Guarding the Harem

The Persian kings had many wives, and even more concubines, kept in a harem guarded by eunuchs. After Cyrus subdued Babylonia in 539 BC, the province had to supply already castrated boys each year to learn their trade as eunuchs. Probably none of the Kings had more wives and concubines than Xerxes I, who reigned from 486 to 465 BC and who appears as the amorous King Ahasuerus (the Hebrew version of the name) in the Old Testament book of Esther. It was said that that his harem had as many women in it as there were days in the year.