Scaphism was an ancient Persian torturing method that was used many centuries ago to punish people for the crime they commited. Scaphism was also referred to as “boats” when it was legal thousands of years ago. The punisher would say “give him the boats.” Someone would only be given boats if they had committed the worst of crimes.
The process of the torture
The torture began with the victim’s hands and legs tied, with the torturer feeding the victim a mixture of milk and honey from a large jug that was poured in the mouth a way that would go everywhere over the victim’s face and neck. Parts of the body that were missed the torturer would smear the milk and honey ensuring the whole body was covered. Victims were then forced to lay down in a small boat with their legs and arms hanging from the sides of the boat with another boat tied on top of them so they don’t even have the slightest of a chance to escape. Victims were sometimes also tied between hollow logs that would keep them floating in the swamp. This method of torture usually took place in a swamp where the victim was exposed to the sun. The purpose of the honey and milk covering the whole body was to attract rats, maggots, worms, and other insects to eat the victim alive. This process was very slow and painful, the victims of this torture method stayed alive for days and even weeks.
The milk and honey mixture was not only force-fed to the victim once during the torture but instead fed every single day to the victims. The torturer would pull out the victim from the swamp every morning and force-feed them milk and honey and send them back into the swamp, this process took place every day till the death of the victim.
There were severe side effects of the milk and honey mixture. The victims had severe diarrhea and regurgitation leaving them with no choice but to defecate and vomit in the boat. The more milk and honey mixture they were fed the more they would defecate in the boat which would only attract more rats, worms, and insects. The victims were surrounded by their vomit and feces making it an extremely horrifying experience for the victims.
Despite how horrific the diet was and the side effects it was not enough to kill the victim quickly. They could only die from the rats, worms, and insects eating them, which was a very slow process to result in death. Until the wounds weren’t severe enough to cause death the victims would have absolutely no way to escape from their dreadful fate.
Once it was confirmed that the victim had died only then would the torturer remove the boat tied on top of the victim, revealing all the horrendous deep wounds on the rotting body of the victim.
At the end of the torture
Regardless of witnessing the immense pain from first hand, the torturer showed absolutely no mercy. They did not try to end the victim’s lives early to save them from all of the pain and suffering because the goal of Scaphism was to keep the victim alive as long as possible.
Points you would want to know before leaving
Scaphism was not an execution method for entertainment. It took place in swamps where only torturers were present and in some cases, the people affected by the victim’s crime were also present. Furthermore, as mentioned above it took days or even weeks for victims to die and the longest time a victim took to die was a painful 17 days.
