The Seal of a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court

7/26/2019 The Seal of a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court

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INRODUCION

It is a pleasure to dedicate this article to David Bivar, whose catalogue o the Sasanian seals in the British Museum remains amodel or the study o Sasanian glyptics1and has been an inspi-ration or this particular student o Sasanian art.

Te seal presented here is known rom its impression on abeige clay bulla measuring . cm x . cm x . cm at itsthickest; the seal itsel, as measured rom its impression, isapproximately . cm x . cm. (Figs. a and b).2Te sealbelongs to a group o Sasanian intaglios that depict portraitbusts o various officials and are known rom the actual stonesas well as rom impressions. From the impression, we can seethat, like the other portrait seals, this was an oval stone, set ina metallic mount and, given its small size, probably a fingerring. Attached to the mount at the oclock position was aglobular knob which served to anchor the seal to the clay whenthe impression was being made and which has lef a deep cir-cular indentation at the top o the bulla.3

Te reverse o the bulla is marked by a concavity that cutsacross it and is roughly at a right angle to the vertical orienta-tion o the seal impression on its ace; a single string hole runsinto the bulla immediately above and below the concave chan-nel near the center o the back surace (Fig. b). Tese eaturesshow that the bulla was used to seal a document that was rolledand tied together in the middle by a string; the clay lump wasthen placed against the document and impressed with the sealin its ring.4

DESCRIPION (Fig. a)

Te seal shows a beardless male bust acing to the right in theimpression. Te bust is presumably that o the seal owner, whois identified in the inscription that rames his head asBxtbuhr(see below). Bxtbuhr wears a orward-projecting kolhedged with a band o pearls or beads along its upper suraceand another at its base, at the brow line. On the surace o thekolhis emblazoned a symbol, most likely a personal device,that consists o two bird-like orms, acing in opposite direc-tions and joined by a vertical shaf. Below his kolh,Bxtbuhrshair is arranged in two-tiers o twisted locks, the uppermostending at earlobe level and the lower at his shoulder, while ashort lock o hair curls in ront o his ear, a eature that is absent

rom most male portrait seals because the beard hair, indicatedby a different curl pattern, normally covers this area.5As anearring, Bxtbuhr wears a large pearl or bead suspended roma smaller horizontal ovoid element, and around his neck is asimple torque. He wears a cloak, secured by two circular claspslinked by six short chains, unless this series o horizontal linesrepresent the olds o the garment underneath.

Te inscription ollows the upper contour o the stone; itruns to either side o Bxtbuhrs bust, apparently ending onthe right in the impression at the projection o his kolh, andcontinues at the rear o the hat at oclock. Te uppermost

portions o the inscription are illegible due to the way in whichthe seal was impressed into the clay, but also because o subse-quent damage to the bulla.

DISCUSSION

Te bulla belongs to a group o seals and bullae that depict theportraits o Sasanian officials. ypically, these images arecharacterized by an exquisitely carved bust o the dignitary

wearing akolhemblazoned with an insignia, a pearl drop ear-ring and a torque or necklaces; the accompanying legend con-tains his name and title, sometimes also a toponym, patronym,andan additional title.6Te surviving seals are mostly cabo-chons carved rom carnelian, oval in shape with convexengraved aces and flat backs. Based on the consistency oshape and material o these actual seals, we may assume thatBxtbuhrs seal was also a carnelian cabochon.7

Certain stylistic as well as paleographic eatures (see below)allow us to date the bulla to the third century CE, with severaldetails suggesting the second to third quarter o the century.For one, Bxtbuhrs kolhis o the so-called Parthian type,so named because it is ound on dignitaries seals that haveParthian inscriptions8and is distinguished rom the domedkolhworn by other officials by the orward projection o its

peak.9Further, the insignias on the Parthian kolhs tend to becomposed o elements (some resembling letters) in an asym-metrical arrangement, while most o the insignias on thedomed kolhs are completely symmetric. AlthoughBxtbuhrs emblem is more symmetrical than most o thedevices on other Parthian kolhs, it is o a less compact designthan those on the domed kolhs,10and both his jewelry, spe-cifically his simple necklace, and his garment, with its double

