Not just due to their inability to produce offspring, which made them less of a threat politically, but also in the fact that they had no choice but to dedicate their lives to their masters. Politically speaking the eunuchs often were placed into positions of significant power in one of four sectors; the service of the female members of the court, the service of the male members of the court, administrative and clerical positions, and military service. This is seen during the Fatimid occupation of Cairo. Here eunuchs had at some point held the position of shurta and hisba who controlled the military garrison and the markets respectively; the two most important positions in the city besides the magistrate himself. The wide net of eunuchs across all elements of the court made them quite unique in the political realm, As only they could deal with both men and women. However the most important role of Fatimid Eunuchs was in their direct service to the Imam-Caliphs as chamberlains, treasurers, governors, and attendants. Here they held a great amount of political and spiritual sway in both the noble realm and the commoner population. For instance in 946 AD the Imam-Caliph al-Qaim died resulting in a power vacuum causing a large familial conflict. This conflict only came to an end due to the Court Eunuch al-Jawdhar informing the possible heirs that al-Qaim had bequeathed his title to his son al-Mansur.
First millennium BCE
Mutakkil-Marduk (8th century BCE): Assyrian chief eunuch, eponym of the year 798 BCE in an Assyrian eponym chronicle. Yariri (8th century BCE): regent of Neo-Hittite Carchemish thought likely to be a eunuch. Sin-shumu-lishir (7th century BCE): Assyrian eunuch who attempted to usurp power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Aspamistres or Mithridates (5th century BCE): bodyguard of Xerxes I of Persia, and (with Artabanus) his murderer. Artoxares: an envoy of Artaxerxes I and Darius II of Persia. Bagoas (4th century BCE): prime minister of king Artaxerxes III of Persia, and his assassin (Bagoas is an old Persian word meaning eunuch). Bagoas (4th century BCE): a favorite of Alexander the Great. Influential in changing Alexanders attitude toward Persians and therefore in the kings policy decision to try to integrate the conquered peoples fully into his Empire as loyal subjects. He thereby paved the way for the relative success of Alexanders Seleucid successors and greatly enhanced the diffusion of Greek culture to the East. Batis (4th century BCE): resisted Alexander the Great at the Siege of Gaza. Philetaerus (4th/3rd century BCE): founder of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamum
Zhao Gao (died 210 BCE): favourite of Qin Shihuangdi, who plotted against Li Si. Sima Qian (old romanization Ssu-ma Chien; 2nd/1st century BCE): the first person to have practiced modern historiography – gathering and analyzing both primary and secondary sources to write his monumental history of the Chinese Empire. Ganymedes (1st century BCE): highly capable adviser and general of Cleopatra VIIs sister and rival, Princess Arsinoe.