Like the Chinese emperor the Ottoman sultans kept eunuchs, though these were imported slaves. Since Sharia law forbade mutilation of the human body, they were castrated by non-Muslim traders outside Islamic territory. Recent research by M. W. Aucoin and R. J. Wasserzug has shown that in early-medieval Islamic territory eunuchs were active heterosexually and homosexually, in the latter case in both passive and active roles.
At the end of the sixteenth century the Turks chose eunuchs principally from among white slaves of Slav, German or Hungarian origin. Later they were supplied mainly by the monastery of Abou Gerbe in Upper Egypt, where Coptic priests castrated dark-skinned Nubian or Abyssinian boys, usually at the age of eight. The operation was a radical one, in which the whole scrotum, the testicles and the penis were removed, and the death rate was high. In his lavishly illustrated book From Seduction to Mutilation, my fellow urologist Johan Mattelaer reveals how lucrative the trade in eunuchs was: traders negotiated with African tribal chiefs, who regarded their boys as nothing but merchandise. These young slaves were transported via the Nile or the Red Sea, and castration was usually carried out at a staging post, never by Muslims, as was said, but usually by Jews or Christians. The surgery was performed without any precautionary measures. Hot desert sand was the only remedy in the case of bleeding. This valuable merchandise virtually never reached the slave markets, but was sold en route and set to work in the Topkapi palace in Constantinople. There was a distinction between black and white: dark-skinned eunuchs had more successful careers. The young white boys of Christian origin carried out mainly domestic tasks and were not allowed to guard the harems, a task reserved for black eunuchs, preferably with ugly, scarred faces, so that any trace of sexual interest from the residents of the harem would be nipped in the bud. They had to check who entered, accompany the women on their rare outings, and act as intermediaries in contacts with the outside world. The head of the black eunuchs was an important
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man, the right hand and confidant of the sultan-mother, and in addition he was allowed to approach the sultan without an intermediary, a privilege granted to only a few. He had to supply new concubines for the harem, pronounced the death sentence and officiated personally at executions.
The political power of the eunuchs was greatest at the end of the sixteenth century, after which their influence declined, and after the political reforms at the end of the nineteenth century their duties were limited to receiving ladies wishing to visit the harem and escorting their mistresses on their visits to the bazaar. In 1909 the harem was closed and the sultan was compelled to release his eunuchs.