1.

Impalement

Many civilizations and cultures practiced this ancient world form of torture. It involved impaling the
victim with a long, sharp, and often greased stake for either capital punishment, to subdue revolts, to
reprimand defectors, or wipe out military insubordination in war. This method was done in two ways:
longitudinal or transversal.

For longitudinal, the person was positioned above the spike, which was inserted partway up their rear
privates. As gravity took hold, the spike would run them through, avoiding major organs and exiting
through the skin of their shoulder or neck. A person could survive this for several days. For transversal,
the stake was instead pierced through the torso, either from front to back or vice versa.

Another version of impalement included gunching, where the victim was thrown onto metal spikes,
hooks, or rods and either left on them to die or be tortured further by the executioner.

Real-life examples:

Antiquity: Impalement was practiced in Achaemenid Persia, Europe, Mesopotamia and the ancient Near
East, the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and Pharaonic Egypt.

2. Blood Eagle

If the six other ancient world ways to die have not made you squirm yet, welcome to the barbaric
practice of the blood eagle. Although it is highly debated whether this torture method was real or just a
literary invention, either way, a rather disturbed mind concocted it. The blood eagle ritual was first
mentioned in late skaldic poetry. The victim would lie in a prone position and be kept alive as their back
was sliced open, their ribs were detached from their spine, and their lungs pulled through the opening
to form a pair of bloody “wings.” It is hard to imagine one staying conscious long enough for this to be
completed; nevertheless, if the Viking sagas are to be trusted, this technique has truly earned its spot as
one of the most brutal, painful, and downright terrifying ways to die.

Real-life examples:

As stated, there are no reliable sources that verify the real practice of the blood eagle. That said, the
earliest account was in 867 A D when Ivar the Boneless, the son of Viking leader Ragnar Lodbrok,
damned Aella, King of Northumbia, to the blood eagle for killing Ragnar via a pit of live snakes.

3. Molten Gold

This is the almost unbelievable execution method of drinking molten gold. This was potentially practiced
more often than documented, especially on both sides of the Atlantic Oceans, by the Romans, and the
Spanish Inquisition. The technique is self-explanatory: the victim would be restrained, and their mouth
forced open as heated gold was poured down their throat. The result would be severe damage to distal
organs and the blistering of the lungs, ultimately leading to immediate death.
Real-life examples:

South America: In 1599, Native Indians of the Jivaro tribe captured a Spanish governor and executed him
by pouring liquid gold down his throat.

Parthia: The Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus suffered this fate when the Parthians
captured him. It is alleged they did this to symbolize Crassus’ thirst for wealth.

Another Roman general and politician named Manius Aquillius was defeated and later executed via
molten gold by Mithridates VI of Pontus.

4. Flaying

This next torture method almost takes the top spot because of its sadistic modus operandi. Flaying or
skinning, was perhaps the most painful of all ancient world execution methods because of its slow
process. The victim was first stripped, and their hands and feet bound to stop any movement. After this,
the executioner would begin peeling away the individual’s skin with a sharp blade, often starting with
the head as this area would inflict the most suffering due to the victim still being conscious.

In some instances, parts of the person’s body were even boiled to make the skin softer and easier to
remove. There were a few ways one could die from flaying: shock, blood or fluid loss, hypothermia, or
infection. The time of death could also be anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Although it was
considered rare in Medieval times, a flayed body was a message: an eloquent canvas on which the
punitive of the secular authority may be written.

Real-life examples:

Flaying was practiced by the Assyrians, Aztecs, Chinese, and several Medieval European peoples.

One alleged case was of a female philosopher named Hypatia of Alexandria who was flayed by a
Christian mob with potsherds.

5. The Wheel

Next up is a means of torture beyond excruciating: the wheel—also known as the execution wheel,
breaking wheel, or Catherine wheel. This commonly used ruthless contraption in the ancient world was
reserved for public executions. There are variations on the practice, but generally, the prisoner was tied
to a large, wooden, spoked wheel. The goal was not to kill them but severely mutilate them, with the
executioner starting with breaking the leg bones and then working their way up. They would do this via
an iron bar, beating the victim to near-death, crushing all their bones, and bludgeoning them. Once
finished, the now-ghastly maimed prisoner would be repositioned on the wheel so that their heels came
together at the back of their neck. They were left that way to bleed to death.

Real-life examples:
Europe: Punishment via the wheel has been documented in Austria, Britain, France, Francia, Germany,
Rome, the Indian subcontinent, Russia, Scotland, and Sweden.

In 1348, a Jew named Bona was tortured on the wheel for four days and four nights. It is the longest
known survival of a person via this punishment.

6. Crucifixion

This was practiced both in the ancient world and as recently as the twentieth century. It was first
introduced by the Assyrians and Babylonians, followed by the Persians, Alexander the Great, and the
Phoenicians, who initiated it in Rome in the third century BC.

