Scaphism – The Persian Execution Method
As I was looking through a list of unusual deaths I kept coming back to this one :
401 BC – Mithridates, a soldier condemned for the murder of Cyrus the Younger, was executed by scaphism, surviving the insect torture 17 days
Scaphism it turns out is even more gruesome then it sounds. It’s an ancient Persian method of execution that involves boats, ropes, and a whole lotta bugs. Bleh!
Now let’s pretend the poor soul being scaphisized is you! It makes it more interesting, don’t you think? Now walk with me here…
You’re tied down- naked of course – to back-to-back rowing boats with your head, hands, and feet left hanging off the end. Now it starts getting gross – It’s probably fairly obvious when I mentioned the bugs but in case you didn’t realize, this is one torturously slow and disgusting way to go.
First they make you drink milk and honey…..yeah… sounds delicious, but what you don’t realize as you’re being strapped securely to your post is their sick ulterior motives! Your captives plan to give you a severe case of diarrhoea!!
Now before they send you off down the river in your crappy boat (literally at this point), your captives decide to smother you with the left over honey – and that’s it! They’ve done their best! They push your boat into a calm pond where you’ll spend the last moments of your life.
But wait! Suddenly you feel tiny nibbling on your big toe! You look down and see a myriad of hungry insects eating at you – “how did they find me?” you ask. You poor fool…you smell like shit! You taste like honey! You’ve become a smorgasbord for the marshes. This is the true punishment – not crapping your pantsless self infront of people that hate you, but realizing you’re being eaten alive very, very slowly!
Remember, Mithridates suffered this hellish torture 17 days before dying. Death by scaphism is usually from a combination of starvation, dehydration, and septic shock from infection. In some cases the person was not eaten by the insects, but bitten and stung by others like wasps that were attracted to the honey. Like I said, a bad way to go.
I should mention – every time I think of diarrhoea (which I promise is not often) I think of the comic Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Thus the interesting picture of one man’s cover up for an unfortunate case of.
Data Back To Earth 