8 Ancient Punishments That Sound Made Up — Did They Really Happen?

Some ancient punishments seem too disturbing to be real. But what do archaeology, forensic science, ancient law, and surviving monuments actually prove? In this episode of Mortal Evidence, we investigate eight infamous cases—and separate physical evidence from political propaganda and stories repeated for centuries. We begin with the shackled skeletons discovered at Phaleron near Athens and the isotope analysis that challenged a popular explanation for their deaths. Then we examine Rome’s punishment of the sack, the alleged ash towers of the ancient world, the burial of a Vestal Virgin, an Inca animal prison, the Persian “two boats” account, the bronze bull of Phalaris, and the punishments depicted in Neo-Assyrian royal art. Some of these cases are supported by human remains or surviving reliefs. Others are documented in law or ancient writing, but their most dramatic details remain unverified. The question is not just how brutal the past could be—it is how we can tell what really happened. Sources discussed include research on the Phaleron burials and strontium isotopes; Herodotus and Thucydides on early Athens; Roman legal texts and Cicero; Second Maccabees; Pliny the Younger and Suetonius on Cornelia; Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Nueva corónica y buen gobierno; Plutarch’s Life of Artaxerxes; Pindar and Diodorus Siculus on Phalaris; and Neo-Assyrian royal inscriptions and the Lachish reliefs.