The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity

THE MANLY EUNUCH

THE CHICAGO SERIES ON SEXUAll'IY, HISTORY, AND SOCIETY Edited by John C. Fout AI.SO IN THE SERIES:

Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in

Ontario~

1880-1929

by Karen Dubinsky A Prescription for Murder: The Victorian Serial Killings ofDr. Tho'ffl-as Neill Cream

by Angus McLaren

.

The Language ofSex: Five Voices from Northern France around 1200

by John W Baldwin Crossing over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act

by David J. Langum Sexual Nature/Sexual Culture

edited by Paul R. Abramson and Steven D. Pinkerton Love between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism

by Bernadette J. Brooten Trials ofMasculinity: Policing SexualBoundaries~ 1870-1930

by Angus McLaren The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology

by Mark D. Jordan Sites ofDesire/Economies ofPleasure: Sexualities inAsia and the Pacific

edited by Lenore Manderson and Margaret Jolly Sex and the Gender Revolution~ Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London

by Randolph 1hIm.bach Take the Young Stranger by the Hand: Same-Sex Relations and the YMCA

by John Donald Gustav-Wrathall City ofSisterly and Brotherly Loves: Lesbian and Gay Philadelphia~ 1945-1972

by Marc Stein The Politics of Gay Rights

edited by Craig Rimmerman, Kenneth Wald, and Clyde Wilcox Sex~ Science~

Otto Weininger and Self in Imperial Vienna

by Chandalc Sengoopta

···T·H.·E MAN LY

EUNUCH Masculinity) Gender Ambiguity) and Christian Ideology , in Late Antiquity

MATHEW KUEFLER

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS CHICAGO AND LONDON

MATHEwKUEFLERreceivedhis Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995. He is assistant professor of history at San Diego State University and has also taught at Yale and Rice Universities.

The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2001 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2001 Printed in the United States of America H) 09 08 070605 0403 02 01 12 345 ISBN: 0-226-45739-7 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kuefler, Mathew. The manly eunuch: masculinity, gender ambiguity, and Christian ideology in late antiquity / Mathew Kuefler. p. em. - (The Chicago series on sexuality, history, and society) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-226-45739-7 1. Masculinity-Religious aspects-Christianity-History-To 1500. 2. Masculinity-Rome-History-To 1500. 1. Tide. ll. Series. BT702 .K842001 155.3 '32 '0937-dc21 00-011473 @l The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences- Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

ForJoe and Brian

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ix

INTRODUCTION

1

Part One- Changing Realities'· 1

19

"MASCULINE SPLENDOR"

Sexual DiJforence~ Gender Ambiguity~ and the Social Utility of Unmanliness

2

"MEN RECEIVE A WOUND, AND SUBMIT TO A DEFEAT"

37

Masculinit)) Militarism~ and Political Authority

3 "A PURITY HE DOES NOT SHOW HIMSELF" Masculinity~ the Later Roman Household~ and Men~s Sexuality

70

Part Two- Changing Ideals 4

"I AM A SOLDIER OF CHRIST"

105

Christian Masculinity and Militarism

5

"WE PRIESTS HAVE OUR OWN NOBILITY"

125

Christian Masculinity and Public Authority

6

"MY SEED IS A HUNDRED TIMES MORE FERTILE"

Christian Masculinity~

7

Sex~

161

and .Marriage

"THE MANLINESS OF FAITH"

206

Sexual DiJforence and Gender Ambiguity in Latin Christian Ideology

8

"EUNUCHS FOR THE SAKE OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN"

Castration!i:tnd Christian .Manliness vii

245

viii

CONTENTS

CONCLUSION

283

A NOTE ABOUT THE NOTES

299

ABBREVIATIONS USED

'300-

NOTES

'301'

