Today we are going to be looking at crime and punishment in the ancient world.
Ancient societies were much different than their modern counterparts
where punishment is concerned. Imprisonment was rare,
and quite often the concept of a police force did not exist.
Punishment for crimes, however, could be swift and severely unpleasant.
The death penalty was actually rarely used in many societies
and was reserved for only the most serious infractions.
In ancient Egypt, for instance, treason was one of the few reasons
why execution would be provided as punishment. In Babylon, building a house that collapsed
on somebody would result in the builder being executed.
Every ancient society had crimes that resulted in death,
but typically the legal systems did not offer this punishment for the majority
of crimes.
Death by execution was certainly brutal by modern standards.
In one instance, the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses III
ordered execution for a team that had plotted against him.
The method he requested for their demise was impalement.
Although the specific details can vary, it consisted of taking a long stick or pole
with a sharpened point and pushing it through the victim’s body.
A skilled executioner could do this in such a way
that death would take days, or could cause a person’s demise relatively
quickly. However long the process might take,
it was undoubtedly very painful.
The earliest recorded account of impalement being used
is from 1772 BC, and is described in the Code of Hammurabi.
The recorded details state that a woman was impaled
because she killed her husband for another man.
Clearly this method of execution was dependent upon the crime
and not the sex of the offender.
We don’t have any detailed accounts of impalement from the ancient world.
But, this method of execution was still used in parts of the world
as late as the 19th century. There is a direct account from a French merchant,
Jean de Thevenot, from 17th century Egypt.
He saw the execution of a Jewish man convicted of using false weights
and provided the following description:
"They lay the malefactor upon his belly, with his hands tied behind his back, then
they slit up his fundament with a razor, and throw into it a handful of paste that
they have in readiness, which immediately stops the blood.
After that, they thrust up into his body a very long stake as big as a man's arm,
sharp at the point and tapered, which they grease a little before;
when they have driven it in with a mallet, till it come out at his breast,
or at his head or shoulders, they lift him up,
and plant this stake very straight in the ground,
upon which they leave him so exposed for a day.
One day I saw a man upon the pale, who was sentenced to continue so for three
hours alive and that he might not die too soon,
the stake was not thrust up far enough to come out at any part of his body,
and they also put a stay or rest upon the pale,
to hinder the weight of his body from making him sink down upon it,
or the point of it from piercing him through, which would have presently killed him:
In this manner he was left for some hours, (during which time he spoke) and turning from
one side to another, prayed those that passed by to kill him,
making a thousand wry mouths and faces, because of the pain he suffered when he stirred
himself, but after dinner, the Basha sent one to dispatch
him; which was easily done,
by making the point of the stake come out at his breast,
and then he was left till next morning, when he was taken down, because he stunk horridly."
Clearly, the intent of execution as a punishment in ancient societies
was to ensure that it was painful, that it was performed in public,
and that the recipient was humiliated as much as possible.
One punishment for lesser crimes was caning. In Egypt, this was often given for offenses
such as selling stolen goods,
tax evasion, or illegal trade.
The act of caning typically consisted of using a small stick to beat the bottom of the criminal’s
bare feet. It was reputed to be excruciatingly painful.
Some countries in Asia and the Middle East still use variations of caning today.
Although rare, imprisonment was sometimes used.
Again with Egypt as an example, typically a large pit or well was used to
keep the prisoner. Very often the intent was to prevent escape
or force compliance. If a fine was issued but had not been paid,
for instance, then keeping the prisoner in a deep pit for
some time was one way to convince the person to follow
instructions.
Thus far we have discussed crime and punishment mostly in the context of ancient Egypt,
but what about other societies?
The ancient Babylonians have perhaps the oldest known codified legal system.
As mentioned previously, this is detailed in the Code of Hammurabi.
Generally speaking, the Babylonian legal code sought to make punishments fair such that
they fit the crime. Of course, the modern definition of fair
is quite often different from our ancient counterparts.
Contrary to Egypt, and many other societies in the ancient world,
Hammurabi provided death for many offenses.
Some examples of crimes and their associated punishments from Babylon are:
"If a son should strike his father, his hands shall be cut off.
If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
If any man should strike a man of higher rank, he shall receive sixty blows with an
ox-whip. If any one is committing a robbery and is
caught, then he shall be put to death. If anyone ensnare another, putting a ban
upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.
