Metatron | 10 Most Horrible Execution Methods in History @metatronyt | Uploaded June 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Join this channel to get access to more old school Metatron videos the algorithm wouldn't prioritize! Support freedom and get your prefered content!:
youtube.com/channel/UCIjGKyrdT4Gja0VLO40RlOw/join
Also if you like what I do and wish to support my work to help me make sure that I can continue to tell it how it is please consider checking out my patreon! Unboxings are Patreon exclusives!
patreon.com/themetatron
According to tradition, the Bull of Phalaris (referred to as the "Brazen Bull" in English) was created
by the bronze sculptor Perillus of Athens as a gift for the tyrant of Agrigento, Phalaris, who reigned
from 571 to 555 BC. It was supposedly a life-size hollow bronze casting of a bull with a side door
designed to place a victim inside.
The first to report about the Bull of Phalaris was Pindar, who wrote about sixty years after the death
of the tyrant of Agrigento, whom he remembers as: "...him who burned men with fire within a
brazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity" (Pythian Odes, 1, 57). However, it is Diodorus who gives us a
detailed description of the construction of the Bull:
And Phalaris welcomes the man with presents and gives orders that the contrivance be dedicated to
the gods.
Then that worker in bronze opens the side, the evil device of treachery, and says with inhuman
savagery,
"If you ever wish to punish some man, O Phalaris, shut him up within the bull and lay a fire
beneath it; by his groanings the bull will be thought to bellow and his cries of pain will give you
pleasure as they come through the pipes in the nostrils."
When Phalaris learned of this scheme, he was filled with loathing of the man and says, "Come then,
Perilaüs, do you be the first to illustrate this; imitate those who will play the pipes and make clear
to me the working of your device."
And as soon as Perilaüs had crept in, to give an example, so he thought, of the sound of the pipes,
Phalaris closes up the bull and heaps fire under it.
But in order that the man's death might not pollute the work of bronze, he took him out, when half
dead, and hurled him down the cliffs.
Diodoro Siculo, IX, 18-19
The recurring references to the Bull of Phalaris in classical literature, from Cicero to Epicurus,
Juvenal, Lucian of Samosata, and even Plotinus, show how its figure had become part of Greco
Roman folklore. Pindar's reference, close in time and presented as an example of how the memory
of misdeeds, as well as good deeds, is indelible in history, suggests that the story of the Bull was
already well-known in the Greek world shortly after Phalaris' death.
The fact that the Bull is mentioned by such a wide range of authors over several centuries indicates
that it had become a symbol of cruelty and tyranny in the collective imagination of the ancient
world. The story was used as a cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked power and the
importance of justice and compassion in leadership.
Tracing a history of crucifixion proves to be much more difficult than expected, and this is because
the terms used in ancient texts to indicate crucifixion and impalement are overlapping and easy to
confuse. If, in fact, initially one wanted to attribute the origin of crucifixion to the Persians, starting
from the multilingual inscription of Behistun, found in Iran and in which Darius I of Persia recalls
the execution of the Babylonian rebel Arakha and his followers, the terminology used, the Aramaic
ṣlb and the Akkadian zaqapu, seem to lean more towards impalement. Zaqapu in particular holds
the meanings of "erect, plant" but also "have an active sexual relationship." As further
reinforcement, the Near East offers, starting from the Assyrians, a wide iconographic repertoire that
does not show crucifixions, but rather impalements.
The difficulty in tracing the origins of crucifixion lies in the ambiguity of the terms used in ancient
sources. The Aramaic word ṣlb and the Akkadian word zaqapu, found in the Behistun inscription,
were initially thought to refer to crucifixion. However, upon closer examination, these terms seem
to indicate impalement rather than crucifixion.
The Akkadian word zaqapu, in particular, carries meanings such as "to erect" or "to plant," as well
as a sexual connotation of "to have an active sexual relationship." This suggests that the punishment
described in the inscription was more likely impalement, which involves erecting a stake and
piercing the victim's body.
