You can find references to corporal punishment all the way back to the Old Testament. And in English there is the common saying "spare the rod and spoil the child."
深究人類體罰的歷史，至少可以追溯到二千年前的舊約時代；英文俗諺也有「不打不成器」的說法。舊約《聖經》〈箴言〉中說：「不可不管教孩童，你用杖打他，他必不至於死。」