History of Song
The "History of Song" described forms of punishment in criminal law as they were carried out in "Daqin" (Roman Empire) and "Fulin" (Byzantine Empire). It states that they made a distinction between minor and major offenses, with 200 strikes from a bamboo rod being reserved for major crimes. It described their form of capital punishment as having the guilty person being stuffed into a "feather bag" and thrown into the sea. This seems to correspond with the Romano-Byzantine punishment of "poena cullei" (from Latin "punishment of the sack"), where those who committed parricide (i.e. murder of a father or mother) were sewn up into a sack, sometimes with wild animals, and thrown into either a river or sea. The "History of Song" also mentioned how it was forbidden by law to counterfeit the coins minted by "Fulin". These descriptions from the "History of Song" are also found in the "Wenxian Tongkao".