Editing Castrato (section)

==History==
{{See also|Eunuch}}
{{More citations needed section|date=September 2017}}
[[File:Byzantine castrato.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A Byzantine castrato from the 11th century]]

Castration as a means of subjugation, enslavement or other punishment has a very long history, dating back to ancient [[Sumer]]. In a Western context, [[eunuch]] singers are known to have existed from the early [[Byzantine Empire]]. In [[Constantinople]] around 400 AD, the empress [[Aelia Eudoxia]] had a eunuch choir-master, Brison, who may have established the use of castrati in Byzantine choirs, though whether Brison himself was a singer and whether he had colleagues who were eunuch singers is not certain. By the 9th century, eunuch singers were well-known (most in the choir of [[Hagia Sophia]]) and remained so until the sack of Constantinople by the Western forces of the [[Fourth Crusade]] in 1204. Their fate from then until their reappearance in Italy more than three hundred years later is not clear. It seems likely that the Spanish tradition of soprano falsettists may have hidden castrati. Much of Spain was under [[Muslim]] rulers during the Middle Ages, and castration had a history going back to the ancient Near East. Stereotypically, eunuchs served as harem guards, but they were also valued as high-level political appointees since they could not start a dynasty which would threaten the ruler.