The Catherine Wheel, or the Breaking Wheel, was a method used for public execution through the Middle Ages, with the last known execution believed to have taken place in Prussia in 1841. Similarly, neck traps prevented the victim from adjusting the angle of their neck to a more comfortable position. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) states in its latest report issued today that it has documented 72 torture methods which the Syrian regime continues to practice in its detention centers and military hospitals, calling on the US Congress to pass the Caesar Act to provide accountability after identifying 801 individuals who appeared in Wikimedia Commons. Maria Christ on the Cross, by Carl Bloch (c. 1870). Trapping a condemned prisoner, the individual would be force-fed milk and honey as well as coated in the foodstuffs. Designed to deter witnesses from repeated the offense of the condemned, crucifixions were deliberately orchestrated events. Sometimes, the executioner would be instructed to aim for the convicts heart or neck to cause immediate death. The Babylonian destruction of their capital city Nineveh in 612 B.C. "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 Syrian man, 42 recounts horrors in regime imprisonment, from having boiling water poured over him to reverse hanging. Neros Torches, depicting the martyrdom of a group of early Christians in Rome, by Henryk Siemiradzki (c. 1876). This was the fate of the rebellious Israelites of the Northern . HWF}Wc/ v2`L&_Tu1M*$qt{o_|eo? Frequently using oil, tar, or tallow, various cultures and civilizations spanning Europe and Asia are known to have employed boiling as a means of inflicting great pain upon condemned persons. One Assyrian King, named Ashurnasirpal II, has left a whole series of these tablets behind, and the descriptions are positively terrifying. The Bishop of Pergamon, killed during the reign of Domitian, the first martyr of Asia Minor, was burned to death in 287. [citation needed]. Equally, their hands and feet might be tied together to make balancing even harder or oil poured over the chair. In the second year, they would go out to war. Similarly, and more in line with modern representations, occurred during the Dutch Revolt (1568-1648). The former, stemming from Elizabethan England, is based on claims the Tower of London contained a Rats Dungeon wherein a cell blow high-water mark would draw in rats from the River Thames and victims would have fleshtorn from the arms and legs. Wikimedia Commons. Nourished by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the cities of Mesopotamia Greek for "the land between two rivers"flourished from the 20th century to the end of the seventh century B.C.E. . Although today generally outlawed (at least in the Western world; regarded as a barbaric deed) torture was once regarded as a righteous and just treatment in response to a criminal outrage. %%EOF Wikimedia Commons. HyTSwoc [5laQIBHADED2mtFOE.c}088GNg9w '0 Jb In their royal edicts, the Neo-Assyrian kings seem to gloat over the terrible fate they imposed upon their captives, and that flaying seems, in particular, to be the fate meted out to rebel leaders. trailer Their torturers would continuously hurl verbal abuse at the prisoners, al-Drubi recounted. The ancient Assyrian were among the most ruthless of all ancient warriors. In September 1611, Dionysios the Philosopher (or. All he left behind was a message, boasting of how far hed gone to decimate them. 0000001500 00000 n (AFP/GETTY IMAGES). 4. 5 The Torture Of The Survivors. [10] Lu Xun said the Ming dynasty was begun and ended by flaying.[11]. 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. Should the victim fall asleep or allow their head to droop, then the sharp prongs would begin to pierce their throat and neck. And, Aztecs of Mexico flayed victims as part of their human sacrifice rituals, and many more. Either way, torture will never NOT be disturbing, so readers should be warned that this list is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. Executions have often served as a kind of revenge, a way of inflicting pain and mental torture on the convict. Abstract and Figures. It has been suggested, without corroboration, that these candles were used as decorations during formal parties held by Nero. If a man was caught with another man, the law said, they shall turn him into a eunuch. Adultery was punishable by death. Those convicted, commonly murderers and robbers, would be broken by the wheel for their sins, whereupon they were staked out and endured having their limbs broken. One Assyrian king recorded sparing some of the people he invaded but only after they shamelessly humbled themselves before him. When they came to your town, the men at the gates were vicious and battle-hardened. In the year 64 of the Common Era, the Great Fire of Rome devastated large parts of the imperial city. endstream endobj 435 0 obj<>>>/LastModified(D:20030926134002)/MarkInfo<>>> endobj 437 0 obj[438 0 R 439 0 R 440 0 R] endobj 438 0 obj<>>> endobj 439 0 obj<>>> endobj 440 0 obj<>>> endobj 441 0 obj<>/Font<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC]/ExtGState<>>>/StructParents 0>> endobj 442 0 obj<> endobj 443 0 obj[/ICCBased 449 0 R] endobj 444 0 obj<> endobj 445 0 obj<> endobj 446 0 obj<>stream 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. This method of torture was executed in several ways, like; Tying the victim to a pole and peeling his facial skin first, or submerging the victim in boiling water before the flaying. Hypothesized to originate from the Kingdom of the Franks, by the time of the Holy Roman Empire it formed a staple of the legal system. As a result, the mechanism was specifically designed to mutilate and destroy the most visible feminine attribute in retribution for the alleged unwomanly crimes: the breasts. 