Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

So it means that they can easily go between the inner world of the central court or the inner court, which includes the harem, of course, into the outer court of men, you know, of governance as well.

So this is why they're very often used as messengers, as go-betweeners.

And we find that in, you know, in the Hebrew Bible, in Herodotus, they understand that that's the kind of idea about them.

But they could also be very important counselors, counselors of state, officers of state, and important individuals in the army as well.

We have unit generals.

So they're omnipresent in a way.

Why would you put yourself through castration?

Well, I think there's two forms that go on.

We have eunuchs who are castrated before puberty and therefore they stay essentially like boys.

You know, they don't really develop and their voices stay high and so forth.

And then we have individuals who will have themselves castrated post, I know, post-youth.

And therefore, you know, the testosterone has developed and, you know, to all intents and purposes, they look like real men, you know.

It gave these individuals access into the very heart of

of Persian royalty.

And that's the way it's always been.

You know, if you think about the forbidden city in China in the 18th, early 19th centuries, you know, these men had extraordinarily access to power.

Absolutely.

And in fact,

Ctesias, who is one of our chief sources for this period, he's a Greek from Cnidos and lived in the Persian court for 17 years, he automatically kind of lists the influential eunuchs

every time he talks about a new succession of a king.