Dive deep into the grim history and chilling legends surrounding the world's most infamous torture devices! 🕵️♂️ In this video, we separate fact from fiction, exploring whether notorious instruments like the Brazen Bull, the Iron Maiden, and the Pear of Anguish were truly used as depicted or if they are largely products of dark imagination and later fabrication.
The Brazen Bull, also known as the bronze bull or bull of Phalaris, was an ancient Greek invention described as a hollow bronze device where victims were roasted alive. Its design allegedly included an internal acoustic system that converted screams into the sound of a bellowing bull, and vents for steam to exit like smoke from the bull's nostrils. According to legend, the inventor Perilaus was tricked into testing his own creation by Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, and later killed. Phalaris himself is also claimed to have met his end in the bull. Christian traditions frequently mention the brazen bull being used by Romans to martyr early Christians, such as Saint Eustace, Saint Antipas, and Pelagia of Tarsus. However, the truth about its actual use is difficult to verify, and it may have served more for intimidation than frequent practice.
Next, we confront the iconic Iron Maiden, which has become a powerful symbol of medieval cruelty. You might be shocked to learn there is no known mention or reliable record of this specific device before the 19th century. Most historians now consider it a myth. Many of the iron maidens displayed in museums were pieced together in the 1800s for commercial exhibitions, perhaps inspired by medieval shaming cloaks or ancient accounts of confinement, such as Nabis of Sparta's Iron Apega or Marcus Atilius Regulus's spiked wooden box. The Iron Maiden of Nuremberg, first displayed around 1802, became famous, though the original was destroyed in 1945. The myth's strong hold is partly attributed to Johann Philipp Siebenkees, who allegedly fabricated a story of its first use in 1515. Disturbingly, even if largely mythical, similar devices were reportedly used in modern times, such as by Uday Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
Finally, we investigate the mysterious Pear of Anguish, a pear-shaped metal object with segmented, spoon-like sections that supposedly expanded when a key was turned. It was allegedly inserted into orifices to cause mutilation. However, its historical use as a torture device is controversial, with scholars pointing out that surviving examples are often too ornate for crude violence, and their key mechanisms sometimes work to close the segments, not open them. Alternative theories suggest it might have been a surgical tool like a speculum, or even a device for stretching gloves, socks, or shoes. Its reputation as a medieval torture device likely arose from 19th-century mythmaking, linking an unknown ornate object to earlier stories of mechanical gags.
Join us as we peel back the layers of historical truth and popular myth surrounding these terrifying instruments. What does our enduring fascination with these dark objects tell us about human nature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 👇
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