"Shut in the tomb..." - Top 10 Gruesome Ancient Executions

Capital punishment is widely seen as an anachronism in today's society.

Banned throughout Europe, few democratic countries continue to practice it, with one of the few exceptions being that of the United States.

Rulers in the ancient world, however, had no such inhibitions. Archaeology and texts are rife with examples of people being killed – sometimes in very unusual ways. The examples below illustrate 10 of the most notable cases. Some of them are known through archaeology while others are known only through ancient stories and their accuracy should be treated with a degree of caution. 

10. China’s Qin Dynasty: Burying scholars alive

The first emperor of China was a man who possessed unprecedented power. He conquered the country's rival warring states and unified it under the Qin Dynasty. He then set about creating a single currency system, legal code and a road system to connect the entire land.

Yet, despite his vast empire, there was one thing he wanted above all that he could not have – eternal life. He drank mercury, believing that it would prolong his life, and he sent people out to sea to search for a place where “herbs of immortality” might be found.

At one point he ordered alchemists to create a potion that would keep him alive forever. According to a story recorded by Sima Qian (translation by Burton Watson) the emperor was furious when they failed, he believed that they were scheming against him.

“Now they speak slanderously of me so as to exaggerate my lack of virtue. I have also directed people to question the various scholars residing in Xianyang, and it appears that some are spreading dubious stories in order to mislead the black-headed people!” That term refers to the commoners.

This ended badly. Qian wrote that the emperor “ordered the imperial secretary to subject all the scholars to investigation. The scholars reported on one another in an attempt to exonerate themselves.” Over 460 were executed for their crimes – with later stories suggesting that he had them buried alive.

Qian’s story “may not have been true or may have been greatly exaggerated,” writes Jane Portal and Hiromi Kinoshita in The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army. “It has, however, influenced many peoples’ opinions about the first emperor.”

9. China’s Qin Dynasty – sealing people inside the First Emperor’s Mausoleum

After the first emperor’s death there is a chilling story about what was done to the artisans and craftsmen who had helped build his mausoleum.

Sima Qian writes - “After the internment had been complete someone pointed out that the artisans and craftsmen who had built the tomb knew what was buried there, and if they should leak word of the treasures, it would be a serious affair.”

Once everything was inside the tomb, “the inner gate was closed off and the outer gate lowered, so that all the artisans and craftsmen were shut in the tomb and unable to get out.”

Much of the first emperor's tomb complex is unexcavated (What's Inside Qin Shi Huang's Tomb?), so we will have to wait and see if there is any truth to this story. One interesting point is that the tomb appears to have survived largely intact. That’s unusual in the ancient world as wealthy tombs tend to be plundered either in antiquity or modern times.

8. Roman – Death of Crassus – molten gold poured in mouth

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman politician, military leader and cutthroat businessman.

How cutthroat? He made part of his fortune by means of his fire brigade. After a fire occurred in Rome his brigade would rush over. But rather than put out the fire he would negotiate with the owner, demanding that the property be sold to Crassus at a greatly reduced price. After the owner gave in, the brigade went to work, destroying buildings around the fire in order to stem off its spread.

So how did Crassus die? Quite foolishly - he led a Roman legionary force into Mesopotamia hoping to conquer part of the Parthian Empire, and the riches they had. He pursued the Parthians into the desert where his force was surrounded by cavalry and showered with arrows.

“Now as long as they had hopes that the enemy would exhaust their missiles and desist from battle or fight at close quarters, the Romans held out,” wrote Plutarch. Unfortunately there were “many camels laden with arrows were at hand, from which the Parthians who first encircled them took a fresh supply.”

The Romans could not escape and the Parthians would not engage them in close quarter combat. Cassius Dio, a Roman historian, said that at one point, “the barbarians took him (Crassus) forcibly and threw him on the horse. Meanwhile the Romans also laid hold of him, came to blows with the others, and for a time held their own; then aid came to the barbarians, and they prevailed.”

