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Achilles
Legendary Greek hero of the Trojan War, and lover of Patroclus. Achilles
was invulnerable to injury, except in his heel.
Acts
A book of the Christian scriptures about the actions taken by the leading
followers of Jesus after Jesus had departed from them.
Additions to Esther
Verses of the Biblical book of Esther which are not found in the standard
Hebrew text, but are found in the Greek translation of the the Hebrew text
prepared in the 2nd century BCE.
Adversus Indoctum (Lucian)
A fictional monologue addressed to an ignorant man who collects books.
See Lucian of Samosata.
Aelian
Greek rhetorician of the early 3rd century CE. Wrote Various Histories
(also known as Historical Miscellanies).
Aeschines
Athenian orator, lived about 390-314? BCE, a rival of Demosthenes.
His polemic speech Against Timarchus was given in order to discredit a
witness against him in a trial in which he was charged of accepting foreign
bribes.
Airs, Waters, Places (Hippocrates)
A survey of peoples found in various parts of the world known to Hippocrates,
and the medical conditions they suffered from. See Hippocrates.
Alexander the Great
Young king of Macedonia, lived 356-323 BCE. He founded an empire that
reached from Greece southward to Egypt and eastward to India. After his
death, his empire was divided up among twelve of his generals.
Alexander (son of Herod)
See Herod.
Alyattes
King of Lydia, died 560 BCE. His capital was at Sardis, in what is
now western Turkey.
Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman historian, born in Antioch (present-day eastern Turkey), lived
about 330-400 CE. Serving in the Roman army under a general who was always
perceived to be a potential threat to the Roman emperor Constantius II,
and he hated the eunuchs of the imperial court who he said were always
feeding the emperor's suspicions against this general.
Amores (Lucian)
A comic dialogue about the comparative advantages and disadvantages
of heterosexual versus homosexual love. See Lucian of Samosata.
Amores (Ovid)
A series of poems told from the point of view of an adulterous lover.
See Ovid.
Antinous
Beautiful young lover of the Roman emperor Hadrian, lived from 110
to 130 CE.
Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)
A history of the Jewish people largely based on the Hebrew scriptures.
Like all of the work of Josephus, a Pharisee, they were written in Greek.
Apocrypha
Jewish writings not included in the Hebrew scriptures, but included
in the Greek translation from the 2nd century BCE.
Apollonius of Tyana
Greek philosopher from what is now east central Turkey, lived in the
1st century CE.
Apuleius
North African satirical writer in Latin, lived about 124 to about 170
CE.
Arabian Nights
Properly known as the Thousand and One Nights. A collection of stories
in Arabic supposedly being told by a harem wife to entertain her husband,
the king, and thus postpone him from unjustly killing her.
Aristotle
Greek philosopher, lived 384-322 BCE. Son of a physician, he emphasized
factual observation and logic as the path of knowledge. He was tutor to
Alexander the Great during Alexander's early teens.
Arjuna
One of the great heros of the Mahabharata. He refused to sleep with
a mother goddess (Urvasi) and was condemned by her to be a eunuch. The
Hindu god Indra commuted his sentence to a period of one year. See Brihannada
and Attis.
Asia Minor
The peninsula on which the current country of Turkey is located, it
has been the home and starting point of many Caucasian cultures. The Caucasus
mountains are located at the eastern edge of Asia Minor.
Assyrian Laws
Atharvaveda
The last of the four canonical vedas, which are the oldest scriptures
of Hinduism. The Atharvaveda was written later than the other three and
was included in the canon after a long struggle. It contains spells and
incantations, which are usually prohibited as witchcraft in Caucasian cultures
such as the Aryans, who brought the original three Vedas into India.
Atrahasis
Ancient Babylonian flood myth, in which the cause of the flood was
that the noise of the overpopulated crowds of human beings was disturbing
the gods.