Te Seal o a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court

J A. L (New York, NY, USA)With a Note on the LegendP O S (Harvard University, Cambridge, USA)


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clasp, are o the type worn by dignitaries wearing the Parthiankolh. All these eatures, thereore, point to an early date orthe seal. Sasanian officials also appear in such dress on earlymetalwork11and rock relies.12

Te closest parallel to Bxtbuhrs seal is the modern sealimpression published some years ago by our honoree (Fig. ). 13Depicting the portrait o a supervisory judge (pad-ddwar)named Xmarz, the profile bust not only shares the type oclothing, hat, and jewelry with Bxtbuhr, but also the style ocarving and intensity o expression, in particular the large staringeye set just below the strong oblique line o the eyebrow. On thebasis o its style, Bivar dated the seal to the thirdourth centu-ries, although, as noted, Bxtbuhrs seal can be more preciselydated within the third century. Te striking difference betweenthe two seal images is, o course, Xmarzs ull, richly curledbeard while Bxtbuhrs lacks a beard.Indeed, his sofly swell-ing cheek and chin and generally epicene appearance has beenmasterully captured by the seal-carver. His appearance is not asign o youth, however, but, as shown by histitle,arzbed, thecharacteristic eature o a eunuch.

BEARDLESSNESS IN AN EARLYSASANIAN CONEX

Numerous beardless portraits o Sasanian males survive on stoneseals and sculpture. Most o these ollow Sasanian hairdressingand sartorial conventions, but some are atypical in having shorttightly curled coiffures and wearing a distinctly non-Sasaniandraped upper garment or cloak. Such portraits resemble portraittypes on Roman coins and seals and were probably made orresidents o Mesopotamia or Syria in the western part o theSasanian Empire or even perhaps or those rom capturedRoman areas who had been deported to Iran.14

he titles associated with these men are not only theexpected supervisor o the womens quarters,bestn, or, as

with Bxtbuhr, master o the womens quarters, harzbed(see below), but also that o magus.15

Te ollowing third-century representations o beardlessmen are those most pertinent to the depiction o Bxtbuhr,the earliest being the court official who appears in our oArdashir Is (-) relies: the victor in the third pair ocombatants in the Firuzabad joust relie and the fly-whiskbearer in that kings investiture relies at Firuzabad, Naqsh-eRostam and Naqsh-e Rajab. In the Firuzabad and Naqsh-eRajab investitures, he appears in the Parthian kolh, as previ-ously noted, while in the joust and the Naqsh-e Rostam inves-titure, he wears the domed kolh.16In the triumphal relie atDarabgerd, which belongs to Ardashir I or his son Shapur I(-), o the eighteen Persians who stand behind the king,our o the eight who wear the Parthian kolhare beardless. Itis clear that they and their companions are meant to be specificindividuals: those in the ront, all bearded and wearing thedomed kolhwith neck guard, are apparently o greater impor-

tance in the Sasanian court than those in the other rows.17Unequivocally dated to Shapur Is reign is the fire altar

ound at Nasrabad in Fars, dedicated to that monarch byAbnn, the palace table-decker or master o ceremonies inthe harem (pad abistn yng, see below), to commemoratethe kings victory over the Romans in or .18Carved onour sides, two opposing suraces show Ardashir, King oKings and Shapur, King o Kings; while the other two sidesdepict Abnn on one and on the other the double portrait oAspz and Wahnm, their respective titles, minister o theCourt (darbed) andfamadr. Unortunately, the portrait oAbnn, who we might expect to be beardless, is badly eroded,although his ace, in act, seems to be ree o hair (Fig. ).19Tedarbed Aspz, however, is clearly beardless, his smooth acecontrasting with that o Wahnm, whom he overlaps as bothmen ace to the right to offer a ring to Ardashir I, who isdepicted on the adjacent side, immediately to the right o the

pair (Fig. ). It is difficult to make out Abnns headgear, butAspz clearly wears a domed kolh.

