A couple of years ago I mentioned the eunuch priests of Cybele here, together with a couple of illustrations of a set of ornate castration clamps, found in the River Thames in the 1840’s, and now, supposedly, in the British Museum.
This week I came across a 1926 article discussing how the items were used.[1] The details are somewhat eye-watering, but the key point is that the clamps were used to prevent blood loss, and the actual cutting was done by a knife.
The item is rather ornate. The heads protruding are those of the deities presiding over the eight days of the Roman week, four on either side, followed by the head of a bull, and ending in a lion head; the heads at the top are perhaps Cybele and Attis, each on the head of a horse.
The item is perhaps 2-3rd century, and probably made in Rome or Italy. One of the arms was broken and mended in antiquity, indicating hard usage. Here are a number of images from the internet, none especially good.
Francis prints a restoration of the clamp, with hinge and screw:
And, interestingly, he is aware of another example, of a rather cruder kind, preserved in Switzerland, and gives this illustration:
The items were originally identified as “forceps”. It would be interesting to know whether other examples, perhaps mislabelled, are preserved in the museums of the West?
It is a commonplace of our day that “all religions are the same”, an opinion more frequently met with than examined. We may be grateful that this particular ancient practice is no longer present in the modern world.
After reading your last post on 12 Jan 2013, we flew from Berlin to London the next weekend 19-20 Jan (We already had to trip planned before you post). I had the clamp/s well in mind when I got to the museum. Wouldn’t you know, the portion of the museum on the Romans in Britain was closed. Not sure the clamp was on display any way from the sound of your post. Wonder how you can query the museum to let you see something they supposedly possess?
Apparently one can ask museums in advance for access to photograph specific objects. I’ve not done it, but Carole Raddato does. Thank you for the update. We could really use some good photos.