Search Results: Psychology of torture

An 1892 painting, The Torture of Cuauhtémoc, by Leandro Izaguirre. Cuauhtémoc was the last Aztec ruler and he was tortured by the conquistadors to find out the last deposits of gold in the city of Tenochtitlan. (National Museum of Art, Mexico...

A model of a torture rack in the Tower of London. The rack was used to extract confessions and information by stretching the limbs and eventually ripping the tendons and sinews of the person tied to it. A famous example of its use was on...

An illustration showing the torture of indigenous American peoples by Spanish conquistadors. From the 1552 edition of A Very Brief Recital of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas which was a graphic indictment of the exploitation...

Self-torture in a Sioux Religious Ceremony, oil on canvas by George Catlin, 1835-1837. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.

The heretics fork was used in the Middles Ages mainly during the Spanish Inquisition. The instrument consists of two forks set against each other that penetrated the flesh under the chin in one end and the upper chest in the other. This...

The Sun Dance is a ritual ceremony observed by the Plains Indians of the regions of modern Canada and the United States to awaken the earth, renew the community, give thanks for the sun, and petition or give thanks for favors from the Great...

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was a post-modernist French philosopher and is considered one of the most influential philosophers of modern times. Aside from his critiques of social institutions, his influence can be seen in both the humanities...

Pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730) both dished out and received a wide range of imaginative punishments. Victims of piracy endured torture, floggings, and ceremonies of humiliation, but when brought to justice, the pirates were...

Western astrology refers to a form of divination based on the motion of astronomical objects such as stars or planets. The belief that astronomical objects are divine or influence events on Earth is found in many cultures, but the practices...

The 1605 Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by pro-Catholic conspirators to blow up the English Parliament on 5 November and kill King James I of England (r. 1603-1625) and the entire nobility along with him. The plot was discovered when...