Tis is the style o hat worn by other beardless personages o the period, already cited in other works, among them theollowing: the man in the domedkolhwith neck guard who,on Warahrm (Warahrn) II s relie at Naqsh-e Rostam, stands

with a group o courtiers to the lef o the king and is the onlyone to raise his right hand in a respectul gesture,20and, mostnotably, the priest and organizer o Zoroastrian orthodoxy,Kerdr, whose beardless portrait, in the same type o kolhand

with the same gesture, appears to the lef o Ardashir I in hisinvestiture relie at Naqsh-e Rajab (Fig. ). Indeed, it is tempt-ing to identiy the beardless man on Warahrm IIs relie asKerdr, who served our kings, rom Shapur I to Warahrm II,and also appears among the dignitaries in King Narsehs (-) inscription o CE at Paikuli; the mans gesture andgaze is directed towards the standing Warahrm II and seemsto be met by the king who has turned his head to the lef as ito acknowledge his homage. 21

Hat style may also have been linked to an individuals spe-cific rank, rather than being a matter o personal taste. Tus, itis possible that the Parthian kolhworn by Ardashir Is fly-

whisk bearer on the Firuzabad and Naqsh-e Rajab investituresand the domed kolhworn by him on the Firuzabad joust andNaqsh-e Rostam investiture indicate a change in status. In anycase, the Parthian kolhseems to have gone out o ashion bythe ourth century.

One other seal o this period is relevant to that o Bxtbuhr,namely, an inscribed rock crystal cabochon in Geneva carved

with the bust o a man, bareheaded, and with shoulder-lengthcurls.22He does not wear a hat, but resembles Bxtbuhr inclothing, jewelry, and hairstyle, down to his cheek curl, as wellas in the ull rounded orm o his cheek and neck; the carvingis less sensitive, however, and in some areas more cursory. Inter-estingly, this eunuch does not include a title on his seal, onlythe legend, which Robert Gbl read as rthtr rstArdashir (is)

just.


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CONCLUSION

From this discussion, it is evident that eunuchs were an institu-tion in the Sasanian state and its hierarchy. In writing abouteunuchs in the ancient Assyrian bureaucracy, A. K. Grayson

wonders how a phenomenon which was so important in somany major civilizations has been virtually taboo in modernscholarship with the result that there are very ew serious stud-ies o the subject.23Nevertheless, several scholars have exploredthe institution o eunuchs in ancient civilizations (Babylonian,Assyrian, Urartian, Hittite, classical Greek and Hellenistic,Achaemenid, Parthian) and, especially, those contemporane-ous with the Sasanians (later Roman, Byzantine, and Chinese).Relatively little is known about the institution in SasanianIran, however, beyond the act that eunuchs, in addition toholding the expected inner sanctum court or royal household

positions, like Bxtbuhr, also rose to the offices o priests,administrators, and military men, as attested by the titlesknown rom commemorative inscriptions and glyptics.24Weknow nothing about the amilies rom which they came orhow they were chosen or this lie role, nor how such mutila-tion o the male body was reconciled with Zoroastrian idealso promoting procreation. Let us thereore hope that this brielook at a eunuchs seal, in honor o a scholar who has been inthe oreront o Iranian studies, will spur urther investigationinto what, by analogy with earlier, contemporary, and later(medieval Islam and Ottoman urkey) cultures, must havebeen an important institution in Sasanian Iran.

HE LEGEND

Te legend originally ran rom the lef to the right shoulder othe bust, but the upper part (more than one-third) is now illeg-ible. Te legible part o the legend has bwht(hp)[whr ... ...] x

x x x n lcpt, that is, bxtbuhr [...]-n arzbedBxtbuhr(Bokht-shapur) [...]arzbedo [...]. Tere are traces o lettersbeore the second part o the preserved inscription, behind thekolh, and also, conceivably, above the ront o the kolh.

When I first read the inscription, I thought I sawgwlknlcptarzbedo Gurgn, but the traces do not seem to support it.