Attis
A god conceived by the goddess Nana after she ate an almond which came
from the blood of another goddess Cybele, Attis was made a eunuch by Cybele
when he refused to sleep with her. The worship of Attis and Cybele eventually
spread throughout the Roman empire, but was centered in the area of present-day
Turkey where castration of innocent boys was invented. Some priests of
the Cybele/Attis cult castrated themselves to make themselves eunuchs.
There are strong parallels between the Christian myths told about Jesus
and Attis's myth. As a god of vegetation, Attis's resurrection was celebrated
by his followers each springtime.
Babrios
Greek fable writer of the second century CE.
Bagoas
A eunuch who killed the Persian king Artaxerxes III and his son and
raised Darius III to the throne. Darius then killed Bagoas.
Bagoas
The eunuch lover of Darius III who became Alexander the Great's lover
when Darius was defeated.
Basilides
A Gnostic teacher in Alexandria during the 2nd century CE who claimed
to possess a secret tradition from Peter and Matthias.
Bible
From the Greek word biblion, meaning "book," the Bible is a collection
of ancient documents invested by the collectors with holy status.
Brihannada
Name taken by Arjuna in the Mahabharata during his period of being
a eunuch. Brihannada is a feminine name, based on its grammatical ending,
but it means "having a large pipe." See Arjuna.
Ceres
Goddess of grain in Roman religion.
Charles V
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1519 to
1558. Grandson and heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (the sponsors
of Christopher Columbus), Charles presided over the domination of the Americas
by Europe, the expansion of African enslavement, and the Catholic opposition
to the Reformation. Under his regime, a new codification of laws was promulgated,
called the Lex Carolina or the Peinliche Halsgerichtsordnung (Penal Capital
Court Ordinance).
Chou-Kung
Clement of Alexandria
Greek Christian theologian born in Athens, died about 215 CE. Studied
and taught at Alexandria, Egypt.
Code of Hammurabi
Set of laws promulgated by a Babylonian king who lived in the early
18th century BCE.
Cybele
Personification of the Great Mother Goddess worshipped in the NW region
of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) where castration was invented. See Attis.
Cyrus the Great
King of Persia, and founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, died 529 BCE.
He conquered all of Asia Minor, before conquering Babylonia where, according
to the Bible, the Jews were held captive. Herodotus tells how Cyrus adopted
from the defeated king Croesus of Sardis the practice of demanding a tribute
of ten percent of his soldier's spoils, which may have then been implemented
in the Jewish religion as the tithe, when Cyrus sent the Jews to rebuild
Jerusalem.
Daniel
One of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, he was raised by eunuchs and
served as a eunuch in the Babylonian court. His court title as given in
Hebrew, Chief of the Sarrekin, may represent a combination of saris and
girsequ (see Glossary, saris) to make sarreku. He prophesied the end times.
Darius III
Persian king who was killed in 330 BCE as Alexander the Great's army
was approaching.
Descent of Ishtar (Inanna) to the Nether World
Babylonian myth about the journey of the goddess of love and war to
the realm of the dead, the "land of no return." She had to be rescued by
eunuch beings specially created because they could resist the fatal temptations
of the Queen of the Underworld, Ereshkigal.
Deuteronomy
Fifth book of the Hebrew Torah, called the fifth book of Moses in the
Bible.
Digest of Laws
Pronouncements of Roman jurisprudence from the first few centuries
of the Common Era, collected and edited in the 6th century CE under the
Byzantine Emperor Justinian.
Dio Cassius
Roman historian born in NW Asia Minor, lived about 155-235? CE. He
wrote in Greek.
Diodorus Sicilus
Sicilian historian who died after 21 BCE, he wrote a history of the
world in 40 volumes in the Greek language.
Domitian
Roman emperor from 81-96 CE, born 51 CE. He succeeded to the throne
after his brother Titus. First Roman emperor to prohibit castration.
Earinos
Eunuch lover of the emperor Domitian.
