In the electric chair, the ancient world was especially inventive in terms of sophisticated torture and punishment. The types of executions used in the East were especially terrible, and Ancient China distinguished itself in this most of all. It is the Celestial Empire that holds the palm in the invention of executions in the world.
Sadistic executions of ancient China
In ancient times, people in the Celestial Empire could be executed without trial for the most minor sins. Once the cooks were sawed in half just because the rice they cooked did not satisfy the owner. The women, stripped naked, were hung by their arms from rings, and a saw was placed between their legs.
It was impossible to hang on tense arms for a long time, and it was also difficult to sit for a long time on a sharp saw - so the women sawed themselves.
In general, women in China could be sawed for any reason.
High-ranking corrupt officials were executed with a terrible execution called “pike bites” or “death by a thousand cuts.” Small pieces of flesh were gradually cut off from the criminal over the course of a year or six months. To prevent bleeding, the wounds were cauterized with a hot iron. In such a situation, suicide seemed to be the highest good, but the executioners kept a vigilant eye on the condemned, not allowing him to die prematurely. Terrible physical suffering was accompanied by moral humiliation.
Suicide is simply a gift of fate, in the case when a piece of flesh is cut off from a person And today in China it is not considered a great value. A “suitable” person can easily be kidnapped on the street and dismantled for organs. State criminals are subjected to almost medieval torture, and women are castrated using laser beams.
Terrible executions of the Ancient East
The Ancient East invented executions. Here is a rough list of some of them:
- Punishment by the wall.
- Crucifixion.
- Impalement.
- Torture with a trough.
Brutal executions were also practiced in Ancient Egypt. The method of killing, which was called “punishment by the wall,” consisted in the fact that the criminal was walled up alive, as a result of which he died from suffocation.
Crucifixion was first used in Ancient Phenicia, then the Carthaginians borrowed this method of execution from the Phoenicians. After the Punic Wars, the Romans began to execute people this way. was considered the most despicable - only slaves or hardened criminals died this way. Roman citizens and other people of the noble class were killed with a sword, which was used to cut off the head quickly and painlessly.
At first they impaled people only in Assyria. This type of execution was applied to women who had abortions and to rioters. As a result of the conquests of the Assyrian empire, this type of execution spread throughout the Mediterranean.
The trough execution was one of the most terrible. The body of the condemned man was placed between two troughs, but the head remained outside. The criminal was force-fed by pouring liquid food down his throat. Over time, worms appeared in the feces, which ate the body of the unfortunate man alive.
Muslim extremists of the modern East execute their captives no less cruelly. The bloody relay race continues and there is no limit in sight.
Horrible Tortures and Executions of Medieval Europe
European culture was not so creative when it came to torture and execution. execution methods were usually imported from the East. Nevertheless, European justice could hardly be called humane.
The following types of execution were used:
- burn alive at the stake;
- boil alive;
- excoriation;
- bury alive;
- wheeling;
- decapitation;
- hanging;
- cut off ears or hands;
- blindness;
- quartering;
- tearing by horses;
- drowning;
- stoning;
- crucifixion
Burning at the stake was a punishment for heresy, but in England this was the punishment for female infidelity. Counterfeiters were boiled alive in cauldrons of boiling oil or tar. A particularly cruel type of execution was when the convict was first placed in a vat of cold water, and then the water was heated to a boil. The skin was torn off from dangerous state criminals and careless doctors, and they could remove it not only from a living person, but also from a corpse.
For significant theft, children were buried alive, and for petty theft, hands were chopped off. Also, for petty theft or fraud, an ear or ears could be cut off. A repeat offender was already subject to the death penalty. Only noble gentlemen who could not be killed for any reason were blinded. Quartering was used as a punishment for high treason, but only men were executed in this way, and women were burned in this case.
Video about the worst executions in the world
Drowning was a punishment for swearing and cursing. Ripping by horses, stoning and crucifixion were rare forms of justice. The most humane methods of execution were hanging and beheading - the latter survived into modern times in the form of the guillotine.
