Sisamnes Sat On Corruption's Skin

Around 525 BC, Sisamnes served as a royal judge under Persian king Cambyses II and accepted a bribe to deliver an unjust verdict. Cambyses punished the corruption by having Sisamnes arrested, flayed alive, and turning his skin into leather strips. The king then used that skin to cover the judgment seat as a warning to future officials. Sisamnes's own son, Otanes, replaced him as judge and had to sit on the chair made from his father's skin.

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