Brazen bull: Difference between revisions
→In popular culture: added a cite and fixed some formating |
|||
| Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
==In popular culture== |
==In popular culture== |
||
It was widely depicted in the 2011 film [[Immortals (2011 film)|Immortals]] wherein the three (decoy) oracles were placed in there by the film's villain, King Hyperion. |
It was widely depicted in the 2011 film [[Immortals (2011 film)|Immortals]] wherein the three (decoy) oracles were placed in there by the film's villain, King Hyperion. |
||
An elephant |
An elephant version of the brazen bull was used in the 2011 film [[Red Riding Hood (2011 film)|Red Riding Hood]]{{ |= }}. |
||
A brazen bull can be seen in one of the many torture chambers in the PC game [[Amnesia: The Dark Descent]] |
A brazen bull can be seen in one of the many torture chambers in the PC game [[Amnesia: The Dark Descent]] |
||
Revision as of 15:00, 9 April 2012
The brazen bull, bronze bull, or Sicilian bull, was a torture and execution device designed in ancient Greece.[1] Its inventor, metal worker Perillos of Athens, proposed it to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, Sicily, as a new means of executing criminals.[2] The bull was made entirely of bronze, hollow, with a door in one side.[3] The condemned were locked in the bull, and a fire was set under it, heating the metal until it became yellow-hot and causing the person inside to roast to death.
History
Phalaris commanded that the bull be designed in such a way that its smoke rise in spicy clouds of incense.[4] The head of the ox was designed with a complex system of tubes and stops so that the prisoner's screams were converted into sounds like the bellowing of an infuriated bull.[5] According to legend, when the bull was reopened, the victim's scorched bones "shone like jewels and were made into bracelets."[6]
Perillos said to Phalaris: "[His screams] will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings."[7] Disgusted by these words, Phalaris ordered its horn sound system to be tested on Perillos himself. When Perillos entered, he was immediately locked in, and the fire was set, so that Phalaris could hear the sound of his screams.[7] Before Perillos could die, Phalaris opened the door and took him away. Perillos believed he would receive a reward for his invention; instead, after freeing him from the bull, Phalaris threw him from the top of a hill, killing him. Phalaris himself is said to have been killed in the brazen bull when he was overthrown by Telemachus, the ancestor of Theron.[4]
Uses of device
The Romans were recorded as having used this torture device to kill some Christians, notably Saint Eustace, who, according to Christian tradition, was roasted in a brazen bull with his wife and children by the Emperor Hadrian. The same happened to Saint Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum during the persecutions of Emperor Domitian and the first martyr in Asia Minor, who roasted to death in a brazen bull in AD 92.[4] The device was still in use two centuries later, when another Christian, Pelagia of Tarsus, is said to have been burned in one in 287 by the Emperor Diocletian.
In popular culture
It was widely depicted in the 2011 film Immortals wherein the three (decoy) oracles were placed in there by the film's villain, King Hyperion.
An elephant shaped version of the brazen bull was used in the 2011 film Red Riding Hood[8] .
A brazen bull can be seen in one of the many torture chambers in the PC game Amnesia: The Dark Descent
A similar device (albeit made of iron, in the shape of a tortoise) is used by the Omnian Quisition in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Small Gods[citation needed].
The brass bull was shown in Episode 44 of Spike TV's 1000 Ways to Die[citation needed]. The episode uses the actual names of the historical figures but shows Perillos dying in the bull rather than taken out as history shows.
The fifth studio album by British band The Cribs is called 'In the Belly of the Brazen Bull'.
See also
References
- Notes
- ^ Diehl & Donnelly 2008, p. 37
- ^ "The Brazen Bull". Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- ^ Diehl & Donnelly 2008, p. 39
- ^ a b c "Perillos of the Brazen Bull". Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- ^ "Heat Torture". Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- ^ Thompson 2008, p. 30
- ^ a b "Top 10 Gruesome Methods of Execution". Retrieved 2009-05-11.
- ^ "IMDB Red Riding Hood plot synopsis".
- Bibliography
- Diehl, Daniel; Donnelly, Mark P. (2008), The Big Book of Pain: Punishment and Torture Through History, The History Press, ISBN 978-0-750-94583-7
- Thompson, Irene (2008), The A to Z of Punishment and Torture: From Amputations to Zero Tolerance, Book Guild Publishing, ISBN 978-1-846-24203-8