You’ve probably heard of some of the punishment methods in the Middle Ages before. But not all horrific punishments were carried out in the Middle Ages or in a particular region. In many regions throughout human history, there were different and cruel methods of punishment.
Would you say locking a dungeon full of rats, placing it in the mouth of a cannon and firing it? Moreover, one of these was implemented in the Ottoman Empire. If you are ready, let’s look at the details of these terrible punishment methods.
There is no one who does not know the method of crucifixion. Have you ever heard of the “inverted cross”?
Crucifixion consists of a person’s arms being spread wide against a horizontal beam and their body being tied to a vertical beam. In the reverse cross method, what can happen to the body is different.
The extra weight on the lungs in the down position produces a much quicker result than regular crucifixion. In addition to difficulties in breathing, blood in the body collects in the head area. It is even possible to bleed from the mouth and ears after a while.
Those who have a mouse phobia can stand on a chair even while reading this sentence.
In medieval London, prisoners were chained in the dark at the bottom of the Tower of London. In this place, also known as the “rat dungeon”, mice were left next to the prisoners and the animals bit and attacked the prisoners.
Is the reward for stealing apples from the market being trampled by elephants?
This form of punishment was actually used in more than one country, but the most recent was in India in the 19th century. The reasons for being subjected to such a punishment were crimes such as tax evasion, theft or being an enemy soldier.
However, at times, Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, could order mass executions just for his own entertainment. Even someone who stole an apple from the market could face the punishment of being crushed to death by an elephant.
Horses tied to four body parts and made to gallop…
The punishment, which was first applied in England in the 13th century, was applied to those who committed treason. The criminal was tied to different horses by his legs and arms. It shouldn’t be hard to guess what happens next, but let’s explain it anyway.
The prisoner’s body was being split into four because of the horses running in different directions. Fortunately, this penalty was completely abolished in 1867.
Who would think of burning a person in the stomach of a bronze bull?
This method, designed by the ancient Greeks, was also called the “Sicilian bull” because it was found in Sicily. Prisoners were locked to this bull, made of bronze in lifelike shapes and sizes.
The fire lit under the bull burned the person inside until he died. Not only that, there was also a system that turned the voice of the person inside into the bellowing of a bull.
There is another terrible method using animals…
During the ancient Roman Empire, people loved watching shows. They even considered watching people suffer as a show. Especially women were raped until they were killed by trained wild animals.
A woman named Locusta, who lived in Rome in the 1st century, became immune to poison after a while because she drank a little poison every day, and was also known to be a serial killer, was killed in this way.
Finally, a punishment method should come from the Ottomans.
The victim of the punishment of cannon dismemberment, which was applied only once by Bostancıbaşı Ferhat Ağa at the end of the 16th century, was a young Janissary. The janissary, who was captured and taken to Tophane after deceiving and kidnapping a married woman, was completely stripped and his bones were broken with a hammer.
The man was wrapped in oiled cloths, placed in the barrel of a cannon, and the cannon was fired. As you can guess, the janissary lost his life by being torn apart in the air, and this punishment was written as both the first and the last in Ottoman history.
Our other content regarding penalties that you can take a look at:
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