Te letters have standard orms, but it should be noted thatthe c, with its round curves, is not ound on the coins o Arda-shir I and Shapur I recently published. Te simplified rectan-gle open to the right orm ound on some coins, however,must be based on the orm seen on our seal and must thereorehave been common already in the first hal o the third cen-tury.25We can also compare the orms o h, as cis ofen identi-cal with hplus a oot; an hlooking like our cis ound, orinstance, on several o the seals discussed by Gyselen.26

Te orm o the name, bxtplus royal name, recalls Kerdrshonorific title bxt-ruwn-warahrn, which I have interpretedas he whose soul was saved by Warahrn, where the name

Warahrn obviously reers to the king, but also, in my opinion,

to the king assuming the role o the prince who, together withthe queen assuming the role o the dn, guides Kerdrs like-ness across the bridge in the relie at Sar Mashhad.27

Te termarzbedwas discovered by Ahmad aazzoli in aSyriac text on Persian martyrs, as well as in theBook o Kings,and convincingly explained as the title o the supervisor o theharem.28aazzoli proposed the word might be derived romOld Iranian *har--woman. Tis is possible, but leaves outo consideration Avestan hiri-emale, which can also bederived rom *hri--or, conceivably, *hari--; the latter orm

would and the ormer probably could give Middle Persianhar, later harz.29Te title would thus mean master (i.e., per-son in charge) o the women(s quarters).

In Shapur Is trilingual (Middle Persian, Parthian, Greek)inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam (third century CE), the title othe person supervising the womens quarters isbestn(MPers.

pstn, Parthianpystn)30and corresponds to in theGreek version, that is eunuch.31 Etymologically, the termobviously reers to the person in charge o the abestnthenightly (sleeping) quarters (o the women). Te latter wordis ound in the Abnn inscription (see above), where Abnn

presents himsel aspad abestn yng, literally, the one whomakes (guests) enter the (womens) sleeping quarters.32TeMiddle Persian termyngis also ound in Shapurs inscrip-tion, where it corresponds to Parthian niw-bedand Greek, the person who announces the din-ner.33

In Avestan, terms or persons in charge o a place are derivedrom the words denoting the place by means o the suffix -i, orinstance, asp.stn-i-, sb. in charge o or owner o the asp.

stna-stable (see Videvdad.-). In Old Persian, thesederivatives were probably integrated into the productive typeo derivation by means o suffix -iand lengthening o the first

vowel seen, or instance, in Old Persian bgaydi-, monthnamed afer the *baga-yda-, sacrifice to the god(s) andAvestan mzdaiiasni-belonging to a mazda-iiasna. Te term

bestn corresponding to abestn should probably beexplained in this way, as well.

It should be pointed out, however, that no elements o thesewords by themselves reer to the persons lack o (unctioning)genitals, which is the common implication o English eunuch.Tey are titles describing his unction at the court. Te Greek

word, too, originally meant the holder [supervisor] o thebeds (). Tus, o the two definitions o eunuch in theOxord English Dictionary(online), A castrated person o themale sex; also, such a person employed as a harem attendant,or in Oriental courts and under the Roman emperors, charged

with important affairs o state, only the second definition cor-responds to the actual use o the Middle Persian terms.34It canthereore be misleading simply to translate the Persian termsas eunuch without explanation, as is commonly done.


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1 A. D. H. Bivar, Catalogue o the Western Asiatic Seals in the BritishMuseum: Stamp Seals II: Te Sassanian Dynast y (London: Te BritishMuseum, ).

2Te bulla was given to the author several years ago, afer having been in

a Midwest private collection since the late s.3Te globular knob set beside the bezel holds the clay so that the seal willnot slip and allows pressure to be applied across the clays surace to yield aclear impression; it also serves to orient the seal: intaglios with portrait bustsare always set into the mount with the top o the bust closest to the knob(i.e., the oclock position). See Judith A. Lerner and P. Oktor Skjrv,Some Uses o Clay Bullae in Sasanian Iran, in Sceaux dOrient et leur emploi(Res Orientales X), ed. Rika Gyselen (Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour ltudede la Civilisation du Moyen-Orient, ), and n. .

4See Dietrich Huff, echnological Observations on Clay Bullae romakht-e Suleiman, Mesopotamia (), -; Lerner and Skjrv,Some Uses o Clay Bullae, -.

5One exception is the seal impression o Ardarrox, which shows the curlabove the beard (Lerner and Skjrv, Some Uses o Clay Bullae, , figs. and ).