Crassus was killed either by the Parthians or by his own men, who did not want their commander to fall into the hands of the enemy.

Dio said that after Crassus had died “the Parthians, as some say, poured molten gold into his mouth in mockery; for though a man of vast wealth, he had set so great store by money as to pity those who could not support an enrolled legion from their own means, regarding them as poor men.”

While this story is probably not true, it is certainly poetic justice that a man who devoted himself so intensely to the pursuit of wealth should die in such a way.  

7. Greece – The Brazen Bull

One of the cruellest inventions in the ancient world was a hollow statue of a bull (probably made of brass).  Ancient writers claim that it was invented by a man named Perilaus in the 6th century BC and given to Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, as a gift.

Lucian, writing five centuries later, quotes Perilaus as saying to Phalaris that -

“When you are minded to punish anyone, shut him up in this receptacle, apply these pipes to the nostrils of the bull, and order a fire to be kindled beneath. The occupant will shriek and roar in unremitting agony; and his cried will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowing. You victim will be punished, and you will enjoy the music.”

This disgusted Phalaris and made him decide to put Perilaus into it. Finding that it worked well, he took him out of the bull and had him flung over a cliff, as a reward for his work.

6. Cahokia – Executing 52 young women at once

Cahokia is one of the largest archaeological sites in the New World.  Occupied from roughly AD 700 – 1400, this settlement encompassed over 15 square kilometres and included nearly 120 mounds. It's near modern day St. Louis. At the center of it lied Monks Mound, a massive earthwork that was nearly 30 meters. It has been estimated that when Cahokia was at its peak, around AD 1250, it was larger than medieval London. Its population was probably somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 people.

This site, however, harbours a dark secret. At Mound 72, an unassuming three meter tall structure, archaeologists have found a stunning display of human sacrifice. In one episode archaeologists found that 52 young women, between the ages of 18 and 24, appear to have been killed at the same time (although the method is uncertain). Researchers also found one executed woman in her thirties who may have been in charge of this group.

Physical Anthropologists have determined that these women subsisted on a diet of maize and were in poor health. Analysis of their teeth indicates that they may have been from outside of Cahokia and were transported to the site to be sacrificed.

This isn’t the only episode of human sacrifice seen at Mount 72, far from it. Researchers also found that an adjacent pit contained the burials of four men, their hands and heads were missing and their arms were interlinked. In yet another layer were the remains of 39 men and women who appear to have been executed on the spot.

“It seemed likely the victims had been lined up on the edge of the pit... and clubbed one by one so that their bodies fell sequentially into it,” archaeologist Timothy Pauketat writes in Cahokia: Ancient America’s great city on the Mississippi.

Why these people were sacrificed is a mystery. It may be related to the burials of two men in the mound, one buried facing up and the other buried facing down, with a layer of 20,000 shell beads in between them. Isotope analysis indicates that these two individuals consumed a diet rich in meat and were generally healthy. This suggests that the two men may have been elites of some sort, to whom these people were sacrificed for.   

5. Shang Dynasty China, Huanbei – bodies beneath a palace

Recently archaeologists uncovered a 3,300 year old palace at the ancient city of Huanbei in China. Built by the Shang kings, it was in use for only 50 years before it was cleared out and burnt to the ground. They did leave one thing behind – human sacrifices, at least 40 of them, found buried beneath the palace, including its front gate.

“This is a really large number of sacrificial pits,” said Professor Zhichun Jing of the University of British Columbia, in an interview with Heritage Key. He added that this number is likely to grow as excavation continues.

But these sacrifices pale when compared to the thousands that archaeologists have found in the nearby city of Yinxu. “According to oracle bones inscriptions the victims for the ritual killings (were) likely the captives of the war the Shang engaged with neighbours,” said Professor Jing. “Definitely by the end of the dynasty the war captives were the primary source of human victims.”

