent from the gods and to supreme power. To exclude even the hypothetical possibility of infidelity, monarchs did not allow mature men into the chambers of their wives and concubines.

The courtly importance of eunuchs could be converted into political authority. Unable to continue the family line and establish their own dynasty, eunuchs were not considered by monarchs as political competitors and served as obedient executors of the royal will, which is why they often enjoyed the trust of the ruler and influence at court.

Eunuchs are characterized by their tall stature and plump physique. The collected statistical data suggests a greater (within the margin of error of 14-17 years) life expectancy of eunuchs compared to men of comparable social status.

In the ancient world

The first information about the presence of eunuchs (partially castrated) comes from Assyria. In the 19th century BC Assyrian kings began to appoint eunuchs, previously employed exclusively in the palace and in the royal guard, as governors of the conquered lands, for they were not afraid that they would try to organize a separatist rebellion and found their own dynasty. The Assyrian practice of castration of future courtiers was adopted by the Persians and some other peoples of the Middle East. One of the Persian eunuchs, named Bagoi, usurped the reins of government during the interregnum. Another Persian eunuch with this name became famous for his love affair with Alexander the Great.

In Rome and Byzantium

In the Eastern Roman Empire, the main purpose of eunuchs remained to serve the Byzantine emperor and empress in the chambers of the Grand Palace. Thanks to unhindered access to the emperor, eunuchs for a long time had influence on state affairs; the Armenian Narses became famous as a commander. It is known about courtier eunuchs in Norman Sicily.

In the Ottoman Empire

If Byzantine eunuchs were often “supplied” to the court by their own parents in the hope that, having become rich, the son would lend a helping hand to distressed relatives, the eunuchs who served the harem of the Ottoman emperor, all in the same Constantinople, were recruited from among captive boys of foreign origin, mostly blacks . White eunuchs were brought from the Balkan Peninsula, black eunuchs from Africa. At the court there were positions of chief white and chief black eunuchs. The latter, called kizlyar-aga in Turkish, led an extensive network of spies and had great weight at court. A similar position existed in the Crimean Khanate.

In imperial China

Completely castrated eunuchs served each and every ruler of the empires and kingdoms of China for more than two thousand years. Many emperors used eunuchs not only to work in their harems, but also to perform various kinds of responsible economic and administrative tasks, as a counterweight to learned mandarin officials. During the minority of the emperors, some eunuchs actually headed the entire vertical of power; naval commander Zheng He became a true national hero. In the 18th-19th centuries, eunuchs were allowed to adopt other people's children. The last Chinese eunuch died in December 1996.

There were many eunuchs among the courtiers in other countries of the “Chinese world” - Vietnam, Burma, Siam.

Other castrati

Castration was often used in history not only to obtain future courtiers-eunuchs, but also as a measure of punishment. Self-castration was practiced by some Christian sects to combat “temptations of the flesh” (see eunuchs).

The castrati rebelled,
Enter dad's chambers:
“Why aren’t we married?
How are we to blame? etc.

Write a review about the article "Eunuch"

Notes

Literature

• Usov V.N. Life and deeds of eunuchs. // Asia and Africa today. 1998.No. 9. P.56-60; No. 10. P.54-59
• Usov V.N. Eunuchs in China. M., 2000.
• Usov V.N. Eunuch. // Spiritual culture of China. Encyclopedia in 6 volumes. Institute of Far Eastern Studies RAS. Volume 4. Historical thought, political and legal culture. M., 2009, p. 498-501.
• Voskresensky D. N. Usov V. N. The Book of Palace Intrigues. Eunuchs at the helm of power. M., 2004.
• // Klug J. History of the harem in the cultures of the world. Smolensk, 2004, p. 27-39
• // Maslov A. A. China: bells in the dust. The wanderings of a magician and an intellectual. M., 2003, p. 157-163