6Most have been brought together in Rika Gyselen, La Gographie

administrative de lEmpire sassanide. Les tminoignages sigillographiques(ResOrientales I)(Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour ltude de la Civilisation duMoyen-Orient, ), -: Annexe II: La glyptique des hauts onction-naires et dignitaries de lempire sassanide. wo others (three bullae) are thesubject o Lerner and Skjrv, Some Uses o Clay Bullae. Yet another hasbeen published by A. D. H. Bivar, Glyptica Iranica: A Sasanian Himerus,

Bulletin o the Asia Instituten.s. (), -. None o the bullae in thisgroup bears the impression o an administrative seal and most have only theimpression o the dignitarys seal.

7An exception is the amethyst cabochon in the Hermitage: A. Ja. Borisovand V. G. Lukonin, Sasanidski gemmy (Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Gosudarst-

vennogo Ermitazha, ), no. = Vladimir G. Lukonin, PersiaII, trans.James Hogarth (Cleveland and New York: Te World Publishing Company,), ills. and .

8Gyselen,La Gographie administrative, and n. ; Borisov and Luko-

nin, Sasanidski gemmy(Leningrad: Izdatelstvo Gosudarstvennogo Ermita-zha, ), , fig. . For such Parthian-inscribed seals: Bivar, Catalogue,AA, and the amethyst seal c ited in note .

9For other seals and bullae o dignitaries wearing the Parthian kolh, seeGyselen,La Gographie administrative, pl. I.

10A chart comparing these and other eatures discussed urther on is inGyselen,La Gographie administrative, Index iconographique, -. Anexception to the asymmetrical insignia that appear on the Parthian kolhisthe bud-like emblem on the hat worn by the fly-whisk bearer on Ardashir Isinvestiture relie at Naqsh-e Rajab (see reerence in note , below).

11A plate rom Mtskheta, Georgia (Prudence O. Harper and Pieter Mey-ers, Siler Vessels o the Sasanian Period. Volume One: Royal Imagery [NewYork: Te Metropolitan Museum o Art and Princeton University Press,], pl. ): the inscription on the plate identifies the owner as Pbag, withthe bitax, a title o the Iranian authority in Armenia or Georgia; he alsomentioned in King Narsehs inscription o CE at Paikuli. Harper ()

dates this plate to - CE. See also Prudence O. Harper, SasanianMedallion Bowls with Human Busts,Near Eastern Numismatics, Iconogra-phy, Epigraphy and History. Studies in Honor o George C. Miles,ed. DickranK. Kouymjian (Beirut: American University o Beirut, ), -, -.Pbag wears the Parthian kolh, but his raised arm obscures the closure ohis upper garment.

12Tus, the Parthian kolhworn by the ollowing: the fly-whisk bearerbehind Ardashir in his investiture scenes at Firuzabad and at Naqsh-e Rajab(in the ormer, the carving is too cursory and worn to judge clothing details,and, in the latter, his raised arm obscures the closure o his upper garment);

the uppermost person standing behind the mounted Shapur I at the samesite (the persons upper garment obscured by the men standing in ront ohim, although all o themalbeit wearing the rounded kolhwear cloaksthat are secured in ront by two clasps); and the eight individuals among the

serried ranks o Persians who stand behind the triumphant Sasanian king onthe early third-century relie at Darabgird (their upper garments alsoobscured by figures in ront o them) (Georgina Herrmann, Te DrbgirdRelieArdashr or Shhpr?Iran [], and pl. II [Ardashirs inves-titure, Firuzabad]; , fig. and pl. III [Ardashirs investiture, Naqsh-eRajab]; , fig. and pl. VIII [Shapur]; , fig. and pl. XVIB ; Herrmannsidentification o the Parthian kolhas the Phrygian hat would link thisdistinctive headgear to the ancient Iranian world).

Te cloak secured by a cord or chain linking two circular clasps is wornby some o the courtiers on Warahrm IIs (-) relie at Naqsh-e Ros-tam (Roman Ghirshman,Persian Art. Te Parthian and Sassanian Dynasties, B.C.A.D. , trans. Stuart Gilbert and James Emmons [New York:Golden Press, ], -, fig. ). Tis type o cloak, including that wornby Bxtbuhr, seems to be made o a sof draping material; this is in contrastto an outer garment o stiffer abric similarly secured and also characteristico the first centuries o Sasanian rule, but which seems to derive rom the

much earlier Median and Achaemenid periods (see Elsie H. Peck, ClothingIV. In the Sasanian Period, Encyclopaedia Iranica (Costa Mesa: MazdaPublishers, ), .

