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Just to further my point about paganism practiced by descendants of PIE migration tribes not tolerating such outrageous behavior. Had AI do a deeper historical research:
Using “PIE-associated” in the normal historical-linguistic sense, there are Indo-European-descended pagan/non-Abrahamic societies with legal material treating child sexual exploitation, rape of girls/youths, or sexual violation as death-worthy, killable, or banishable.
- Pagan Athens: death could be imposed for sexually “outraging” a free-born child
This is probably the cleanest non-Norse example. In Aeschines, Against Timarchus, Athenian law is quoted as protecting boys from being hired out for prostitution and from sexual “outrage.” The speech says the law imposed the “heaviest penalties” on anyone acting as a pander for a free-born child, and then quotes the law: if an Athenian “outrage” a free-born child, the child’s parent or guardian could demand a penalty; if the condemned man was sentenced to death, he was handed over and put to death the same day. (ToposText)
Demosthenes’ Against Meidias preserves a broader version of the Athenian hubris law: anyone who assaulted/outraged a child, woman, or man, free or slave, could be indicted; the court assessed the punishment or fine. Demosthenes even says Athens had already punished many transgressors of this kind with death. (ToposText)
2. Ancient Indo-Aryan/Hindu legal tradition: death for violating an unwilling maiden/girl
In Manusmṛti 8.364, the text says that a man who violates an unwilling kanyā deserves immediate vadha. One translation gives this as “immediate death,” and the commentary explains that the offender should be killed the same day. (WisdomLib)
The Sanskrit term kanyā can mean maiden, girl, daughter, or virgin, and vadha means killing/death/capital punishment. (Enjoy Learning Sanskrit) Comparative notes on the same passage cite Nārada saying that sex with an unwilling maiden could bring mutilation, and if the maiden was of the highest caste, death plus confiscation of property; they also cite Matsyapurāṇa saying one who violates an unwilling maiden should be immediately killed. (WisdomLib)
The Arthaśāstra material is mixed but still relevant: it specifically distinguishes violation of a maiden before puberty, assigning hand-cutting or a heavy fine, while other rape situations in state custody could bring death or hanging. (WisdomLib)
3. Hittites: Indo-European pagan society with death for rape and prohibited sex with son/daughter
The Hittites were an ancient Indo-European people in Anatolia, and their culture was polytheistic, with a pantheon including major storm gods. (OER Project) Hittite law §189 prohibited a man from sexual relations with his own mother, daughter, or son, calling these “unpermitted sexual pairings.” (TheTorah.com)
For rape, Hittite law §197 is harsher: if a man seized a woman in the mountains, the offense was his and he was to be put to death; if the husband caught them in the act and killed them, he committed no offense. (Bible Odyssey) This is not child-specific by itself, but it shows a PIE-associated pagan legal system where sexual violation could be death-worthy or immediately killable.
There is also an older Hittite abduction clause where, if a woman was abducted and pursuers were killed, no restitution was owed because the abductor had “become a wolf” — a very outlaw-like phrase. (Linguistics Research Center)
4. Pagan Rome: Lex Scantinia protected freeborn male minors, though the exact penalty is less certain
The Lex Scantinia was a Roman Republican law concerning sexual misconduct, especially stuprum involving male Roman citizens/freeborn males. Roman stuprum mainly meant illicit sexual penetration of a respectable Roman citizen, male or female. (Péren) A recent scholarly article says the law was strongly associated with sexual misconduct involving freeborn males and that capital punishment was theoretically possible in the kind of inquiry used for such offenses, though fines are also likely. (Péren)
So Rome is a weaker example for “death,” but a good example for “pagan Indo-European society had legal protections against sexual abuse of freeborn boys.”
5. Celtic Ireland is a useful contrast: serious fines, not usually death
Early Irish/Brehon law is Celtic and Indo-European, but it leaned heavily toward compensation. For rape of a virgin, young nun, or principal wife, one source gives a penalty of 21 milch cows plus honor-price compensation. (celt.ucc.ie) Early Irish law generally avoided capital punishment even for homicide, preferring fines unless killing the offender became unavoidable. (Wikipedia)
Bottom line
There are non-Norse Indo-European pagan or non-Abrahamic examples. The strongest are:
Athens: death could be imposed for sexually outraging a free-born child.
Manusmṛti/Nārada tradition: death for violating an unwilling maiden/girl in some formulations.
Hittites: death for rape and explicit prohibition of sex with one’s daughter or son.
Rome: legal punishment for sexual violation of freeborn male minors, though the penalty is less clear.
