Word for the Day

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Aw, the internet. I was given the time suck called List of unusual deaths where I came upon the following word: Scaphism. Here is the definition from Wikipedia.

Scaphism, also known as the boats,[1] was supposedly an ancient Persian method of execution designed to inflict torturous death that was described by the Persian's archenemies, the Greeks. The name comes from the Greek σκάφη, skáphe, meaning "anything scooped (or hollowed) out".

The intended victim was stripped naked and then firmly fastened within the interior space of two narrow rowing boats (or hollowed-out tree trunks) joined together one on top of the other with the head, hands and feet protruding. The condemned was forced to ingest milk and honey to the point of developing a severe bowel movement and diarrhea, and more honey would be rubbed on his exposed appendages to attract insects. He would then be left to float on a stagnant pond or be exposed to the sun. The defenseless individual's feces accumulated within the container, attracting more insects which would eat and breed within his exposed flesh, which—pursuant to interruption of the blood supply by burrowing insects—became increasingly gangrenous. The feeding would be repeated each day in some cases to prolong the torture, so that fatal dehydration or starvation did not occur. Death, when it eventually occurred, was probably due to a combination of dehydration, starvation and septic shock. Delirium would typically set in after a few days.

In other recorded versions, the insects did not eat the person; biting and stinging insects such as wasps, which were attracted by the honey on the body, acted as the torture.

You're welcome.

[Drunk Monk]

i read about it a long time ago in a book that i think was titled history of torture. this one stuck in my mind.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Nope. You know stuff.

[Drunk Monk]

That place was so cool when it opened. Then, as it got run down, it got creepy, which was almost cooler, for a tourist trap at least.

They had this torture depicted where they buried someone in the ground and put a bag of hungry cats on top of their belly, and then the cats would claw there way out through the victim's belly. It was kinda stupid because the cats would probably just go through the bag and run.

[cranefly]

There's actually a variation on Scaphism called Escaphism, where, in addition to being sandwiched between boats and having a hag named Honey breast-feed you a ton of milk, she'd read aloud some really bad escapist fiction throughout.

Okay. That one was painful to come up with....