People Executed by Burning

People executed by burning include those killed as a form of capital punishment. This practice dates back to Classical Antiquity and has been used worldwide due to its public spectacle and the intense pain of burn wounds. In Ancient Sicily, Greek tyrant Phalaris roasted his enemies alive inside a bronze bull. The bull's designer and Phalaris himself were eventually executed using this device. The Ancient Romans and native Indians of North America also used burning as a method of execution, often targeting Jewish and early Christian martyrs. Baptist Edward Wightmen was the last person burned alive for heresy in England in 1612, at a market square in Staffordshire. Burning at the stake, iconic and infamous, was used during the Salem Witch Trials. Prisoners were often burned after suffering other torments, such as hanging, drawing, or quartering. This list includes historical figures known or thought to have been executed by fire.