#top10 #horrible #historyfacts
Join this channel to get access to more old school Metatron videos the algorithm wouldn't prioritize! Support freedom and get your prefered content!:
youtube.com/channel/UCIjGKyrdT4Gja0VLO40RlOw/join
Also if you like what I do and wish to support my work to help me make sure that I can continue to tell it how it is please consider checking out my patreon! Unboxings are Patreon exclusives!
patreon.com/themetatron
According to tradition, the Bull of Phalaris (referred to as the "Brazen Bull" in English) was created
by the bronze sculptor Perillus of Athens as a gift for the tyrant of Agrigento, Phalaris, who reigned
from 571 to 555 BC. It was supposedly a life-size hollow bronze casting of a bull with a side door
designed to place a victim inside.
The first to report about the Bull of Phalaris was Pindar, who wrote about sixty years after the death
of the tyrant of Agrigento, whom he remembers as: "...him who burned men with fire within a
brazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity" (Pythian Odes, 1, 57). However, it is Diodorus who gives us a
detailed description of the construction of the Bull:
And Phalaris welcomes the man with presents and gives orders that the contrivance be dedicated to
the gods.
Then that worker in bronze opens the side, the evil device of treachery, and says with inhuman
savagery,
"If you ever wish to punish some man, O Phalaris, shut him up within the bull and lay a fire
beneath it; by his groanings the bull will be thought to bellow and his cries of pain will give you
pleasure as they come through the pipes in the nostrils."
When Phalaris learned of this scheme, he was filled with loathing of the man and says, "Come then,
Perilaüs, do you be the first to illustrate this; imitate those who will play the pipes and make clear
to me the working of your device."
And as soon as Perilaüs had crept in, to give an example, so he thought, of the sound of the pipes,
Phalaris closes up the bull and heaps fire under it.
But in order that the man's death might not pollute the work of bronze, he took him out, when half
dead, and hurled him down the cliffs.
Diodoro Siculo, IX, 18-19
The recurring references to the Bull of Phalaris in classical literature, from Cicero to Epicurus,
Juvenal, Lucian of Samosata, and even Plotinus, show how its figure had become part of Greco
Roman folklore. Pindar's reference, close in time and presented as an example of how the memory
of misdeeds, as well as good deeds, is indelible in history, suggests that the story of the Bull was
already well-known in the Greek world shortly after Phalaris' death.
The fact that the Bull is mentioned by such a wide range of authors over several centuries indicates
that it had become a symbol of cruelty and tyranny in the collective imagination of the ancient
world. The story was used as a cautionary tale about the consequences of unchecked power and the
importance of justice and compassion in leadership.
Tracing a history of crucifixion proves to be much more difficult than expected, and this is because
the terms used in ancient texts to indicate crucifixion and impalement are overlapping and easy to
confuse. If, in fact, initially one wanted to attribute the origin of crucifixion to the Persians, starting
from the multilingual inscription of Behistun, found in Iran and in which Darius I of Persia recalls
the execution of the Babylonian rebel Arakha and his followers, the terminology used, the Aramaic
ṣlb and the Akkadian zaqapu, seem to lean more towards impalement. Zaqapu in particular holds
the meanings of "erect, plant" but also "have an active sexual relationship." As further
reinforcement, the Near East offers, starting from the Assyrians, a wide iconographic repertoire that
does not show crucifixions, but rather impalements.
The difficulty in tracing the origins of crucifixion lies in the ambiguity of the terms used in ancient
sources. The Aramaic word ṣlb and the Akkadian word zaqapu, found in the Behistun inscription,
were initially thought to refer to crucifixion. However, upon closer examination, these terms seem
to indicate impalement rather than crucifixion.
The Akkadian word zaqapu, in particular, carries meanings such as "to erect" or "to plant," as well
as a sexual connotation of "to have an active sexual relationship." This suggests that the punishment
described in the inscription was more likely impalement, which involves erecting a stake and
piercing the victim's body.
#top10 #horrible #historyfacts
