Method
|
Description
|
Animals
|
- Crushing by elephant
.
[4]
- Biting by animals, as in
damnatio ad bestias
(i.e., the
cliche
, "being thrown to the lions"), as well as
crocodiles
and
sharks
.
- Tearing apart by horses (
e.g.
, in
medieval
Europe and
Imperial China
, with four horses; or "
quartering
", with four horses, as in
The Song of Roland
), variant with tearing apart by camels was sometimes used in the
Middle East
.
- Trampling by horses (example:
Al-Musta'sim
, the last
Abbasid
Caliph
in
Baghdad
).
- Poena cullei
, used during the Roman Empire. The victim was stuffed into a sack with a number of animals and thrown into a body of water.
|
Asphyxia
|
|
Back-breaking
|
A Mongolian method of execution that avoided the spilling of blood on the ground
[6]
(example: the Mongolian leader
Jamukha
was probably executed this way in 1206).
[7]
|
Blowing from a gun
|
Tying to the mouth of a cannon, which is then fired.
|
Blood eagle
|
Cutting the skin of the victim by the spine, breaking the ribs so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the lungs out through the wounds in the victim's back. Possibly used by the
Vikings
(of disputed historicity).
|
Boiling
|
Carried out using a large cauldron filled with water, oil, tar, tallow, or even molten lead.
|
Breaking wheel
|
Also known as the Catherine wheel, after
Catherine of Alexandria
who was executed by this method.
|
Burning
|
- At the stake. Infamous as a method of execution for
heretics
and
witches
. A slower method of applying single pieces of burning wood was used by
Native Americans
to torture their captives to death.
[8]
- Molten metal.
Marcus Licinius Crassus
and
Pavlo Pavliuk
were supposedly killed this way. The execution method is associated with counterfeits (by pouring down the neck) or traitors (by pouring on the head).
[9]
- Brazen bull
. The victim was put inside an iron bull statue and then cooked alive after a fire was lit under it (of disputed historicity).
|
Crushing
|
By a weight, abruptly or as a slow ordeal.
Giles Corey
and John Darren Caymo were killed this way.
|
Disembowelment
|
Often employed as a supplementary part of the execution, e.g., with drawing in hanging, drawing, and quartering.
|
Dismemberment
|
Used as punishment for
high treason
in the
Ancien regime
; also used by several others countries at various points in history.
|
Drowning
|
Execution by drowning is attested very early in history, by a large variety of cultures, and as the method of execution for many different offences.
|
Drawing and quartering
|
English method of execution for
high treason
.
|
Falling
|
The victim is thrown off a height or into a hollow (example: the
Barathron
in Athens, into which the Athenian generals condemned for their part in the
battle of Arginusae
were cast).
[10]
In Argentina during the
Dirty War
, those
secretly abducted
were later drugged and
thrown from an airplane into the ocean
.
|
Flaying
|
The removal of the entire skin.
|
Impalement
|
The penetration of the body by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by complete or partial perforation of the torso.
|
Keelhauling
|
European maritime punishment of dragging the victim against the barnacles on a ship. (Not usually intended to be lethal.)
|
Poisoning
|
Before modern times, sayak (司鑰, 賜藥) was the method used for nobles (
yangban
) and royals during the
Joseon Dynasty
in
Korea
due to the
Confucianist
belief that one may kill a
seonbi
but may not insult him (賜暇살不可辱, 士可殺不可辱). Poisoning by drinking an infusion of
hemlock
was used as a method of execution in Ancient Greece (e.g., the
death of Socrates
).
|
Sawing
|
Practiced by sawing or cutting a victim in half, either sagittally (usually midsagittally), or transversely.
|
Scaphism
|
An Ancient
Persian
method of execution in which the condemned was placed in between two boats, force-fed a mixture of milk and honey, and left floating in a stagnant pond. The victim would then suffer from severe diarrhoea, which would attract insects that would burrow and nest in the victim, eventually causing death from
sepsis
. Of disputed historicity.
|
Slow slicing
|
The methodical removal of portions of the body over an extended period of time, usually with a knife, eventually resulting in death. Sometimes known as "death by a thousand cuts".
- Pendulum
.
[11]
A machine with an axe head for a weight that slices closer to the victim's torso over time (of disputed historicity).
|
Starvation
|
- Crucifixion
. Roping or nailing to a wooden cross or similar apparatus (such as a tree) and leaving to perish. The
crucifixion of Jesus
is the most notable instance of this method.
- Gibbeting
. The victim is placed in cage hanging from a gallows-type structure in a public location and left to die to deter other existing or potential criminals.
- Immurement
. The confinement of the victim by walling in. Though this was also used as a form of imprisonment for life, in which case, the victim was usually fed.
|