Sisamnes

According to Herodotus, Sisamnes was a corrupt judge under Cambyses II of Persia. He accepted a bribe and delivered an unjust verdict. As a result, the king had him arrested and flayed alive. His skin was then used to cover the seat in which his son would sit in judgment.

"The Arrest of Sisamnes", by Gerard David.
"The Flaying of Sisamnes", by Gerard David.

Sisamnes was the subject of two paintings by Gerard David, "The Arrest of Sisamnes" and "Flaying of Sisamnes" both done in 1498. Together they make up The Judgement of Cambyses diptych, which was commissioned to hang in the Aldermen's Room in the Bruges City Hall. (Historical images of judgment were commonly used to decorate chambers of justice in 15th-century Europe). Sisamnes is also the subject of two paintings, one by Dirk Vellert, and the other by Peter Paul Rubens

Sisamnes had a son named Otanes who replaced him as a judge, and later became a Satrap in Ionia.[1]

  • The Judgment of Cambyses. Stained glass, by Dirk Vellert
  • Cambyses II appointing Otanes as judge in place of his flayed father Sisamnes, after a painting by Peter Paul Rubens. The skin of his father appears above the seated Otanes.[2]
  • Otanes seated in the chair of the judge, on the skin of his father, after his father was flayed (center scene).[3]

References
  1. Perseus Under Philologic: Hdt. 5.25.1.
  2. Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Thronus Iustitiae. British Museum.


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