#also sorry the summary of the Roman intersex eunuch

[intersex-support]

Hi! I’m not intersex so feel free to ignore or answer other questions first.

I am curious about how eunuchs tie into intersex history. There seems to be a lot of similarities, but I’m not sure how or if it’s related. And I’m curious if ideas around eunuchs tie into how society treats intersex people today, or if perhaps some eunuchs were intersex people? I don’t want to speculate becuase I don’t think it’s my place, but I definitely see similarities with what you talk about.

I’m not totally sure how to frame this question because it is incredibly broad, and covers vast swaths of time and many parts of the world, but I would appreciate any information you could provide that would allow for further research or understanding.

Thank you, I hope you have a lovely day.

Hey! So it definitely is a broad question and really, really depends on the region. I can speak a little about some of the relationship between eunuchs and intersex people in Ancient Rome and Greece because I can read those languages, but I’m not an expert on there or anywhere else.

So there’s quite a few sources that talk about intersex people in conjunction with eunuchs. The Pandects, Roman laws collected by Justinian I, used eunuch as an umbrella term to describe both eunuchs by nature and eunuchs who were made (there also does seem to be some distinction between the language use of eunuchus and castratus, but I’m not convinced that eunuchus was only used to described intersex people.) At a similar time, Pliny the elder was going around recognizing that there were multiple sexes, and indeed spent a lot of time trying to classify what intersex was and how many intersex variations there were. Philostratus, who was a Greek writer who spent some time at the Roman imperial court, wrote an anecdote about this intersex person named Favorinus who was tried for adultry, and we know he’s intersex because Philostratus refers to him as “ἀνδρόθηλυς” (intersex), but he also refers to him as “εὐνοῦχος” (eunuch). There’s a few other examples, but basically, at different points in Ancient Rome it’s clear that intersex people were distinctly recognized as different than eunuch, yet often were lumped in with eunuchs in terms of legal treatment, although some of the Latin can kind of best be translated as “congenital eunuch.”

In the Archaic period, the Roman legal treatment of intersex people viewed intersex births as “prodigies” which is…not a great thing in Roman law. Trigger warning for horrific intersexism, but there’s sixteen primary sources that show some proof that some intersex children were drowned at birth as a way of appeasing the gods. This is obviously not going to be the same treatment that adult eunuchs received under Roman law, so that’s defintely a departure. There were also some reports of people who discovered that they were intersex in adulthood being killed as well, but that’s a lot fewer. Once we start getting into later eras of the republic the legal status of intersex people changes again, and the last reported intersex execution is 95 BC. After 95 BC, there’s a lot more mentions of intersex children in sources, which also shows proof that fewer are getting killed at birth. There is a gradual shift in Roman society and intersex people start getting classified as either male or female under the law, with responsibilities and rights determined by their assignment. Pliny specifically argued that intersex men should be considered semiviri and given the exact same legal rights as eunuchs. Eunuch Roman law is complex as has a lot of specific things about the extent to which someone is a Eunuch and whether or not you can marry, write a will, all of that, so it’s clear that some intersex people were legally limited in similar ways to eunuchs. Eunuchs in Roman society had a complicated role, and often times were enslaved, although some eunuchs/intersex people like Favorinus were able to have aristocratic success. So basically Roman society was really pretty bad for eunuchs or intersex people.

When it comes to the Greeks, the most information around intersex people is about the mythologic god Hermaphroditus, child of Hermes and Aphrodite, who was a beautiful, divine, and celebrated figure. We do have more positive descriptions of intersex people from sources of that time, Phlegon of Tralles, a Greek writer, described an intersex person near Antioch who was known as a beautiful maiden but than turned into a man at puberty. There’s also another intersex person who lived at Epidaurus who was described as spending his life gardening, which I think is neat. I’m not as familiar with intersex people in Ancient Greece, but it seems to be more positive. Eunuchs also had a bit of a different reception in Greek society, and I couldn’t find a lot of sources on intersex people and eunuchs and I’m just not as familiar with Greek history as Roman.

So overall, I can say confidently that in Ancient Rome, the history of eunuchs and intersex people is very intertwined, and societal response was also filled with stigma, prejudice, and violence. I’d say that it’s probably pretty likely that in other cultures and times through the world, eunuchs and intersex people have been related. I don’t know enough history about other regions, but if anyone does know I would love to hear some more. I’m not sure how much of an affect that the treatment of eunuchs really has on intersex people in the contemporary world, but I definitely think that at certain times in world history, eunuchs and intersex people were associated with each other. I listed a few sources for what I summarized about Roman law, but massive trigger warning for slurs and descriptions of violent intersexism. Here’s also a link to a post I made about the treatment of intersex people in medieval Europe (with similar trigger warnings.)

https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/unromantest/chapter/transgender/

https://www.academia.edu/45639485/The_Legal_Treatment_of_Hermaphroditism_in_Ancient_Rome_From_Persecution_to_Integration

https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2015/09/15/favorinus-was-a-hermaphrodite-tried-for-adultery-philostratus-lives-of-the-sophists-489/amp/