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 Islamic Tradition and Celibacy

Shahzad Bashir

in Celibacy and Religious Traditions

The prophet Muhammad served as a model for those entering into marriage and celibacy is rejected as a human invention, although the Islamic tradition embodies exceptions with Sufism and its more ... More

The prophet Muhammad served as a model for those entering into marriage and celibacy is rejected as a human invention, although the Islamic tradition embodies exceptions with Sufism and its more negative attitudes toward the human body. Sufi groups used celibacy as a form of social protest. There is also a relation between forced celibacy and political power during the medieval period. In addition to certain Sufi groups, eunuchs represented another exception to the general negative Islamic attitude toward celibacy.Less

Gender and Monasticism in Late Antiquity

Rebecca Krawiec

in Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery

The coexistence of two apparently contradictory attitudes towards gender in Shenoute's monasticism engage the variety of literature describing female monastic experiences in late antiquity. This ... More

The coexistence of two apparently contradictory attitudes towards gender in Shenoute's monasticism engage the variety of literature describing female monastic experiences in late antiquity. This chapter describes the evidence for Egyptian monasticism, including virgins living in the cities, the desert mothers of Upper Egypt, and the female community under Pachomius; the dual monasteries of Jerome and Paula in Palestine; and a letter by Augustine written to a female monastery undergoing conflicts of leadership similar to Shenoute's. I conclude that the different nature of the various sources make a one‐to‐one comparison difficult but that, in general, Shenoute seems to have been more willing than his male counterparts to be intimately involved in the female community. I then examine another gender issue of late antique Christianity, namely, the role of eunuchs, especially those who voluntarily castrate themselves. Here I argue that Shenoute was unable to tolerate the presence of these individuals because their sexual ambiguity called into question the essentialism of gender in the construction of the self, as well as the gendered foundations of the monastery.Less

De Sancta Virginitate: On Holy Virginity

P. G. Walsh

in De bono coniugali and De sancta virginitate

The treatise incorporates two main themes, virginity in itself, and the necessity of humility in consecrated virginity. Virginity itself is considered from three aspects: first, Christ and his mother ... More

The treatise incorporates two main themes, virginity in itself, and the necessity of humility in consecrated virginity. Virginity itself is considered from three aspects: first, Christ and his mother are adduced as ideal types of fecund virginity. Second, virginity surpasses conjugal fidelity in merit; the goods of marriage are human goods, but consecrated virginity is angelic. But marriage is not to be disparaged by consecrated virgins. In demeaning it, the manichees misinterpret I Cor. 7, and Jovinian is condemned for equating marriage with it. Third, the nature of the reward in heaven is outlined. The second main topic of the treatise is the importance of humility. Scriptural models are proposed—the centurion, the Canaanite woman, the tax collector, and finally Christ himself.Less

Beijing

R. Po‐chia Hsia

in A Jesuit in the Forbidden City: Matteo Ricci 1552-1610

In 1600, Ricci attempted once more to reach Beijing, Accompanied by Diego de Pantoja, a Spanish Jesuit, he travelled north on the Grand Canal. En route, the Jesuits, on their mission as ... More

In 1600, Ricci attempted once more to reach Beijing, Accompanied by Diego de Pantoja, a Spanish Jesuit, he travelled north on the Grand Canal. En route, the Jesuits, on their mission as tribute‐bearers, were intercepted by the eunuch Ma Tang. After escaping from Ma's clutches, Ricci successfully negotiated the bureaucracy in Beijing and obtained permission to reside. This chapter describes the circle of his friends and acquaintances in the imperial capital. As customary, Ricci depended on his friendship and the goodwill of powerful mandarins for his success. A special relationship developed between Feng Yinjing, a loyal and just official imprisoned for opposing eunuch corruption, and the Jesuit missionary, who continued publishing works in Chinese, introducing Stoic and Christian texts to the Ming elites.Less

The Cult of the ‘Great Mother’ in Imperial Rome: The Roman and the ‘Foreign’

Mary Beard

in Greek and Roman Festivals: Content, Meaning, and Practice

This chapter explores the cult and rituals of Magna Mater (or Cybele) and Attis in imperial Rome. It briefly reviews the history and festivals of the goddess and the sacrifice of the taurobolium ... More

This chapter explores the cult and rituals of Magna Mater (or Cybele) and Attis in imperial Rome. It briefly reviews the history and festivals of the goddess and the sacrifice of the taurobolium (focusing on the controversial account by Prudentius), throwing light on some of the very processes by which we can (or cannot) access ancient rituals and festivals. But the main focus is on the eunuch priests (or galli) and the unresolved tension between the incorporation of the cult and its rejection. The paper argues that Roman reactions to these priests, the hostility and the ridicule, needs to be seen in the context of constructive debates on the nature of what is Roman in Roman religion—debates that lie at the heart of Roman religious culture.Less

The Nineteenth Century and After

BERNARD LEWIS

in Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry

The chapter discusses slaves during the nineteenth century. From the late eighteenth century onwards, there are numerous accounts by contemporary observers of the processes by which African slaves ... More

