How and Why the Romans Executed People
Rome in the History of Capital Punishment
Unfortunately for the human race, the history of capital punishment has been a long, bloody and inglorious one. Most of us today are lucky enough to live in countries where the death penalty has been abolished, but generally this has only happened in the last half century and there are still many parts of the world where some crimes are punishable by death. Capital punishment has been recorded as having been practiced since antiquity and regrettably we have been all too creative in thinking up different methods of inflicting pain, humiliation and death on our fellow human beings. In one ancient society, that of Ancient Rome, capital punishment was seen to be a way of maintaining the status quo and also deterring any would be criminals from any future disobedience. Ancient Rome was both a very hierarchical and patriarchal society. Roman Citizens were at the top of the heap, and then there were the legions of slaves who did all the hard work and kept the households, businesses and farms running. If you were lucky enough to have been born a Roman Citizen, then you were also more fortunate if you were born male.The man of the house was the pater familias, and he was entitled to rule his family with an iron rod if he chose, as his authority was absolute.
The Family in Ancient Rome
These days it is perhaps hard to understand how important the concept of family was to an ancient society such as Rome.Their whole social world was held together by having stable family units, and preserving the honour of the family name meant everything to an Ancient Roman father. So it is not perhaps surprising that in Ancient Rome, the crime of parricide was regarded as the most heinous crime that you could ever commit and was enshrined in law in 52 BC as the the Lex Pompeia de pariciidis. Murdering one of your blood relations was looked on as being totally unnatural and if you killed your father, mother, or one of your grandparents then you had a special punishment reserved for you – the Poena cullei. If you were unfortunate enough to be sentenced to the Poena cullei, you would have been bound and placed in an ox skin sack along with a snake, a dog, a monkey and a cockerel and then the sack would be flung into deep water. Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been confined in that small space, together with those panicking animals biting and scratching at you, knowing that you were drowning?
The Poena Cullei
So what was the meaning of the strange cocktail of creatures that they threw into the leather sack with you? Each of these animals had a symbolic meaning in Ancient Rome that they connected to what they regarded as the monstrous crime of killing your father or close blood relation. The snake put in the sack was generally a viper, a reptile that was both feared and reviled in Ancient Rome, as they give birth to live young during which the young snakes could kill their own mother. Dogs did not enjoy the same levels of affection as we give them today, and were pretty much regarded as a despised animal, the lowest of the low. If you were an Ancient Roman, one of the worst insults that you could hurl at somebody would have been ‘less than a dog’. A monkey was seen as a lesser, inferior version of a human being and cockerels were thought to have no family feelings at all. You would not be subjected to this unusual form of capital punishment if you were a grandfather who killed his grandsons, or a mother who killed her children, as there were different sentences for those crimes. And if you were a father who murdered his children, then you probably would not get punished at all.
Public Executions in Ancient Rome
Generally speaking, Roman Citizens were not sentenced to capital punishment if they murdered another Roman Citizen of equal status,but were more often fined or exiled, and if they were executed they were beheaded, which was regarded as a more honourable way to die. If a Roman Citizen killed a slave or any person of lesser status then there was no punishment at all. Protecting the status and position of the Roman Citizens was considered to be a paramount concern and to be stripped of that status was one of the worst punishments imaginable, especially as then you could be subjected to one of the more inventive methods of Roman execution. So public executions were generally events put on to execute slaves who had run away, prisoners of war, common criminals and army deserters, and were regarded as great spectacles and a form or entertainment. The early Christians were also often publicly executed because of their refusal to worship or make sacrifices to the Roman gods or the Emperor. There were special areas set aside in Roman towns for public executions, usually outside the town gates, and also in the same arena where the gladiatorial games took place.
Roman Arena
The Roman games that took place in arena such as the Colosseum in Rome were lavish affairs that could sometimes go on for several days.The executions were an accepted part of the proceedings, and were quite often held at midday when some of the audience would retire home for lunch or a siesta. There were lots of different ways to execute these lowly criminals, but they were all designed to emphasis their inferior status and demonstrate the folly of those who dared to sin against the mighty Roman state. One of the punishments was the ‘damnatio ad bestia’, where the prisoner or prisoners would literally be thrown into the arena with dangerous wild animals. These could be big cats, bears, rampaging bulls or sometimes they were tied to the tails of stampeding horses and dragged to their deaths. The important thing to the Roman authorities was that they would be seen as no better than the animals, and thus fully deserved their harsh fate and could expect no sympathy. There is even artwork depicting the condemned being killed by animals in the arena found on the walls of Roman villas.
