Punishment practices in many historic cities and in the broader societies of which they were a part, often made it difficult for a convicted criminal to escape his past. … In tenth and eleventh century Constantinople, "serious crimes were punished by the loss of sight or of the right arm, lesser offences by the loss of an ear or by branding" … Moral differences were more reliably expressed by branding, especially where certain brands were reserved for certain offenses … With the appropriate symbol burned onto his forehead, the "culprit" was forever proclaimed as such to all who saw him.

XREF: Connects to broader themes of identity being inscribed on the body, relevant to the reader's wider reading on moral identity and public shame.

Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order a…, loc. 247