Sisamnes

Sisamnes was, according to Herodotus's Histories, book 5, chapter 25, a corrupt royal judge active in the Persian empire during the reign of Cambyses II of Persia. When Cambyses learned that Sisamnes had accepted a bribe to influence a verdict, he had him promptly arrested and sentenced him to be flayed alive. He had the skin of the flayed Sisamnes cut into leather strips. Cambyses then appointed Otanes, the son of the condemned Sisamnes, as his father's judicial successor. In order to remind Otanes what happens to corrupt judges and not forget the importance of judicial integrity, Cambyses ordered that the new judge's chair be draped in the leather strips made from the skin of the flayed Sisamnes. Otanes later became a satrap in Ionia. Cambyses warned Otanes to continually keep in mind the source of the leather of the chair upon which he would be seated to deliberate and deliver his judgment. The story was also referred to by the first century Latin author Valerius Maximus in his Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri IX (The nine books of memorable deeds and sayings). Whereas in Herodotus' version Sisamnes' skin is cut into strips, Maximus has the skin stretched across the chair.

Interpretation

In the original story Herodotus may have wanted to suggest that King Cambyses had gone mad. Valerius Maximus included the story of King Cambyses in a chapter on the severity of foreigners. An inscription on a mid-sixteenth century German medal depicting the Cambyses story reads: "Cambyses maintained the law and administered it justly, as one can perceive here from the punishment."

The Bruges painter Antoon Claeissens took the left panel of David's diptych as the inspiration of his own rendering of The Judgment of Cambyses (second half of 16th century, Groeningemuseum, Bruges) as he concentrates on the depiction of the arrest of the corrupt judge while also showing the passing of the bribe to the judge in the background. This work formerly also hung in the City Hall of Bruges. The many figures appearing together with the king in the picture appear to be portraits of real persons, possibly members of the city council of Bruges. The Dutch publication Thronus Justitiae first published in 1606 contains 13 plates of justice scenes after designs by Joachim Wtewael. One depicts the Judgment of Cambyses. Martin Hermann Faber painted a version for the city hall of Emden in 1617 and Claes Jacobsz van der Heck did the same for the city hall of Alkmaar in 1620. Both works are similar and depict in the foreground the installation of Otanes and in the background the execution of Sisamnes. Another Dutch painter, Jan Tengnagel, created in 1619 a Judgment of Cambyses for the Amsterdam city hall (now in a private collection in The Hague) in which he reduced the number of figures to a minimum thus emphasizing the core interaction between the king and the newly appointed judge. Rubens clearly follows the iconographic tradition of the story but gave it a Baroque touch. King Cambyses is shown in a dynamic pose holding his scepter and with his hand on his sword, clearly admonishing the new judge who bows his head in submission. At the feet of the king is a dog barking at Otanes. On the right of the king are a number of soldiers and bearded old men, possibly the king's counselors, whose presence further bolsters the authority of the just king. On the left a man, a woman and two children witnessing the scene are prostrating themselves in reverence for the king. The Dutch painter Isaac Isaacsz, who had worked in Antwerp, painted his own Judgment of Cambyses for the Harderwijk city hall (still in situ) which is clearly influenced by Rubens' effort.