One of the oldest cases of burying alive mentioned by Plutarch is the case of a nun who had vowed not to have sex with anyone for thirty years and had broken her vow. Sentenced to death, he was buried alive in a chamber under a hill. They also put food and water in the room. The nun was sent into the room with a ladder through a hole above the room, and then the ladder was taken out and soil was poured in its place. The nun's lover was also whipped to death. Burial alive was practiced among many nations including Slavic peoples, Scandinavians, in Germany, Austria, Denmark, France, Holland and Old England. In Italy, there was a strange form of burying alive: the convict was lowered into a pit upside down and dirt was poured over him; so that his feet stay out of the soil.