Six Historical Punishments for Treason
Here are six historical punishments for treason! This is the transcript of a short that I posted about a year ago on my YouTube channel! If you’d rather watch the short it’s to the right of this section, and if not, you can keep scrolling to read on!
In ancient Greece the punishment for treason was a public hearing or trial before a court. After this humiliating event your crime would be memorialized in an inscription etched into a stone or bronze pillar and displayed publicly.
The Romans started using crucifixion for treason, but the punishment for the crime varied by the Emperor or ruler at the time.
If you were in the “Viking” Society you would be exiled for three years or be sentenced to death.
As a noble in the Middle Ages you would be beheaded for any treasonous acts, but if you were a commoner you would have been drawn and quartered.
In Elizabethan England you would be hanged for a bit, but cut down before death, then you would be disemboweled. Your arms and legs were cut off next then you were beheaded.
Your head would be displayed on a big pole outside the city gate for all to see and be warned as to what happens to a traitor. Though, if you were of noble birth, you were more likely to be beheaded, drawn and quartered, or just hanged to death.
In Colonial America you would have been hanged. You might have been tarred and feathered before your death, but not all sources confirm this.
