vox populi 2021

My Classical Seminar: Torture in the
Ancient World
Roman, Lower Sixth Form
The topic of Torture in the Ancient
World was the presentation I decided
to deliver for my Classical Civilisation
seminar. The reason I made this
decision was due to the simple fact
that the ancient world had a much
smaller moral compass than we do
nowadays and so the methods they
would use would be far more macabre
and interesting to study.
In addition to this point, there is also
the concept that torture has slowly
disappeared in the modern world so
studying something non-existent always
provides an aspect of excitement as you
are learning about a brand-new subject.
The first of these gruelling methods of
torture was THE RACK; its origin being
antiquity. The victim’s ankles would be
strapped to one end of this device, and
his wrists to another. A mechanism was
then cranked during the interrogation
process, stretching the victim’s limbs.
Bones and ligaments made startling
sounds as the victim’s joints were
dislocated until he either confessed or
was torn apart.
If that was not bad enough imagine being
subjected to this device known as the
JUDAS CRADLE; origin – Ancient Rome.
Widely used during the Middle Ages in
order to obtain confessions, the Judas
Cradle placed fear into people’s hearts
throughout Europe. A victim was strapped
into restraints and lowered upon a chair
with a pyramid-shaped seat. With each
insertion the point of the “chair” slowly tore
at the human cavity, resulting in things such
as septic shock or death by impalement.
The closest thing to hell on earth may
very well be the BRAZEN BULL; origin
Ancient Greece. Made in bronze to
look exactly like a bull, the structure
was complete with a door on the bull’s
abdomen through which a victim was
forced. Once inside, the door was locked,
and the statue was heated like a pot on a
stove until the person was quite literally
cooked to death.
The HERETIC’S FORK originated
from Medieval Spain and was used
for confessions during the Spanish
Inquisition, the heretic’s fork was even
engraved with the Latin abiuro (“I
recant”). Bi-pronged on both ends, the
simple device was wedged painfully
between the breastbone and the throat.
The victim was unable to talk or fall
asleep; unless they wished to be impaled,
and delirium usually led to a confession.
The next method here actually has an
unknown origin, but I am sure that you
would not want to be on the receiving
end of RAT TORTURE. Despite the
numerous approaches to rat torture,
the most common was to start with a
restrained victim. A rat was set on his
body and covered by a container/cage.
Heat was then applied, and the rat would
desperately start clawing for a way out—
and the only way was down through the
body. The rat would dig and dig, slowly
burrowing into the person until death.
And, last but not least, was SAW
TORTURE, originating from various parts
of the ancient world. Everyone from the
Persians to the Imperial Chinese practiced
some form of death by sawing. Often the
victim was hung upside down, thereby
increasing blood flow to the head, and a
large saw was placed between his legs. The
executioners would slowly cut the person’s
body in half, drawing out the process to
make death as painful as possible.
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