EUNUCH : A eunuch is a man who have been castrated, typically early in his life. Eunuch would probably be servants or slaves who, because of their function, had been castrated, usually in order to make them reliable servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Over thousands of years, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, soldiers, royal guards, government officials and guardians of women or harem servants. Eunuchs are mentioned many times in the Bible such as in the Book of Isaiah, using the word Saris. Although the Ancient Hebrews did not practice castration, eunuchs were common in other cultures featured in the Bible, such as Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, the Persian Empire and Ancient Rome. One of the earliest converts to Christianity was an Ethiopian eunuch who was a high court official of Candace the Queen of Ethiopia. The practice was well established in the Chinese Empire, Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, Burma, India, The Persian Empire (Iran) , the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) other Mediterranean areas among the Greeks and Romans, although a role as court functionaries does not arise until Byzantine times. In China, castration included removal of the penis as well as the testicles. Both organs were cut off with a knife. Zheng He (1371–1433 or 1435), is one of the most well known eunuchs of the Chinese Ming Empire, originally named Ma He, was a Hui court eunuch, mariner, explorer, diplomat, and fleet admiral during China's early Ming dynasty. Zheng commanded incredible expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, the Middle East and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. Within the Persian and Ottoman Empire, there were restrictions on the enslavement of Muslims and "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians), pagan areas in Africa were a popular source of slaves. Zanj and Bantu slaves were mainly drawn from the African Great Lakes region as well as Central Africa. They were employed in households and in the army as slave-soldiers. Some could ascend to high rank officials. Black slaves, usually purchased as boys were castrated and inducted into the palace service, and as guards of the women of the Sultan's harem since 1566 and continued to do so until the Ottoman Empire's end in early 20th century. The belief was that, since a eunuch would always be childless, he would have no need to be disloyal to the Empire through his access to the harem. There were three ways in which castration of the Eunuch of the Ottoman Empire took place: the removal of the penis and the testicles, the removal of the testicles alone, and the removal of the penis alone. The roles of the eunuch on a day-to-day basis included locking and unlocking the doors of the harem, keeping watch over those who entered and left, and ensuring that outsiders did not enter. Upon recruitment and initiation into the harem eunuchs were trained in a “school for eunuchs” where they were taught, “their practical duties, introduced to palace etiquette, and accustomed to the life of an eunuch.” The newly inducted eunuchs were at the bottom of the hierarchy; however, as one ascended the ranks of power they were unofficially given a large role in the Ottoman Empire. he "KISLAR AGA", (The Chief Black Eunuch) was the title of the head of the eunuchs who guarded the Imperial Harem of the Ottoman Sultans in Constantinople. The title literally means "Chief of the ladies," and he was charged with the protection and maintenance of the harem women. The post of the Kizlar Agha was created in the reign of Murad III in 1574, with the Ethiopian " Mehmed Agha" as its first occupant. Until then, the Ottoman palace had been dominated by the white eunuchs. The Kizlar Agha was the third highest-ranking officer of the empire, after the Sultan and the Grand Vizier (Chief Minister). His position was a pasha (general) of three tails (tails referring to peacock tails, and the most number of tails permitted being four and worn by the Sultan). He could approach the Sultan at any time, and functioned as the private messenger between the Sultan and the Grand Vizier.