Click To Watch Video

Bettany Hughes: 'The Hemlock Cup' on the Life of Socrates

With Bettany Hughes' new book "The Hemlock Cup" about to hit bookshelves, Heritage Key catches up with her to find out more about her journey in writing about Socrates.

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4. Socrates – The Hemlock Cup

In 399 BC the Athenian philosopher Socrates was put on trial. He stood accused of “not acknowledging the gods the city acknowledges” and “subverting the youth of the city”. Plato records that he gave a great speech exhorting the Athenians to turn their backs on materialism and pursue knowledge, truth and virtue.

“Most excellent man, are you who are a citizen of Athens the greatest of cities and the most famous for wisdom and power, not ashamed to care for the acquisition of wealth and for reputation and honor, when you neither care nor take thought for wisdom and truth and the perfection of your soul?” Plato records him as saying.

The speech didn’t work. After a one day long trial (the norm back then), he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He chose to drink Hemlock poison, a relatively humane method of death.

After he drank it, Plato says that his body became numb, growing cold and rigid, his last words are said to have been, “Crito, we owe a cock (a fowl) to Aesculapius. Pay it and do not neglect it.” To which Crito is said to have replied - “That,” said Crito, “shall be done; but see if you have anything else to say.” Socrates never responded, having expired.

3. Jesus – Crucifixion

The story of the crucifixion of Jesus is without doubt one of the most famous stories ever told. His arrival in Jerusalem, his trial before Pontius Pilate, his crucifixion and resurrection are deeply integrated into western culture.

It is interesting that the cross would go on to become a symbol of Christianity. In the ancient world it was not a religious symbol, but an instrument used to put someone to a slow and painful death.

Imagine being nailed or tied to a long cross – your hands bleed, your soft tissues stretch and break, you are in horrendous pain and worst of all – death does not come quickly. It has been argued that the cross did not come into prominent use as a Christian symbol until centuries after Jesus’ death, probably for this reason.

2. Code of Hammurabi – death penalty

The Code of Hammuarbi dates back nearly 3,700 years and was put forward by the Babylonian king of the same name. It is one of the earliest known law codes but invokes the death penalty frequently. The hacking off of limbs is also used as punishment – one that could easily cause the convicted to die.

Here are a few examples translated by William Leonard King at the beginning of the 20th century.

– “If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.”

– “If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.”

– “If a builder build a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.”

1. Roman – Fed to the lions

“Feed them to the lions!” Is a phrase heard in stories and TV shows. How often this was attempted in Ancient Rome, and indeed how useful lions would have been for this purpose, is another matter. The Roman writer Martial wrote that the lions he saw in the Coliseum were not even interested in hunting a rabbit.

“The pastimes, Caesar, the sports and the play of the lions, we have seen: your arena affords you the additional sight of the captured hare returning often in safety from the kindly tooth, and running at large through the open jaws. Whence is it that the greedy lion can spare his captured prey?”

'The Hemlock Cup' hits the stores (and Amazon) October 7th. It is not 'merely' a Socrates biography; using a unique combination of archaeological, geological and historical clues, the historian recreates for the reader the world of Socrates with a vivacity not before achieved.

Bettany Hughes visited every spot were the philosopher was said to have walked, loved, fought and philosophised and investigated the many digs that are uncovering the world of 'Golden Age' Athens. She brings this fresh evidence to bear on the life of the man whose idea 'the unexamined life is not worth living' is thought to be at the root of what it is to live in the 21st century.

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About The Author

Owen Jarus (follow me: e-mail or )

Last three pieces by this author:

19 New Objects from King Tutankhamun's Tomb Discovered in New York | 'Unique' astronomical object reveals Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper | King Tut suffered 'massive' chest injury, new research reveals

Owen Jarus is a freelance writer based in Toronto ,Canada. He has written articles on archaeology for a variety of media outlets including The Canadian Press newswire (CP), U of T Magazine, The Mississauga News and The Guelph Mercury. Education: BA from the University of Toronto in History, Geography and Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations.