Worst Roman Punishment?

[Princeps]

I read one method that Caligula used was to inflict thousands of tiny little cuts on his victims and then watch them bleed to death.

 

I think death of a thousand cuts was invented in China, but it does aound very Caligulaesque.

[Lost_Warrior]

Actually, that doesn't seem like it would be nearly as painful as some of the other things, such as being flayed to death.

[Pertinax]

Harking back to the pretty awful film "Caligula" the death by having your head scythed off whilst buried in sand didnt look too good-especially with those irritating kids throwing rose petals on you and giggling.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Is cutting off the genitalia common among women (or men) a Roman practice.

[Lost_Warrior]

Not that I know of. There may have been eunuch slaves, but somehow I doubt it (seems to me I saw that on a movie, but it is one known for historical inaccuracy (please don't make me name which one lol) and I've never heard of it anywhere else)

[Hamilcar Barca]

For people accused of dishonesty, Domitian would incinerate their genitals.

 

Amputation of the hands seems to have been the standard disciplinary measure for rebelious barbarians. Scipio Africanus did it, Scipio Aemelianus did it, Caesar did it plenty. This was also the punishment that the Western emperor Majorian chose for people who defaced public monuments during his brief reign in the 460's. (I think it should still be used)

 

Aurelian had quite a nice one reserved for adulterers. Basicly the accused was tied between two huge trees which were then cut down in different directions, tearing their legs and arms off, who was then left to die.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Wow, those punishments seems to bring me the most visual imagery so far of all the punishments.

[Skarr]

Didn't Caesar once amputate the hands of all the warriors of an entire tribe in Gaul as a warning or lesson to other rebels ? It was a very harsh punishment and I'm wondering if any of you know the exact details of this particularly heinous act from the great general which would be classified as a 'military tactic' by historians.

 

Make no mistake about it, although we are all fascinated by the Romans, you cannot even begin to imagine how it would have been to actually live in those times. A casual acquaintance with death, cruelty and torture must have been a given for most people, as those were incredibly brutal times.

 

We tend to judge everything from modern eyes and perhaps without our lenses on (our modern notions of what is right or wrong), things which seem barbarous to our sensibilities may have made perfectly good sense in those times.

[Virgil61]

On a mass scale, I would say decimation is probably the worst in the legion. I don't get why an emperor would want to destroy his own legion.

 

There's evidence that decimation was more a punishment in the Republic's legions and became less common as time went on under the empire. When Julian decided to apply the ancient punishment of decimation on his soldiers in the 4th century-- he thought it meant that only ten soldiers were to be killed-- pretty strong indication that it hadn't been used in some time.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Did he actually kill every tenth man in the legion though or he just let them off the hook?I also recount that the legion that was based in Egypt during Diocletion's reign was decimated because the whole legion was Christian and so Diocletion who commanded they worship decimated them unmercifully knowing the full consequences.

[Onasander]

Quick question.... how do you convince a legion that it should be decimated?

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

That, which confuses me much. There are many possibilities.

For example, when Legion X mutinied, Caesar wanted to disband them all and eject them from the army, but plead that they rather be decimated and so Caesar relented and none of them died because of Caesar's good will. It was also in the same case of Titus, he only executed the starters of the revolt.

[Sextus Roscius]

My topic seems to have grown since I last stoped in.

 

This is most likely a over exageration, but I beleive that one of the worst punishments would have been one of Nero's concerts. He forced people to stay, if they left then the guards would kill them. It is rumoured that some people actually faked Dieing so that they could be released from the concert.

 

Pretty lousy musician anyways, But not all who own a musical instrument are musicians.

 

 

P.S. Can't resist to use a quote when i can

[Virgil61]

Did he actually kill every tenth man in the legion though or he just let them off the hook?I also recount that the legion that was based in Egypt during Diocletion's reign was decimated because the whole legion was Christian and so Diocletion who commanded they worship decimated them unmercifully knowing the full consequences.

 

I dont' think he killed them, but I can't remember. He wanted to conduct a decimation but didn't target every tenth man in the legion, only ten men in total, which is a good indication that he or the rest weren't up to speed on the decimation thing by the late 4th century.

 

The story of the Theban Christian legion is what I think you're talking about and I think it was Emperor Maximian that supposedly ordered it. I don't think there's any evidence it ever happened or that the that particular legion existed; the incident was written about 200 years later in a rather iffy tome about Christian martyrs which I think is the only account. If anyone knows otherwise please chime in.

 

Quick question.... how do you convince a legion that it should be decimated?

 

It's actually a good point. It could only occur if the social mores dictated it, like under the Republic at it's height when the old Roman civic culture was still intact, or when discipline is strict and command and control is strong like many of the legions in the early principate.

 

My guess is after the legions got a big taste of rebellion and making (and killing) emperors in the 3rd century the decimation thing was largely a thing of the past. Legions had rebelled before of course, but by the 3rd century the killing the emperor stuff got out of control.

[Pertinax]

Collective shame and strict disipline would I suppose be the things that allowed decimation, broken troops might be rounded up by other units without their arms of course ,I presume deserters would have been executed or enslaved rather than subjected to a "purging" disicipline.