Summary
Torture is an important element in the state sanctioned violence of the Roman imperium. Although Romans enjoyed portraying various aspects of daily life with graffiti including gladiatorial combat, they were apparently reluctant to depict the tools used by the torturer. In Roman authors, however, one finds many hints about the nature of the objects that were employed to extract evidence. Although surveys of various implements used in Roman torture have appeared in the scholarly literature, it is worthwhile to gather into one investigation what is currently known and include images of objects that have survived antiquity that are from the panoply of the carnifex. To better envision the suffering of the victims of torture, a new analysis of those tools is warranted.
Acknowledgements
I thank Professor Detlef Liebs for his comments and suggestions shared with me on Roman torture.
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- Revolts and the Persian Great Kings: Active Involvement or Careful Abstention?
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- Rhetorische Kompendien im klassischen Griechenland und spätrepublikanischen Rom: Die Rhetorica ad Alexandrum und die Rhetorica ad Herennium im historischen Vergleich
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