In modern Europe it is difficult to find even traces of past atrocities, because any type of torture and the death penalty is strictly prohibited. In the vast majority of European countries, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
We can only be grateful for the fact that gloomy torture and executions are a thing of the distant past, and in modern times they can only be found in backward countries.
Since ancient times, humanity has brutally dealt with its enemies, some even ate them, but mostly they were executed, deprived of their lives in a terrible way.
The same was done with criminals who violated the laws of God and man.
Over a thousand-year history, a great deal of experience has accumulated in executing convicts.
Decapitation
The physical separation of the head from the body using an ax or any military weapon (knife, sword); later, a machine invented in France - the Guillotine - was used for these purposes.
It is believed that with such an execution, the head, separated from the body, retains vision and hearing for another 10 seconds. Beheading was considered a “noble execution” and was reserved for aristocrats. In Germany, beheading was abolished in 1949 due to the failure of the last guillotine.
Hanging
Strangulation of a person on a rope loop, the end of which is fixed motionless, death occurs after a few minutes, but not at all from suffocation, but from squeezing the carotid arteries, while after a few seconds the person loses consciousness and later dies.
In England, a type of hanging was used, when a person was thrown from a height with a noose around the neck, and death occurs instantly from rupture of the cervical vertebrae.
In England there was an “official table of falls” with the help of which the required length of the rope was calculated depending on the weight of the convicted person; if the rope is too long, the head is separated from the body.
A type of hanging is garrote.
In this case, the person is seated on a chair, and the executioner strangles the victim with a rope noose and a metal rod.
The last high-profile hanging was Saddam Hussein.
Quartering
It is considered one of the most cruel executions, and was applied to the most dangerous criminals.
During quartering, the victim was strangled, then the stomach was ripped open and the genitals were cut off, and only then the body was cut into four or more parts and the head was cut off.
Thomas More, sentenced to quartering with his entrails burned out, was pardoned on the morning of his execution and the quartering was replaced by beheading, to which More replied: “God save my friends from such mercy.”
Wheeling
The death penalty was widespread in the Middle Ages. Professor A.F. Kistyakovsky in the 19th century described the wheeling process used in Russia:
St. Andrew's cross, made of two logs, was tied to the scaffold in a horizontal position.
On each of the branches of this cross two notches were made, one foot apart from each other.
On this cross they stretched the criminal so that his face was turned to the sky; each extremity of it lay on one of the branches of the cross, and at each place of each joint it was tied to the cross.
Then the executioner, armed with an iron rectangular crowbar, struck the part of the penis between the joints, which lay just above the notch.
This method was used to break the bones of each member in two places.
The operation ended with two or three blows to the stomach and breaking the backbone.
The criminal, broken in this way, was placed on a horizontally placed wheel so that his heels converged with the back of his head, and he was left in this position to die.
Burning at the stake
Capital punishment in which the victim is burned at the stake in public.
Execution became widespread during the period of the Holy Inquisition, and about 32 thousand people were burned in Spain alone.
On the one hand, the execution took place without shedding blood, and the fire also contributed to the purification and salvation of the soul, which was very suitable for the inquisitors for driving out demons.
To be fair, it should be said that the Inquisition replenished the “budget” at the expense of witches and heretics, burning, as a rule, the wealthiest citizens.
The most famous people burned at the stake are Giordano Bruno - as a heretic (who was engaged in scientific activities) and Joan of Arc, who commanded the French troops in the Hundred Years' War.
Impalement
The death penalty, in which the convicted person was imprisoned on a sharpened vertical stake.
Impalement was used in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until the 18th century, and many Zaporozhye Cossacks were executed in this way.
This execution was also used in Europe, particularly in Sweden in the 17th century.
Death occurs as a result of hemorrhage or peritonitis; the person died slowly and painfully over several days.
For women, this execution was used in Romania, and a stake was inserted into the vagina, and death occurred quickly from heavy bleeding.
