CRIME CORNER

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

Roman Crime

Many Roman crimes were very similar to the ones we have today, like theft, forgery or murder. But the Romans were also extremely religious, so actions that went against society’s common views were also crimes. Committing blasphemy was one of the worst crimes you could commit.

The Romans split theft into two different categories, 'manifest' and 'non-manifest' theft, and each carried a different punishment. Manifest theft was when a thief was caught in the act, either of committing the crime itself or transferring stolen goods.

Initially, the punishment was death or flogging, but it was later changed to a fine equalling four times the value of the stolen goods. For non-manifest theft, the penalty was double the value. The difference in penalties is largely believed to have been a strategy to encourage the victim of the theft not to kill the thief caught in the act and move forward with legal proceedings.

Roman Punishment

Roman punishments were pretty gruesome, to say the least. Punishments included beatings or lashings with a whip, exile and death, via a few unusual and horrifying methods. The Romans did have prisons, but they didn't usually use them as a punishment, more to hold people whilst their guilt or punishment was decided.  

• Damnatio ad bestias. Meaning 'condemnation to beasts,' this was a form of Roman capital punishment where the guilty person was killed by wild animals, usually lions or other big cats. This form of execution was demanded for the worst sort of criminals and Christians, and was used as entertainment for the lower classes, even forming part of the Flavian Amphitheatres inaugural games in 80 AD.
• Decimation. Meaning 'removal of a tenth,' this was exclusively a form of military punishment where every tenth soldier was put to death by other members of his cohort, for capital offences like cowardice, mutiny, desertion or insubordination.
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• Poena cullei. Meaning 'penalty of the sack,' this was a form of death penalty for someone convicted of parricide (killing their own Father). The guilty person would be sewn up in a leather sack, alongside four animals - a rooster, dog, monkey and snake - and then thrown into water.

Punishments weren't the same for every Roman citizen though, and would vary based on status. If you were a wealthy noblemen you could expect to receive far less punishment than a slave would, for example, for exactly the same crime and as always have a chilled day from the Viking