In terms of justice, the ancient Persian Empire could be said to have been harsh, but fair.
The criminal code included the principal of “lex talionis”, an eye for an eye, tooth
for a tooth, misdemeanors usually warranted fines, you might be branded for slander, and
for the worst crimes you would get the death penalty.
On occasions there was a two strikes rule, meaning someone wouldn’t be executed for
their first offense.
So, there you are in ancient Persia, two strikes down.
You are wondering how the death penalty will be metered out.
Will it be suffocation by ashes perhaps, or maybe having molten gold poured down your
throat as what might have happened to the Roman emperor Valerian.
It’s hard to say which would be worse, but today we think have a Persian punishment that
was the most brutal of them all.
While the ancient Persians did have strict laws pertaining to matters of justice, as
we said, that didn’t at times stop them from being tremendously brutal.
We’ll give you a few more examples before we get to possibly the worst punishment of
them all.
Take for example the death of a Persian judge called Sisamnes.
It’s said that he was corrupt and King Cambyses II of Persia who ruled from 530 BC to 522
BC wanted to make an example out of him as a warning to others who might think about
corrupting the courts.
It’s said the judge was flayed from head to toe and then his skin was used to make
a chair.
As the tale goes, anyone appointed from then on as a judge would have to spend some time
sitting in that chair so they would know what would happen if they were corrupt.
You can see this horrific spectacle in the paintings “The Arrest of Sisamnes” and
“Flaying of Sisamnes.”
Then there’s the story of Cyrus the Great.
It’s written that his wife became quite unhappy with one of her eunuchs.
So unhappy in fact, that she ordered that he be killed three times.
This is called The Triple Death.
It’s said first his eyes were pulled from his head, but then he was nursed back to health.
His second death was being flayed, but again he was nursed so he wouldn’t die.
We imagine he couldn’t have been completely flayed as that resulted in certain death.
When he was better he was then crucified and the job was done.
We should say, however, that there are many versions of this tale.
We’ll stick with this one for now.
So, with these two executions in mind, could there really be anything worse?
Well, now we have to look at the story of a man called Mithridates.
He was a young Persian soldier who was put to death in 401BC.
It’s said this man accidentally killed Cyrus the Younger, the rebel who was intending to
kill his older brother Arsaces so he could inherit the throne.
Thousands of men were behind Cyrus and this culminated in the Battle of Cunaxa.
Cyrus’ army got the upper hand after charging Artaxerxes' army, all was going well, the
throne was in his sights.
Cyrus then went to attack his brother’s personal bodyguard and then…oops…out of
nowhere a javelin just hit him and killed him on the spot.
This was a huge setback for the rebels and they all retreated.
Their future king was dead, it was over.
We know this because the story was recorded by the Greek biographer Plutarch in his essay
the “Life of Artaxerxes.”
Another Greek writer called Ctesias told Plutarch of the fate of the man that accidentally killed
Cyrus with that javelin.
As you know, his name was Mithridates.
It’s understandable perhaps that some people were perhaps a bit miffed with Mithridates.
Only the severest of punishments would do, and that’s where scaphism comes in.
This is how Plutarch describes this very unusual kind of death penalty.
We will paraphrase as his language is a bit dated now.
So, two boats of equal size were put on top of each other and nailed together.
It kind of made a floating coffin.
Holes were made in the boats so that the prisoner could be fastened in the them but with his
hands, feet and head sticking out.
So far so good.
He was floating, his head was protruding, he was getting rather hot.
He was left there with the hot sun shining on his face.
His body was baking hot inside the floating tomb.
They then force fed Mithridates milk and honey, and in good size portions, too.
They also covered his face with the stuff.
Soon his honey-covered face was covered with flies that were feasting on him and the honey.
He was then force fed more and more until his belly was distended and he had produced
quite the pile of excrement.
At this point, as Plutarch said, “creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption
and rottenness of the excrement.”
These things entered Mithridates’ bowels, while his flesh was slowly being eaten too
from the outside.
This slow devouring by insects and vermin it’s said lasted 17 days.
At that point, poor, young Mithridates with the bad javelin shot was eaten alive.
There was another description of this by a 12th-century Byzantine chronicler called Joannes
Zonaras.
It’s really the same story, but he embellished the tale somewhat.
This is the conclusion, word for word in translation:
“Flies, wasps, and bees, attracted by the sweetness, settle on his face and all such
parts of him as project outside the boats, and miserably torment and sting the wretched
man.
Moreover his belly, distended as it is with milk and honey, throws off liquid excrements,
and these putrefying breed swarms of worms, intestinal and of all sorts.
Thus the victim lying in the boats, his flesh rotting away in his own filth and devoured
by worms, dies a lingering and horrible death.”
But is that it, just one case of scaphism throughout history?
Well, it seems like the one case everyone talks about is the one we just described,
although most sources call scaphism an ancient form of punishment as if it happened time
and again.
We did find an excerpt from a book called “The History of Christian Martyrdom.”
In that book it’s written that a bishop called Marcus in 363 AD destroyed a pagan
temple and then erected a church.
This didn’t go down well with Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.
It’s written that as punishment he took Marcus and hung him up in a basket and left
him there to be feasted on by insects.
But this seems like a case of dying in the hot sun rather than hardcore scaphism.
There’s actually quite the debate about scaphism on the Wiki Talk page, with some
editors questioning the veracity of Plutarch and asking for other sources.
Plutarch did indeed write that account of scaphism, but some historians believe he may
have done so to demonize the Persians and make his own culture look better.
We will never know exactly what happened to Mithridates, but right now that’s the prevailing
story.
Perhaps he was the only man ever to get the full dose of scaphism, or maybe old Plutarch
was an ancient publisher of fake news.
So, did we find the worst punishment of all time?
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