13Bivar, Glyptica Iranica, - and fig. .14Examples include the seal o a scribe, Bivar, Catalogue, , pl. , AA

(this seal shows the same treatment o eye and eyebrow as Bxtbuhr andXimarz); Christopher J. Brunner, Sasanian Stamp Seals in Te MetropolitanMuseum o Art (New York: Te Metropolitan Museum o Art, ), -,no. ; Paul Horn and Georg Steindorff, Sassanidische Siegelsteine(Berlin:

W. Spemann, ), pl I: (with Pahlavi inscription), (with Pahlaviinscription) and . wo known seals may well be o Roman manuacture,their Pahlavi inscriptions added later: Rika Gyselen, Catalogue des sceaux,cames et bulles. I. Collection gnrale (Paris: Bibliothque Nationale, ), and pl. XIV: .D.; and Philippe Gignoux, Miscellanea Sasanidica,

Bulletin o the Asia Institute,n.s. (), - and fig. . A seal in Leyden

depicts a beardless male bust with short curly hair, though what is shown othe upper garment is more in the Sasanian style like that o Bxtbuhr (RikaGyselen,Lart sigillaire sassanide dans les collections de Leyde[Collections othe National Museum o Antiquities at Leiden (C.N.M.K.) X] [Leiden:Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, ], KPK .: and pl. II).

15Rika Gyselen, Les Sceaux des mages de lIran sassanide,Au Carreourdes religions: Mlanges offerts Philippe Gignoux(Res Orientales VII), ed.Rika Gyselen (Bures-sur-Yvette: Groupe pour ltude de la Civilisation duMoyen-Orient, ), -, specifical ly the seals, , figs. and l (this lastis a Greco-Roman-looking rontal bust); , fig. b (a sealing rom Qasr-eAbu Nasr near Shiraz, showing two overlapping beardless busts; such doubleimages occur on other seals o magi, but the busts are bearded [, figs. c-d], while the two beardless portraits on a seal that also belonged to a priestseem to be those o women [, fig. a and discussion on -]).

16Herrmann, Te Drbgird Relie, , fig. and pl. IB (Firuzabadjoust), , fig. and pl. IV (Naqsh-e Rostam investiture); see note , above,

or the other reerences. In all our depictions, the bud insignia marks thispersons hat, regardless o its style ; on the Firuzabad joust, it also decorateshis horses saddlecloth.

17Herrmann proposes that those in the back three rows represent subjectnations and those in the ront the kings sons or high-ranking members ohis court (). However, the minimal differentiation among those in theback rows, except or the presence or absence o beards and the wearing othe Parthian kolh, suggests instead that specific officials o the court arebeing portrayed, among whom our are eunuchs.

18Mahmud avoosi with notes by R . N. Frye, An Inscribed Capital Dat-

Notes


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ing rom the ime o Shapur I,Bulletin o the Asia Institute, n.s. (),-; Philippe Gignoux, DAbnn Mhn. Etude de deux inscriptionssassanides,Studia Iranica (), -; Prods Oktor Skjrv, LinscriptiondAbnn et limparait en moyen-perse, Studia Iranica (), -.

19 Te chalcedony cabochon in the State Hermitage Museum, whichdepicts a beardedbust encircled by a lengthy inscription that identifies theseal owner, Mhn, as a eunuch, is most surely a reworking o a ourth-cen-tury portrait seal to which the inscription was added later, perhaps copied

rom another seal; indeed, the domical kolhhas an unusual flattened orm,as i the stone had been cut down at the top, perhaps to remove the originalinscription, and the current inscription then carved around the vertical edgeo the resulting circular stone (Borisov and Lukonin, Sasanidskie gemmy, no. = Lukonin,Persia II, ill. ; and Gignoux, DAbnn Mhn, -).Gignoux and, especially, Gyselen have also expressed their doubts about the

pairing o image and inscription (La Gographie administrative, : x).20Ghirshman,Persian Art, , fig. .21Te beardless Kerdr also appears directly behind the lion-slaying

Warahrm II on that kings relie at Sar Mashhad (Ghirshman,Persian Art,, fig. ).

