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Used as punishment for high treason in the Ancien régime; also used by several others countries at various points in history. Drowning: Execution by drowning is attested very early in history, by a large variety of cultures, and as the method of execution for many different offences. Drawing and quartering: English method of execution for high ...
The limbs collected from this and other punishments of the time were "emptied by the hundreds". Sometimes, this method was limited to dislocating a few bones, but the torturer often went too far and rendered the legs or arms (sometimes both) useless. In the late Middle Ages, some new variants of this instrument appeared.
Execution wheel (German: Richtrad) with underlays, 18th century; on display at the Märkisches Museum, Berlin The breaking wheel, also known as the execution wheel, the Wheel of Catherine or the (Saint) Catherine('s) Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages up to the 19th century by breaking the bones of a criminal or ...
Peine forte et dure (Law French for "forceful and hard punishment") was a method of torture formerly used in the common law legal system, in which a defendant who refused to plead ("stood mute") would be subjected to having heavier and heavier stones placed upon his or her chest until a plea was entered, or as the weight of the stones on the chest became too great for the condemned to breathe ...
Scaphism (from Greek σκάφη, meaning "boat"), [1] also known as the boats, is reported by Plutarch in his Life of Artaxerxes as an ancient Persian method of execution.He describes the victim being trapped between two small boats, one inverted on top of the other, with limbs and head sticking out, feeding them and smearing them with milk and honey, and allowing them to fester and be ...
The brazen bull, also known as the bronze bull, Sicilian bull, Bellowing bull or bull of Phalaris, was a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece. [1] According to Diodorus Siculus , recounting the story in Bibliotheca historica , Perilaus (Περίλαος) (or Perillus (Πέριλλος)) of Athens invented and proposed it to ...
The Five Punishments (Chinese: 五刑; pinyin: wǔ xíng; Cantonese Yale: ńgh yìhng) was the collective name for a series of physical penalties meted out by the legal system of pre-modern dynastic China. [1] Over time, the nature of the Five Punishments varied. Before the Western Han dynasty Emperor Han Wendi (r.
Keelhauling (Dutch kielhalen; [1] "to drag along the keel") is a form of punishment and potential execution once meted out to sailors at sea. The sailor was tied to a line looped beneath the vessel, thrown overboard on one side of the ship, and dragged under the ship's keel , either from one side of the ship to the other, or the length of the ...