Al-Jāḥiẓ (776 – 868/869) (the “Bulging-eyed”) was an Arab translator, writer and, apparently, a pigeon scholar working out of Basra and Baghdad. He famously declared that black people coming north become whiter just within three generations (whether the reason for this was that he, apparently, had one black grandparent and used himself as the sample size, is unclear). He wrote a number of books on various topics and, also, on the Slavic slaves wherein he justified their castration as releasing the Slavs’ secret slave potential. According to legend he died in his library, crushed by a pile of his own books. (The legend is unclear as to whether these books dealt with pigeons, castration or skin color). Here are some Slavic excerpts:
from a modern Syrian stamp
“So it happens that when among two Slavic brothers, who come from the same mother and father, even if one should be a twin of the other, one only should be castrated, so the eunuch becomes a superior worker, cleverer, more dexterous and better suited for all manners of service and manual labour. You will also note him to be more intelligent in conversation. All these become his qualities. His brother, however, retainshis inborn ignorance and stupidity so common to Slavs. He won’t understand well a foreign language. The arm of this man will be clumsy and unfit for work as it won’t be guided by knowledge. And his tongue won’t be free nor eloquent and he won’t find words easily…”
“The first that beneficial effect that castration has on a Slav is the increase in his intelligence, the sharpening of his wits, the polishing of his character and the invigoration of his soul. When he learns wisdom, intelligence will guide his motions and his strength will fully reflect his potential…”
“As regards Slavic women and young boys, there is absolutely no known method for changing their character and transforming their nature so that it should acquire acute perspicacity, restraint in movements and ability to focus their work upon the desired goal…”
“And this is what we can say generally about their women: during intercourse they do not give pleasure; they are also incapable to perform any trade for they lack understanding of services and intelligence for manual labour”
“[As regards the aforementioned Slavic] eunuchs, even if they possess quality tools and despite having acquired [as a result of the above-mentioned castration presumably] the capabilities to engage in all kinds of labours, and the balance of character necessary for a servant, you won’t find among them one who’d be capable of effectively performing any task requiring a degree of skill or any deeper contemplation. An exception to this is what is told of the achievements of Dama in the art of playing the strings, an art that he was the best at and gained fame thereby. Likewise, a eunuch castrated in his youth knows well the art of catching [?] with glue. They are excellent at luring forest pigeons and in lesser arts. The Basrans [inhabitants of Basra] claim that the eunuch Hudayg, the slave of Mutanna Ibn Zuhayr excelled even his master Mutanna in understanding pigeons…”
“That is all that is said of Slavic eunuchs…”
“As regards what is said of Abyssynian, Nubian and other types of black eunuchs, castration takes away their abilities, without offering any improvements, it lessens them, and does not improve them, and it degrades them in comparison with their tribesmen. Whereas, [castrated] Slavs are more capable than their [uncastrated] countrymen…”
“Slavic men claim, both eunuchs and uncastrated ones, that a snake in their country would come to cows, coil itself around its legs and knees until it reaches the hooves, and then raises its front towards the mammaries of the udder and devours the mammary and the cow cannot make any sounds. Then for a long time the snake sucks the milks and the cow weakens. And when the cow is near death it [the snake] uncoils itself. They state that she will either die or her a large ulcer will appear on her udder, which is hard to heal…”
“We saw already that the Slavs are more miserly than the Byzantines…, whereas according to your opinion the Slavs ought to have more open minds and more generous hands than these other ones…”
“They say: For it is the case that a black stone comes from paradise and copper the darker it is, the more expensive and better. He holds the black color as objectionable [should realize] how repulsive and ugly among the Franks, Byzantines and Slavs straight hair and sensitiveness, as also the blonde color or the red of the hair on their head or of the beard, as also the whiteness of the eyelashes and of their roots…”
“Tell me, since the time when men were one nation and their speech was the same, after how many generations did the Zang become black and the Slav white?…”
“I contend that the difference between a Turk and a Khorasani is not the same as the difference between a Persian and an Arab or the difference between a Byzantine and a Slav on the one hand and a Zang and an Abyssynian, on the other… It is similar to the difference between a denizen of Mecca and one of Medina or between a Bedouin and a settled Arab…”
“I’m here to make a few improvements”
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Marketing of eunuchs was tied to religion. Promotion of efficacy is the inner voice of money.