If anyone steal cattle or sheep, or a donkey, or a pig or a goat, if it belonged to a god
or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefore; if they belonged to a freed man
of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be
put to death. If anyone bring an accusation of any crime
before the elders, and does not prove he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense
charged, be put to death."
Ancient Greece differed from Egypt and Babylon in many ways. In Athens, for instance, the
idea of citizens policing other citizens was not acceptable. Therefore, foreign slaves
were often used for this task. If a citizen accused another citizen, then a foreign slave
would often bring the accused to stand trial. The results of losing a trial could be fines,
loss of property, exile, or in some cases death.
When the Greeks did see fit to use the death penalty, it could vary in its application
from nearly painless to unbeliveably torturous. Where the application of punishments is concerned,
most known records are from Athens. The city of Athens typically only applied the death
penalty for intentional homicide. Most unlucky Athenian murderers would experience
one of three forms of execution. Barathron is the first, and it was essentially throwing
the condemned into a deep chasm or pit. The second method was through the use of a
tympanon. The method changed over time however. Initially, it was a club used to beat the
criminal to death. Then it was later replaced with a sword. In some cases it was a piece
of wood fastened to the ground, and the condemned would be tied to it and left to die of thirst,
starvation or exposure. In 399 BC, Socrates was sentenced to death
in Athens via the third method of execution (despite not having killed anyone). His sentence
was to drink a solution made with Hemlock. The plant contains a poison that affects
the transmission of nerve impulses. Victims eventually succumb to respiratory failure.
Compared to many other forms of execution in the ancient world, death by Hemlock was
relatively painless.
Other parts of Ancient Greece, at times, were
known for even more unpleasant forms of Capital punishment.
The Brazen Bull was definitely not a painless experience. It was a bronze statue shaped
like a bull which was hollow, with a small opening extending from the abdomen to the mouth.
The prisoner was placed into the abdomen of the bull. A fire would be started beneath
it, and that would roast the person to death. Supposedly, the sound of the victim screaming
sounded like a bull yelling.
The Breaking Wheel was also something the discerning criminal could enjoy in parts of
Ancient Greece. This method was used in some places until the nineteenth century. One of
the many variations of the process was for the executioner to take a wheel and drop it
on the condemned, purposely breaking bones. At some point the executioner may tie the
prisoner to the wheel, then cut and eventually decapitate the victim. Ultimately, the corpse
was left on the wheel for scavengers.
The Chinese certainly had their own methods for dealing with criminals as well. Dynastic
China had a legal framework known as the Five Punishments. The original form of these punishments
was:
* Offender was tattooed on the face or forehead with ink that could not be removed
* Offender’s nose was cut off, without any substances to dull the pain
* Amputation of the left or right foot, or removal of a kneecap
* Removal of the reproductive organs and a sentence to work as a eunuch in the palace
* The death penalty was the fifth punishment
The Chinese methods of execution were certainly among the least pleasant ever devised. Prisoners
would sometimes be quartered, which was when their bodies were cut into four pieces. Some
unlucky criminals were boiled alive. Strangulation was common, and so was slowly slicing the
offender with a knife until death occurred. Unlike some other societies, the Chinese had
a different set of punishments depending on the sex of the offender. Women who ran afoul
of the law could be forced to grind grain. Their fingers could be squeezed between sticks.
Some were beaten with wooden sticks. Confinement to a single room for an indefinite amount
of time was sometimes the chosen punishment. And if death was required, a female offender
would often be given the option of suicice.
The Romans were, of course, well known for their punishments. Crucifixion is the most
well known. The exact procedure differed, but it generally resulted in a victim being
secured to a wooden structure and either suffocating or dying via exposure over time. Flaying was
also used, and that was exceptionally brutal. The executioner would use a weapon designed
to remove flesh from the condemned. It would be used again and again until the damage was
so severe that death was the only possible result.
Ancient societies certainly differed in their approach to crime and punishment. By modern
standards, almost all of them would be considered excessive today. Certainly many of the acts
which counted as crimes thousands of years ago still do today. Confinement is the standard
for punishment in the modern world, but our ancient ancestors seem to have had almost
no interest in that approach.
A question one might ask after learning about punishments in the ancient world is whether
these punishments were effective at deterring crime? Unfortunately, records to not exist
from antiquity in enough detail to give us the answer to that question.
Do you think ancient punishments reduced crime? Please let us know in the comments.
Thank you for watching Bad Things In History.