The medieval Europe used it as part of the public execution of traitors. HBO. Centuries later, the Roman Emperor Hadrian reputedly used such a device to torture and kill Christians. Their artistic propaganda relishes every detail of torture, massacre, battlefield executions and human displacement that made Assyria the dominant power of the Middle East from about 900 to. Wikimedia Commons. Thats exactly the experience of modern-day soldiers whove been involved in close hand-to-hand combat.. The method was done by breaking the criminals bones and bludgeoning them to death. He would then be lowered very slowly, the pyramid opening his anal orifice and slowly impaling him. x- [ 0}y)7ta>jT7@t`q2&6ZL?_yxg)zLU*uSkSeO4?c. R -25 S>Vd`rn~Y&+`;A4 A9 =-tl`;~p Gp| [`L` "AYA+Cb(R, *T2B- The strappado, also known as corda, is a longstanding, simple, but nonetheless effective method of torture involving tying a victims hands behind their back. They poured boiling water over us, burned us with cigarette butts.". Originally described in Plutarchs Life of Artaxerxes II, the first recorded, if challenged, use of scaphism was against a Persian soldier named Mithridates in 401 BCE. Then the inquisitor would heat up the other end of the cage, leaving the panicked rats with no choice but to eat their way out through the victims flesh. It should be noted, nevertheless, that the Dutch did not intend the practice to be fatal and allowed for respites in the torture to recover. V)gB0iW8#8w8_QQj@&A)/g>'K t;\ $FZUn(4T%)0C&Zi8bxEB;PAom?W= The Bishop of Pergamon, killed during the reign of Domitian, the first martyr of Asia Minor, was burned to death in 287. Captured soldiers were supposedly tied above infant bamboo shoots, which, over the course of several days, would grow at a rapid pace and pierce the prisoners. [1] Hypothermia is possible, as skin provides natural insulation and is essential for maintaining body temperature. The ribs are then detached from the backbone. Wikimedia Commons. These kind of artifacts are very common. And some sent tributes to Assyria before they ever looked their way, surrendering before theyd even approached to keep them away. Ironically, in a reversal of fortunes for the Babylonians, Darius I of Persia would later impale 3,000 of their own in vengeance. If the individual survives the initial shock and avoids critical loss of blood during the torture, then they will likely die days later due to infection. Sometimes, they got creative. 0000001500 00000 n The early Assyrians were a warrior society. 0000000689 00000 n He was kind of famous among us as we endured much torture from his hand," he added. Keelhauling, taking its name from the Dutch Kielhalen meaning to drag along the keel, was a torturous punishment inflicted upon sailors whilst at sea. Maria These horrific and brutal images would surly make any enemy fear the wrath of Lagash. In at least one case, an Assyrian king made the women lift their skirts over their heads and march blindly after their captors. Known also to have been used throughout Scotland on various occasions between 1200 and 1600, the Holy Roman Empire also employed boiling as the legal punishment for coin forgery. The rocks were to be used to build palaces and wonders for the kings, and the slaves couldnt stop for a moment. From his capital at Ashur, Ashur-uballit extended Assyrian control over the rich farming . Known to have occurred as early as 2500 BCE, with archaeological evidence in the Sumerian city of Ur depicting the practice, it was also a prominent feature of early imperial China. In the past, rulers also included these extra elements of punishment to turn executions into spectacles. Skinning was a torture method used in various civilizations throughout history and it involves removing a portion of skin from a human being while still alive (although in some cases it is carried out post-mortem) and trying to keep intact the portion removed. Any outsider who would gaze upon the monument would know not to mess with Lagash. Lewandowski, Herv. Nevertheless, the ancient Roman Candles signify the first organized persecutions of Christians under the Romans. Rat torture was first documented in 17th century Europe during the Dutch Revolt, with the technique being used against captured prisoners. Attached to a spiked wall, the unfortunate woman would be attached to the mechanism and pulled along by her breasts until they were torn from her. The victim would be laid down on his belly with his hands tied behind his back and his rectum would be slit up by a razor, after which a paste would be applied to stop the bleeding before a stake would be thrusted into his body. That meant being skinned alive, having noses and ears chopped off, and whatever torments they could imagine. Among the alleged cruelties bestowed upon these religious minorities was the so-called Roman Candle. scalping). At best, an army could hope to break through a citys gates by rushing at it with a log, often while archers fired down on