Crucifixion in Roman Times
Burning alive was another favoured form of execution, but perhaps the most shameful way to be executed for a Roman was to be crucified. Again, you would not suffer this punishment if you were a Roman citizen, which is why St Paul was beheaded and St Peter was crucified. Crucifixion was carried out in several different ways on different shapes of cross, but generally the prisoners were stripped naked, and either bound or nailed by their wrists to the crossbeam of a wooden cross. This meant that the whole bodyweight of the prisoner was supported only by their arms, which would soon lead to excruciating pain, and often lead to their shoulders and elbow joints dislocating. They would also be unable to breathe properly. It could take several days for a condemned man to die on the cross, and the whole point of the spectacle was that it was to serve as a warning by being so public, prolonged, painful and humiliating. Also the corpse would also be left on the cross to be picked clean by carrion birds, thus ensuring that the unfortunate victim also did not receive an honourable burial.
Mass Crucifixions in Roman Times
Prisoners would often be crucified in great numbers after a period of civil unrest, and after the slave rebellion led by Spartacus from 73-71 BC around 6,000 of his followers were crucified along the Appian Way between Rome and Capua. Also after Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, mass crucifixions were carried out to ensure that message was taken on board that rebellion was not going to be tolerated by the Roman authorities. As the Roman guards could not leave the site of the execution until after the condemned had died, they sometimes hastened the prisoner’s end by breaking their legs with an iron club.
So for the Ancient Romans capital punishment was a method of maintaining, albeit brutally, their social order and their empire. If you had the good fortune to have been born a Roman Citizen, you could probably assume that you would be treated with some respect and dignity if you committed a crime. But if you were a slave or prisoner of war you could expect to have the full force of Roman law and authority thrown at you, so that both you and any others who were thinking of disobedience would come to understand that rebellion or crime was not to be tolerated. However it may seem to modern eyes, these executions were not carried out to be cruel, but were undertaken to support the Roman state and ensure the continuation of the Roman Empire.
Copyright 2011 CMHypno on HubPages
Comments
Weren't there people tied to horses and it ripped their limbs off?
There's nothing about the punishments given
Gruesome...It's sad that they would have the ideas for such gory and exposing executions.
this helped me allot on my homework.THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!
regarding the Roman Colosseum, when I went to rome last year, the tour guide insisted that the Circus was the place people were executed, not the Colosseum. He said that no Christians were thrown to the lions there, it was used for naval battles.
thx very helpful
What about the alleged claim that the murderer was tied to the corpse of his victim and made to walk around with it or stick in one position with it?
Very Helpful, doing school project. :)
crucifixion was so shameful that even today historians don't dare to say what it was: impalement.
Do you have an article on the origins of the peoples from Pakistan, Iraq and Iran? I heard they we're descended from the Persians and or Spartans.
Do you have any sources? Where did you collect the information from?
This was really helpful, though some information was incorrect. Thank you.
-Anonymous B
Well written and informative - I really enjoy everything Roman and this is quite a valuable compilation of one part of their culture.
It gave me horror to think of being in a sack with a snake. This is very informative and I just love reading a well written article.
This is very helpful thank you for writing this/putting this together, it is extremely gruesome but has helped me in my research a lot
This shows that power gives people the right to commit brutality and murder. Of course, it is the people who give authority to those with power. What the ancient Romans did is still done today, in a varied form, but rebels will be imprisoned and killed by those fearful of losing their power. Very fascinating material here, rather engrossing.
brilliant to see so many interested in historical facts but sadly it doesn't take much for barbarity to return to a so called civilised society. think of the french revolution,the holocaust,rwandha and war crimes in bosnia. also as an animal lover im horrified in the increase in badger baiting, dog fighting etc. it's a shame that we can't respect all living creatures as the world would be a far better place.
watching spartacus blood and sand at the moment. there are parts which are so violent i can't watch, how human life could mean so little the people watching executions and cheering seemed to have no humanity.i live near a site of roman remains which contains baths and an amphitheatre and find it fascinating but very glad i wasn't alive then.
Gruesome and interesting! I'm fascinated by Roman history and this was a really good read.
Thanks for the hub, A few years ago I witnesses a video on the news where a woman was being exucited in one of those middle eastern countries...don't remember which one. There was a stadium full of people who came to witness the event A woman was executed by being shot in the back on the head. It grossed me out.
Oh yes I know ... there is still a lot of ignorance and superstition and that can be very demoralising.
It just shows we have no option ... we can only go on, trying to combat such practises.
Hi CMHypno - extremely good hub. I have read quite a lot about the Romans and their culture and am always amazed by their casual use of agonising death as a control measure.
Unlike some other comments I actually do feel modern society has come a long way in its civilisation since those times. Of course we still have a long way to go ... but we do try to be humane, we do recognise the times we get it wrong. I find this very heartening ...
