Dr. Judith Evans Grubbs, Betty Gage Holland Professor of Roman History, was recently quoted in a Live Science article titled, “17 decapitated skeletons found at ancient Roman cemetery.” The findings occurred in the course of excavations at three ancient Roman cemeteries in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom. The piece discusses possible explanations for the decapitations, which some scholars (including Evans Grubbs) think took place in the context of official executions relating to the violation of Roman law. Read an excerpt below along with the full article.

“Still, other scholars thought that these people could have been executed in accordance with Roman law. ‘Official execution seems the best explanation for the Knobb’s Farm cases,’ said Judith Evans Grubbs, a professor of Roman history at Emory University in Atlanta. ‘Official executions would be carried out under the authority of the provincial governor, not local justice, and would reflect imperial ideas of criminality rather than local’ ones, said Grubbs. She noted that women in the Roman Empire were often targets for accusations of sorcery and adultery, both of which could be considered capital crimes by the Romans.”