Ebedmelech
Ethiopian eunuch, an official of the court of Zedekiah, he saved the
prophet Jeremiah from the dungeon. (Jeremiah 38.)
Eliezer
Rabbi who contributed to the legal discussions of the Mishnah in the
Talmud.
Era
Babylonian god, and name of an epic poem about him.
Ereshkigal
Babylonian goddess who ruled over the Underworld. She was very seductive.
Errors of the Pagan Religions (Firmicus Maternus)
A catalogue of pagan religious beliefs pilloried by the astrologer
and Christian convert who had also written a theory of astrological handbook
in earlier life.
Esther
Orphan captive at the Persian court who was made queen of Persian by
the king Xerxes, or Ahasuerus. A book of the Hebrew Bible tells her story.
Eunuchus (Lucian)
A comic dialogue about a verbal contest between a eunuch and a straight
man for a professorship in philosophy.
Eunuchus (Terence)
A comedy about a young man who poses as a eunuch in order to get close
to a girl he is in love with.
Evagoras
King of Cyprus who died about 374 BCE.
Exodus
Second book of the Torah, called second book of Moses in the Bible.
It recounts the story of Moses's leading the tribes of Israel out of slavery
in Egypt, and contains the explanation of the Levitical priesthood.
Ezekiel
Book of prophecy attributed to a priest living in the first half of
the 6th century BCE during the Babylonian exile. Ezekiel contains prophecies
about the defeat of the tribes of Gog and Magog, the Biblical name for
ancestors of the Europeans.
Firmicus Maternus
Sicilian astrologer, later converted to Christianity. Wrote his book
on astrology beginning in 334 CE. Bernadette Brooten discusses Firmicus
Maternus's treatment of female homosexuals in Love Between Women, pp. 132-137.
Franks
A group of Germanic tribes who joined and then overthrew the Roman
empire in the West in the 5th century CE. Their leader converted to Roman
Catholicism and in the following centuries they established a vast european
empire.
Gathas (Zarathustra)
Literally "songs," the Gathas are the oldest part of the holy scriptures
of Zoroastrianism.
Generation of Animals (Aristotle)
A scientific treatise on animal reproduction, including a chapter on
human reproduction.
Genesis
The first book of the Bible and of the Torah, containing the creation
story and versions of the histories of Adam and Eve and their sons, Noah
and his sons, and of Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, particularly
Joseph.
Golden Ass (Apuleius)
Also called the Metamorphosis, this is a comic novel about the misadventures
of a man turned into a donkey by a curse.
Gregory of Nazianzos
Theologian who lived from 330-390 CE and was considered a conciliator
in the controversy over Arianism.
Hadrian
Roman emperor born in Spain in 76 CE, ruled from 117-138 CE. Builder
of Hadrian's Wall, which separates England from Scotland. His love for
a young man from Asia Minor (who Richard Millant said was a eunuch) was
immortalized in sculpture and architecture.
Hammurabi
Babylonian king from about 1792 to 1750 BCE, he wrote an extensive
set of laws concerning business, family, labor, property, and personal
injuries.
Hephaiston
Childhood friend and later general of Alexander the Great.
Herod the Great
The king who is mentioned in the Christian gospels as having ordered
the massacre of all boys under two years old, in an attempt to kill Jesus.
Julius Caesar made him ruler of Palestine in 55 BCE and he became king
of the Jews with the aid of Marc Antony in 37 BCE. Paranoid toward the
end of his life, he ultimately ordered the execution of three of his sons,
including the Alexander mentioned by Josephus. He died in 4 BCE.
Herodotus
Dubbed "the Father of History," he was born in central Asia Minor about
484 BCE and traveled all over the Mediterranean region, living his last
years in Italy writing his histories. He died about 425 BCE.
Hippocrates
Recognized as "the Father of Medicine," he was born the son of a physician
in about 460 BCE and wrote extensively about his observations of medical
conditions.
