The most painful form of death–world history and facts

 The most painful form of death–world history and facts.

Scaphism.

Also known as “the boats,” this is probably the most disturbing and brutal method of execution I’ve come across.

And trust me, I’ve read about plenty.

This method of killing was allegedly used by the ancient Persians as early as 500 B.C.

The term scaphism originates from the Greek word σκάφη (“skáphe”) meaning “anything scooped out.” You can probably tell this isn’t going anywhere pleasant.

Scaphism involved trapping a victim between two boats of the same size and shape. Only the head, hands, and feet would be left exposed to the elements.

The victim would then be forced to ingest a mixture of milk and honey. It would also be drenched all over their face, which was constantly kept turned towards the Sun.

As the mixture dried, flies would begin to settle on the victim’s face. You might consider that a mild annoyance at best, but the worst was yet to come.

Inevitably, the victim would be forced to relieve themselves, and this would attract ants, wasps, and vermin. Initially, they might feed themselves with the victim’s excrements.

But with time, they would also begin eating their way into the bowels. In addition, insects would proceed to burrow their way into the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Mind you, the victim was fully conscious throughout all of this. The executioner would often feed the mixture of milk and honey to the victim at regular intervals, thus drawing out their fate with no chance of death by starvation or thirst.

When the victim finally expired from exposure and massive infections, the upper boat would be removed. At that point, almost all flesh would have been devoured by the various insects and rodents, leaving nothing but a rotting, decomposing carcass.

Much of what we know about scaphism comes from the Greek historian Plutarch. In his biography, Life of Artaxerxes, he described the execution of Mithridates, a young Persian soldier who had infuriated the Persian king.

According to Plutarch, Mithridates underwent essentially the same procedure as described above. In total, he suffered seventeen days in agony before his death.

To be fair, it’s not known for certain whether scaphism was a real method of execution, as there are few accounts regarding its usage. But historically, humans have devised extremely brutal and sickening procedures for torturing and killing people.

All in all, one can only begin to imagine the amount of suffering victims underwent through scaphism.

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