Throughout history, capital punishment has assumed unusual forms under various monarchies. For example, the ancient Roman Empire commonly used crucifixion. Many Christians were also put to death by crucifixion in the 17th century Japan. Ancient Israel executed people by stoning them to death. The Babylonian Code of Hammurabi prescribed hanging, burning, drowning, or impaling as the ultimate punishment, depending on the offense. Some of these forms of execution were used in European countries. For example, during the Middle Ages and early modern times, those convicted of witchcraft or heresy were burned at the stake. In exceptional cases, authorities in medieval England hanged prisoners, removed them from the gallows before they died, disemboweled them, and cut them into four pieces. Ordinary hanging was more common in Europe. Executioners in monarchical Spain placed a garrote around a prisoner's neck and gradually tightened it until the prisoner suffered death by strangulation. Other Spanish prisoners, such as Jose Rizal of the Philippines, faced a firing squad. Decapitation has been a common form of execution in Muslim monarchies and has also been used in such countries as England and ancient Rome.
In ancient Egyptian, mutilation was frequently used as a form of punishment and was also used by rulers who held power in India. The Code of Hammurabi prescribed specific types of mutilations for specific offenses. Lawbreakers could lose their nose, ears or a hand, depending on the offense. A wet nurse might lose a breast. Rendering a person blind was another form of punishment, especially in the Byzantine empire. Deposed monarchs often suffered this fate.
Flogging was a frequent form of punishment under many monarchies. By law, authorities in ancient Israel could inflict no more than 40 lashes on an offender, but the Romans administered considerably more. European monarchies also adopted this ancient practice. In England, an offender was often tied to a cart and flogged as the cart moved through town. In medieval Europe, authorities occasionally used such instruments as the rack to punish an offender. It was also used to extract information or a confession. After the hands of the victim were tied to one end of a rack and the feet to the other end he was pulled in opposite directions, causing severe pain and sometimes dislocation.
Monarchs frequently imprisoned offenders in towers or dark dungeons. Others were banished from the nation, or forced into slavery or some other form of penal servitude. For example, Rome and France sent criminals to row boats as galley slaves. Others suffered public humiliation in stocks and pillories, especially during the Middle Ages. This involved wooden frames that enclosed the offender's neck, hands and feet. He would than helplessly suffer whatever abuse the public heaped upon him.