history of torture part 4 ~ roman tortures ~heather

Roman torture

the romans regarded torture as a legitimate way of obtaining the truth in legal proceedings. the law permitted slaves and foreigners to be tortured before a specifically licensed court, and later it was commonplace in any case involving treason or sorcery.

the decadence of the late roman empire and the absolute power invested in its rulers allowed the likes of nero, tiberius, and caligula to pursue their sadistic inclinations unchecked. for these monsters, torture was almost a hobby.

torture was a penalty in itself or a prelude to death or banishment. it was used for both civil and criminal offenses (creditors, for instance, were allowed to torture their debtors), and later, christian emperors decreed heresy was punishable by flogging. the roman flogging whip, or flagellum, would often kill.

the roman historian suetonius, writing in his 'lives of the twelve caesars', described how tiberius invented a method of torture to inflict on suspected lawbreakers. the emperor would force 'the poor wretches to drink a great quantity of wine, and presently to tie their members with a lute string, that he might rack them at once with the girding of the string, and with the pressure of urine'.

the rack, more properly known as the equuleus (young horse), was a favored instrument of torture and probably looked something like a gymnasium vaulting horse. it was equipped with heavy weights that were hung from the victim's limbs, slowly stretching him to death.

sawing a man in half.

tiberius was particularly sensitive to rumors of treason..when in AD 31 the commander of his praetorian guard, lucius aelius sejanus, was suspected of murdering the emperors only son, drusus, a ruthless witch-hunt followed. tiberius executed sejanus and tortured almost everyone he thought he should mistrust. it was even claimed that he racked to death a close friend who merely happened by on a social visit.

tiberius's successor, caligula, had a reputation for watching prisoners suffer while he ate. his torturers were told a victim should "feel himself die"- a term which required them to inflict dozens of small cuts and stab wounds to ensure a lingering end ***this one is PARTICULARLY nasty and a sore spot for me ~heather***

caligula's many atrocites included sawing men in half and burning them alive as a sideshow in the roman circus. according to suetonius he once ordered a gladiator master to be 'cramped with irons, and beaten for two days'..and 'did not kill him outright till his brain was putrefied and offended him with the stench'.

persecution of christians was a feature of the late empire, the 4th century emperor maximinus pursued this policy with particular relish. a description of the execution of apphianus by the theologian eusebius records how the prisoner was hung up high to suffer sharp combs being dragged down every side of his body. "his feet were burning in a sharp fire so that the flesh of his feet, as it was consumed, dropped like melted wax and the fire burst into his very bones like dry reeds".

history of torture and execution by jane kellaway

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