brazen bull
Bronze execution chamber
A brazen bull was an ancient torture and execution device—a hollow bronze statue in which victims were locked and roasted alive over a fire.
Invented in ancient Greece, its design supposedly converted screams into sounds resembling a bull's bellowing.
The term now sometimes appears as a reference point for extreme cruelty: medieval torture chambers with their racks and brazen bulls.
Extreme physical or emotional pain
- screamingLoud, shrill vocalizing
- roastingCooking with dry heat
- burningCombustion in progress
- suffocationFatal lack of air
heat · flames · slow death · torment · cruelty · sadism · inhumanity · suffering
Mediterranean's biggest island
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
- ancient GreeceClassical Mediterranean civilization
- executionCompleting a planned task
- antiquityGreat age, ancient era
classical · Hellenistic · tyrant · punishment · cruelty · spectacle · public execution · condemned
Copper-tin alloy
- copperReddish-brown metallic element
- tinElement fifty, Sn
- alloyMetallic combination
- castingShaping through liquid form
foundry · hollow · sculpture · metalwork · smithing · mold · hammered · craftsmanship
Creator of original devices
- poetic justiceFitting outcome matching misdeeds
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- commissionedFormally assigned a task
- demonstrationPublic display of opinion
backfire · fate · hubris · cautionary tale · Lucian · historical accounts · disputed · apocryphal
agony
Extreme physical or emotional pain
suffocation · heat · flames · slow death · torment · cruelty · sadism · inhumanity · suffering · pain
Sicily
Mediterranean's biggest island
- tyrannyOppressive, absolute governance
- ancient GreeceClassical Mediterranean civilization
- executionCompleting a planned task
antiquity · classical · Hellenistic · tyrant · punishment · cruelty · spectacle · public execution · condemned · victim
bronze
Copper-tin alloy
casting · foundry · hollow · sculpture · metalwork · smithing · mold · hammered · craftsmanship · bellows
inventor
Creator of original devices
- poetic justiceFitting outcome matching misdeeds
- ironyMeaning opposite to words
- commissionedFormally assigned a task
demonstration · backfire · fate · hubris · cautionary tale · Lucian · historical accounts · disputed · apocryphal · folklore
brazen bulllethal injection
Capital punishment by needle
guillotine · gas chamber · electric chair · firing squad · hemlock
brazen bulllethal injection
Capital punishment by needle
euthanasia · mercy killing · assisted suicide · peaceful death · quick death
brazen bullhospital bed
Clinical sleeping furniture
life support · incubator · iron lung · medical equipment · respirator
bull, bully, bullying, brazen, bulls, bullish, brazenly, brazenness, brazened