them from below. The former, a bi-pronged fork attached to a belt around the victims neck, unflinchingly secured the angle of the head. [00aR/NU(=PpF Executions have often served as a kind of revenge, a way of inflicting pain and mental torture on the convict. I don't think torturers can be human. Murderers were handed over to the victims family, who were free to do with them as they willed. The people of a conquered nation would be spread about the kingdom, living alongside of people from foreign lands instead of their own countrymen to keep them packing together and staging a revolt. Crucifixion, an ancient method of capital punishment, is perhaps the most famous means of torture in history due to its association with the Christian narrative of Jesus. Centuries later, Tacitus noted Germanic tribes practicing a ritual form of capital punishment, whereby those convicted of cowardice and other shameful vices were buried face down in mud. When it comes to psychological warfare in the form of sheer brutality, impalement wasn't the only thing the ancient Assyrians turned tothey had other methods of scaring the life out of their neighbors. This excruciating method has been used throughout history ever since then, and probably before as well. Ormerod, Dorset Press (1987), Von Ursprung des Schindens in Assyrien, Ernst G. Jung, in Kleine Kultrugeschichte der Haut, Spring Verlag (2007), Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear, Jan Bondeson, W.W. Norton & Company (2002), Vampires, Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality, Paul Barber University Press (1988), Crucifixion in Antiquity: An Inquiry into the Background and Significance of the New Testament Terminology of Crucifixion, Gunnar Samuelsson, Mohr Siebeck Publishing (2013), Crucifixion in the Roman World: The Use of Nails at the Time of Christ, John C. Robison, Studia Antiqua (June 2002), Death by a Thousand Cuts, Timothy Brook, Jerome Bourgon, and Gregory Blue, Harvard University Press (2008), The Cambridge Ancient History: Assyria and Babylon, c. 1370-1300 B.C., C.J. It was one of the ideas that made Assyria so strong. The Babylonian destruction of their capital city Nineveh in 612 B.C. Others went further. However, a 2008 Mythbusters investigation verified that bamboo shoots can penetrate several inches of ballistic gelatin (comparable in strength to the human skin) in less than three days. Recorded in England, beginning in 1531 during the reign of Henry VIII, being boiled alive became the legally prescribed method of capital punishment for those convicted of high treason or murder by poison. The passage of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1791, prohibiting cruel and unusual punishments, was a direct response to this wartime practice and an attempt to prevent any further applications in the fledgling nation. The stake would be hammered in with a mallet, and it would come out at either his breast, head, or shoulders. The victim would be repeatedly fed and covered with the honey mixture in order to prolong the torture. Involving the severing of the ribs from the spin using a sharp implement, the victims lungs are subsequently pulled through the space created and draped over their shoulders to create the illusion of wings. }?9{we#5SS"&~j[}mwD { 4A6*({[OUq.-1!>4?izc^(a7-=HkN{i,J~WnxjWwcON>Egjmd.pC =r*5o@/g e_?+\ VO7o:\~{[eWirG7a{8Nx?= 9^+:2Z Assyrian relics also depict two types of executions: piercing through the chest and through the anus. Most famously, bamboo torture was alleged to have been used during World War II by the Japanese Empire against Allied prisoners of war. Victory Stele of Eannatum, King of Lagash, Called the Vulture Steleearly dynastic period, c. 2450 bc. Torturemuseum.net. Wikimedia Commons. Similarly, and more in line with modern representations, occurred during the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648). For example, Neo-Assyrian kings used it to punish rebel leaders. In so doing, the individual, should they survive punishment, would be marked for life, unable to breastfeed any future children and thus prevented from fulfilling the chief role of women in Medieval society. Upon reaching the location, he would be hung almost to the moment of death. Made from iron and heated to ensure an easier tear, the spikes of the ripper would be attached to a convicted womans breast. Exclusive: Syrian regime is being accused of implementing more than 72 torture methods, including crucifixion, rape, and eye-gouging. It is as gory and bloodcurdling a history as we know. One Assyrian King, named Ashurnasirpal II, has left a whole series of these tablets behind, and the descriptions are positively terrifying. During Mesopotamian times, wars were what divided ruling periods. Both named victims of the blood eagle Halfdan Long-Leg and lla of Northumbria were of royal blood, lending credence to speculation the ritual was reserved for persons of special importance. Tortured by the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime in prison for seven years, Muhlis al-Drubi cannot forget the horrors he experienced, including having boiling water poured over him and reverse hanging. trailer References to a similar punishment for piracy existed in the Rhodian Maritime Code dating from 700 CE, but it was not until the Early Modern Period that keelhauling entered into prominence. In some accounts, there were cuts that numbered to 100 (Yuan Dynasty) and some were over 3,000 (Ming Dynasty). I don't know where he is from, nor who he is. Scaphism was a Persian method of execution. empires.. Assyria was located in the northern part of Mesopotamia, which corresponds to most parts of modern-day Iraq as well as parts of Iran . Native Americans flayed their captives to make them suffer for as long as possible. The Iraq Government, as was anticipated, employed methods to cause dissension among the Assyrians, taking on its side certain individuals with whom Thomson was instructed to carry out Iraq's policy. After enduring an agonizing rupturing of their anal canal, the victim would die unless released. Public Domain. The king of Urartu, upon hearing the Assyrian army approach, stabbed himself in the chest rather than face them. Tied to a wooden frame in a public place, small pieces of flesh would be slowly cut from the body. After the arrest and interrogation of 48 monks, three of them, including the subprior and sacrist, were found guilty of the robbery and flayed. Wikimedia Commons. Eventually, under pressure from Western nations undergoing their own liberalizations of violent punishments, in 1905, as part of widespread revisions of the Chinese penal code, lingchi was formally abolished as a criminal sentence. If it pleases you, do what you will!. marks the end of the Neo-Assyrian empire, although a last Assyrian king, Ashur-uballit II, attempted to rescue A wooden board would be placed on the victims chest and abdomen and heavy stones or iron weights would be gradually placed on top of the board, slowly suffocating the victim. In 1323, the Mexica tribe asked for Yaocihuatl, daughter of Achicometl, ruler of Culhuacan in marriage. 0000001680 00000 n 0000002742 00000 n The device is rarely washed, so the victim either dies from impalement or infection. An illustrated depiction of the heretics fork in practice. The judges of ancient Babylon were particularly enthusiastic about instilling fear in wrong doers, prisoners of war, or anyone that needed to be punished for any type of crime. 434 19 The British Museum. A Tudor woodcut print of Keelhauling (c. 1485 1603). under a series of powerful rulers, becoming one of the world's earliest . His prolonged exposure and his flesh rotting away due to his own filth and the insects devouring him would eventually lead to his horrifying demise. Where do we find this stuff? Flaying, also known as skinning, is a method of torture (and often execution) whereby the skin of the victim is gradually removed from the body in a precise fashion. The captives I have killed by the sword and flung on the dung heap. Often, but not always used as a method of execution, the prisoner is left for an indefinite period of time to suffer from starvation and dehydration whilst trapped in isolation and darkness. The Assyrians were so brutal that their military campaigns even put themselves through hell. After Perillos created his device, Phalaris allegedly ordered the engineer demonstrate its effectiveness with his own flesh. 0000001205 00000 n "Assad's forces detained me, my four siblings and other men in the village. Wikimedia Commons. Photo credit: Wikimedia. Centuries before the United States of America would adopt the use of sleep deprivation and enforced standing to entice confessions and acquire intelligence, the Inquisition developed two ruthless mechanisms to achieve the same end: the Heretics Fork and Neck Traps. Several English writers during the 17th century recorded keelhauling on naval ships; however, there remains no formal note of these actions in the ships logs. Men had to right to murder adulterous wives. The act of inflicting physical or psychological pain upon an individual, torture has served both a human as well as a judicial function since our earliest emergence into recorded history. Entering Europe and becoming a popular punishment for collaboration during the Thirty Years War, Vlad III of Wallachias impalement of more than 20,000 individuals earned him his immortality as Dracula. Wikimedia Commons. The period from the ninth century to the end of the seventh century B.C. