Artaxerxes’ brother Cyrus decided to challenge him for the throne of Persia, which escalated into a civil war. To die by scaphism was Mithridates, an army soldier of the Persian king Artaxerxes II. The person was placed inside the belly of a horse, leaving out the limbs and the head: in this way hewould have to endure the pains of a double decomposition. In another version of this torture, rather than in a boat, Some versions say that the bugs did not eat the victim’s flesh, but just sting and bite, nonetheless causing much pain. When at last death would come, it was due to starvation, dehydration, or infections. In this way death was delayed, making him suffer for longer. The victim was fed, always with milk and honey, for several days to avoid dehydration. In fact, this meant that the body would rot while the person was still alive. This caused gangrene and excruciating pain to the victim. The insectswould bite and sting their victim, disrupting the normal blood circulation.
The victim was then left in a swamp where mosquitoes, flies, bees, wasps and other insects, attracted by the honey and the accumulated excrements, would begin to lay larvae in his body. More honey was then poured over his body, especially on face and genitals, to attract insects. Then another canoe, or other dugout, was put on the victim’s body, leaving arms, legs and head in the open.Īfter that the victim was fed only with milk and honey in order to provide a strong diarrhea. However, arms, legs and head protruded from the boat. The victim was stripped, placed inside a canoe or a simple trunk hollowed tree, and tied tightly. This method was used by Persians and described by Greeks, the latter usually the recipients of such torture.
After the article about the mellified man, I could not help but talk about scaphism: an ancient Persian method of death sentence by torture.
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