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OK
so I was wrong, or at least I think I was! I
have stated that there is nothing in the Bible concerning those that are
transgendered. And I also stated there was no word in any of the used Bible
languages for homosexuals. There is however a word which from usage encompassed
both. And that is eunuch. A
common misconception is that they were castrated males. Some of them were, but
most were not. This
is not a Biblical study as such but I did start out there, and there is quite a
bit of historical data there, so yes there is a Biblical section. I had wondered
at the lack of evidence of any T* activity
in the Bible, and Matt
19:11-12. Started me thinking. Literally
the two verses are. There
is a reason there are some eunuchs which were born from a mothers womb and there
are some eunuchs which were made by
man. And there are eunuchs which caused themselves to become eunuchs for the
kingdom of heaven. This
seems to be the differentiation in most cultures. Born, man made, and self made.
I am going to deviate from my usual pattern and give a summery of what I
have found. The supporting material is admittedly lengthy and this will
hit some of the highlights. The
evidence is convincing that the term eunuch included male, gender variant folks,
in the same sorts of numbers, status,
position/employment, and condition as those we see in other cultures,
times, and locations. Those that were female and gender variant are not
as well addressed, I would expect this was largely cultural and the status of
women at the time was often that of property. There is however a fair amount of
information and this is included. We
seem to be finding a cultural universal, with gender variant individuals filling
essentially the same niches in other cultures, through out history.
First
evidence chronologically is Inscribed pottery shards discovered near ancient
Thebes (now Luxor, Egypt), and dating from the Middle Kingdom (2000-1800 BCE),
contain a listing of three genders of humanity: males, eunuchs, and females, in
that order. Eunuchs
in this instance is a later translation and should probably be third gender.
Interestingly enough it includes gender variant females as well as males.
Evidence from Egyptian mythology also bears this out. In
the section of the ancient Roman Digest of Laws dealing with women's claims on
their dowries, the Roman jurist Ulpian faces the issue of marriages between
women and eunuch slaves. He says: "If a woman marries a eunuch, I think
that a distinction must be drawn whether he has been castrated or not, because
in the case of a castrated man, there is no dowry; if the person has not
been castrated, then there can be a marriage, and so there is a dowry, and a
claim on it." This is especially of interest as it gives a side view and
proof is absolute that some were not castrated and could father children. Josephus, in Jewish Antiquities IV 8,40, indicated that in the case of some, since "it is evident that their soul has become effeminate, they have transfused that effeminacy to their body also." Referring to those that are transgendered. Some
women are alleged in ancient cultures to have a "male" nature. Based
on evidence from the Code of Hammurabi, the Sumerian culture recognized a
separate type of woman called a salzikrum.2Salzikrum
is a compound word meaning "male daughter." A salzikrum
was entitled to greater rights of inheritance than an ordinary woman. Like a
priestess, she could inherit a full share of her father's estate to use during
her lifetime, after which it reverted to her brothers' heirs, while an ordinary
woman was not entitled to a share in the paternal estate at all. If the father
made a written stipulation to her, a salzikrum
could also dispose of her inheritance in any way she wanted.
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