“Court Eunuchs: From Rome to Byzantium” - Professor Shaun Tougher (Cardiff)

Professor Shaun Tougher, Professor of Late Roman and Byzantine History at at Cardiff University, will deliver the second talk in the 2024-2025 Bristol CA speaker series.

About the talk: This talk will discuss the presence and roles of eunuchs at the Roman imperial court. The employment of castrated males by Roman emperors is often associated with the later Roman period but they are found in Rome from the start of the imperial period (and even before that), and the phenomenon continued on into the medieval Roman empire. The talk will focus on some specific examples (for instance Earinus under Domitian, Eutropius under Arcadius, and Narses under Justinian), and highlight the diversity of roles that eunuchs could play, including as military commanders. The talk will also explore what we know of the personal lives of eunuchs, and how they sought to express their own identities. Here the Byzantine evidence is especially helpful, as visual images of eunuchs have survived as well as artefacts commissioned by them.

About the speaker: Shaun Tougher is Professor of Late Roman and Byzantine History at the School of History, Archaeology, and Religion at Cardiff University. His wide-ranging research interests span the history of the later Roman and Byzantine empires, the Macedonian dynasty, the history of eunuchs, Julian the Apostate, Constantine the Great, and family in Byzantium. He has coordinated four research projects focusing on Julian the Apostate, family matters in the Macedonian dynasty, eunuchs of the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire (AD 337–361).

Event details

Venue: Peace Memorial Hall at Badminton School, Westbury Rd, Bristol BS9 3BA.

Start time: The talk will start at 7pm. Refreshments will be available from 6.45pm.

Ticket prices: The event is free for Bristol Classical Association members, university students, and school pupils. There will be a cost of £5 at the door for everyone else. Payment is not required at the point of reserving a ticket via Eventbrite.

Host or Publisher Bristol Classical Association