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. In the ancient Far East, where there were large states peopled by many different ethnicities, leaders demonstrated their might by inventing ingenious new tortures and agonizing methods of execution as a way to keep the population obedient. Using a heated vessel to contain the vermin close to the human, the rodent, growing increasingly desperate to escape its own suffering, is compelled to burrow into the flesh of the victim. Forced to eat under pain of physical torture, Mithridates was drenched with a mixture of milk and honey. Nearly 3,000 years ago, a nation few remember today swept through the Middle-East. The cutting off of feet, lips and noses, blinding, gutting and the ripping out of the heart were all standard punishments in this corner of the ancient world (Hamblin). The boot. A similar variant of the implement, the Iron Spider, was a less portable alternative. The victim would suffer hours of agonizing pain as the rats dig a hole through his body, after which he would inevitably die. Others went further. updated November 28, 2017, 8:39 pm, by This nasty torture method uses rats to torment the victim by forcing the rodents to gnaw their way into the humans flesh. The British Museum. updated March 25, 2018, 6:05 pm, by The United States has continued to use the method as recently as 2003, when, under interrogation by the CIA, Manadel al-Jamadi was killed after just 30 minutes at Abu Ghraib Prison. A 1593 engraved illustration of vertical impalement; author unknown. Revived, castrated, disemboweled, before being finally beheaded, his body would subsequently be chopped into four pieces and displayed at prominent locales. In the past, rulers also included these extra elements of punishment to turn executions into spectacles. 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. Heating the bowls with charcoal, the rats would gnaw into the very bowels of the victim. (e.g. Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso.It was particularly used in response to "crimes against the state" and regarded across a number of cultures as a very harsh form of capital punishment and recorded in myth and art. Adriana John Another innovation attributed to the Spanish Inquisition, the Judas Cradle, also known as the Judas Chair or Guided Cradle, was a torture device dating from the 16th century. Men had to right to murder adulterous wives. 434 0 obj<> endobj The Assyrian empire was located in Mesopotamia near the Euphrates River. Make peace with me and come out to me! the envoy called out. Royal edicts dating from the time of Ashurnasirpal II glorify the deed, proclaiming I have clad the pillar in the flayed skins. Today, the term Roman Candle refers to a type of Chinese firework that became popular in Western Europe during the Italian Renaissance. The period from the ninth century to the end of the seventh century B.C. When the Assyrian king Seenacherib invaded Babylon, he wiped them off the map. A Tudor woodcut print of Keelhauling (c. 1485 1603). By the time their armies reached your walls, these stories would have spread. As both accounts were written many years after the events detailed, their veracity cannot be fully ascertained. Facing blame for both causing the blaze and providing inadequate response to the inferno, which caused widespread damage to 10 of Romes 14 districts, Emperor Nero blamed the fiery outbreak on religious minorities including early Christians. Suspending the individual by a rope attached to the wrists, with weights added, if necessary, to increase the pain. Gradually declining, by 1813 the practice started to be outlawed, with the last known execution by the wheel known to have occurred taking place in Prussia in 1841. 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. Shakespeare referenced the practice in The Winters Tale, whilst the legendary fictitious hunter Allan Quartermain experiences a vision of the brutal technique. "The nobles and elders of the city came out to me to save their lives," he declared. Impalement was the act of penetrating a sharp stake through the body. Continuing in usage throughout Medieval Europe, most commonly as part of the execution of traitors, flaying became so popular in Imperial China that the Hongwu Emperor ordered the mass flaying of 5,000 women in 1396. Its territory covered approximately . Annemasse. This would result to the body looking like a spread eagle, thus the name of the torture method. When their year at war ended and they were allowed to return home to their families, they lived lives haunted by ghosts of the people theyd inflicted all these torments upon. Attracting bugs and vermin, whilst also inducing diarrhea to lure additional parasites, the victim would be gradually consumed by the animals as they fed upon them. The fragment above is part of the Stele of Vultures. The women had it even worse. This practice, in addition to causing immense suffering, was supposed to represent the spiritual defilement of the individual, with their eternal soul unable to reside in one piece in future lives. Wikimedia Commons. Murderers were handed over to the victims family, who were free to do with them as they willed. In the medieval ages, torture was used to punish heretical behavior and sexual offenders. 