Links

Excerpt characterizing the Eunuch

This person is also needed to justify the last collective action.
The action is completed. The last role has been played. The actor was ordered to undress and wash off the antimony and rouge: he would no longer be needed.
And several years pass in which this man, alone on his island, plays a pathetic comedy in front of himself, petty intrigues and lies, justifying his actions when this justification is no longer needed, and shows the whole world what it was like what people took for strength when an invisible hand guided them.
The manager, having finished the drama and undressed the actor, showed him to us.
- Look what you believed! Here it is! Do you see now that it was not he, but I who moved you?
But, blinded by the power of the movement, people did not understand this for a long time.
The life of Alexander I, the person who stood at the head of the countermovement from east to west, is even more consistent and necessary.
What is needed for that person who, overshadowing others, would stand at the head of this movement from east to west?
What is needed is a sense of justice, participation in European affairs, but distant, not obscured by petty interests; what is needed is a predominance of moral heights over one’s comrades—the sovereigns of that time; a meek and attractive personality is needed; a personal insult against Napoleon is needed. And all this is in Alexander I; all this was prepared by countless so-called accidents of his entire past life: his upbringing, his liberal initiatives, his surrounding advisers, Austerlitz, Tilsit, and Erfurt.
During a people's war, this person is inactive, since he is not needed. But as soon as the need for a common European war arises, this person at that moment appears in his place and, uniting the European peoples, leads them to the goal.
The goal has been achieved. Since the last war of 1815, Alexander is at the height of possible human power. How does he use it?
Alexander I, the pacifier of Europe, a man who from his youth strove only for the good of his people, the first instigator of liberal innovations in his fatherland, now that he seems to have the greatest power and therefore the opportunity to do the good of his people, while Napoleon exile makes childish and deceitful plans about how he would make humanity happy if he had power, Alexander I, having fulfilled his calling and sensing the hand of God on himself, suddenly recognizes the insignificance of this imaginary power, turns away from it, transfers it into the hands of those despised by him and despised people and says only:
- “Not for us, not for us, but for your name!” I am a human being too, just like you; leave me to live as a human being and think about my soul and God.

Just as the sun and each atom of the ether is a ball, complete in itself and at the same time only an atom of a whole inaccessible to man due to the enormity of the whole, so each personality carries within itself its own goals and, at the same time, carries them in order to serve common goals inaccessible to man. .
A bee sitting on a flower stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and says that the purpose of a bee is to sting people. The poet admires a bee digging into the calyx of a flower and says that the bee’s goal is to absorb the aroma of flowers. The beekeeper, noticing that the bee collects flower dust and brings it to the hive, says that the bee's goal is to collect honey. Another beekeeper, having studied the life of a swarm more closely, says that the bee collects dust to feed young bees and breed the queen, and that its goal is to procreate. The botanist notices that, by flying with the dust of a dioecious flower to the pistil, the bee fertilizes it, and the botanist sees the bee’s purpose in this. Another, observing the migration of plants, sees that the bee promotes this migration, and this new observer can say that this is the purpose of the bee. But the final goal of the bee is not exhausted by either one, or the other, or the third goal, which the human mind is able to discover. The higher the human mind rises in the discovery of these goals, the more obvious to it is the inaccessibility of the final goal.
Man can only observe the correspondence between the life of a bee and other phenomena of life. The same goes for the goals of historical figures and peoples.

The wedding of Natasha, who married Bezukhov in 13, was the last joyful event in the old Rostov family. That same year, Count Ilya Andreevich died, and, as always happens, with his death the old family fell apart.
The events of the last year: the fire of Moscow and the flight from it, the death of Prince Andrei and Natasha’s despair, the death of Petya, the grief of the Countess - all this, like blow after blow, fell on the head of the old count. He did not seem to understand and felt unable to understand the meaning of all these events and, morally bending his old head, as if he was expecting and asking for new blows that would finish him off. He seemed either frightened and confused, or unnaturally animated and adventurous.
Natasha's wedding occupied him for a while with its external side. He ordered lunches and dinners and, apparently, wanted to appear cheerful; but his joy was not communicated as before, but, on the contrary, aroused compassion in the people who knew and loved him.
After Pierre and his wife left, he became quiet and began to complain of melancholy. A few days later he fell ill and went to bed. From the first days of his illness, despite the doctors' consolations, he realized that he would not get up. The Countess, without undressing, spent two weeks in a chair at his head. Every time she gave him medicine, he sobbed and silently kissed her hand. On the last day, he sobbed and asked for forgiveness from his wife and in absentia from his son for the ruin of his estate - the main guilt that he felt for himself. Having received communion and special rites, he died quietly, and the next day a crowd of acquaintances who had come to pay their last respects to the deceased filled the Rostovs’ rented apartment. All these acquaintances, who had dined and danced with him so many times, who had laughed at him so many times, now all with the same feeling of inner reproach and tenderness, as if making excuses for someone, said: “Yes, whatever it was, there was the most wonderful Human. You won’t meet such people these days... And who doesn’t have their own weaknesses?..”
It was at a time when the count’s affairs were so confused that it was impossible to imagine how it would all end if it continued for another year, he unexpectedly died.
Nicholas was with the Russian troops in Paris when news of his father's death came to him. He immediately resigned and, without waiting for it, took a vacation and came to Moscow. The state of financial affairs a month after the count's death became completely clear, surprising everyone with the enormity of the amount of various small debts, the existence of which no one suspected. There were twice as many debts as estates.
Relatives and friends advised Nikolai to refuse the inheritance. But Nikolai saw the refusal of the inheritance as an expression of reproach to the sacred memory of his father and therefore did not want to hear about the refusal and accepted the inheritance with the obligation to pay debts.