The penalty of mutilation for crimes in the Byzantine era (324–1453 A.D.)

Mutilation was a common punishment in Byzantium, which in all probability was introduced from the East. In legislation it was first featured in the “Eclogi” collection of laws of the Emperor Leo Isavrus III (717–741 A.D.). There are, however, indications that this punishment was already established and widespread in the time of Justinian I (527–565 A.D.), because some chroniclers of that era state that this was used for gamblers using dice and for homosexuals. The collection of laws of Leo VI the Wise (886–912 A.D.), the well-known “Hexabiblos”, applied this punishment to a variety of offences such as theft, incest, adultery, attempted murder, sacrilege and the like. This punishment, furthermore, was the main penalty used against rebels and against Byzantine emperors and members of the royal family when they were removed from the throne after a successful insurrection. The basis of the latter punishment was that a mutilated person was excluded from the throne of Byzantium because the emperor was expected to fulfil the customary ideal presupposition of “perfection”. No matter how curious it sounds, this barbaric penalty was imposed for reasons of leniency, i.e., to avert the heavier death penalty.