0 The Assyrian population grew around the region known as Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. With the practice gradually watered down due to public opposition to its brutality, it was eventually abolished entirely in 1870. These people were usually lucky enough to bring their families. Assyrian art shows a parade of their slaves chained to large stones, being forced to drag massive rocks like mules. Commonly resulting in the dislocation of the arms and shoulders, the longer-term effects of the method are less visible, causing lifelong nerve, ligament, and tendon damage leading to potential paralysis. Thats exactly the experience of modern-day soldiers whove been involved in close hand-to-hand combat.. Made from iron and heated to ensure an easier tear, the spikes of the ripper would be attached to a convicted womans breast. Wikimedia Commons. Sometimes, they would stripped naked to humiliate them and leave them feeling weak and vulnerable. 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. Since the conflict, questions have habitually been raised concerning whether bamboo is actually capable of inflicting the injuries claimed by survivors. He was executed by pressing. A still from S2E4 of Game of Thrones, depicting the historical rat torture. He was known for his harsh punishments upon his enemies, especially those who had betrayed his family and took advantage of the misfortunes of Wallachia. Although people think that torture is an effective method, because of Applebaum's successful use of logos, diction . The men of Assyrian army reported experiences that modern psychologists say show wide-spread symptoms of post-traumatic stress. wn Life behind a citys walls when the Assyrian army drew close was terrifying. Wikimedia Commons. Even if he gets lowered down slowly in order for his body to avoid the barnacles, he would still suffer from possible drowning or a head trauma. Torture is unpleasant, as indeed is the intended purpose of the practice. In 1323, the Mexica tribe asked for Yaocihuatl, daughter of Achicometl, ruler of Culhuacan in marriage. A similar mode of execution was used as late as the early 18th century in France; one such episode is graphically recounted in the opening chapter of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1979). After enduring an agonizing rupturing of their anal canal, the victim would die unless released. Allegedly originating in Ceylon, with the first recorded account of bamboo torture stemming from a Madras civilian traveling during the 1820s in India, similar depictions have survived from throughout the region. This article has been adapted from its original source. "Assad's forces detained me, my four siblings and other men in the village. Accordingly, depending on the whims of the torturer, weights might be added to the legs of the victim to hasten their demise. VEerzLB(%_E|=".hq%%}]|~8P[Cxwf{7B_`s@jKSbJAsxAP,XRY\HmY8@iCK3rT ,4 _f,alNsg3kCQ87{i$js/8ZuU5{3{$\^75Bp,?q[Y0WB:Zi>PTYa,j0a'Np^ee6d1}$|>U}co~UE~OeXm7lfb}@;`b\v+Tu:2ylCYac0A-z~wg0y'4>-{3Qka3EJ?4uObNW=IeZ6oKq'Rcca.PvFz4Mw_Wsn>!);? They invented the battering ram, a device that would have seemed completely unstoppable in their time. Transmitted to the funerary rites of the Mongol Khans during the 13th and 14th centuries, these great conquerors were reportedly buried along with more than a dozen slaves. More often than not, though, the surviving men would be put through the hells they used to psychologically terrify the world. . Appearing repeatedly throughout modern popular film, television, and literature, rat torture is an especially cruel method of punishment. The Breast Ripper, also known as the Iron Spider, was an instrument of torture during the latter years of the Middle Ages. The miseries of war: No. The victim would either be rocked or dropped repeatedly onto the device, and the torture would usually be prolonged into several days. 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. 0000006301 00000 n Whilst flaying after death has been historically recorded, typically as a means of debasing the enemys honor and reserved for instances such as criminality, the predominant occurrences took place during life. The victim would be forced to ingest milk and honey, eventually causing diarrhea. 