Explanation: The Byzantine Empire, the Greek successor state to the Roman Empire, embraced mutilation as a punishment. In fact, it was widely regarded that a mutilated man could not hold office for being so ‘imperfected’. Therefore, those Byzantine usurpers who wished to prove their good, Christian credentials would often ‘only’ castrate (or sometimes put out the eyes of) the Emperor they were overthrowing (and anyone too aligned with him) and condemn them to a monastery to prevent them from ever returning to power. What swell guys!