Brazen Bull
Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
February 19, 2024 ·  3 min read

Inventor Of Brazen Bull, ‘The Most Painful Torture Device’ Was The First Victim Of It

If any history aficionados are reading our article, they would agree with our statement that history is rife with torture devices. In fact, one could claim that medieval people had turned the creation of torture devices into an art form. The more painful and evil it worked, the more it was popular. Yet, quite ironically, the man who has been considered to be the inventor of the most painful torture device known to humans was, in fact, the first victim of his own creation. Scientists have often debated the worst torture device, and every single scientist would tell you that the Brazen Bull was the absolute worst. 

This torture device was created in Greece in the 6th Century BC, and the machine was extremely simple. The device was just a hollow sculpture of a bull that was created out of bronze with a trapdoor that was fitted inside it, along with a set of pipes set near the mouth. The main idea behind this device was that the person would be placed inside the bull’s stomach, and then a fire would be lit underneath. The human would be roasted alive, and their screams would get transformed into bellowing bull noises. The creator of this device has been said to be a Greek by the name of Perilaus of Athens, who gave it as a gift to Phalaris, the tyrant of Akragas, situated in the state of Sicily.

The Brazen Bull Was The Worst Torture Device Ever Designed

The tyrant was said to be one of the most ruthless and cruel people during his lifetime, with certain individuals calling him a cannibal who would eat newborn babies. While this claim could be contested, it goes without saying that this tyrant was a pretty ruthless individual for others to levy such accusations against him. Interestingly, it is believed that Phalaris might have never asked Perilaus to create this torture device. Rather, Perilaus made it of his own accord and offered it to the king in order to curry some favor with royalty. Now, it is quite obvious that Perilaus never really took into the accord that Phalaris might not be someone with the most stable mind in the kingdom, and that his gift could quite easily be used against him.

Perilaus being forced into the torture device he created.
Image Credits: Wikipedia

After offering this torture device to the tyrant, Perilaus was asked by the king to give a demonstration as to the noises the people inside would make. The moment Perilaus stepped inside the bull and started making the noises, Phalaris had the bull locked, and a fire lit underneath it. But as it turned out, Phalaris didn’t kill the creator inside the brazen bull- but simply found sadistic pleasure from hearing the screams of this inventor. Unfortunately for Perilaus, this wasn’t the end of his miseries, for Phalaris then had Perilaus taken to the top of a hill- and he was thrown to his death. 

The Torture Device Had More Value Than Its Creator

Nevertheless, the gift definitely made an impression on Phalaris, and the brazen bull became his favorite toy. When anyone opposed him, he would simply have the individual thrown inside the tortured device, and cooked alive. Needless to say, being cooked inside a closed space would be the worst nightmare anyone has ever faced, and the torture would continue for 10 minutes before the individual died. 

As luck would have it, the tyrant’s rule ended in 554 BC, when he suffered a coup, and he was killed by being cooked alive in his Brazen bull- quite an ironic ending, to be fair. But this wasn’t the end of the torture device, for the Carthaginians nabbed this device from Agrigentum- which the Romans had built atop Akragis, but the Romans got it back after the defeat of the former.

Keep Reading: People Wanted Help Identifying Strange, Century-Old Objects From 100+ Years Ago. Here Are The Answers.

Sources

  1. Inventor of ‘the most painful torture device’ was the first victim of it.” Lad Bible. Joe Harker. March 16, 2023.
  2. “Brazen bull” Wikipedia.