LUCIAN • PHILOSTRATUS • EPIPHANIOS OF CYPRUS • CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA
Due to their sterility, eunuchs were largely used in antiquity as guardians and servants of the wives and concubines of kings or other nobles. They were thus found deep within the palaces and houses of power. This fact often elevated them to significant figures in political life.
In the fourth and fifth centuries AD, eunuchs gained powers unimaginable to the courtiers of the first or second century. The religious eunuchism, which was more widely known in antiquity, was associated with the name of Cybele and her priests. The respect as well as the terror of the faithful for the Great Goddess sometimes required ritual self-eunuchisms.
The texts compiled in this volume belong to both pagan and Christian authors. Despite their different religious backgrounds, they all express a common stance of disapproval towards the practice of eunuchism of Eastern origin, which may trace back to the tradition of classical Hellenism and its concern for physical wholeness.