22Marie-Louise Vollenweider, Catalogue raisonn des sceaux cylindres etintailles, (Geneva : Muse dart et dhistoire, ), No. : - and pl. : and . Tree other beardless heads are known to me, though o a later dateand all showing the bust in ull-ace view: Philippe Gignoux and RikaGyselen, Sceaux Sasanides de diverses collections prives(Leuven: Peeters,

), pl. XII, .; . (= Gyselen, Les sceaux des mages, , fig. );..

23A. K. Grayson, Eunuchs in Power. Teir Role in the Assyrian Bureau-cracy, Vom Alten Orient zum Alten estament: Festschri r Wolfam Frei-herrn on Soden zum . Geburtstag am . Juni , ed. Manried Dietrichand Oswald Loretz (Kevelaer and Neukirchen-Vluyn: Verlag Butzon &Bercker and Neukirchener Verlag, ), .

24See Ahmad aazzoli, An Unrecognized Sasanian itle,Bulletin o theAsia Institute n.s. (), -; A. Kolesnikov, Eunuchs.ii. Te Sasanian

Period,Encyclopaedia Iranica, (New York: Bibliotheca Persica, ), -.For a military eunuch, see Rika Gyselen, Te Four Generals o the Sasa-nian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence (Rome: Istituto Italiano perlArica e lOriente, ), and - (seals a and b: Warahrm, Generalo the South); on Ardashir I s eunuch trouncing the Parthian enemy at Firu-zabad, see above.

25Michael Alram and Rika Gyselen, Sylloge Nummorum SasanidarumParis Berlin Wien, vol. ,Ardashir I. Shapur I.(sterreichische Akademie

der Wissenschafen, phil.-hist. Kl., Denkschrifen ) (Vienna: Verlag dersterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschafen, ), see Paleography,.

26Gyselen, Te Four Generals.27Review o Philippe Gignoux,Les quatre inscriptions du Mage Kirdr:

extes et concordances(Collection des sources pour lhistoire de lAsie centralepr-islamique, sr. II, vol. I = Studia Iranica, cahier ) (Paris: Union Aca-dmique internationale. Association pour lavancement des tudes irani-ennes, ), inBibliotheca Orientalis/ (), cols. -.

28aazzoli, An Unrecognized Sasanian itle.29Shortening o long vowels beore more than one consonants is ound

also elsewhere, or instance, in balx< Old Persian bx-.30In the glossaries o Philip Huyse,Die dreisprachige Inschri buhrs I.

an der Kaba-i Zardut (KZ)(Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum. Part III.Pahlavi Inscriptions , exts) (London: School o Oriental and Arican Stud-ies, ), , the Parthian orm is erroneously cited aspstyn.

31 Andr Maricq, Res Gestae Divi Saporis, Syria (), -;reprinted in Classica et Orientalia(Paris: Paul Geuthner, ), -.

32avoosi and Frye, An Inscribed Capital, , ; on the orm o the title(pad ...), see Skjrv, Linscription dAbnn, .

33Maricq (), - = (), -.34It is true thatarz-bedcould in principle contain the word or scrotum,

testicles, Avestan rzi-(although, in Middle Persian, the letter cusuallycorresponds to an older crather thanz), but the eunuch was hardly mastero testicles.


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Fig. . Bulla with the impression o Bxtbuhrs seal.Clay, . cm x . cm; thickness ca. . cm.Fig. a. Obverse. Photograph by Rudol H. Mayr.Fig. b. Reverse. Photograph by Rudol H. Mayr.

Fig.. Seal o Xmarz, modern impression. FromBivar, Glyptica Iranica, , ig. , with kind

permission o theBulletin o the Asia Institute.

Fig. . Face D o the Nasrabad fire altar showingAbnn. Authors photograph.

Fig. . Face B o the Nasrabad fire altar showingAspz and Wahnm. Authors photograph.

Fig. . Relie o Kerdr, Naqsh-e Rajab. Authors photograph.

Documents

The Seal of a Eunuch in the Sasanian Court