In human history, there have been all kinds of torture that sounds frightening, such as the "cannon burning" invented by the King of Gong, where the charcoal fire is placed in a copper pillar to heat it, and then burns the skin to death, which makes people shudder when they hear it. In ancient Greece, there was also a punishment that was more cruel and curious than cannon burning, that is, the "Copper Bull Punishment".
How was a beautifully carved bronze bull used as a torture device, who invented the "copper bull punishment", and what is the story behind this?
In 570 BC, in the city-state of Akragas in ancient Greek Sicily, there was a famous tyrant, Phalaris. Fararis is cruel by nature, likes to torture prisoners with all kinds of torture, and takes pleasure in the screams of prisoners.
The cruelty was so great that even his subjects were terrified, and the atmosphere in front of him did not dare to breathe. Fararis felt supreme power to this, and he even solicited more "ideas" from the people, as long as the torture invented was novel and interesting enough, it could be rewarded.
A coppersmith named Perillos saw this opportunity and finally came up with a "brilliant idea" after much thought. He used his housekeeping skills to create a beautiful bronze bull, and then proudly took it to meet Fararis.
Fararis looked at this exquisite copper bull and couldn't think of anything to do with torture.
Perilos stood up and began to explain endlessly: it turned out that the bronze bull was a beautiful sculpture on the surface, but there was another qiankun inside, its interior was hollow, there was a door on the side, and during the execution, the prisoner was locked in the copper bull, and a fire was built under the belly of the cow, and the prisoner would be roasted alive in the constantly heating copper ox.
Perilos also explained that the bull's head had a sound tube system that could turn the prisoner's scream into the bull's angry roar.
Perilos finished his explanation and triumphantly waited for Fararis to reward him.
Fararis smiled slightly after listening to it, and said, "You said it would make a bull roar, why don't I believe it?" Why don't you demonstrate. ”
At this moment, Perilos was still fantasizing about how to spend the reward, and seeing that Fararis doubted his invention, he immediately went into the copper bull to demonstrate it.
But unexpectedly, when he entered, the treacherous Fararis immediately ordered his men to lock the copper bull, and then the fire was lit under the cow's belly, so that perillos's truest scream could be heard. Perillos could never have imagined that he would be the first to be tortured.
When Perilos was about to be roasted alive, Fararis released him, probably in recognition of his invention. However, he did not give Perilos any reward, but ordered his soldiers to throw him off the hilltop.
In the end, the self-made clever coppersmith not only did not receive any reward, but also lost his life. This is probably self-inflicted iniquity and cannot live.
Ironically, in 554 BC, the brutal Fararis regime was overthrown by Telemachus, and Fararis was sent to his own bronze ox and roasted alive.
However, the copper bull punishment did not disappear, but spread, and countless people were killed by the copper bull punishment. The Romans allegedly used this torture to persecute Christians, and according to Christian legend, St. Eustace and his wife and children were killed by Emperor Hadrian with a bronze bull. This horrific torture is also shown in the movie "God of War".
With the progress of civilization, this kind of torture gradually disappeared into the long river of history and became the talk of people's mouths.