Crucifixion involved being tied or nailed to a wooden beam, or cross. Nails were pierced through the
bones below the wrists to bear the weight of the person. It was a “brilliant” placement because no
major blood vessels were hit only the median nerve, which would cause the fingers to seize and the
hands to flex down in an excruciating contracture. The feet were nailed to the vertical part of the cross,
and once the legs weakened, the arms had to hold up the body, resulting in the shoulders being pulled
from their sockets. The elbows and wrists would soon follow, with the arms now several inches longer.
At this point, the chest had to bear the body’s weight, triggering respiratory problems, and eventual
suffocation.

Real-life example:

Jesus Christ – Jesus’ crucifixion took place in Judea in the first century AD. He was arrested, tried,
sentenced, flagellated, and then crucified by the Romans.

7. Keelhauling

The term comes from the Dutch word keelhauling, meaning “to drag along the keel” which is precisely
what this torture method did. The sailor was stripped, tied, and suspended by a rope from the ship’s
mast, with weights or chains attached to their legs. The rope was looped beneath the ship, and once the
sailor was released, they were dragged under the keel. The fatality rate was practically 100 percent. If
the person did not drown, they suffered severe head trauma from repeatedly smacking against the keel,
as well as deep lacerations from the barnacles and other aquatic growth present on the hull. If they
survived and were hauled back on board, death would most likely still result from wound infections.

Real-life examples:

Dutch: The above painting depicts keelhauling on Dutch ships. The scene shows a surgeon of Admiral Jan
van Nes strung up before he is dragged along the keel. The Dutch were known to practice this between
1560 and 1853.

English: The English Royal Navy used this method in the eleventh century. Several seventeenth-century
English writers also recorded it on British naval ships.

Greeks: The 700 BC Rhodian Maritime Code (Lex Rhodia) outlines keelhauling as a punishment for
piracy.
8. The Rack

Another brutally famous torture device in the ancient world was the rack. It involved a table, usually
wooden, with axles and levers at both ends. The victim was forced to lay down, after which leather
straps bound their wrists and heels. The straps had chains or ropes tied to them, which wound over the
axles. One or several torturers would then slowly push the levers, causing the axle to rotate and produce
tension in the chain. This caused the straps to dig into the prisoner’s skin and gradually stretched their
body outwards.

The internal physical turmoil that one would have suffered is hard to swallow vertebrae expanded,
joints, muscles, and tendons gave way, posture changed, the ribcage pressurized the lungs, bones
shattered, nerve endings became exposed the pain would be near unimaginable. As a bonus for the
“especially tough,” they were placed on spiked axles that stripped their back of its flesh.

Real-life examples:

Britain: In 1447, British Constable John Exeter used the rack to torture prisoners in the Tower of London.

Greece: In 356 BC, the Greeks used the device to torture a Greek arsonist, Herostratus, who burnt down
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

9. Rat Torture

As happy as the above dancing rats are, rat torture is right up there when it comes to one of the worst
ways to go. The thing about rats is that they eat through anything. Thus, it comes as no great surprise
that humans made a torture device out of them in the ancient world.

Typically, a rat was placed inside a small cage positioned against the victim’s abdomen. The cage was
heated from the outside either by a candle, flaming stick, or hot coals causing the rat to become
agitated. So, how could it escape? By clawing its way into the only available soft surface, the human
skin. Quite quickly, the rat would gnaw its way into the victim’s bowels, eliciting unbearable agony in the
process. This technique effectively got information out of prisoners and played on their psyches, adding
a psychological element to the torture.

Real-life examples:

Europe: During the Dutch revolt in the seventeenth century, Dutch leader Diederik Sonay used rat
torture on prisoners.

South America: Between 1964 and 1990, South American military dictatorships used this method in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.

10. The Roman Candle

The most brutal way to die in the ancient world is the roman candle. Whether it is the execution style
itself or the executioner who ordered it, this is bone-chilling on several fronts. History is filled with
ruthless and psychopathic figures, and the Roman ruler, Nero, is one of them. He hated Christians so
much that he used them as human candles or torches for his garden parties.

First, the victims were tied and nailed to tall stakes. Then, flammable liquid was poured over them
before they were set alight. The fire started at the feet to prolong their suffering. Whether the Christians
had rebelled against the state or not, this was a monstrous way to go. It reflects how barbaric
punishments were in antiquity and how they were often born of “man’s” vicious ego and thirst to
dominate what he considered a lowlier populace.

Real-life example:

As mentioned, Nero was known for this execution method. The above painting, Nero’s Torches, depicts
a scene where Christian martyrs accused of being responsible for the Great Fire of Rome are about to be
burned alive. These candles further represent the first persecutions against Christians under Roman
sovereignty.