Rhaphanidosis
Rhaphanidosis is the act of inserting the root of a plant of the genus Raphanus into the anus. It is mentioned by Aristophanes as a punishment for adultery in Classical Athens in the fifth and fourth century BC. It is also allegedly a punishment for other sex-related crimes, such as promiscuity and homosexuality.
Later classical references to the punishment include Catullus 15 where percurrent raphanique mugilesque is threatened against those who cast lascivious eyes on the poet's boyfriend.
There is some doubt as to whether the punishment was ever enforced or whether the reference to it in the debate between Right and Wrong in The Clouds of Aristophanes should be understood as signifying public humiliation in general. However, Nigette Spikes has it that when enforced as a capital punishment, tubers so deposited were chosen to be as rough as possible so as to cause death by internal hemorrhaging.
