In Britain hanging was the principal form of execution from Anglo-Saxon times up to 1964. There were hundreds of executions a year in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the greatest number being carried out at Tyburn . 1,140 men and 92 women were hanged at Tyburn between 1703 and 1789. It is estimated that 90% of all those executed were young men aged under 21. It was considered ideal as it produced a highly visible deterrent, being simple and cheap to perform and not requiring a skilled executioner or elaborate equipment. A rope, a ladder and a tree branch or beam were all that were needed. Public hangings apparently met the needs of justice well, attracting large crowds who were at least supposed to be deterred by the spectacle, but who more probably went for the morbid excitement and a day out. The term  Gala is derived from gallows day.

Introduction

Homer's Odyssey contains one of the first descriptions of hanging, dated from circa 1200 BC. Several centuries earlier, there are indications of hanging executions in Persia. Ironically this area remains a hotbed of hanging executions with Iran and Iraq both despatching several hundred criminals a year at the end of a rope. Syria hangs more in great secrecy--possibly over 5,000 a year. Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait also hang smaller numbers annually. Four thousand years of hanging executions and the hangman is still in demand.

Bog excavations in Denmark turned up a hanged man with a braided leather rope around his neck and a leather cap, Carbon dated to 400 BC. Archaeologists argue about whether this was an execution or a ritual sacrifice.