She often owned large landed estates in her own name and controlled them through black eunuch servants.

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There is an interesting thing with the eunuch, who's the third sex character that Meera Syal develops.

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The eunuch's opponents were from a local cricket club called the Olympians, while the eunuchs' team was called Sanam (Beloved) XI.

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Fire was always a threat to the wooden palace and blazes were frequent, with the main culprits being wayward fireworks displays and knocked-over lanterns, as well as the odd angry eunuch.

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For instance, a tablet from the museum, translated so recently that it only just made the show, names Sarsachim, a Babylonian eunuch who is also listed in the Book of Jeremiah as one of Nebuchadnezzar's henchmen at the siege of Jerusalem.

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The nine-hour Belfast tour (an epic in itself) takes in sites around Northern Ireland, including the caves where red priestess Melisandre of Asshai gave birth to an evil shadow-baby assassin, and Ballycastle, setting for the Free Cities where the eunuch Lord Varys was born as a slave.

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