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or. 0000001979 00000 n He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. This would result to the body looking like a spread eagle, thus the name of the torture method. The breaking wheel, also known as the Catherine wheel, was a method of torture that featured as part of public executions in Europe between the start of the Middle Ages until the Early Modern Period. "They hung us up from our wrists to the ceilings. Through the midst of that city I dug canals, I flooded its site with water, and the very foundations thereof I destroyed. xref Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern. Those who did not, he warned, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine.. In fact, impalement, if done properly, permits the individual to survive for several days, with the longest known victim suffering for more than eight days. These kind of artifacts are very common. All of Assyria was subject to their resettlement policy, which uprooted whole families and moved them across the country. In the year 64 of the Common Era, the Great Fire of Rome devastated large parts of the imperial city. Premature or live burial, as the name suggests, refers to the practice of burying an individual whilst they are still alive. Suspending the individual by a rope attached to the wrists, with weights added, if necessary, to increase the pain. And, Aztecs of Mexico flayed victims as part of their human sacrifice rituals, and many more. Assyrians can be undoubtedly termed as the Nazis of the biblical world. I made its destruction more complete than that by a flood. updated November 28, 2017, 8:39 pm, by Ancient Torture. Assyria emerged as a territorial state in the 14th century B.C. Anyone from slaves to prisoners of war could be subject to fear inducing acts of punishment. The fragment above is part of the Stele of Vultures. Ejaz Khan Some of the accounts detailing Blood Eagle claim that it was used mainly for revenge and sometimes, pure contempt. In the sixth season of the television series, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 13:11. 434 0 obj<> endobj It has been suggested, without corroboration, that these candles were used as decorations during formal parties held by Nero. Differing from immurement by both method and intent, those subjected to premature burial are interred with the purpose of execution, and, in contrast to the entombing of persons within walls, the victims die far quicker when buried. Though other methods of torture were used, Vlad III has been mostly associated with impalement, earning him the title Vlad the Impaler. Its territory covered approximately . He would be left to float on a pond, with his accumulated feces and honey-covered body attracting insects which would eat and breed within his exposed flesh. Unknown to him, she was sacrificed, with the priest appearing during the festival dinner wearing her skin as part of the ritual. A ritualized method of torture and execution, the Viking practice of the blood eagle stands among the most brutal and controversial of historical tortures. If you think you can handle it, then heres a list of ancient torture methods thatll be sure to make your toes curl. Both were commonly inscribed with the Latin phrase abiruo I recant: an objective often achieved due to the eventual breaking of the subjects will. Survival time would vary from a few minutes to several days, depending on how the stake was inserted. Diederik Sonoy, an ally of the revolts leader, William of Orange, allegedly used pottery bowls filled with rats to enact the torture and elicit information. Conversely, the U.S. has also been victims of the practice, with the late Senator John McCain famously subjected to the technique during the Vietnam War. I let the leaders of the conquered cities be flayed, and clad the city walls with their skins. One king, Esarhaddon, made noblemen wear necklaces with their kings heads on them. [5], In Chinese history, Sun Hao, Fu Sheng and Gao Heng were known for removing skin from people's faces. A similar variant of the implement, the Iron Spider, was a less portable alternative. 0000000016 00000 n Appearing in civilizations around the world, two primary purposes recur as the motivations behind the practice: human sacrifice and criminal punishment. The victim was forced to carry their crossbeam to the place of public execution, weighing an estimated 100 lbs, where they would be displayed. A 1593 engraved illustration of vertical impalement; author unknown. Tortured by the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime in prison for seven years, Muhlis al-Drubi cannot forget the horrors he experienced, including having boiling water poured over him and reverse. (s.