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Start · Rome · 100
How Crucifixion Actually Killed Its VictimsThe nails weren't the killer — the Romans built a death that came from suffocation, one agonising push-up at a time.
same spot · Rome · 64
Nero Never Fiddled While Rome BurnedThe most famous image of imperial cruelty in Roman history turns out to be almost entirely fabricated.
same spot · Rome · 71 BC
Six Thousand Crucified Along The Appian WayThe slave rebellion Hollywood romanticised did not end with one man on a cross, but six thousand.
same spot · Rome · 1497
The Borgia Pope's Unsolved Family MurderThe pope's own favourite son was murdered and dumped in the Tiber, with suspicion pointing straight at his own brother.
same spot · Rome · 222
The Boy Emperor Rome Tried To EraseRome hated him so completely that after killing him, they tried to stuff his body down a sewer to deny him even a grave.
same spot · Rome · 258
The Deacon Who Joked While Roasting AliveOrdered to hand over the Church's treasure, he presented the poor instead, and paid with a slow death by fire.
same spot · Rome · 48
The Empress Who Lived a Double LifeRome's most powerful woman slipped out at night in a wig to chase thrills the palace could never contain.
same spot · Rome · 40
The Execution Designed to Keep You ConsciousPopularly said to be done upside down so blood kept the brain supplied, death by sawing is well recorded. The claim that victims stayed conscious to the chest is not.
same spot · Rome · 1612
The Painter Tortured To Prove She Told The TruthRaped by her tutor at seventeen, she was thumbscrewed during his trial to test if her testimony was true.
same spot · Rome · 130
The Penalty of the SackRome decided some crimes required more than death — the condemned were sewn into a sack with animals and thrown to drown.
Coordinates mark the place of each story, and some are approximate. Check opening times and access before you go.