The chapter discusses slaves during the nineteenth century. From the late eighteenth century onwards, there are numerous accounts by contemporary observers of the processes by which African slaves were caught, transported, and sold in the markets of the Middle East and North America. The main purpose for which blacks were imported was domestic service. A certain number of free blacks also found employment. In Egypt their role was usually humble. Eunuchs were in considerable numbers for households from the palace downward. They were also employed in the service of mosques and made custodians of the tomb, which gave them an almost priestly status. By the nineteenth century, they were recruited overwhelmingly from Africa. In the course of the nineteenth century, black slaves or black freedmen were found to be occupying important positions and often exercised great power. This occurred frequently in Arabia.Less

Women and Power at the Byzantine Court

Kathryn M. Ringrose

in Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History

The Byzantine Empire is an easy target for the historian's orientalizing reflexes. Long accused of oriental decadence and overlaid by centuries of Western perceptions of the oriental harem, the ... More

The Byzantine Empire is an easy target for the historian's orientalizing reflexes. Long accused of oriental decadence and overlaid by centuries of Western perceptions of the oriental harem, the Byzantine court has been stereotyped by observers as a place where women lived in harems—in oriental seclusion guarded by fierce eunuch guards. Like aristocratic women elsewhere in Byzantium and in many other aristocratic societies, Byzantine court women lived in settings segregated from men. They did not, however, live in enclosed communities of wives and concubines available for the emperor's pleasure. In the first place, the Christian Byzantine emperors were, in accordance with church law, allowed to have only one wife at a time. The two most powerful empresses of middle period Byzantium were Irene and Theodora. This chapter shows that Byzantine women's access to power was possible despite the specially gendered nature of palace space and that this access was facilitated through the mediation of eunuchs, who were uniquely able to transcend the boundaries between the gendered spaces in the palace.Less

Politics In An African Royal Harem: Women and Seclusion at the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria

Flora Edouwaye S. Kaplan

in Servants of the Dynasty: Palace Women in World History

This chapter investigates the harem and the political roles played by royal wives at the Benin royal court in Nigeria. Benin resembles many early accounts of palace women in the Middle East, China, ... More

This chapter investigates the harem and the political roles played by royal wives at the Benin royal court in Nigeria. Benin resembles many early accounts of palace women in the Middle East, China, India, and elsewhere up to the twentieth century. On rare occasion, such as the letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu from Turkey (1763), Western women have written personal accounts of their glimpses of harems. This chapter also looks at sources of power and influence available to royal women, and assesses what impact, if any, royal women had on the lives of ordinary women and men beyond the walls of the harem. Politics in this African harem is broadly defined to mean observable decision making and makers acting in public arenas to direct the control and distribution of resources perceived as scarce. This chapter also examines the reign of the Obas, the Oba's palace, seclusion of the Oba's wives, the role of eunuchs in the royal harem, and the queen mother.Less

Of Fitnas and Fratricide: The Nadir of Imperial Songhay

Michael A. Gomez

in African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa

This chapter examines Songhay's twenty-year nadir, which was first and foremost a time of myopia relative to the expansive, internationalist age of Askia Muḥammad that preceded it, its parochialism a ... More

This chapter examines Songhay's twenty-year nadir, which was first and foremost a time of myopia relative to the expansive, internationalist age of Askia Muḥammad that preceded it, its parochialism a function of an unprecedented rivalrous spirit invested in sanguinary practice distinctive in both elevation and scope, reaching the most privileged while encompassing a broad expanse of social formations. A collective royal neurosis of the most toxic variety enveloped Songhay's elite, as a result of which many sons, and even daughters, of amīr al-mu'minīn were cut down by blood relatives, and precisely for that reason. Because intimacies necessarily attended these intrafamilial conflicts, the level of intrigue must have been extraordinary, aided by privileged slaves who stepped into breaches left by the serial elimination of their masters, advantaged by administrative experience combined with their nonthreatening, liminal status. In Songhay, the process was led by eunuchs, who leveraged their skills in both their own interests as well as those of their patrons, becoming indispensable. As a result, royal slaves and the royal women they served became a powerful component of the “people of Songhay.” The growth of the servile estate, in turn, was enabled by an apparent surge in slaving, swelling not only the ranks of the dispossessed but constituting the principal “commodity” for which mounts could be imported into the empire, stimulating further slaving.Less

Introduction Eunuchs of Byzantium: Context and Definition

in The Perfect Servant: Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium

This chapter provides an overview of this book, which explores the place of eunuchs in Byzantine society and culture and studies an institution that was both very ancient and quite varied in its ... More