History of Animals (Aristotle)
A comparative scientific description of various animal species and
human beings, including their morphology and behavior.
Inanna
Sumerian name for the goddess Ishtar.
Isaac
Second son of Abraham in the Bible, and son of Sarah.
Isaiah
A book of prophecies in the Hebrew Bible.
Ishtar
Goddess of Assyrian and Babylonian religion. Identified with the Egyptian
Isis and Greek Aphrodite, Demeter, and Cybele, she was the goddess of love
and fertility, but also of war.
Isis
A goddess called Auset in Egyptian, Isis was the wife of Osiris and
mother of Horus. Often identified with the other great female goddesses
of the ancient Middle East.
Jeremiah
A prophet during the decades prior to the conquest of Jerusalem by
Babylon, he was allowed to stay with the Jews who remained behind after
the conquests and went with them to Egypt. He criticized the religious
errors and social injustice of the kings of Judah.
Jerome
Translator of much of the Bible into Latin. He was born about 347 CE
of Christian parents near present-day Croatia, and studied among the Franks
at Trier. He also studied under Gregory of Nazianzos.
Joseph
Son of Jacob, sold into slavery by his brothers who were jealous of
their father's affection for him. Joseph was apparently very beautiful
and was pursued by his Egyptian master's wife. He was thrown in jail, but
by interpreting dreams he became a powerful official in the Egyptian royal
court.
Josephus
A Jewish historian and soldier born in Jerusalem in 37 CE, he was a
Pharisee and wrote historical works in Greek about the Jews, which are
largely based on the scriptures, but which, unlike the Bible, cover the
period from the Babylonian exile to his own day.
Justinian
Roman emperor from 527-565 CE, of humble birth in what is now the Balkan
peninsula, he tried to reunify the Roman holdings under a unified government
and Christian doctrine. He was responsible for the consolidation of Roman
law.
Juvenal
Roman satirical poet of the early second century CE.
Kamasutra (Vatsyayana)
Book of instruction on heightening sexual pleasure, considered an aspect
of supreme happiness.
King James Version
Also called the Authorized Version, this was a translation of the Bible
into English commissioned in 1604. While it is a thorough translation,
in that it attempts to provide a rendering of every word of the Hebrew,
it is often inconsistent in its translation of terms.
Kitab buqrat fil-amrad al-biladiyya
A ninth century CE Arabic translation of Hippocrates's Airs, Waters,
Places.
Laws of Manu
Legal code traditionally attributed to legendary Hindu figure Manu,
it was compiled in during the four centuries between 200 BCE and 200 CE.
Leo III
Byzantine Roman emperor from 717 to 741 CE.
Lucian of Samosata
Second century CE Syrian Greek writer, famous in his day for his wit
and clarity of composition.
Mahabharata
Indian epic poem composed between 200 BCE and 200 CE, it concerns a
dynastic struggle of the 9th century BCE.
Martial
Roman poet born in Spain about 40 CE, and a friend of Juvenal.
Martin Luther
German leader of the Protestant Reformation and translator of the Bible
in German. He began what became the Reformation by nailing his 95 theses
on the church door at Wittenberg in 1517. As a translator, Luther expressly
followed the principle of using the speech of ordinary German people to
create his text, so that the text would be comprehensible to ordinary German
people. This had the result that eunuchs, who as a gender were unknown
to 16th century Germans, were changed into "chamberlains."
Matthew
First of the four Christian canonical gospels.
Menander
Greek playwright of the late 4th century BCE. Wrote a play called The
Eunuch which was adapted by Terence.
Minucius Felix
2nd century Christian writer in Latin.
Narses
Byzantine eunuch and general for emperor Justinian, who lived from
478 to 573 CE. He defeated the Goths and regained Italy from the Goths
for the Byzantine Empire.
