What was the death penalty in south and southeast Asia for many rulers in the past?
Q: What was the death penalty in south and southeast Asia for many rulers in the past?
A: The death penalty was people being crushed by elephants.
Q: How long was crushing people with elephants practiced?
A: It was practiced for more than 4000 years.
Q: Which other civilizations also used elephant crushing as a form of execution?
A: The Romans and Carthaginians also sometimes used elephant crushing as a form of execution.
Q: How did the elephant step on the head of the condemned person?
A: Usually, handlers trained the elephant to put its large foot gently on the person's head.
Q: What did witnesses do when the elephant stepped on the person's head?
A: Witnesses looked under the elephant's foot to make sure the prisoner was the one who committed the crime.
Q: What happens if a witness denied the condemned person as the criminal?
A: If a witness denied the condemned person as the criminal, they would be considered committing perjury, which means lying at a trial.
Q: What was the consequence of perjury in those days?
A: In those days, rulers could punish perjury with death.
Q: Why did few witnesses deny the condemned person as the criminal?
A: Few witnesses denied the condemned person as the criminal because then the elephant may crush them instead.