This chapter provides an overview of this book, which explores the place of eunuchs in Byzantine society and culture and studies an institution that was both very ancient and quite varied in its makeup. It asks about Byzantine society's conscious perceptions of eunuchs, about its unconscious assumptions regarding eunuchs, and about the variety of gender subcategories that were encompassed by the term eunuch. The chapter also suggests that Byzantine society classed eunuchs as what modern analysis defines as a separate gender category, one which was neither male nor female, and that the nature of this category changed significantly over a thousand years of Late Antique and Byzantine history. In doing this, it explores the construction and perception of gender in the Byzantine world between the sixth and twelfth centuries. The analysis is based on the premise that Byzantine culture incorporated more than two well-defined gender categories as part of normal life in Byzantium, at least among the urban, courtly elite. The eunuchs of Byzantium thus offer an example of an alternative gender category and of the need to understand how such categories function in society, past and present.Less

The Kingdom of Eunuchs under the ‘Abbasids

Taef El-Azhari

in Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257

This chapter analyse the status of eunuchs in Islam, compared to other civilizations. One monitor the different types of eunuchs and their evolution from serving in the harem section under early ... More

This chapter analyse the status of eunuchs in Islam, compared to other civilizations. One monitor the different types of eunuchs and their evolution from serving in the harem section under early Abbasids to become intrusted with intelligence, insignia among other vital posts. The significant period of caliph al-Amin d. 813, where one see his love affairs with eunuchs and public perception to such behaviour. One do examine how third gendered eunuchs became army commanders, dominating the political affairs of the empire in early 10th cntury. That is in full collaboration with royal mothers, concubines, among other courtiers. How legendary Mu’nis al-Khadim reinstated a caliph, and toppled another for his own interests, although he has no biological future. Such domination by eunuchs, made them occupy almost all top positions in the state. The result, was the declaration of the first sole eunuch as a governor of a Muslim state in 966; Kafur of Egypt. That took place with some resentment from some intellectuals, but chroniclers did not report much dismay to the phenomena.Less

Fatimid Royal Women and Royal Concubines in Politics: The Rise of the First Queens of Islam

Taef El-Azhari

in Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257

This chapter discusses the impact of Fatimid Shi‘i women on political and religious affairs, in collaboration with the other two genders; men and eunuchs. In Early 11th century, Sitt al-Mulk seized ... More

This chapter discusses the impact of Fatimid Shi‘i women on political and religious affairs, in collaboration with the other two genders; men and eunuchs. In Early 11th century, Sitt al-Mulk seized the rule in the Fatimid empire by assassinating her brother caliph and instated his young son. By 1036, Concubine Rasad became queen regent for her five years old boy, and dominated political affairs for decades, until she named herself as queen in state documents. One examine how the first sole queen came to power in Yemen in 1098 and remained for four decades. She not only was a ruler, but also became second religious authority after the caliph himself. Why and how she managed to do that? Why her model has not repeated under the Fatimid dynasty? Why 11th century Yemen and Arabia was much more progressive than 21th century? Ironically, Queen Arwa never attempted to use any of her gender in the state affairs, and continued to count on the other gender. The Egyptian chancery kept for us few official correspondents between the Queens of Fatimid Egypt and queen of Yemen in an extremely rare case.Less

The Fatimid Eunuchs and their Sphere¹

Taef El-Azhari

in Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661-1257

The Fatimids had followed the Abbasid tradition of using eunuchs in their caliphate, but they exceeded them in every way. The 10th -11th century could be named, the age of eunuchs. They became deputy ... More

The Fatimids had followed the Abbasid tradition of using eunuchs in their caliphate, but they exceeded them in every way. The 10th -11th century could be named, the age of eunuchs. They became deputy to the caliph. Tutor to heir apparent, army commander, and de facto ruler of the realm. One do examine such impact on politics and Isma‘ili doctrine alike. Especially that we have the exceptional memoirs of chief eunuch Jawdhar during the North African stage. Although eunuchs were hired by their masters due to their non-existing political ambition, and absolute loyalty; one see them express their hunger for power, and dominate the state from beginning to end, which influenced Saladin to follow the same tradition when he succeeded the Fatimids in Egypt.Less

The Hippocratic “Airs, Waters, Places” on Cross-Dressing Eunuchs: “Natural” yet also “Divine”†

Elinor Lieber

in Sex and Difference in Ancient Greece and Rome

On the northern shores of the Black Sea, the Greek colonists established a number of towns and maintained good relations with the local inhabitants, who were referred to by both Herodotus and the ... More

On the northern shores of the Black Sea, the Greek colonists established a number of towns and maintained good relations with the local inhabitants, who were referred to by both Herodotus and the author of the Hippocratic account as ‘Scythians’. Scholars have found it hard to believe that ‘many’ of these ‘Scythians’ could have been squat, fat, and lethargic, as mentioned in the Hippocratic account, let alone cross-dressing eunuchs suffering from some chronic feminine disease. Even those who consult the Hippocratic source still tend to centre the debate on its references to transvestism and impotence, and ignore its clear depiction of the Anarieis as suffering from some chronic, generalised, physical disease, of which these are only two signs. Eunuchism following a combination of signs such as described in the Hippocratic account seems to point to one condition alone: some endemic form of the syndrome now known as hereditary iron overload or primary haemochromatosis.Less