What Punishment Was Like in the Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire ruled for nearly a thousand years and today at Nutty History we are looking for what punishments Byzantine Emperors employed to keep things in check.

In 395 AD, the mighty Roman Empire split like a cellular organism into two. The Western Roman Empire ruled from Rome and the Byzantine Empire ruled from Byzantium also known as Constantinople or as we know it today, Istanbul. The idea behind the split was to help the realms prosper and defend themselves more efficiently. It was believed that having two equal emperors would lessen the number of power struggles that had been taking place within the Roman Empire for decades.

However, that didn’t change much and neither changed the bizarre and evil punishments that were used as a deterrent against uprisings and revolutions. But laws could only be as strong as the people implicating them. Some rulers turned out too weak and some ruled with an iron fist, pardoning no one.