Eunuch Narses, “The Hammer of the Goths”

Whenever I think about Byzantine eunuchs (*as one does*), there’s just always so much to say. So here is a picture of the famed general Narses (d. 537), known as “the Hammer of the Goths” which was not a stage name but a moniker for this eunuch’s effectiveness at crushing the enemies of the Byzantine state in Italy.

Eunuchs were very much a thing in Byzantine history. Sometimes imported from neighboring states, other times Byzantine boys or men castrated by those in power wary of rivals, eunuchs frequented the highest circles of the imperial court: unless they were in monasteries, which is where many who opposed the Byzantine emperor ended up. Because they couldn’t sire children, they often were given positions of high service — like Narses here. Other positions especially reserved for them included the _nipsistiarioi_ who held the emperor’s bowl, the _koubikoularioi_ in charge of the emperor’s chamber, and the _papias_ who supervised the palace.

Frequently eunuchs were entrusted with guarding high-ranking women, with the rationale being that the sexual virtue of such women would remain uncompromised. However, some ecclesiastics warned against this, because castration did not necessarily end sexual desire. Thus, Cyril of Alexandria wrote that eunuchs “can corrupt women with their hands and fingers,” and Anastasios of Sinai quipped, “even if they don’t have the proper organs of debauchery, they can still fornicate with their tongues.”