Sisamnes

Sisamnes was, according to Herodotus's Histories, 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.

[2] 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.

[3] 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).

[6] The story of the corrupt Sisamnes inspired various Northern artists in the 15th to 17th centuries, including Gerard David, Antoon Claeissens, Joachim Wtewael, Martin Hermann Faber, Claes Jacobsz van der Heck, Jan Tengnagel, Dirck Vellert, and Peter Paul Rubens.

[1] Visual illustrations of the story first appeared in manuscripts and prints such as Hans Sebald Beham's The Judgement of Cambyses (1542) which was part of the frontispiece of Justinus Göbler's publication Der Gerichtlich Prozeß (The judicial process).

[7] Gerard David was one of the first Northern artists to take Sisamnes' fate as the subject of his diptych The Judgement of Cambyses which he completed in 1498.

By locating the scene in contemporary Flanders, David reinforced the relevance of the ancient story to the early modern viewer.

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.

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.

[11] 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.

Due to its large dimensions, the painting (now kept in the Church of Our Lady in Nieuwpoort) must have made an overwhelming impression in the magistrates' court where it was hung originally.