[The classical healer as a castrator. The involvement of doctors in castration practices of the Graeco-Roman world].

The elimination of the testicles of boys and men, what we call castration, was frequently practised in Graeco-Roman antiquity. Probably it was sometimes done by laymen, but certainly also sometimes carried out by doctors. This article provides an overview of classical texts concerning castration practices in which doctors were involved, and explores the background of these specific castration practices. It appears that doctors not only cooperated in several practices that were (thought to be) beneficial for their patients, but also in the involuntary castration of healthly slave boys, mostly for the benefit of slave-owners, and hardly to the advantage of their patients.