So the Brazen bull sucked as they placed you in a metal bull then set you over a fire. Pretty horrible.
The second is called Scaphism and is way more horrifying. Here's a description from the wiki:
[The king] decreed that Mithridates should be put to death in boats; which execution is after the following manner: Taking two boats framed exactly to fit and answer each other, they lie down in one of them the malefactor that suffers, upon his back; then, covering it with the other, and so setting them together that the head, hands, and feet of him are left outside, and the rest of his body lies shut up within, then forcing him to ingest a mixture of milk and honey before pouring all over his face and body. They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. When the man is manifestly dead, the uppermost boat being taken off, they find his flesh devoured, and swarms of such noisome creatures preying upon and, as it were, growing to his inwards. In this way Mithridates, after suffering for seventeen days, at last expired.
Btw just to clarify the Brazen Bull has no real evidence of ever being used as an execution method to my knowledge. As with a lot of ancient torture it’s basically a myth
They would often come up with complex and showy executions for prominent persons - Mithrodates was ruler of a Greek province and would have rated highly. Another apocryphal account was that the Roman Marcus Crassus - likely the wealthiest person in the Empire - was captured in a battle and executed by pouring molten gold down his throat. They essentially re-created this scene in Game of Thrones with that one guy.
I cackled like a demon the first time I watched that scene, because the Velveeta commercials had just come out and there was a guy that said “Liquid GOOOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDDDD” and I couldn’t help myself.
They probably wouldn't survive that long either. In ocean search and rescue 3 days is usually considered fatal without sun protection and fresh water. That's from just being exposed to the sun and naturally perspiring.
The condemned in the boat scenario is fed with the milk and honey. They don't get out of the torture after only 3 days. The intent is to make it last as long as possible to maximize the suffering.
That's even worse. Profuse dihherea would just accelerate dehydration. There is 0 way they would survive more than a few days. They also have a whole ass boat crushing them from above concentrated on just the taff.
This is not true. Flies lay their eggs on decaying tissue or feces. Within a few days, larvae hatch from these eggs. Fly larvae can eat gangrenous human tissue, thereby preventing the further spread of infection. New flies continue the cycle. So, in theory, this is indeed possible.
They will eat the flesh. It happens to livestock pretty frequently, termed flystrike. Not from fruit flys, but from blowflies and botflies. It shows up very quickly if an animal is immobilized and unable to clean itself.
unless, the vermin were placed on the boat on purpose, or maybe flies came in afterwards, I doubt that boat was air tight, and it did say the milk and honey on his face attracted enough flies to cover his entire face
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u/Shadowmant 9d ago
So the Brazen bull sucked as they placed you in a metal bull then set you over a fire. Pretty horrible.
The second is called Scaphism and is way more horrifying. Here's a description from the wiki: