The Dark Age Art of Punitive Detention

IT IS AN old and macabre tradition to design punishments as deterrents to future would-be offenders. Public executions were aimed at educating and terrifying the public as much as punishing the perpetrator. The Romans lined the Via Appia with crucified rebellious slaves. The English displayed the severed heads of the gunpowder plot conspirators on the bridges into London. The message to entrants of both imperial cities was clear: the wages of sin against the sovereign were nasty and unpleasant - commit them at your peril.