Editing Decapitation (section)

==== Classical antiquity ====
[[File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_187.png|thumbnail|[[Beheading of John the Baptist]] by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]], 1860]]
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| quote = [[Pothinus]] matched [[Mark Antony]] in crime:<br />They slew the noblest Romans of their time.<br />The helpless victims they decapitated,<br />An act of infamy with shame related.<br />One head was [[Pompey]]'s, who brought [[Roman triumph|triumphs]] home,<br />The other [[Cicero]]'s, the voice of Rome.
   |source= — [[Martial]], ''[[Martial's Epigrams|Epigram]]'' I:60 (Trans. by [[Garry Wills]])
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The ancient Greeks and Romans regarded decapitation as a comparatively honorable form of execution for criminals. The traditional procedure, however, included first being tied to a stake and whipped with rods. Axes were used by the Romans, and later swords, which were considered a more honorable instrument of death. Those who could verify that they were Roman citizens were to be beheaded, rather than undergoing [[crucifixion]]. In the [[Roman Republic]] of the early 1st century BC, it became the tradition for the severed heads of public enemies—such as the political opponents of [[Gaius Marius|Marius]] and [[Sulla]]—to be publicly displayed on the [[Rostra]] in the [[Forum Romanum]] after execution. Perhaps the most famous beheading was that of [[Cicero]] who, on instructions from [[Mark Antony]], had his hands (which had penned the ''[[Philippicae]]'' against Antony) and his head cut off and nailed up for display in this manner.