`Y fI2q-y6ZS?8,FYMe 8yj3O ,. A military culture. This is more commonly called skinning . Adriana John They pioneered the use of terror as a weaponand they made the lives of their enemies a living horror story. Dermatologist Ernst G. Jung notes that the typical causes of death due to flaying are shock, critical loss of blood or other body fluids, hypothermia, or infections, and that the actual death is estimated to occur from a few hours up to a few days after the flaying. Execution of Thomas Armstrong in 1684 (c. 1698). wn The executioner would not make the victim bleed too much in order to prolong the torture before the final and fatal cut to the throat or heart would be made. By the reign of Queen Margaret I of Denmark (r. 1387-1412 CE), female adultery was punished with premature burial (whilst men merely got off with a quick beheading), and until 1689 Russia employed the torturous experience as punishment for the murder of a husband. Kesselring, The English Historical Review (September 2001), Judas Cradle: Torture Device, Medievalist.com, Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History, John Briggs, Palgrave Macmillan (1996), The Tudor Law of Treason, John Bellamy, Routledge & Kegan Paul (1979), Execution: A Guide to the Ultimate Penalty, Geoffrey Abbott, Summersdale Publishers (2005), Dispensing Justice: Responses to Crime, Baron David James George Hennessy Windlesham, Clarendon Press, 1987, The Instruments of Torture, Michael Kerrigan, Lyons Press (2001), The Spectacle of Suffering: Executions and the Evolution of Repression from a Preindustrial Metropolis to the European Experience, Pieter C. Spierenburg, Cambridge University Press (1984), Rituals of Retribution: Capital Punishment in Germany 1600-1987, Richard J. Evans, Oxford University Press (May 9, 1996), Torture and Democracy, Darius Rejali, Princeton University Press (2007), The Lives They Lived: The Prisoner, Jonathan Mahler, The New York Times (December 25, 2005), The A to Z of Punishment and Torture: From Amputations to Zero Tolerance, Irene Thompson, Book Guild Publishing (2008), The Walled-up Wife: A Casebook, Mircea Elliade and Alan Dundes, University of Wisconsin Press (1996), The Brief History Of The Brazen Bull, John DeVore, Nov 19, 2016. The Assyrian population grew around the region known as Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. Behind them, slave masters were always watching, ready to beat anyone who slacked. Designed during the reign of the tyrant Phalaris (r. 570-554 BCE) by Perillos of Athens, the bull, as recorded by Diodorus Siculus, was supposedly made from bronze but hollowed out and with a door on one side. 2y.-;!KZ ^i"L0- @8(r;q7Ly&Qq4j|9 Gadd, Cambridge University Press (1965), Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse: The Rite of the Blood Eagle, Roberta Frank, English Historical Review (1984), Torture and Brutality in Medieval Literature: Negotiations of National Identity, Larissa Tracy, D.S. Scaphism, also known as the boats, is a disputed method of Persian torture and execution. Their kingdom which lasted for some 2000 years in an area (which is now Northern Iraq) had no natural barriers as such to protect their homeland. The horrors and the guilt of murdering and torturing innocent people wreaked havoc on their psyches. A dead animal may be flayed when preparing it to be used as human food, or for its hide or fur. & 636BC, "Hypatia and pagan philosophical culture in the later fourth century", 1575 Painting: The Flaying of Marsyas, by Titian, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flaying&oldid=1142268127, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Vasak Mamikonyan, commander-in-chief of the Armenian army during the reign of, In 1314, the brothers Aunay, who were lovers of the daughters-in-law of king. "F$H:R!zFQd?r9\A&GrQhE]a4zBgE#H *B=0HIpp0MxJ$D1D, VKYdE"EI2EBGt4MzNr!YK ?%_&#(0J:EAiQ(()WT6U@P+!~mDe!hh/']B/?a0nhF!X8kc&5S6lIa2cKMA!E#dV(kel }}Cq9 endstream endobj 447 0 obj<> endobj 448 0 obj<> endobj 449 0 obj<>stream Experts from conquered countries would be sent into the heart of the nation, where they would be put to work building palaces, temples, and wonders. He wrote, I hung the heads of the kings upon the shoulders of their nobles, and with singing and music I paraded.. During the American Revolutionary War, both Loyalists and Patriots were recorded as inflicting the punishment upon their opponents. %%EOF Lingchi, known colloquially in the West as death by a thousand cuts, was a ritualistic form of torture prevalent in Imperial China. The boot, or 'Spanish boot' as it was sometimes called, was like a rack for the legs which would be placed in tightly fitted iron or wooden boots. Sometimes, the executioner would be instructed to aim for the convicts heart or neck to cause immediate death. wG xR^[ochg`>b$*~ :Eb~,m,-,Y*6X[F=3Y~d tizf6~`{v.Ng#{}}jc1X6fm;'_9 r:8q:O:8uJqnv=MmR 4 Under the Habsburgs, the number of strikes inflicted was used as a measure of the severity of criminal conduct by the condemned. The namesake for this torture was the Christian martyr, Saint Catherine. In some instances, mercy might be granted allowing for a swifter death, with the wheelset on fire or the condemned beheaded. Keelhauling, which dates back in 800 B.C. Assyrian art shows a parade of their slaves chained to large stones, being forced to drag massive rocks like mules. From here, he was transferred to the Hama military airport, where he was beaten upon arrival, stripped naked, interrogated and tortured. The methods interpretation was that the skin of the victims back was flayed and pried open like wings.
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