Hanging by the rib
A form of capital punishment in which an iron hook was driven into the victim's side and suspended.
Death occurred from thirst and loss of blood within a few days.
The victim's hands were tied so that he could not free himself.
Execution was common among the Zaporozhye Cossacks.
According to legend, Dmitry Vishnevetsky, the founder of the Zaporozhye Sich, the legendary “Baida Veshnevetsky”, was executed in this way.
Throwing to predators
A common type of ancient execution, common among many peoples of the world. Death came because you were eaten by crocodiles, lions, bears, sharks, piranhas, ants.
Buried alive
Burial alive was used for many Christian martyrs. In medieval Italy, unrepentant murderers were buried alive.
In Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries, women who killed their husbands were buried alive up to their necks.
Crucifixion
The person condemned to death had his hands and feet nailed to the ends of the cross or his limbs were fixed with ropes. This is exactly the way Jesus Christ was executed.
The main cause of death during crucifixion is asphyxia, caused by developing pulmonary edema and fatigue of the intercostal and abdominal muscles involved in the breathing process.
The main support of the body in this pose is the arms, and when breathing, the abdominal muscles and intercostal muscles had to lift the weight of the entire body, which led to their rapid fatigue.
Also, compression of the chest by tense muscles of the shoulder girdle and chest caused stagnation of fluid in the lungs and pulmonary edema.
Additional causes of death were dehydration and blood loss.
From the very beginning of human history, people began to invent the most sophisticated methods of execution in order to punish criminals in such a way that other people would remember it and, on pain of a harsh death, they would not repeat such actions. Below is a list of the ten most disgusting execution methods in history. Fortunately, most of them are no longer in use.
The bull of Phalaris, also known as the copper bull, is an ancient execution weapon invented by Perilius of Athens in the 6th century BC. The design was a huge copper bull, hollow inside, with a door on the back or side. It had enough space to accommodate a person. The executed person was placed inside, the door was closed, and a fire was lit under the belly of the statue. There were holes in the head and nostrils that made it possible to hear the screams of the person inside, which sounded like the growling of a bull.
It is interesting that the creator of the copper bull himself, Perilaus, was the first to test the device in action on the orders of the tyrant Phalaris. Perilai was pulled out of the bull while still alive, and then thrown off the cliff. Phalaris himself also suffered the same fate - death in a bull.
Hanging, drawing and quartering is a method of execution common in England for treason, which was once considered the most terrible crime. It applied only to men. If a woman was convicted of high treason, she was burned alive. Incredibly, this method was legal and relevant until 1814.
First of all, the convict was tied to a horse-drawn wooden sled and dragged to the place of death. The criminal was then hanged and, just moments before death, taken out of the noose and placed on a table. After this, the executioner castrated and disembowelled the victim, burning the insides in front of the condemned man. Finally, the victim's head was cut off and the body was divided into four parts. The English official Samuel Pepys, having witnessed one of these executions, described it in his famous diary:
“In the morning I met Captain Cuttance, then I went to Charing Cross, where I saw Major General Harrison hanged, drawn and quartered. He tried to look as cheerful as possible in this situation. He was removed from the noose, then his head was cut off and his heart was taken out, showing to the crowd, which caused everyone to rejoice. Previously he judged, but now he was judged.”
Usually, all five parts of the executed were sent to different parts of the country, where they were demonstratively installed on the gallows, as a warning to others.
There were two ways of being burned alive. In the first, the condemned man was tied to a stake and covered with firewood and brushwood, so that he burned inside the flame. They say that this is how Joan of Arc was burned. Another method was to place a person on top of a stack of firewood, bundles of brushwood and tie him with ropes or chains to a post, so that the flame slowly rose towards him, gradually engulfing his entire body.
When an execution was carried out by a skilled executioner, the victim burned in the following sequence: ankles, thighs and arms, torso and forearms, chest, face, and finally, the person died. Needless to say, it was very painful. If a large number of people were to be burned at once, the victims would be killed by carbon monoxide before the fire reached them. And if the fire was weak, the victim usually died from shock, blood loss or heatstroke.