Nebuchadnezzar
King of Babylonia during the early 6th century BCE, he was responsible
for crushing the kingdom of Judah according to Biblical accounts.
Nephthys
Egyptian goddess, twin sister of Seth, assistant to her sister Isis.
She was said to represent the dry outlying areas not fertilized by the
alluvial floods of the Nile.
Nergal
Babylonian and Assyrian god who was sent to the underworld to bring
a plate of food to Ereshkigal, since she was unable to attend a banquet
of the gods. Warned against the various temptations of hell, he was unable
to resist and ended up making love with Ereshkigal. While she was asleep,
he ran off, but she sent her vizier to retrieve him from heaven. He tried
to disguise himself as a eunuch (shaved his head and sat cringing in a
corner) but Ereshkigal was not fooled. Nergal had to return to hell for
a period every year.
Nero
Roman emperor born in 37 CE, he took office in 54 and reigned for 14
years until his suicide in 68 CE. He murdered his mother, his step-brother,
and his wife, and was responsible for the deaths of Seneca and others.
Novellae Constitutiones
New laws promulgated by Emperor Justinian, and then centuries later,
new laws promulgated by Emperor Leo.
On Isis and Osiris (Plutarch)
Account of the various myths surrounding Isis and Osiris, including
stories about Seth and Nephthys.
Osiris
Egyptian god of the Nile, killed by Seth and resurrected as the king
of the afterlife. Father of Horus by Isis and of Anubis by Nephthys.
Ottoman empire
Empire ruled by Muslim Turks, from its greatest expansion in the 15th
century until the 19th century, extending from Hungary eastward on both
shores of the Black Sea to the borders of Persia, and then westward across
North Africa.
Ovid
Latin poet born on the Italian peninsula, who lived from 43 BCE to
18 CE.
Patroclus
Greek warrior in the Trojan war, and lover of Achilles.
Paulus
Roman jurist of the early 3rd century, one of five whose opinions were
made authoritative in the early fifth century by the later emperors Theodosius
II and Valentinian.
Periander
King of Corinth who died in 585 BCE, one of a group called the Seven
Wise Men of Greece. He sent hundreds of boys to Sardis to be castrated
by Alyattes.
Petronius
Roman satirist, and consul of Bithynia under the emperor Nero. He died
in about 66 CE. Author of the Satyricon.
Philip II
King of Macedon, and father of Alexander the Great. Lived from 382
to 336 BCE.
Plutarch
Greek essayist and biographer, who lived from about 46 to 120 CE.
Potiphar
A eunuch at the Egyptian royal court in Genesis, who bought Joseph
as a slave from the nomads who carried him to Egypt
Psalms
A collection of 150 hymns, included as a Book of the Bible. While some
may be as old as David's time or earlier, most were composed during the
period between the 538 and 100 BCE.
Quintus Curtius
Qur'an
Sacred book of Islam, collected from the revelations made to the Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and recorded by his listeners.
Rebekkah
Wife of Isaac and mother of the non-identical twins Esau and Jacob.
Revelation
Last book of the Christian Bible, containing the revelation about the
end of the present age and the beginning of an age of blessedness and justice.
Sahih al-Bukhari
A book of hadith, or traditions about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him), collected by Muhammad ibn-Ismail al-Bukhari. The collector was
born near Bukhara in central Asia and lived about 810 to 870 CE.
Salic Law
Laws of the Salian Franks first compiled in 508-511 CE, written in
Latin.
Sardis
Ancient city of western Asia Minor known as the place where silver
and gold coin money was invented, and possibly the place of origin of castration
for the purpose of making eunuchs. It was destroyed in the 14th century.
Seljuk Turks
A tribe of Turks who took over much of the northern Muslim empire beginning
in the 11th century, ruling under the Abbasid caliphate, and who were ultimately
defeated by the Osmanli Turks who established the Ottoman Empire.
