The ancient Romans would have the civil engineer stand under the bridge they'd just built while a Legion marched over it. That's why Roman structures are still around today!
JFYI, it is most probably apocryphal: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18558/were-roma...
still it's a nice one, I have heard the same about engineers/architects in ancient Babylon and Egypt.
Hammurabi's code:
> If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.
> If it causes the death of the son of the owner of the house, they shall put to death a son of that builder.
https://www.fs.blog/2017/11/hammurabis-code/
Heard about it on Econtalk's recent episode with Nassim Taleb.
http://journaltimes.com/news/local/confronting-a-legacy-of-a...
"In order to gain the trust of the employees he asked his wife to enter the building while the movement was taking place."
It is not possible to extract more punishment on an individual than their death, technically, unless you believe in an afterlife.
It is not punitive and meant to 'correct' the builder; it is meant to 'prevent' the builder from cutting corners.
Not true at all. Not that I'd recommend it, but there's torture, and punishing family. They were far less outrageous in Ancient times.