Sisamnes

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Image: Gerard David: The arrest of Sisamnes (1498)
Image: Gerard David: The molting of Sisamnes (1498)

Sisamnes is a figure from the Histories of Herodotus . There he is a corrupt judge under the tyrant king Cambyses II. Sisamnes accepts a sum of money and then passes an unjust judgment. The king has the judge peeled alive and takes the leather of the hide in order to cover the judgment seat in which the son of Sisamnes, Otanes , is to judge.

source

"Ταῦτα Δαρεῖος εἴπας, καὶ καταστήσας Ἀρταφρένεα ἀδελφεὸν ἑωυτοῦ ὁμοπάτριον ὕπαρχον εἶναι Σαρδίων, ἀπήλαυνε ἐς Σοῦσα ἅμα ἀγόμενος Ἱστιαῖον, Ὀτάνεα δὲ ἀποδέξας στρατηγὸν εἶναι τῶν παραθαλασσίων ἀνδρῶν · τοῦ τὸν πατέρα Σισάμνην βασιλεὺς Καμβύσης γενόμενον τῶν βασιληίων δικαστέων, ὅτι ἐπὶ χρήμασι δίκην ἄδικον ἐδίκασε, σφάξας ἀπέδειρε πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπέην, σπαδίξας δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ δέρμα ἱμάντας ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔταμε καὶ ἐνέτεινε τὸν θρόνον ἐς τὸν ἵζων ἐδίκαζε · ἐντανύσας δὲ ὁ Καμβύσης ἀπέδεξε δικαστὴν εἶναι ἀντὶ τοῦ Σισάμνεω, τὸν ἀποκτείνας ἀπέδειρε, τὸν παῖδα τοῦ Σισάμνεω, ἐντειλάμενός οἱ μεμνῆσθαι ἐν τῷ κατίζων θρόνῳ δικάζει. "

- large original

reception

The painter Gerard David made two paintings on the subject in 1498: The Judgment of Cambyses and The Flaying of Sisamnes . Together they made the diptych Tables of Justice . This was intended to be displayed in the chamber of the Bruges Town Hall.

Lucas Cranach the Elder made The Judgment of Cambyses part of the Exemplum tablets of Elector Joachim II of the Berlin Palace.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Herodotus, Historien, Volume 5, 25
  2. ↑ http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh5020.htm
personal data
SURNAME Sisamnes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian judge
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 6th century BC Chr.