Torture Throughout The Ages :: World History

Torture Throughout The Ages Whoever's listening, Do you know what an Iron Maiden, a Garrote, or maybe Water Torture are used for? No? Well here's the answer; they were all forms of torture a long time ago. Iron Maiden's were female effigies constructed of wood or iron with the inside hollowed out and filled with sharp iron spikes. The iron maiden would be opened up and the offender placed inside. The person would then be embraced by the iron maiden, being impaled by all the spikes. A Garrote was anything that was tied around someone's neck that would tighten and eventually they would suffocate. Water Torture was when water was poured on top of the prisoner's head and a large bucket of water was also placed under their chin to simulate the feeling of drowning. Torture started because people thought the legal codes should be tougher. Reasons for this was simply that people thought that criminals, traitors, or just "wrong-doers" should be tortured instead of killed because they will die sometime anyway so they didn't consider it much of a punishment. Because of this they began torture. As time went on and civilizations grew, the need for a code of laws came. Because of this code of laws, people could now perform torture only on enemy tribes and animals. In many cultures, religious sacrifices were the start of torture practices. The early European codes were usually based on the principle of Lex Talionis, who gave the idea of an eye for an eye in the Bible. "Punishment for crimes should be similar to the offense" is the Law of Hammurabi, written around 2000 BC. This civil code would soon be expanded to include other crimes in the Mosaic Code 1000 years later. This code formed into the basis of Hebrew, Greek and Roman legal systems. The Greeks and others were still operating under the Law of Lex Talionis and at the time, torture was mainly used as a means of extracting retaliation for real or imagined (accused) crimes or wrongs. Public displays such as stoning (throwing stones at a person) or crucifixion were used mainly to discourage other criminals from committing crimes. The savagery of torture had not yet entered into the European culture yet. All this, however, would soon change. Early Roman rulers were actually quite humane; it was only Julius Caesar that tortured his conquered enemies as an example for other likely adversaries.