In later versions of this execution, the criminal was hanged and then burned purely symbolically. This method of execution was used to burn witches in most parts of Europe, however it was not used in England.
Lynching is a particularly torturous method of execution by cutting small pieces from the body over a long period of time. Practiced in China until 1905. The victim's arms, legs and chest were slowly cut off until eventually the head was cut off and stabbed directly in the heart. Many sources claim that the cruelty of this method is greatly exaggerated when they say that the execution could be carried out over several days.
A contemporary witness to this execution, journalist and politician Henry Norman, describes it as follows:
“The criminal was tied to the cross, and the executioner, armed with a sharp knife, began to grab handfuls of fleshy parts of the body, such as thighs and breasts, and cut them off. After that, he removed the joints and parts of the body protruding forward, one by one the nose and ears, and fingers. Then the limbs were cut off piece by piece at the wrists and ankles, elbows and knees, shoulders and hips. Finally, the victim was stabbed directly in the heart and his head was cut off.”
The wheel, also known as Catherine's Wheel, is a medieval execution device. A man was tied to a wheel. After which they broke all the large bones of the body with an iron hammer and left them to die. The wheel was placed on the top of the pillar, giving the birds the opportunity to profit from the sometimes still living body. This could continue for several days until the person died from painful shock or dehydration.
In France, some relaxations in execution were provided when the convict was strangled before the execution.
The convict was stripped naked and placed in a vat of boiling liquid (oil, acid, resin or lead), or in a container with cold liquid, which gradually warmed up. Criminals could be hung on a chain and immersed in boiling water until they died. During the reign of King Henry VIII, poisoners and counterfeiters were subjected to similar executions.
Flaying meant execution, during which all the skin was removed from the body of a criminal using a sharp knife, and it was supposed to remain intact for display for intimidation purposes. This execution dates back to ancient times. For example, Apostle Bartholomew was crucified on the cross upside down, and his skin was torn off.
The Assyrians flayed their enemies to show who held power in the captured cities. Among the Aztecs in Mexico, ritual flaying or scalping was common, which was usually carried out after the death of the victim.
Although this method of execution has long been considered inhumane and prohibited, in Myanmar, a case of flaying all men in a Karenni village was recorded.
The African necklace is a type of execution in which a car tire filled with gasoline or other flammable material is placed on the victim and then set on fire. This led to the human body turning into a molten mass. The death was extremely painful and a shocking sight. This type of execution was common in South Africa in the 80s and 90s of the last century.
The African necklace was used against suspected criminals by "people's courts" established in black towns as a means of circumventing the apartheid judicial system (a policy of racial segregation). This method was used to punish members of the community who were considered employees of the regime, including black police officers, city officials, and their relatives and partners.
Similar executions were observed in Brazil, Haiti and Nigeria during Muslim protests.
Scaphism is an ancient Persian method of execution that results in painful death. The victim was stripped naked and tied tightly inside a narrow boat or a hollowed-out tree trunk, and covered on top with the same boat so that the arms, legs and head stuck out. The executed man was force-fed milk and honey to induce severe diarrhea. In addition, the body was also coated with honey. After this, the person was allowed to swim in a pond with stagnant water or left in the sun. Such a “container” attracted insects, which slowly devoured the flesh and laid larvae in it, which led to gangrene. In order to prolong the torment, the victim could be fed every day. Ultimately, death was likely due to a combination of dehydration, exhaustion, and septic shock.
According to Plutarch, by this method in 401 BC. e. Mithridates, who killed Cyrus the Younger, was executed. The unfortunate man died only 17 days later. A similar method was used by the indigenous people of America - the Indians. They tied the victim to a tree, rubbed it with oil and mud, and left it for the ants. Usually a person died from dehydration and starvation within a few days.
