damnatio ad bestias

Background: The Romans were notorious for brutally executing people who had been accused of crimes such as: (Interestingly, these are still popular crimes in the modern era!) The Issue: These capital punishments, which include the cliche classic of being fed to lions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_ad_bestias) or being drowned in a bag full of snakes, were—arguably—a tad excessive.…