The harsh punishments of the ancient Egyptians

If an Egyptian stole an animal, he was punished with 100 lashes and five stabs in the back before returning to work.

A painting depicting a punishment scene in ancient Egypt. Photo: Akhepedia.com.

From human skeletons buried in a civilian cemetery in Amarna, Minya, Egypt, researchers deduced that five men with shoulder blade injuries were punished. According to USA Today, a wall carving shows a punishment for stealing animal skins, but the researchers are not sure if this actually happened.

The men’s crimes and their identities are unclear. If the stab wounds were a punishment, they would have been sent back to work soon after. The builders were brought to Amarna some 3,300 years ago to build the massive temples and palaces of King Akhenaten.

Archaeologist Gretchen Dabbs of Southern Illinois University and colleagues were studying skeletons excavated from the Amarna necropolis. They found that the builders in ancient Egypt suffered from food shortages and hard labor.

The commoners buried in the cemetery had high rates of arthritis, likely the result of heavy lifting. Their skeletons also showed signs of famine-related diseases such as vitamin C deficiency.

The team noted that some of the skeletons had long, deep wounds on their shoulder blades, as if someone had stabbed them from behind and injured them. These were not injuries caused by falls or fighting.

In ancient times, some Egyptians were executed for various crimes, including grave robbing. Some were beaten, had their noses, ears, hands, or tongues cut off. According to Facts on File, adulterous women had their noses cut off to disfigure them so they would not commit the same crime again.

As in other ancient civilizations, women in ancient Egypt were punished more severely than men. A man who committed adultery with a married woman was punished with only 1,000 lashes. However, if he raped a woman who was a citizen, he was castrated.

Scientists have not found a common law code in ancient Egypt, but punishments are recorded in funeral documents, manuscripts of court proceedings, and other documents. Dabbs said it is possible that the shoulder-piercing punishment was only common in Amarna.

According to VietNamnet