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As the Roman empire expanded eastwards, Rome began to encounter foreign powers which used eunuchs in the roles of court attendants, religious figures and teachers. Initially an alien and unacceptable practice, the use of eunuchs in Roman society increased with the emergence of the Roman Emperors. Sporus was the young lover of Nero and in the later Empire Eutropius was the only eunuch ever to be consul. More surprisingly eunuchs such as the orator Favorinus could be free citizens, and the reconquest of Italy under Justinian I was led by a eunuch, Narses. Shaun Tougher examines themes of castration, sex, slavery and political power through individual figures in Roman history.
