Blinding is a type of physical punishment which results in complete or nearly complete loss of vision. It was used as an act of revenge and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

. The punishment has been used since Antiquity;

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

makes several references to blinding as

divine punishment Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings within a religion. Ancient beliefs In ancient Sumerian religion, the sun-god Utu and his twin sister Inanna were believed to be the enforcers of divine justice. Utu, as t ...

, which reflects human practice. In the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and many other historical societies, blinding was accomplished by gouging out the eyes, sometimes using a hot poker, and by pouring a boiling substance, such as vinegar, on them.

In mythology and religious law

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

gouged out his own eyes after accidentally fulfilling the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother. In the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

was blinded upon his capture by the

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, when ...

Early Christians Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish d ...

were often blinded as a penalty for their beliefs. For example,

Saint Lucy Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia ( la, Sancta Lucia) better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ...

's torturers tore out her eyes.

In history

In the Middle Ages, blinding was used as a penalty for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

or as a means of rendering a political opponent unable to rule and lead an army in war. The blinding of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

general

Belisarius Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terri ...

( – 565) at the order of the

Emperor Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

is probably apocryphal.

Vazul Vazul, or Vászoly, (before 997–1031 or 1032) was a member of the House of Árpád, a grandson of Taksony, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. The only other certain information about his life is that he was kept in captivity and blinded in the fort ...

(before 997 – 1031/1032) of the Hungarian royal

House of Árpád A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

was blinded at the order either of his cousin King Stephen I or of his queen, Gisela. After the

Battle of Kleidion The Battle of Kleidion ( grc-gre, Κλειδίον; or Clidium, after the medieval name of the village of Klyuch, "(the) key"; also known as the Battle of Belasitsa) took place on July 29, 1014, between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian E ...

of 1014, the

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

had captured several thousand soldiers from the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...

. He put them into groups of 100 and blinded 99 in every group. The last soldiers had only one eye gouged out, and these one-eyed men were ordered to lead their blind friends back to their commander. This earned Emperor Basil II the nickname of 'the Bulgar Slayer'. According to some accounts of the story,

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

Samuel of Bulgaria Samuel (also Samuil; bg, Самуил, ; mk, Самоил/Самуил, ; Old Church Slavonic: Самоилъ; died October 6, 1014) was the Tsar (''Emperor'') of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. From 977 to 997, he was a ...

died from a heart attack upon seeing the returning blind soldiers. In the 11th century,

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

used blinding as a punishment for rebellion to replace the death penalty in his laws for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. King William was also accused of making the killing of a

hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department stores * Hart's Reptile Wo ...

hind A hind is a female deer, especially a red deer. Places * Hind (Sasanian province, 262-484) * Hind and al-Hind, a Persian and Arabic name for the Indian subcontinent * Hind (crater), a lunar impact crater * 1897 Hind, an asteroid Military ...

in a

royal forest A royal forest, occasionally known as a kingswood (), is an area of land with different definitions in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term ''forest'' in the ordinary modern understanding refers to an area of wooded land; however, the ...

into a crime punishable by blinding, but the

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

claims that this was made up to tarnish the King's reputation.

Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

blinded

William, Count of Mortain William of Mortain (bef. 1084–aft. 1140) was Count of Mortain and the 3rd Earl of Cornwall. Life William was the son of Robert, Count of Mortain, the half-brother of William I of England and Maud de Montgomery, daughter of Roger de Montgomeri ...

, who had fought against him at

Tinchebray Tinchebray () is a former commune in the Orne department in the Lower Normandy region in north-western France. On 1 January 2015, Tinchebray and six other communes merged becoming one commune called Tinchebray-Bocage. History It was the scene of ...

in 1106. He also ordered blinding and

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

as a punishment for thieves.

Prince Álmos Álmos (also "Almus", Slovak, hr, Almoš; 1070 or 1075 – 1 September 1127) was a Hungarian prince, the son of King Géza I of Hungary and brother of King Coloman. He held several governmental posts in the Kingdom of Hungary. Life Ea ...

and his four-year-old son

Béla II of Hungary Béla the Blind ( hu, Vak Béla; hr, Bela Slijepi; sk, Belo Slepý; 1109 – 13 February 1141) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1131 to 1141. He was blinded along with his rebellious father Álmos on the order of Álmos's brother, ...

were blinded in 1113 by Álmos' brother

Coloman Coloman, es, Colomán (german: Koloman (also Slovak, Czech, Croatian), it, Colomanno, ca, Colomà; hu, Kálmán) The Germanic origin name Coloman used by Germans since the 9th century. * Coloman, King of Hungary * Coloman of Galicia-Lodomeria ...

Modern era

Blinding survives as a form of penalty in the modern era, especially on the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. In 2003, a Pakistani court sentenced a man to be blinded after he subjected his fiancée to an

acid attack An acid attack, also called acid throwing, vitriol attack, or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault involving the act of throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of another "with the intention to disfigure, maim, tortu ...

resulting in her loss of vision. In response to protests in

Indian-administered Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompass ...

following the assassination of

Burhan Wani Burhan Wani (19 September 1994 – 8 July 2016) was a commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, an Islamist militant organization and insurgent group of the Kashmir conflict. He had become a popular figure amongst the local Kashmiri populace, having d ...

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

used pellet ammunition targeted at blinding protesters in an act referred to by Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi as the "first mass blinding in human history." , 972 people ranging in age from 4 to old age, had been left partially or completely blind. The man who blinded Ameneh Bahrami in an acid attack was sentenced to blinding by an Iranian court in 2009; Bahrami eventually pardoned the attacker.

References

{{Reflist Corporal punishments Torture Blindness Revenge Eye injury

In mythology and religious law

In history

Modern era

See also

References