Semiramis
A mythical Assyrian queen, possibly based on Sammuramat, regent of
Assyria from 810 to 805 BCE.
Seneca the Younger
Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman born in present-day Cordoba,
Spain, lived from about 3 BCE to about 65 CE.
Seth
Egyptian god, originally a sun god of predynastic Egypt. He represented
a force of discord in the Egyptian system, having killed Osiris and attempting
to take over preeminence from Horus by dominating him sexually.
Smerdis
Second son of Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia. He was killed secretly
by his brother Cambyses II. When Cambyses died abroad, a eunuch Guamata
impersonated him and assumed the throne. Guamata, the "false Smerdis,"
was overthrown by a group of Persian generals and replaced by Darius I.
Solomon
King of the ancient Hebrews from about 970 to about 930 BCE.
Song of Solomon
A great love poem included in the Bible containing a dialogue between
two lovers, a man and a woman. Traditionally attributed to Solomon, but
many scholars date it as late as the 3rd century BCE.
Statius
Latin poet born in Naples, who lived from about 45 to 96 CE.
Subki
Suetonius
Roman biographer, briefly private secretary of Emperor Hadrian. He
lived about 69 to about 140 CE. He wrote biographies of the lives of the
Roman emperors.
Talmud
A collection of legal pronouncements, called the mishnah, made by certain
authoritative early Jewish rabbis in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, as well
as interpretations of these pronouncements, called the gemara, made by
later rabbis and compiled in the 5th and 6th centuries CE.
Tarquin the Proud
An Estruscan king of the 6th century BCE who ruled Rome, thought to
be descended from an emigrant noble from Corinth.
Terence
A writer of comedies, born in Carthage, north Africa, who lived from
about 185 or 195 to about 159 BCE. As a boy, he was the slave of a Roman
senator.
Tertullian
Theologian and defender of Christianity, born in Carthage, north Africa,
and living from about 160 to about 230 CE. Son of a centurion, he converted
to Christianity at the age of 37, but later left orthodox Christianity
to join a sect less forgiving of sin.
Titus
Roman emperor for two years, from 79 to 81 CE, who took office at the
age of 40 on his father's death. He was responsible for destroying Jerusalem
in 70 CE. He was succeeded by his brother Domitian.
Ulpian
A Roman jurist murdered by the Praetorian Guard in 228 CE. Much of
the Roman Law compiled under Justinian is derived from Ulpian.
Ummayad
A dynasty descended from the pre-Islamic Arabian elite, which took
power by opposing Ali, the chosen successor of the Prophet Muhammad as
ruler of the Muslims. They moved the capital of the Muslim world from Mecca
to Damascus, in Syria.
Urvasi
Hindu goddess who cursed Arjuna with impotency after he refused to
have sex with her.
Vatsyayana
Author of the Kamasutra.
Visigothic Law
Also called the Lex Iudicorum or "law of the judges," promulgated in
about 654 CE and applied to Goths as well as Romans.
Wei Chung Hsien
Wisdom of Sirach
A book included in the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures,
but not in the Hebrew scriptures themselves. Originally composed in Hebrew
about 200 BCE by Jesus ben Sirach, it was probably translated into Greek
in about 132 BCE by his grandson. No Hebrew text is available.
Wisdom of Solomon
A book included in the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures,
but not in the Hebrew scriptures. Probably composed by Alexandrian Jews
during the last two centuries BCE.
Xenophon
A Greek historian born in Athens, who lived from about 430 to about
355 BCE. He was one of the students of Socrates, and left to join the Greek
force under the Persian king Cyrus the Great. Later he served under Sparta,
and finally spent his retirement in writing.
Yebamoth
One of the books of the Talmud.
Zarathustra
Ancient prophet of the Persians, known in Greek as Zoroaster. His historical
period is not known for certain, but may be assigned to the first half
of the last millenium BCE. He preached a belief in one god Ahura Mazda,
which meant sovereign knowledge.