Rhinectomy has traditionally been a form of
disfiguring judicial corporal punishment. The
ancient Egyptians removed the noses of some criminals and exiled them to the
Sinai towns of
Tjaru or
Rhinocorura, whose own name was
Greek for "nose removal". The
Byzantine Empire, believing that
their emperor should represent a human ideal, removed the noses of both criminals and rival emperors, with the idea that such disfigurement disqualified its recipients from office. The notable exception was the second reign of , who gained the epithet
Rhinotmetus or "the Slit-Nose". == See also ==