Sennacherib Impaled Royal Road Blockers

Around 700 BC, Assyrian king Sennacherib, who reigned from 705 to 681 BC, widened the Royal Road through his capital, Nineveh, to 78 feet. His decree warned, "Royal Road, let no man decrease it," and prohibited residents from rebuilding homes in ways that narrowed the route. Anyone who violated the order faced impalement on a pole outside his own home.

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