Brazen Bull - An Ancient Form Of Worst Torture Developed By Greeks
This Brazen Bull, also known as the bronze bull, Sicilian bull, or Bull of Phalaris, was supposedly built in ancient Greece for use as a torture and death device. The account is told in Bibliotheca historica by Diodorus Siculus, who claims that Perilaus (or Perillus) of Athens created and proposed it to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas in Sicily, as a novel method of exterminating criminals.
The history of torture and death procedures is rife with brutally inventive methods. Men were drawn by horse to their execution site, hung until near death, and then emasculated and disemboweled before being decapitated and cut into quarters, among other cruelties. The list of cruelties also includes crucifixion, in which victims were left to die on a cross; the rack, in which torturers would place the victim on a wooden frame to be slowly pulled apart; and hanging, drawing, and quartering, which was the official English punishment for high. The most intricately sadistic kind of torture, on the other hand, is credited to the Greek tyrant Phalaris as its originator.
One side of the bull was reported to be hollow, and it was made entirely of bronze, with a door on the other. As told in folklore, the brazen bull was built in the shape and size of a real bull, and it was equipped with audio equipment that translated human shouts into the sounds produced by the animal. It was shut up with a fire under it, and the person inside was burned to death as a result of the intense heat generated from underneath the gadget. Some current researchers wonder whether the brazen bull really existed in the first place, claiming that accounts of its invention were based on early propaganda.
Brazen Bull For Phalaris
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Phalaris, the despot of Acragas (now Agrigento, in Sicily), was famed for his callousness and was rumored to have "devoured" children as part of his ritual slaughter. The movie above tells the story of how Phalaris, in keeping with his persona, commissioned the craftsman Perilaus to build a bronze bull for the purpose of executing offenders. The bull was equipped with a hollow chamber into which victims were sucked through a trapdoor. A fire was started beneath the bull, transforming the statue into an oven as a result.
The bull's head was created with a system of tubes and stops, which allowed the prisoner's screams to be turned into sounds that sounded like the bellowing of an enraged bull when released. In accordance with legend, Phalaris ordered that the bull's smoke be fashioned in such a way that it would rise up in pungent clouds of incense.
As Phalaris allegedly stated himself, the most terrible part of this blatant abomination was its musical characteristics:
“When you are minded to punish anyone, shut him up in this receptacle, apply these pipes to the nostrils of the bull, and order a fire to be kindled beneath. The occupant will shriek and roar in unremitting agony; and his cries will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings. Your victim will be punished, and you will enjoy the music.”
According to mythology, when the bull was closed after a body had been burnt, the victim's roasted bones "shone like jewels and were made into bracelets," according to the legend.
"His screams will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings," Perilaus is believed to have stated to Phalaris after concluding construction on the execution mechanism. Perilaus was under the impression that he would be rewarded for his invention. Phalaris, disgusted by Perilaus' statements, ordered that the bull's horn sound system be tested by Perilaus himself, thereby fooling him into going into the bull.
The Brazen Bull (Worst Punishment in the History of Mankind)
Although it is unlikely that the tyrant, who is well-known for his cruelty, would be appalled by this novelty:
‘His words revolted me. I loathed the thought of such ingenious cruelty and resolved to punish the artificer in kind. “If this is anything more than an empty boast, Perilaus,” I said to him, “if your art can really produce this effect, get inside yourself, and pretend to roar; and we will see whether the pipes will make such music as you describe.” He consented, and when he was inside I closed the aperture and ordered a fire to be kindled. “Receive,” I cried, “the due reward of your wondrous art: let the music master be the first to play.”
The moment Perilaus walked through the door, he was instantly trapped inside and a fire was started so that Phalaris could hear the sound of his screams. Phalaris intervened and escorted Perilaus away from the scene before he could be killed. Following his release from the bull, Phalaris is supposed to have taken Perilaus to the top of a hill and tossed him off, resulting in Perilaus' death. Phalaris himself is said to have been slaughtered in the brazen bull when he was deposed by Telemachus, who is the ancestor of Theron, according to legend.
In his writings, Pindar, who lived less than a century after the events of the book, explicitly associates this tool of torture with the tyrant Phalaris.
Was The Brazen Bull Actually Used?
It has been reported that the Romans employed this torture device to execute some Christians, most notably Saint Eustace, who, according to Christian legend, was burnt alive in a brazen bull with his wife and children by Emperor Hadrian, according to Christian tradition. When another Christian, Pelagia of Tarsus, is believed to have been burned in one of these devices in AD 287 by Emperor Diocletian, it is claimed that the device was still in use two centuries after it was first used.
The Catholic Church considers the account of Saint Eustace's martyrdom to be "completely false," according to the Vatican.
"People sure did spend alot of energy back then in creative ways to kill people"
_Excellent_Survey_336 (Reddit)
"The real trick was figuring out how far they could take it and what they could do that DIDN'T kill people"
_ish_bosh (Reddit)
Well a modern but perfect torture method is this piranha solution, click here.
Conclusion
What are your thoughts on this creepy and the worst torture device, the Brazen bull? I am hallucinating the smell of burning flesh. OMG. That is so gross.
