Political Mutilations
How they punish criminals is one way that modern society might distinguish itself from ancient culture. In most of modern Western civilization, persons convicted of crimes are imprisoned or, in very few situations, they are imprisoned and later executed for their crimes. Punishing crime used to be like an exercise in imaginative sadism. The more odd, awful, and one-of-a-kind ways you could come up with to make someone pay for anything, the better it seemed.
Mutilation was once a popular means of punishing criminals. It was, however, also used to settle political rivalries. Imagine if, instead of holding an election, presidential candidates went out of their way to see who could bring the most pain and suffering to the other person's body as a means of not murdering them, but simply keeping them out of their way.
Political adversaries were frequently blinded since a blind enemy could not lead armies. If that didn't work, castration was another option. Not only for obvious reasons, but also because they saw castration as the highest wrong a man could face. It rendered them unmanly and also stopped you from having heirs.
John Athalarichos attempted to depose his father, Emperor Heraclius. The year was 637. It did not go well for him, and he had to have his nose and hands removed. Constantine Diogenes was charged with plotting against the emperor and blinded before committing suicide.
