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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Torture device and execution device}}<br />
{{for|the film|The Brazen Bull{{!}}''The Brazen Bull''}}<br />
{{Infobox invention<br />
| image = Pierre Woeiriot Phalaris.jpg<br />
| caption = Perilaus being forced into the brazen bull that he built for Phalaris by [[Pierre Woeiriot]]<br />
| type = [[Torture device]]<br />
| inventor = Perilaus of Athens<br />
| inception = 12th-9th century<br />
| manufacturer = Perilaus of Athens<br />
}}<br />
The '''brazen bull''', also known as the '''bronze bull''', '''Sicilian bull''', '''Bellowing bull''' or '''bull of Phalaris''', was a [[torture]] and [[Capital punishment|execution]] device designed in [[ancient Greece]].<ref name="DiehlDonnellyP37">{{Harvnb|Diehl|Donnelly|2008|p=37}}</ref> According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], recounting the story in ''[[Bibliotheca historica]]'', Perilaus ({{lang|el|Περίλαος}}) (or Perillus ({{lang|el|Πέριλλος}})) of [[Athens]] invented and proposed it to [[Phalaris]], the [[tyrant]] of [[Agrigento|Akragas]], [[Sicily]], as a new means of execution.<ref name="BibHist">''Biblioteca Historica'', IX, 18–19</ref> The bull was said to have been hollow, and made entirely of [[bronze]], with a door in one side.<ref name="DiehlDonnellyP39">{{Harvnb|Diehl|Donnelly|2008|p=39}}</ref> Allegedly, the condemned were locked inside the device (with their head aligned within the bull's head), and a fire was set beneath it, heating the metal to the extent that the person within slowly [[Death by burning|roasted to death]]. The bull was equipped with an internal acoustic apparatus that converted the screams of the dying into what sounded like the bellows of a bull. The bull's design was such that steam from the cooking flesh of the condemned exited the bull's nostrils; this effect—along with the bull's "bellows"—created the illusion that the bull came to life during every execution. [[Pindar]], who lived less than a century later, expressly associates this instrument of torture with the name of the tyrant Phalaris.<ref>Pindar, ''Pythian 1''</ref> The truth about the Brazen Bull is difficult to verify, and it may have been created for intimidation rather than actual use.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Milne |first1=Andrew |title=The History Of The Brazen Bull, The Bronze Torture Device Allegedly Used In Ancient Greece |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/brazen-bull |website=All That's Interesting |access-date=27 December 2024}}</ref><br />
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==Creation of the brazen bull for Phalaris==<br />
[[File:Spisska Hrad 048.jpg|thumb|The brazen bull (left) depicted on an old engraving by [[Hans Burgkmair]]]]<br />
The head of the bull was purportedly designed with a system of tubes and stops so that the prisoner's screams were converted into sounds like the bellowing of an infuriated bull. Phalaris is said to have commanded that the bull be designed in such a way that its smoke rose in spicy clouds of incense. According to legend, when the bull was reopened after a body was charred, the victim's scorched bones then "shone like jewels and were made into bracelets."<ref name=ThompsonP30>{{Harvnb|Thompson|2008|p=30}}</ref><br />
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Stories allege after finishing construction on the execution device, Perilaus said to Phalaris: "His screams will come to you through the pipes as the tenderest, most pathetic, most melodious of bellowings." Perilaus believed he would receive a reward for his invention. Instead, Phalaris, who was disgusted by these words, ordered its horn sound system to be tested by Perilaus himself, tricking him into getting in the bull. When Perilaus entered, he was immediately locked in and the fire was set, so that Phalaris could hear the sound of Perilaus' screams. Before Perilaus could die, Phalaris ordered him removed from the bull. After freeing him from the bull, Phalaris is then said to have had Perilaus thrown to his death from atop a high cliff. Phalaris himself is claimed to have been killed in the brazen bull when he was overthrown by [[Telemachus (Acragas)|Telemachus]], the ancestor of [[Theron of Acragas|Theron]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Phalaris {{!}} tyrant of Acragas {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phalaris|access-date=2021-12-25|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref><br />
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==Persecution of early Christians==<br />
Christian sources have claimed that Romans used this torture device to kill some [[Christianity|Christians]], notably [[Saint Eustace]], who, according to Christian tradition, was roasted in a brazen bull with his wife and children by Emperor [[Hadrian]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hourihane |first1=Colum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5uZAceaV6T4C |title=Insights and Interpretations: Studies in Celebration of the Eighty-fifth Anniversary of the Index of Christian Art |date=2002 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691099910 |page=61}}</ref> The same happened to [[Antipas of Pergamum|Saint Antipas]], Bishop of Pergamum during the persecutions of Emperor [[Domitian]] and the first martyr in Asia Minor, who was roasted to death in a brazen bull in 92 AD.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hieromartyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum and Disciple of Saint John the Theologian |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2013/04/11/101052-hieromartyr-antipas-bishop-of-pergamum-and-disciple-of-saint-joh |access-date=2023-11-09 |publisher=Orthodox Church in America}}</ref> The device is claimed to have still been in use two centuries later, when by some legends, another Christian, [[Pelagia of Tarsus]], is said to have been burned in one in 287 AD by the Emperor [[Diocletian]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Martyr Pelagia of Tarsus |url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2019/10/07/102895-martyr-pelagia-of-tarsus |access-date=2023-11-09 |publisher=Orthodox Church in America}}</ref><br />
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[[File:EustaceDeathFerdinandi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Francesco Ferdinandi]], The Martyrdom of St. Eustace. Behind the main altar at the Church of Sant'Eustachio, Rome, this painting follows the narrative in the [[Golden Legend]]: For refusing to sacrifice to the gods, Saint Eustace and his wife and sons are to be executed in a brazen bull.]]<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Iron maiden]]<br />
* [[Moloch]]<br />
* [[Torture chamber]]<br />
* [[Wicker man]]<br />
* [[Red Drum killings]]<br />
* [[Pasiphaë]]<br />
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==References==<br />
;Notes<br />
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}<br />
<br />
;Bibliography<br />
{{refbegin}}<br />
*{{citation |title=The Big Book of Pain: Punishment and Torture Through History |year=2008 |last1=Diehl |last2=Donnelly |first1=Daniel |first2=Mark P. |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7509-4583-7}}<br />
*{{citation |last=Thompson |first=Irene |title=The A to Z of Punishment and Torture: From Amputations to Zero Tolerance |year=2008 |publisher=Book Guild Publishing |isbn=978-1-84624-203-8}}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{commons category-inline|Bronze Bull}}<br />
{{Capital punishment}}<br />
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[[Category:Ancient instruments of torture]]<br />
[[Category:European instruments of torture]]<br />
[[Category:Execution methods]]<br />
[[Category:Greek inventions]]</div>imported>GünniX