The person sentenced to this execution was hung upside down and sawed vertically in the middle of the body, starting from the groin. Since the body was upside down, the criminal's brain had a constant flow of blood, which, despite the large blood loss, allowed him to remain conscious for a long time.
Similar executions were used in the Middle East, Europe and parts of Asia. It is believed that sawing was the favorite method of execution of the Roman Emperor Caligula. In the Asian version of this execution, the person was sawed from the head.
Share on social media networks
From the Heretic's Fork to being eaten alive by insects, these horrific old torture methods prove that humans have always been cruel.
Getting a confession is not always easy, and sentencing someone to death always requires a lot of so-called creativity. The following horrific torture and execution methods of the ancient world were designed to humiliate and dehumanize victims in their final moments. Which of these methods do you think is the most cruel?
“Rack” (began to be used in ancient times)
The victim's ankles were tied to one end of this device and his wrists to the other. The mechanism of this device is as follows: during the interrogation process, the victim’s limbs are stretched in different directions. During this process, the bones and ligaments make amazing sounds, and until the victim confesses, his joints are twisted or, worse, the victim is simply torn apart.
"Cradle of Judas" (origin: Ancient Rome)
This method was widely used in the Middle Ages to gain recognition. This “cradle of Judas” was feared throughout Europe. The victim was strapped down to limit his freedom of action and lowered onto a chair with a pyramid-shaped seat. With each lifting and lowering of the victim, the top of the pyramid further tore the anus or vagina, often causing septic shock or death.
"Copper Bull" (origin: Ancient Greece)
This is what can be called hell on earth, this is the worst thing that can happen. The “Copper Bull” is a torture device, it is not one of the most complex designs, it looked exactly like a bull. The entrance to this structure was on the belly of the so-called animal; it was a kind of chamber. The victim was thrust inside, the door was closed, the statue was heated, and this all continued until the victim inside was fried to death.
"Heretic's Fork" (began to be used in medieval Spain)
Used to extract confessions during the Spanish Inquisition. The heretic's fork was even engraved with the Latin inscription "I renounce." This is a reversible fork, a simple device that fits around the neck. 2 spikes were clamped to the chest, and the other 2 to the throat. The victim was unable to talk or sleep, and the frenzy usually led to confession.
"Choke pear" (origin unknown, first mentioned in France)
This device was intended for women, homosexuals and liars. Shaped in the shape of a ripe fruit, it had a rather intimate design, and in the literal sense of the word. Once inserted into the vagina, anus or mouth, the device (which had four sharp metal sheets) was opened. The sheets expanded wider and wider, thereby tearing the victim apart.
Torture by rats (origin unknown, possibly UK)
Despite the fact that there are many options for torture with rats, the most common was the one that involved fixing the victim so that he could not move. The rat was placed on the victim's body and covered with a container. Then the container was heated, and the rat desperately began to look for a way out and tore the person apart. The rat dug and dug, slowly burrowing into the man until he died.
Crucifixion (origin unknown)
Although today it is a symbol of the world's greatest religion (Christianity), crucifixion was once a cruel form of humiliating death. The condemned man was nailed to the cross, often done in public, and left hanging so that all the blood would drain from his wounds and he would die. Death sometimes occurred only after a week. The crucifix is likely still in use today (albeit rarely) in places such as Burma and Saudi Arabia.
Scaphism (most likely appeared in Ancient Persia)
Death occurred because the victim was eaten alive by insects. The condemned person was placed in a boat or simply tied with chains to a tree and force-fed milk and honey. This happened until the victim began to have diarrhea. She was then left to sit in her own excrement, and soon insects flocked to the stench. Death usually occurred from dehydration, septic shock or gangrene.
Torture with a saw (began to be used in ancient times)
Everyone, from the Persians to the Chinese, practiced this form of death, such as sawing the victim. Often the victim was hung upside down (thus increasing blood flow to the head), with a large saw placed between them. The executioners slowly sawed the man's body in half, drawing out the process to make death as painful as possible.
