Product Information

The Eunuch in Byzantine History and Society

By: Tougher Shaun, Shaun Tougher
Retail Price: $198.00
Booktopia Price $178.20
ISBN: 9780415425247
Format: Hardcover
Published: October 2008

All prices in Australian Dollars
Stock Availability
This title is not in stock at the Booktopia Warehouse and needs to be ordered from one of our suppliers. Click here to read more about Christmas delivery expectations.

Payment Options

Bank transfers, cheques and money orders are also accepted.
"The existence of eunuchs was one of the defining features of the Byzantine Empire. Covering the whole span of the history of the empire, from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries AD, Shaun Tougher presents a comprehensive survey of the history and roles of eunuchs. He makes use of extensive comparative material, for example from China, Persia and the Ottoman Empire, as well as about castrato singers of the eighteenth century of Enlightenment Europe, and self-castrating religious devotees such as the Galli of ancient Rome, early Christians, the Skoptsy of Russia and the Hijras of India." "The various roles played by eunuchs are examined. Furthermore, there is offered an analysis of how society thought about eunuchs, especially their gender identity - were they perceived as men, women or a third sex?" "The broad survey of the political and social position of eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire is placed in the context of the history of the eunuch in general. An appendix listing key eunuchs of the Byzantine Empire describing their careers is included, and the text is fully illustrated. This book will be a major contribution to the study of the subject, of interest also to the non-specialist."--BOOK JACKET.