Editing Death by burning (section)

====Ancient Rome====
[[File:Siemiradski Fackeln.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Nero's Torches]]]]
According to [[Christian legend]], [[Roman Empire|Roman]] authorities executed many of the early [[Martyr#Christianity|Christian martyrs]] by burning, including the [[military saint|warrior saint]] [[Theodore Tiron|Theodore]] and [[Polycarp]], the earliest recorded martyr.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.iv.iv.html|title=ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus – Christian Classics Ethereal Library|website=ccel.org}}</ref> Sometimes Roman immolation was carried out using the ''[[tunica molesta]]'',<ref>[[Juvenal]] has an extended description of the tunica molesta, the punishment as meted out by Emperor [[Nero]] as contained in [[Tacitus]] matches the concept. See ''Pagán'' (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=bHzMYrWHjVoC&pg=PA53 p. 53]</ref> a flammable tunic:<ref>''Miley'' (1843), [https://books.google.com/books?id=iSsLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA223 pp. 223–224]</ref>

{{blockquote|... the Christian, stripped naked, was forced to put on a garment called the tunica molesta, made of papyrus, smeared on both sides with wax, and was then fastened to a high pole, from the top of which they continued to pour down burning pitch and lard, a spike fastened under the chin preventing the excruciated victim from turning the head to either side, so as to escape the liquid fire, until the whole body, and every part of it, was literally clad and cased in flame.}}

In 326, [[Constantine the Great]] promulgated a law that increased the penalties for parentally non-sanctioned "abduction" of their girls, and concomitant sexual intercourse/rape. The man would be burnt alive without the possibility of appeal, and the girl would receive the same treatment if she had participated willingly. Nurses who had corrupted their female wards and led them to sexual encounters would have molten lead poured down their throats.<ref>[[Codex Theodosianus]] [http://ancientrome.ru/ius/library/codex/theod/liber09.htm#24 9,24]. Law text found in ''Pharr'' (2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=-ROBb7SIvYgC&pg=PA244 pp. 244–245] The full law was changed in context to the penalties just 20 years later by Constantine's son, [[Constantius II]], for free citizens aiding and abetting in the abduction, to an unspecified "capital punishment". The full severity of the law was to be kept, however, for slaves. [https://books.google.com/books?id=-ROBb7SIvYgC&pg=PA245 p. 245], ''ibidem''</ref> In the same year, Constantine also passed a law that said if a woman had sexual relations with her own slave, both would be subjected to capital punishment, the slave by burning (if the slave himself reported the {{nowrap|offense—}}presumably having been {{nowrap|raped—}}he was to be set free).<ref>Law text in [[Codex Justinianus]] [https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/Anglica/CJ9_Scott.gr.htm#11 9.11.1], as referred to in ''Winroth, Müller, Sommar'' (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=4smZ4JjGJcsC&pg=PA107 p. 107]</ref> In 390 AD, Emperor [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]] issued an edict against [[male prostitute]]s and brothels offering such services; those found guilty should be burned alive.<ref>''Pickett'' (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=XH-SMq-NKf0C&pg=PR21 p. xxi]</ref>

In the 6th-century collection of the sayings and rulings of the pre-eminent jurists from earlier ages, the [[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]], a number of crimes are regarded as punishable by death by burning. The 3rd-century jurist [[Ulpian]] said that enemies of the state and deserters to the enemy were to be burned alive. His rough contemporary, the juristical writer [[Callistratus (jurist)|Callistratus]], mentions that arsonists are typically burnt, as well as slaves who have conspired against the well-being of their masters (this last also, on occasion, being meted out to free persons of "low rank").<ref>See ''Watson'' (1998) '''Ulpian''', section 48.19.8.2, p. 361. '''Callistratus''', sections 48.19.28.11–12, p. 366</ref> The punishment of burning alive arsonists (and traitors) seems to have been particularly ancient; it was included in the [[Twelve Tables]], a mid-5th-century BC law code, that is, about 700 years prior to the times of Ulpian and Callistratus.<ref>''Kyle'' (2002), [https://books.google.com/books?id=x4vekGBc_McC&pg=PA53 p. 53]</ref>