Caning in Themiclesia
Caning in Themiclesia was part of the penal law from antiquity until 1957. Generally, it was imposed by statute for crimes meriting punishments less severe than enslavement or death. It is similar to, but legally not the same, as caning administered for procedural offences in judicial inquiry or trial. It was also used as a means of discipline in the legal system and in the armed forces until the same year.
In the past, caning was administered with a rod made of hard wood, usually brought down from over the administrator's head on the victim in a prone position. For civilians, the maximal combined sentence for caning was 1,200 strokes, even if the sum for various offences exceeded that number; for the army, the maximum was 2,000, and there was no stipulated maximum for crimes committed in office. The maximum number imposed for a single crime was 500 strokes. In its ultimate form prior to abolition, a wooden plank, with rounded edges, is used to beat the buttocks of the victim that is protected by a wooden frame, positioned such that the plank would not unduly hurt the victim's bones.
Caning often resulted in death in ancient Themiclesia, leading to policies that sought to regulate its practice and occasional moratoria. It became the rule that the administrating official cannot recuperate or take refreshments during the caning session, so that it was unusual for any sentence exceeding 300 or 400 strokes or so to be carried out fully. Furthermore, by the 12th century, the weight and dimensions of the caning instrument was regulated. The introduction of limited-term imprisonment in 1281 allowed the commutation of various caning sentences to incarceration, up to 11 years in total; however, the combination of several smaller sentences could still result in a sentence of up to 1,200 strokes.