BIB L lOG RA P H Y

393

INDEX

429

Acknowledgments

There are many individuals and institutions I "Yish to thank for their part in the creation of this book. The first belongs to my family, who has always provided me with loving support. The sec(;md belongs to Brian Giguere and Joe Elliott, who have invited me into their family. The third belongs to my teachers. Especially to be remembered among this number are Dr. CaroIa Small of the University ofAlberta, who first inspired me to study medieval history; Dr. John Boswell ofYale University, who inspired me in this particular project as a doctoral dissertation but who sadly did not live to see it completed; and Dr. Thomas Head, formerly ofYale University and now of Hunter College, who with great dedication helped me to bring the dissertation to completion. Other individuals helped me to germinate the ideas contained in this book, and I wish to thank each person who took thy" time and interest to read or listen to drafts of the manuscript in its various forms. They include Dr. Joanne Ferraro, Dr. Elizabeth Colwill, Dr. Francis Stites, Dr. Rebecca Moore, and others of my colleagues at San Diego State University, Dr. Robert Babcock and Dr. Bentley Layton of Yale University, Dr. Elizabeth A. Clark of Duke University, Dr. Mark Jordan of Emory University, Dr. Randolph Trumbach of Baruch College, and Dr. Kathryn Ringrose of the University of California at San Diego. Thanks are also due to my friends among the graduate students at Yale University, who created a real scholarly community while I was there. They include Jeffrey Fisher, Jocelyn Olcott, Mary Ramsey, Bernard Schlager, Jeffrey Bowman, Mark Rabuck, Michael Powell, N aney Seyboldt, Kathryn Miller, and many others. I am also grateful to the many individuals who commented ix

x

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

on the ideas that would form this book when I presented papers at Yale University, Bennington College, Carleton University, Fordham University, Trent University, and San Diego State University. The financial support of academic institutions also helped me to accomplish the writing of this book. I did much of the research for the project at the libraries of Yale University and the Pontifical Institute for Medieval Studies of the University of Toronto, with much help from the library staff at these places. The ongoing financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of the Government of Canada was much appreciated. A doctoral fellowship from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation allowed me to work full-time for one year on the dissertation, with additional financial support from the Research Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University. Support for revision of the dissertation came from the Robert Lopez Prize for Medieval History from Yale University, and especially from a semester's full-time leave, funded by the Faculty Development Program and by the Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University. Finally, the unfailing enthusiasm of my editors helped me more than I can adequately say. Dr. John Fout, editor of the Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society, and Mr. Doug Mitchell, editor at the University of Chicago Press, provided regular encouragement through the long process of revision and never seemed to doubt my ability to produce something of worth. I hope, in the end, that this book has merited that support.

Introduction

The problem with men's history is that there is too much of it. How is it that one can study masculinity at all-that is, study men as a genderwhen so much of history is about men's actions, thoughts, and lives? Women's history is typically a process of the recovery of a hidden past, the reconstruction of lives from fragmentary or antipathetic records. Men's history is not at all the same: its past is not hidden, the lives not nearly as irrecoverable, the records are generous. How is it possible, then, to construct a history of men without simply returning to what has been most criticized about earlier generations of history, their overemphasis on the lives and realities of men and exclusion of the lives and realities of women? My solution to this challenging problem will, I hope, provide a new and fully gendered perspective on the period oflate antiquity and situate some of the broad social changes of that period, especially the conversion of the Roman world to Christianity. I argue in this book that the notion of masculinity-that is, what it meant to be a man - formed an integral part of the intellectual life of late antiquity and was crucial in the development of Christian ideology. The men of the Roman aristocracy, Christian or not, were driven by a desire to be manly or at least to appear as manly, and that desire informed their daily lives, both public and private, and the content of their religious beliefs. The complementary fear that Roman noblemen felt, that they were not manly or would not be seen as manly, also influenced their lives and beliefs; hence the anxiety palpable in their writings when dealing with the question of manliness. This double-edged sword of manliness is key to approaching the history of masculinity and figures prominently in this 1

2

INTRODUCTION

book. The cultural and demographic success ofChrlstianjdeology in late· antiquity lay in the ability of the shapers of that ideol