Voted up!
Hey CMHypno - I just wanted to drop in here and say "congrats on the 100 score!"
Very impressive!
Again Hollywood paraded them as glorious but they were nothing cruel. I seen the Coloseum and had to get out ot it. You still could feel the agony of the people killed there. It was en extra ordinary feeling. Others in the group spoke of it later as well.
I'm sure bribing guards was as acceptable as bribing congressmen these days. LOL! Too bad there are no actual records of the trial, or the defendant Jesus ever existing in the well maintained court records of the times.
Well - the actions of stupid people motivated by their own imperfections hardly discredit scripture - which is said to be divine.
Of course if you do not believe in a God or Gods - then it makes perfect sense to discredit scripture based on the non scriptural actions of the "religious."
Interesting read, CM. Some use this very information to claim Jesus never died on the cross. His legs were not broken, he wasn't left to be picked clean by the vultures, and his body was supposedly retrieved by bribing the Roman guard.
Mean dudes back then!
Enjoyed!
Or better yet "Do good to those who hate you" or even "love thy neighbor as thy self."
Yeah - lots of Bible illiteracy in the Bible Belt - that's for sure.
I guess some of it is relative. I can't imagine sitting knitting watching a person be guillotined but women did
Well, I'm not so fortunate to live in a civilized society. I live in Texas - which is definitely NOT a civilized place by my own standards, as we have the dreaded capital punishment/death penalty and a wretched idiot as a Governor who can't even admit what the entire world knows - he's had innocent persons executed.
Gosh, I couldn't read about all of the horrible ways to die - but it's plain that the world was and is a brutal place still.
Imagine playing in the hills of Pakistan and some remote controlled aircraft drops bombs on you and your family.
NUTS!
Hi, Wow! I have never heard of the The Poena Cullei
a dog, snake monkey and cockerel, that's a bit mind boggling, however came up with that one? you can never accuse the romans of being lacking in imagination! fascinating stuff, thanks! rated up!
Great information. I have always been fascinated by the Roman area and have read books and watched shows about it. Interesting about the Roman executions.
Exactly CM, great point. As far as barbarism went, it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. 410 CE anyone?
Awesome article CM. Definitely not an era to be fooling around in. As horrible as the Roman executions could be, you have to hand it to them when it comes to ingenuity. Particularly with the things like the Poena Cullia. Roman history is a fave here mostly of course cause they left so much behind of themselves. Its something to ponder on how a civilization could be so enlightened in many ways yet be so barbaric at the same time. At any rate you've written an excellent article here, really enjoyed it- well, maybe enjoyed is the wrong word..lol- and have the vid marked to watch before long. The paintings a perfect choice too. Thanks CM!
My friend. You have informative hub about how the Romans executed people. It looks so scary. But this was a fact from the ancient history. Thanks for share with us. You have done a great job. Rated up!
Prasetio
I find ancient Roman history very interesting in why it succeeded and why it eventually failed. It was completely based on the concept of citizenship and a cast system that was fully dependant on all levels of society. Unlike today the rich Roman had to maintain structure and live within all classes of society and this was a huge part of the success of Roman Society. Unlike today he was dependant on the poor and maintaining their lives within some bounds of life. A rich home was usually surrounded by all the other classes of society and they all owed their life to this structure. There were slums but these were usually made up of people hoping to enter the cast system. People would sell themselves into servitude in order to enter a higher level of society. The value of life had to be maintained but you had to have value in order to be in the system. It was a precarious balance with lots of cruelty but generally everyone understood it required a balance and maintaining such a balance required the ability to understand all classes of society. I bring this up because current society is almost the exact opposite. Very few neighbourhoods in ancient Rome lived in Beverly Hills communities. Instead it was a mansion surrounded by other classes who all depended on one another in order to survive.
This is a fascinating hub, CMHypno. I appreciate that Roman executions were a way of maintaining social order and the Roman empire, but the executions still sound very gruesome, and horrific for the sufferers! Thank you for a very informative article.
Fascinating details, CM, about some of the bloodthirsty habits of ancient Romans. Happy I did not live in that time period. That is, I don't think I lived in that time period. Now where did I park my chariot?
An excellent hub, even if the subject matter is slightly repellant! As you say man has spent centuries finding ways to kill people under the auspices of a punishment.
Voted up and Interesting
Glad I wasn't born in those days.
I would certainly say that they did whatever it took to maintain that lifestyle. If you opposed them, it sounds like you also opposed living. I am so glad not to have lived back then when I would have been considered a piece of property that had to be obedient.
This was very interesting and very enlightening. Very few people lived well during the time. Very well researched and presented.
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