Simulation shows ancient Greek execution method that is 'the worst way to die'

Over the many, many years we've been rolling around on this rock we've come up with some truly devilish ways to kill each other.

Tallying up the evidence of human history you might come away with the impression that humans are not very nice to each other.

If ever you wanted proof of that then you need look no further than the 'worst way to die', an Ancient Greek contraption made for torture and execution known as the Brazen Bull.

Basically, it's a big bronze statue of a bull that's hollow on the inside and has a trapdoor that a human could fit through.

You insert the person you don't like into the bull and lock them inside, then light a fire underneath the statue and cook them to death.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the guy who invented this thing stuck some pipes into the statue so that the victim's screams would come out sounding like animal noises.

The bloke who came up with this was one Perilaus of Athens, who invented the Brazen Bull in the 6th Century BC.

Person goes in, fire is lit, person gets cooked to death. That's largely the gist of it. (Discovery)

For some reason he decided to invent a device to hurt and kill people in a horribly painful way, then decided he knew just the guy who might like to buy the Brazen Bull.

That's right, nobody commissioned Perilaus to make this thing, he just made it and took it to Phalaris, the tyrant of the Sicilian state of Akragas.

According to some historical records, Phalaris was a cannibal who ate newborn babies so he was either a terrible person or so terribly hated that his enemies made up those sorts of stories about him.

Anyhow, in more recent times a simulation of what being put inside the Brazen Bull would be like and it's horribly gruesome.

The victim would be cooked alive by the fire while those outside listened to your screams transformed by the pipes in the contraption.

However, back in the 6th century BC where they didn't have the Discovery Channel in those times, Phalaris decided to conduct his own simulation and decided that the Brazen Bull needed some testing.

As you screamed the pipes would turn your wails of agony into other sounds. (Discovery)

So he put Perilaus in it and lit a fire underneath to cook the man inside his own invention.

Having demonstrated that the occupant would be roasted in terrible agony and the Brazen Bull worked the tyrant removed the inventor from his own creation before he died, then decided it would be execution for Perilaus after all as he was thrown off a hill.

Phalaris very much enjoyed killing people with his new toy, with the sight of it rocking back and forth as the occupant was cooked in side supposedly amusing him.

However, when he was overthrown in 554 BC those who defeated him decided they knew exactly what to do with the tyrant and decided it was his turn to go inside the Brazen Bull.