Figure 1.-- Mass'oud Mirza Zell-e Soltan (مسعود میرزا ظلالسلطان --Mass'oud Mirza the Sultan's Shadow") was a Persian prince of the Qajar Dynasty. He was known as the "Yamin-al-Dowleh" ("Right Hand of the Government"). He was made governor of Isfahan for over 35 years, and the governor of the Mazandaran, Fars, and Isfahan for a total of 40 years. One of his hobbies was photography and he left a fascinating glimpse the life of the Qajar Dynasty in the late-19th nf ealy-20th cedntury. Iranian-born anthropologist Pedram Khosronejad who has been studfying these images tells us his photo was probably taken by Masoud and the eldest son of Nasser al-Din Shah. "Zell-e-Soltan’s son Bahram Mirza sits in the middle on a chair accompanied by two members of his court (Reza Qoli Khan, private secretary in the right and Aqabaji eunuch chief in the left) sitting on the right and eight African eunuchs. The design of the jacket and hat of the Africans slaves could be considered a type of ethnic segregation." Photograph: Farhad and Firouzeh Diba Collection of Qajar Photographs
Eunuchs first appeared in Europe as a Persian court phenomenon. It horrified the Greeks. We suspect that it was a Chinese influence because China had adopted the practice earlier and China had more contact with china than any of the more westerly ancient civilizations. Eunuchs were employed in the Persia and China in two main areas. First in security roles. Most famously they were used as guards and servants in harems or other women's quarters. Their emasculation meant that there was no possibility of any violation of trust. But the security role went much further than that. Eunuchs were used as personal body guards for emperors and they also came to fill expanded military roles--even generals and admirals. This was notable. It meant that the monarchs trusted them more than their subjects are key officials. And it speaks volumes that all powerful rulers had to rely on eunuchs for a feeling of security. What was at play here was that because they could not have a family, there was no danger of usurpation. Eunuchs were often put in charge of the care and education of the princes, this provided a largely unintended path to power as the princes grew up. Eunuchs often rose to positions of great power, including confidential advisers, ministers and chamberlain. Most eunuchs who rose to high levels of influence were castrated at a very young age. The clever ones received sophisticated educations. Those with more physical or aggressive nature might be trained for the military. This practice was adopted by Roman emperors and other ancient rulers, but fell out of practice with fall of Rome and rise of Christianity in the West. But was adopted by Muslim rulers with the rise of Islam. In the Islamic era eunuchs came to be primarily African slaves. Arab slave traders took to castrating boys to increase their market value. One source says that the Koran did not permit mutilation so the operation was conducted before entering an established Muslim state. We are not sure about that. The children involved were not always captured, but sometimes given up by poor families to better their life prospects. The practice in Persia persisted into the 20th century.
Sources
Khosronejad, Pedram. Khosronejad is an Iranuian-born anthroplogist now working in the United States. Quoted in Denise Hassanzade Ajiri. " The face of African slavery in Qajar Iran – in pictures," Above Whispers (2016). The captions are provided by anthropologist Pedram Khosronejad who has collected extensive photographic evidence of African slavery in Iran.
