The blinding of the lawgiver Zaleukos on a 16th-century German medal.

A rare 16th-centuryGermanmedaloffers insight into theviolent lossof sight as amorality tale inbothantiquity and the Renaissance. On one side of the medal (Figure 1A), there is a graphic scenedepicting thepartial blindingof theancientGreek lawgiver Zaleukos and his son. The reverse (Figure 1B) depicts another ancient figure, the Persian King Cambyses, ordering aman to sit on a chair covered by a skin. Themedal is uninscribed, cast in silver, and 52mm in diameter (catalog No. XIV.48).1 Throughout northernEurope in the 16th century, the stories of the blinding of Zaleukos and the judgment of Cambyses had widespread appeal and resonance, perhaps in part because of increasing reliance by traders and others on governmental justice systems to resolve disputes. These scenes no doubt served as a warning to the judges and the public that if judges were to get out of line and accept bribes, the ruler had the power to guarantee the impartiality of the judgments handed down.2 In this time of limited literacy, the gruesomeness of these stories lent themselves to easy recollection and, even more to the point, memorable depiction, which could explain their popularity in a variety of media and their public locations. As a smaller, more durable, and portable medium, this medal depicting both scenes served as a more intimate and personal reminder of right and proper justice, one that could be carried in pocket rather thanmounted on a wall. Prior to the appearance of the Blinding of Zaleukos medal in a 1990auction,only2othergraphicmedallicexamplesdepictingblindingwere known. The firstwas theblindingof St. Leodegar of Autun (615-679),whichappearson the 16thand 17th-century silver talersized (circa 40 mm) coins of Lucerne, Switzerland (catalog No. XIV.73)1 (Figure 2). The second depicts the blinding of one of the founders of Switzerland,Melchthal (circa 1300), by aHapsburg tax collector, which appears on late 18th-century medals from Unterwalden, Switzerland (catalog No. XIV.82)1 (Figure 3). Both of these Swiss pieces were collected and cataloged as numismatic exempla depicting blinding by the ophthalmologist-numismatist of Trieste, Italy, Josef Brettauer, MD (1835-1905). Despite having one of the most comprehensive collections of medical coins andmedals ever assembled, which contained more than 5500 items and was published in1937asMedicina inNummis,3Brettauerdidnot list themedal depicting the blinding of Zaleukos, although he did list the 2 Swiss pieces. Nor did the medal appear in a similarly large US collection, that of the obstetrician-gynecologist-numismatist, Horatio Storer, MD (1830-1922), of Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1931 catalog of his collection, Medicina in Nummis,4 containing more than 8000 items, only theSt. Leodegar taler of Lucernewasdescribed in a sectionof the catalog labeled “medical events.” The fact that theBlinding of Zaleukos medal did not appear in either of these 2 comprehensive catalogs confirmed its rarity (The 1990 Munz Zentrum Auction69, lotNo. 2460, catalogdescription5of theBlindingofZaleukosmedal noted that this piecewaspreviously in theSeeger collection, lotNo.3719.ThiscollectionwassoldbyAdolphHessofFrankfurt, Germany, in 1930. Previous to this, the only other mention of this piece was from the Lanna collection, lot No. 1492, of Prague, CzechRepublic, soldbyRudolf LepkeofBerlin,Germany, in 1911. The 1990 catalog incorrectly described the reverse of the medal as: Otanes sonof the judgeSisannes [sic],with theKingKamyses [sic]). An importantvariantof theBlindingofZaleukosmedalwaspublished in1947byEdwardGansandGuidoKisch,6whichconfirmedthe identity of the figures on our specimen. But before discussing that medal, abriefdigressionononeof theauthorsof this 1947article is in order.GuidoKisch, JD (1889-1985),wasaprofessorof jurisprudence and the history of law at the universities of Konigsberg, Prague, and Halle.DuringWorldWar II, hecontinuedhis career inNewYork.After