Lesson plan

Falling (execution)

by William Etty, 1818 Falling is execution by throwing or dropping a person from a great height. It has been used since ancient times. People executed in this way die from injuries caused by hitting the ground at high speed. In ancient Delphi, the sacrilegious were hurled from the top of the Hyampeia, the high crag of the Phaedriades to the east of the Castalian Spring. In pre-Roman Sardinia, elderly people who were unable to support themselves were ritually killed. They were intoxicated with a neurotoxic plant known as the "sardonic herb" (which some scientists think is hemlock water-dropwort) and then dropped from a high rock or beaten to death. During the Roman Republic, the Tarpeian Rock, a steep cliff at the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, was used for public executions. Murderers and traitors, if convicted by the quaestores parricidii, were flung from the cliff to their deaths. Suetonius records the rumours of cruelty by Tiberius during the later part of the emperor's reign while the latter was living at Capri. Tiberius was said to execute people, most notably boys whose sexual company he had grown tired of, by having them thrown from a cliff into the sea while he watched. Some were tortured before being executed, and if they survived the fall, men waiting below in boats would break their bones with oars and boathooks.…

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Article summary

by William Etty, 1818 Falling is execution by throwing or dropping a person from a great height. It has been used since ancient times. People executed in this way die from injuries caused by hitting the ground at high speed. In ancient Delphi, the sacrilegious were hurled from the top of the Hyampeia, the high crag of the Phaedriades to the east of the Castalian Spring. In pre-Roman Sardinia, elderly people who were unable to support themselves were ritually killed. They were intoxicated with a neurotoxic plant known as the "sardonic herb" (which some scientists think is hemlock water-dropwort) and then dropped from a high rock or beaten to death. During the Roman Republic, the Tarpeian Rock, a steep cliff at the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, was used for public executions. Murderers and traitors, if convicted by the quaestores parricidii, were flung from the cliff to their deaths. Suetonius records the rumours of cruelty by Tiberius during the later part of the emperor's reign while the latter was living at Capri. Tiberius was said to execute people, most notably boys whose sexual company he had grown tired of, by having them thrown from a cliff into the sea while he watched. Some were tortured before being executed, and if they survived the fall, men waiting below in boats would break their bones with oars and boathooks.…

Key claims

  1. members: 2015, members — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the members is "2015, members". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  4. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377294916

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.