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Political Mutilation In Byzantine Culture
- cheaprentalyeti 5y agoI find it slightly interesting that Enrico Dandolo isn't in this list.
- dandotway 5y agoThe Wikipedia article for him says, "It is not known for certain when and how Dandolo became blind." We don't know if it was political mutilation.
- dandotway 5y agoSo it seems the Byzantines preferred to mutilate when most other civilizations preferred to mutilate-execute. In nearly all cases political mutilation was only carried out for High Treason, a crime nearly every civilization throughout history has punished with its most gruesome torture-executions. E.g. William Wallace was "hanged, drawn, and quartered" which included having his penis cut off and burned while he watched, then his bowels cut out of his belly and burned while he watched....
- optimalsolver 5y agoThe reason I've heard historians give for that was that the Byzantines believed execution would deprive the victim of the chance to repent for their sins.