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. In at least one case, an Assyrian king made the women lift their skirts over their heads and march blindly after their captors. Many countries surrendered. More commonly appearing as a form of human sacrifice, however, many civilizations employed immurement as part of funerary rituals. Known to have been used as a punishment prior to the Roman civilization, appearing in ancient Persia, Macedon, and Carthage, Alexander the Great famously order the crucifixions of 2,000 survivors of the siege of Tyre in 332 BCE. The Judas Cradle is a stool-shaped torture device with a pyramid structure on top. 0000001979 00000 n Thereafter, his head, hands, and feet, were left outside the boats, whilst the remainder of his person was contained within the floating prison. The article "Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death" by Erika Bleibtreu gives an insight into the ways of the Assyrian military campaigns and battles. For example, Neo-Assyrian kings used it to punish rebel leaders. 0000001680 00000 n The nobles and elders of the city came out to me to save their lives, he declared. [00aR/NU(=PpF 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. 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. Middle Ages Torture, devices, techniques and facts. 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. The carvings show that the actual flaying process might begin at various places on the body, such as at the crus (lower leg), the thighs, or the buttocks. After the arrest and interrogation of 48 monks, three of them, including the subprior and sacrist, were found guilty of the robbery and flayed. As a method of both torture and execution, impalement consists of the aggressive penetration of victims by a pole. The brazen bull, also known as the Sicilian Bull, was a disputed torture device allegedly stemming from Ancient Greece, specifically the city-state of Akragas. Then the rest would be scattered about the country. Ejaz Khan Brewer (2012), Crucifixion in Antiquity: An Inquiry into the Background and Significance of the New Testament Terminology of Crucifixion. Also, their land was a geographical passage for various armies marching towards their enemies on the way. . A dead animal may be flayed when preparing it to be used as human food, or for its hide or fur. depict warriors methodically removing the skin from prisoners' bodies, marking them as one of the first cultures to partake in the brutal torture. Wardah Hajra And the lungs would be ripped out and spread over the ribs, making them look like wings. You are here: Home Ancient Punishment Ancient Torture Illustration of Assyrians Torturing Their Captives. 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. scalping). The Assyrian empire dominated Mesopotamia and all of the Near East for the first half of the first millennium B.C.E., led by a series of highly ambitious and aggressive warrior kings. Flaying, also known as skinning, was a torture method which originated from 883-859 BC and documented in both carvings and official royal edicts. Eventually, depending on the strength of the individual, the victim would be unable to maintain the required position any longer and the pyramidal tip of the chair would begin to impale their anus. Some designs, used for the purposes of gaining information, employed a pulley system, with the individual strapped into a harness and repeatedly lowered onto the tip of the chair to maximize the prolongation of suffering. An illustration from the French newspaper Le Monde Illustr, depicting the torture and execution of a French missionary in China by lingchi (c. 1858). 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. This method was allegedly used in the 20th century by Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet. The former, a bi-pronged fork attached to a belt around the victims neck, unflinchingly secured the angle of the head. The dangerous men who fought against Assyria were sometimes given a chance to redeem themselves. Searing or cutting the flesh from the body was sometimes used as part of the public execution of traitors in medieval Europe. 0000003018 00000 n %PDF-1.4 % Ernst G. Jung, in his Kleine Kulturgeschichte der Haut ("A short cultural history of the skin"), provides an essay in which he outlines the Neo-Assyrian tradition of flaying human beings. After several centuries of obscurity and even loss of independence from around 1400 B.C. Survival time would vary from a few minutes to several days, depending on how the stake was inserted. 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. Decreeing that Mithridates should be put to death in boats, two were framed exactly to fit his body to prevent escape. She was subsequently executed by decapitation. "Torture and the . Anyone from slaves to prisoners of war could be subject to fear inducing acts of punishment. 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. While imprisoned, al-Drubi suffered many forms of abuse. Gradually, his body was consumed after seventeen days of being eaten from both within and without. The horrors and the guilt of murdering and torturing innocent people wreaked havoc on their psyches. Any outsider who would gaze upon the monument would know not to mess with Lagash. This is a slow and painful execution, with causes of death ranging from blood loss, hypothermia, or infections. Using an intricate system of tubes and piping, the screams of the roasting prisoner were transmuted into sounds reminiscent of a raging bull. Thereafter, the pulped remains of the still-living criminal were strapped to the wheel itself and erected on a pole, akin to a crucifixion, until death.
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